Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 4/5/2007

Question
My budgie female has 2 babies 1 thats 10 days and one about 8 days shes feeding them and taking care of them so is the dad i noticed a while back that they where mating again and know they have three eggs plus the 2 chicks. is this ok. what should i do.

Answer
Hi, Bryan.  Thanks for posting!

Yes, it's OK.  Usually, the parents don't go to nest again until the babies have nearly fledged.  You don't do anything right now unless you are going to handfeed.  If you are going to handfeed, you need to remove these babies within a couple of days to start handfeeding them.  If you don't handfeed the babies (they won't be tame if you don't handfeed), you don't need to do anything.

If you don't want babies after these eggs hatch, you'll need to remove the nesting box BEFORE new eggs are laid (or pull the babies for handfeeding before new eggs are laid and then remove the nesting box at that time).  Another option would be to separate the male and female so they don't lay more eggs.

Chrys