Expert: Christopher Emory - 5/7/2011

Question
QUESTION: I saw an ad on Craig's List for two parakeets; one is five mo, the other two months. One male; one female. what age will they mate if at all - I am not interested in breeding. Can I train them or are they too old? I had a parakeet that lived to be 13 yrs and was very tame - should you put two birds together in the same cage?

ANSWER: Budgies are sexually mature after 4-6 months of age depending on the bird. They recommend waiting until the hen is 1 year old before breeding so that she has time to fully develop. I keep over 100+ budgies in an outdoor aviary, no reason that you can't keep 2 inside of one cage, it is done quite commonly. As for training them, I neither have the patience or know how, to train birds once they are past hand-feeding age. I always hand-feed the birds that I want to be hand tamed. You will need to consult with a training book or articles on the internet in regards to hand taming. Best of luck in whatever you choose.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So do I have to separate the male from the female to prevent them from mating? Do they just spontaneously mate if they are together? I am not interested in mating them. I do not want to become a breeder. Thank you.

Answer
They will mate without human intervention, of course the key would be to keep any nesting material and eggs out of the cage. Just because they mate does not mean that you have to allow them to nest and incubate the eggs. The choice of seperating them is entirely up to you, it will work either way.