Breeding budgies come with a lot of challenges and complications, especially if you and your budgies are new to raising baby budgies. Unfortunately, mother budgies can kill their babies. So, I did some digging to learn why do budgies kill their babies, and I will share everything with you.
Why Do Budgies Kill their Babies?
Budgies kill their babies to protect other babies from illnesses, begin a new laying cycle, and if there is not enough space in their cage. Additionally, male budgies may kill baby budgies because of jealousy. Male and female budgies can form a strong bond, so the male feels sad, lonely, and depressed if the babies spend more time with their mother.
1. Protect Other Babies from Diseases
If the mother discovers that one of the babies has some infection, it kills that baby to protect the rest of the babies. It usually kills the sick baby and pushes it out of the nest. Budgies can know if one of them is sick. It might take you a couple of days or even weeks to know if one of your budgies is sick.
2. They Do Not Know What to Do
First time or young domesticated budgies usually do not know what to do once their eggs hatch. They do not have any experience. This is because they have never seen other budgies raising their babies. That is why they prefer killing their babies. Once they are a few years old, they may stop killing their babies.
3. Begin a New Laying Cycle
Some budgies are in a rush to begin a laying cycle. Unfortunately, this can happen when the babies are still young and not ready to leave the nest. If this happens, the mother tries to get the babies out of the nest. If the babies do not leave, the mother might kill them.
4. Limited Space in the Cage
What is the size of your cage? Does it have enough space for your budgies to run and fly around? If the space is limited, it increases the chances of aggression, especially between the mother and babies. If a baby irritates the mother, the mother might attack the baby. The baby budgie might succumb to the injuries.
5. Not Enough Foods
Do you give your budgies enough food? A mother budgie needs to know all the babies can get enough food. If you give them the same amount of food you used to give them when they were only two or if you forget to feed your birds regularly, the mother budgie might kill other babies to ensure the other babies can get enough food. This is what most animals do in the wild.
Why Do Budgies Attack their Babies?
Budgies usually attack their babies. Sometimes these attacks are due to frustrations. Baby budgies, just like our babies, are just curious and playful. They can irritate their parents. If the parents are just stressed at that time, they can attack their babies. Luckily, they rarely kill their budgies. They do it to stop their babies from disturbing them.
Budgies can attack their babies when mating. Once the babies are old enough to leave the nest and can eat on their own, the mother can begin a new laying cycle. This is when the mother starts hanging out more with the male budgie. It also attacks babies that come near the nest, especially if the mother has started laying eggs.
Once these constant attacks start, remove the babies from the cage. The fight will increase if you leave the babies inside the cage. This is because the hormone levels of a new laying cycle have increased. So, keep your babies away from their mother.
Once you see the mother spending more time in the nest box, it is planning another clutch. This is when you should know the mother is about starting mating. Remove the chicks because the mother might stop feeding them. The chicks are old enough at this time, so you can take care of them.
Why Do My Baby Budgies Keep Dying?
It is difficult to deal with the death of your baby budgies. Unfortunately, this can happen, especially if you do not have any experience and the budgie is still a new mother. This does not mean you can stop all your budgies from dying once you have enough experience. Continue reading to find out why your baby budgies keep dying.
Young and Inexperienced Mother
If a male and female budgie spends more time together, they not only bond with each other but they also mate early. So, young and inexperienced mothers can neglect their babies, so their babies can die from starvation or loneliness. That is why you need to stop your young budgies from mating.
They Can Die from Diseases
Baby budgies can die from some diseases without showing any symptoms. Worrying about the health of the little ones does not always come to our minds. We completely trust the mother budgie to take care of the young ones. That is why some diseases can go undiagnosed. We only know the baby was sick when it is dead.
Human Mistakes
We make mistakes with our baby birds, and some of these mistakes can lead to the death of the little ones. Budgies cannot talk to us, so they cannot tell us when you are hurting them. You can kill your birds without knowing it, especially if you are a new bird owner.
