Animal lovers across the globe seem to be in awe of budgies.
You see, these tiny winged creatures are sturdy beyond belief and easy to care for.
But the one aspect that makes budgies particularly endearing to bird enthusiasts is that budgies are highly intelligent birds.
They are very social, amazingly affectionate, and some even learn to mimic human sounds.
So, it is that you’ll find pet parents fawn over their pet birds.
But, the one time that pet guardians seem to lose their calm around budgies is the nesting season.
The brittle and minute eggs of budgies seem to make budgie owners worry and wonder if they need to care for their pet’s eggs.
Here’s what you should know..
Budgies need no help from their owners to care for their eggs.
These fantastic birds are excellent parents who care for their eggs and their young with great diligence and utmost concern.
So, let’s take a good look at the subject of caring for your budgie’s eggs and what you can do to make your pet’s job easier.
Here’s what you’re going to discover in this article
- Is it okay to touch your birds eggs
- What to do with budgie eggs
- Possible reasons why your budgie is not sitting on their eggs
Sound good?
Let’s get started!
Can You Touch Your Pet Bird’s Eggs?
Well, you need not touch your budgie’s eggs when there is no need.
Your budgies, male and female, can rear their young.
A female spends up to ten days in a nesting box before producing eggs.
During that time, the female-only leaves the nest to eat or tend to Nature’s call.
A female can lay anywhere from four to eight eggs.
It usually takes each egg an incubation period of eighteen days before the hatchlings emerge.
Hens will happily incubate foster eggs.
But, there is a requisite: the female must not be able to detect anything wrong with the placement of eggs of other budgies in its nesting box.
If the female catches the scent of another being or bird on its eggs, there’s a strong probability that the female will eject the egg from its nest.
So, if the need to look into the nesting box isn’t a must, it’s best to steer clear of a budgie’s clutch of eggs.
On the other hand, if you need to clean up any debris, such as crushed eggshells or even dead chicks, then make sure your hands are squeaky clean.
Instead, many renowned budgie breeders recommend using gloves when handling the eggs of budgies or attempting to clean up the nesting box of your budgie.
What Do You Do With Budgie Eggs?
There may come a time when you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a willing female budgie to incubate foster eggs.
Or your female budgie has laid a large clutch of eggs, and you feel the need to incubate the smaller eggs separately to ensure the safety and survival of those eggs.
Then you will simply have to equip yourself with an incubator.
The incubator’s temperature needs to be 36.8 degrees Celsius, and keep the humidity levels at 65% inside the incubator.
You will find plenty of variety when it comes to incubators for bird’s eggs that have digital panels to monitor and adjust the temperature as well as the humidity.
You will even find incubators that can assist you in the egg turning automatically.
And, if you happen to be a novice at handling eggs, there is some good news for you.
You see, many avid bird owners will tell you that incubation is the easiest part of caring for a budgie’s eggs, and the tricky part comes in when you have to care for the live chicks.
Why Won’t My Budgie Sit On Her Eggs?
The only time a female may eject her eggs from the nest or refuse to sit on her eggs is when the female’s instincts are telling her that something is not right.
This usually happens when the eggs are damaged or infertile.
Yes, females will lay eggs even when there is no male around.
The change in weather or temperature, the introduction of a nesting box in the cage, or simply the beginning of the nesting season may induce your female budgie to lay eggs.
But, female budgies in such a scenario do not waste their time or effort in incubating the eggs that have been laid.
Their inherent feminine instinct of the budgie will tell her not to bother sitting on the eggs in such a situation.
In case of infertile or damaged eggs, there’s little chance of getting the female to sit on her eggs.
Another aspect about the female budgie behavior that you need to be aware of is that it is particularly territorial about its nest box.
So if the budgie feels that the budgie owner has handled her eggs or the female cannot sense her own scent on the eggs, she will happily refuse to incubate her own eggs.
Moreover, a stressful environment in the cage or aviary will make your female budgie averse to sitting on her eggs.
Sometimes, the female is too young or just not prepared to settle into breeding.
On the other hand, some female budgies just aren’t as good at parenthood as the rest of the species.
Also, there are times when female budgies do not sit on the eggs when they are not okay with their mates.
If your female repeatedly refuses to sit on her eggs, it may be her way of letting you know that she’s not happy with her mate.
Here’s some interesting articles which you should check out!
When to remove unhatched budgie eggs?
Do budgies breed all year round?
Do budgies eat their own eggs?
Do budgies lay eggs without mating?
Budgie laying eggs on bottom of cage
Wrapping Up
In case you’ve handled your budgie’s eggs and the female refuses to sit on her eggs, then know that you are now in charge of incubating your budgie’s eggs.
But, if you’ve been exceedingly precautious about the handling of your bird’s eggs or haven’t in fact even touched them at all, and yet your female budgie doesn’t seem to want to sit on the eggs, then you have to give in to your female budgie’s inclination.
You see, in most cases, budgies are good at parenting, especially where budgies are given suitable environments for breeding and nesting.
Yet, there are circumstances where female budgies revolts over sitting on their eggs, such as mating with unsuitable mates, damaged or infertile eggs, and stressful cage environments.
There is little to fear as you can incubate the eggs with the help of an incubator.
