Thursday, May 7, 2009

Do I need to remove male parakeet from cage before eggs hatch?

I apparently have a couple of parakeets in love. There are 3 eggs the female is sitting on. I added grass to the cage per "Pet Smart" employee hoping she would make a nest to no avail, she apparently doesn't mind just sitting on them at the bottom of the cage. I worry about the chicks should the eggs hatch? Will the be okay on the bottom of the cage??? Do I need to remove the male from the cage? Will he bother/kill the chicks?
Answers:
Both male and female parakeets attend to the young. If the female is laying on eggs already in the cage, do not disturb her. I breed and sell several types of small birds. I have had a pair of cocktails raise young on the carpet behind a bookcase before. Let the birds raise this brood, then next time, you can put in a parakeet nest box. The nest box is rounded on the inside at the bottom. There is no need to provide anything else. Do make sure to provide lots of fruits and veggies. I know you are curious but try not to disturb the parents. When the first egg hatches, the tiny chick will make a high pitched noise that you can hear. From then on, every time the chick is hungry, it makes that noise. Each chick will make a noise when hungry. The eggs hatch about every 3 days. The older chicks keep the younger chicks warm. Good Luck and enjoy watching the parakeets.
There are alot of males that will kill the chicks so yes I would remove him asap. As for her sitting on the eggs, she is the mom, let her do it her way, the grass is there if she decides she wants it, just leave it in the cage. She'll know what the grass is for, it's a birds instinct, she just may not want to use it.
if they are his chicks he will help protect them, if you remove him you will stress the female and she will abandon her eggs/chicks. when the chicks hatch, or even now before they do hatch i'd suggest putting a small box in there, just big enough for the chicks and momma, and put a wash cloth at the bottom of it and put some grass on top of it and put momma and chicks/eggs in it.
In the wild the males of all bird species help tend to the chicks. So I'd leave him in there. However; without a nest, I doubt the eggs would hatch without insulation to help incubate them. As far as nesting goes, I'd doubt she'd make one this late in the game. Do you have anything that could serve as a pseduo-egg? I know that some bird breeders use those to secretly secure eggs that they wish to incubate themselves. This prevents mama bird from freaking out too bad, as she 'still has eggs'.

Best of Luck!

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