Here are some of the human mistakes that baby budgies can die from:
Firstly, baby budgies can die from heat stroke. When it is cold, you may decide to keep your budgies warm using an external heat source. You put the heat source closer to the cage. Your budgies cannot escape the cage, so they overheat and die.
Secondly, some bird owners usually take their budgies outside to get some sunlight. However, they can forget their budgies outside for several hours. The direct sunlight can overheat your young budgies, killing them.
Thirdly, budgies are sensitive to several toxins. Some of these toxins may not affect you, so you may think they cannot affect the bird. For instance, you can decide to repaint your house or furniture without taking your budgies out of your house, so your budgies can die from the strong fumes of the paint.
Fourthly, you just realized your baby birds are not eating any food. So, you decide to feed them with your budgies. You do not have any experience in hand rearing, so you can make mistakes when feeding your young birds. If you make a mistake, your bird dies.
Last, but not least, you stop changing their drinking water several times. Budgies are picky when it comes to their drinking water. However, these birds are messy, so they can dirty their drinking quickly. If you are only feeding them seeds, they will die if you do not give them fresh, clean water every day.
Why Do Budgies Abandon their Babies?
Once the eggs hatch, the mother budgies might abandon the babies. This usually happens with new mothers. I think they do not know what to do. Unfortunately, some of these mothers usually end up killing their young babies, and they can kill them when you are not around.
A Budgie Falls Out of the Nest Box
Some budgies are more active than others. They can climb on top of the mother and accidentally fall out of the nest box. And the mother might accidentally push one of the young ones out the nest box. So, you may think the mother has abandoned the baby, which might not be the case. Return the baby to the nest box. You will see them reunite again.
Mothers Do Not Know What to Do
New budgie mothers do not know what to do, especially if the mother was not in a flock. Birds usually learn from their mothers. If your budgies did not grow with their parents, they become anxious and panic when they get their own babies. They can abandon their chicks due to stress. It can take several attempts for the budgie to learn how to take care of her babies.
Mother Wants to Lay Eggs
Once the mother is ready to lay eggs, it no longer wants to stay close to the babies. Usually this time the babies are old enough to each on their own. Do not leave the babies inside their cage because the mother attacks them. They can kill each other, especially if they are left alone for several hours.
Budgies and their young ones get along well, but they do not get along when the mother wants to begin laying eggs.
Why Do Budgies Break their Eggs?
Budgies can break their eggs. It can be challenging for bird owners to know why their budgies are breaking their eggs. Even experienced mothers can still break their eggs, so it is important to find out why your budgies are breaking their eggs. Once you know the cause, stop it to prevent the budgies from breaking more eggs.
They Break Infertile Eggs
Budgies can know if the eggs are infertile. If the mother has been sitting on the eggs for several days, the mother will stop sitting on the eggs if the eggs do not hatch on time. The mother removes the eggs from the nest and the bird can break the eggs. This allows the bird to begin laying new eggs as soon as possible.
The Mother Thinks the Eggs are Not Hers
If you have several female budgies, they can lay on the same nest. If another budgie realizes some of the eggs are not hers, the budgie can start breaking the eggs. You should keep your female budgies in different cages when they are nesting. They can fight each other to death.
Stress
If the budgie no longer feels safe inside the cage, it can break the eggs. This is the best way of stopping intruders from taking the eggs. Budgies usually look for a safe, enclosed space to lay eggs. So, do not move the cage from room to room and do not leave the cage with your other pets because they can play with the cage as they try to catch the bird.
Final Thoughts
I hope you now know why do budgies kill their babies. However, your budgie will never stop killing their babies if you do not do something about it. If you have a young female budgie, do not rush your budgie to breed. You can delay breeding until the bird is old enough to take care of babies. Budgies can also kill their sick babies to protect their healthy babies. You will have to deal with this and accept it, and it happens when you least expect it.
