Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 6/9/2007

Question
Hello my name is Rabeeshan and i have a question. Well about 2 months ago i got a new blue budgie and i put her with the other two green ones i already had. The blue one was one year yonger. Then one day i noticed that the blue one liked one of the green and they were kissing. so i bought a nest and left it there. i have been waiting for three days and none of them went inside or got near it. my question is when will they matecause i really want babies plz. Also if u have a blue and green mating wat are the chances they will be white or yeeloow.
thnx  

Answer
Hi, Rabeeshan,

No one can tell you when your birds will mate...it depends on many factors.  How old is the blue budgie?  Budgies need to be at least 1 year old before they are physically mature enough to breed.  Kissing or beaking is a way budgies greet/communicate with each other; does not necessarily mean they are ready to breed.  Are you sure of the sexes of your birds?  A pair of budgies must be pair-bonded before they will even think of mating with each other.  Pair-bonded is when the male feeds his female mate beak-to-beak, they preen each other, and otherwise behave "amorously" toward each other.  If your budgies are not pair-bonded, they won't pay any attention to a nesting box, much less mate and produce eggs/babies.  You need to be patient!  These things often times don't happen overnight.  

When your budgies are ready to breed/mate, they will prepare the nesting box the way they want it.  Then they will mate and the female will go inside to lay eggs.  I would recommend you remove the 3d bird from the same cage as soon as you see that 2 of your birds have mated.  The 3d bird won't be welcome with the pair once they have bonded and started the breeding process.  In fact, if 2 of your birds pair up, they may not do anything with the nesting box as long as the 3d bird is in the same cage, depending on your individual birds' personalities.

The coloration of the babies that will be produced by a blue and green mating depends on what color mutations your birds hold genetically.  Their outside colorations of blue and green may not be the only colors your birds carry genetically.  In other words, the colors of the babies these birds would produce would depend on not only their coloration, but the coloration of their parents (the babies grandparents).  Therefore, I can't tell you what colors will be produced by the blue and green mating because I don't know what other colors they carry genetically.  However, green is a dominant color in budgies.  If both parents carry green genes, some babies will be green (or have some green in their coloration).

Chrys