are my budgies in love?

plumbie03 · Member Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 22 Location: bvfdgrhn

i was watching my budgies and they feed each other sometimes and my male nibbles on my females tale it soooo cute and they cuddle and stay very close to each other and like clean each other. also, one night i went in there and the male was on my females back were they mating.

please help!!!!!!!!! Exclamation

[/b]

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2248 Location: uk

Hi this is normal behaviour for a bonded pair of birds if you caught him on her back then they were mating.

Is the females cere ( skin above the beak ) very dark brown if this is the case then she is in breeding condition if its not this colour what colour is it.

Mike

plumbie03 · Member Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 22 Location: bvfdgrhn

my females cere is pinish color and they have been doing that mating thing alot and i have a normal cage and no nestbox.

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2248 Location: uk

If her cere is pink then she will not mate with the male as she is not ready for breeding.

It has to go a very dark brown

mike

plumbie03 · Member Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 22 Location: bvfdgrhn

at the vey top of the cere is a crusty scab color and the femal is taking the cotton in the cage and making a ball and moving it around

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2248 Location: uk

I her cere has gone a very dark brown almost like plain chocolate then she is ready for breeding if this is the case lets run through everything you need to do and have ready before they start mating and laying eggs and raising chicks....
Answer the following questions and lets see if you do know what your getting yourself into..

What do you feed them?
Do they have extra calcium and minerals?
Do they Have a nest box?
Are this type of bird nesters?
How many eggs can you expect in a clutch?
Do you know the incubation period?
How many days after each egg will the hen lay another on?
How old should the birds be before they allowed to have babies?
How do you know if the chicks are not getting enough food?
Could you tell if chicks got sour crop?
Do you know what sour crop is?
Do you know how to hand feed chicks if parents abandon them?
Do you know how often the chicks should be fed if abandoned?
Do you know what to feed the chicks if they get abandoned?
Do you know the correct temprature of the food for hand feeding chicks?
How will you keep chicks warm if parents abandon them?
How old will the chicks be before they can be removed from the cage?
Does the male bird need to be taken out of the cage when the eggs hatch?

Just a couple of things everyone thinking of breeding should know.

Mike