When To Separate

[spiritbird]

Chipper is almost 1 yr. old now and I read that Budgies (male) become sexually mature at 3 to 4 months. Daisy is still young at 3.5 months of age. I have had them together for as long as Daisy has been here. Now, my question to those who breed is when should I put them in separate cages? Yesterday I saw them feeding eachother or one feeding the other. I do not want Daisy to mate with Chipper until she is over 1 year of age.
And then I would only want 1 or 2 viable eggs if it happens. Would use dummy eggs. I know the female is not in the mood until the cere gets crusty looking. Would that be too late to separate them? Thanks

[Feathers First Aviary]

I keep pairs together from the time they are weaned, we just don't give them a nest box or anything that may encourage breeding until they are at least a year old. Also, keeping them on shorter days, no more than 12 hours of daylight, helps a lot. So far I have not had any of my pairs start breeding prematurely, sometimes it even takes a bit to get them to breed once you do give them their first box. Also, when the females ceres start getting really crusty, that's when she's coming out of breeding condition, it's pretty much her "breeding colors" sloughing off of her ceres. The male should be bright, and I mean bright!, blue and the females will go to a darkish brown/tan color. That's when they are in breeding condition. As far as dummy eggs, I wouldn't use them personally. I would just wait until the first two eggs show fertility and then adel the others, simply picking them up and shaking them is enough to keep hem from fertilising properly, then just put them back in the box. Most of my pairs only have 2-3 babies their first time though, I've even had pairs just have one baby. Dummy eggs would work too, if you would rather use them you can, but adeling the real eggs will have the same affect.

[coltfire]

dont know what happened to my post on this but it was almost the same as what Sarra said, no box no breeding , i would not separate, as if they are feeding then they are bonding and by separating, it would stress them out

[spiritbird]

Thank you Steve for this education. I have heard people say their hens just drop eggs in the cage if there is no nest box. I will keep them together thanks to your advice. Chipper does not mind if he is in a cage along but Daisy does not like it at all.

[Feathers First Aviary]

The only times i've had birds lay without a nestbox was with my more established pairs, after several breeding seasons. I will take their box to give them a break and they insist on laying more eggs. when this does happen, I either rearrange their cage or move them to a different cage, that is enough to throw them off a bit and seems to knock them out of breeding mode. I've never had an inexperienced pair just start laying eggs without a box though. :)

[spiritbird]

Good to know and thanks Sara. I had to put Chipper in another cage along tonight because Daisy was jumping on all his favorite spots like the swing even though I had 2 swings in the cage. Like people I guess they need a break from eachother once in a while. :moody:

[Feathers First Aviary]

Teehee, seems like she has the "it's better 'cuz it's yours" complex :P