breeding handreared budgies

lovebirds

Can i breed 2 handreared budgies and keep them tame and tame the chicks aswell

Irishchick

The short answer is yes you can, in theory.

However it can be hard to get two hand reared birds to mate


I would suggest doing as much research as possible before you decide on whether to do this or not. The set up can be quite expensive. If the parents decide to reject the chicks you need to have incubators, hand rearing formulas and hours of free time to rear them. Its worse than having a newborn baby!

ThePhatMomma

I second the above.
Sometimes when hand reared birds get a mate they prefer the company of the other bird and may return to being a bit nippy and skittish. This is especially the case with hand tamed birds as opposed to hand reared, but it can happen in both.
When hand reared and hand tamed birds are nesting, sitting on eggs and rearing their clutch they will be defensive and reject any attempts to handle them.. Which should be avoided anyway during nesting and rearing.
Birds reject their babies for a lot of reason, but mostly due to a young and/or inexperienced pair or due to too much disturbance of the nesting pair.

I bred cockatiels and parrotlets and have had to hand rear orphaned chicks ( my own and for others) and its no easy feat.. Hatchlings need to be fed every hour for the first week, 1.5 hours for another week ( yes, barely any sleep), and 2.5 the third week.. around the clock! They need to be kept in a brooder and their crop watched carefully for signs of thrush or slow down which leads to sour crop.
And I've almost lost hens due to becoming egg bound.

If you choose to breed your birds please do your research around breeding, feeding, nesting, orphaned chicks, and especially the medical and first aid side of things.
It's not something that anyone should take on or choose to do lightly unless they are willing to do the research, put in the time and be prepared to give up six weeks of your time if a chick needs to be hand reared.

XxX