Breeding pair of budgies acting weird

[kay2311]

Hello I am new to this forum, but not new to budgie breeding. I am a little stuck with my English budgie pair that I have been trying to breed I have a normal and mixed American budgie paired up that are breeding and have laid eggs that are fertile (from candling) at present the English budgie pair that I have, have the same setup and layout as the standard pair. The problem is my male English budgie when he gets on top of the hen he manages to mount her for a few seconds then looses balance and falls off and tries again later on. Not sure why that’s happening they are both healthy and have been checked by the vets also I am giving them fresh Veggies daily with seed mix and egg food cuttlebone/mineral block and guardian angel calcium and vitamin D3 fresh water daily. Also they have different size perches aswell. The problem is I have noticed the hen sleeps in the nestbox at night and spends a fair bit of time in the daytime in the Nestbox aswell. The cock is in condition however the the females cere is white with very light tan. The hen does come out of the Nestbox to eat the cock feeds her sometimes also they mate then she goes back in the Nestbox and stays there she has been doing this for 4 days now. I have checked her to see if she was egg bound and she wasn’t. So am abit confused what could be the issue as she’s has not laid any eggs. all my budgies are around 2yrs old.

[maryann]

I was a cockatiel breeder not budgie. Have you seen any successful mounts? One thought is that if they are in a busy place in your home they may be nervous. Second thought is, you might not be witnessing all activity. I would be sure they are in a quiet place at least for now.
I’m sorry that I don’t know more. There are lots of great people on this forum with experience breeding budgies.
I hope this works out for you!

[Hezz]

If the female is not in breeding condition, it is doubtful that she will be laying eggs. Her hormones are just as important to her laying eggs as they are to any animal you might want to breed, including human. Having the nestbox present should help kick her into breeding mode, but she might be one of those that just never does. Has she ever had a crusty cere?

[kay2311]

Mar 9, 2020 19:31:50 GMT Hezz said:

If the female is not in breeding condition, it is doubtful that she will be laying eggs. Her hormones are just as important to her laying eggs as they are to any animal you might want to breed, including human. Having the nestbox present should help kick her into breeding mode, but she might be one of those that just never does. Has she ever had a crusty cere?

hello and thanks for replying, yes she has had a brown crusty cere before in the past, but as am aware it’s the diet, male and nestbox that will bring the hen into condition so never thought that was a problem. I know the saying is that hens when not in condition have a lower fertility rate and little or no urge to mate. But my hen and male are displaying all the mating behaviours. The thing that I am confused by is that she is always sleeping in the nestbox every night. Also my budgies have their own privacy when breeding as they are in the greenhouse that is very well insulated with heating at the right temp for breeding as well as having the correct lighting. I have a CCTV cam in their just in case anything goes wrong as I get notified. I know of other breeders that have bred budgies with a white cere and have had success. When I have spoken to them about my situation they were not that sure themselves as they have not yet experienced this themselves.

[kay2311]

Mar 9, 2020 15:23:48 GMT maryann said:

I was a cockatiel breeder not budgie. Have you seen any successful mounts? One thought is that if they are in a busy place in your home they may be nervous. Second thought is, you might not be witnessing all activity. I would be sure they are in a quiet place at least for now.
I’m sorry that I don’t know more. There are lots of great people on this forum with experience breeding budgies.
I hope this works out for you!

hey and thanks for the reply when I set my budgies up for breeding I place them in their breeding cage in the greenhouse. I have done this for years with previous budgie pairs that I wanted to breed. The thing is this is the first time am trying with show budgies and not really getting any luck, also I have the CCTV in the greenhouse so have seen them mate when checking up on them.

[Morgan]

Sorry, I accidentally posted this in a different thread somehow - I have only read about it, but some English budgies have feathers around their vent that are too long and which need to be trimmed back (not the downy feathers, but any longer feathers blocking the vent area) in order for them to be able to mate successfully. Don’t know if this helps or not, just a thought.