While it is true that some fathers in the animal kingdom are absent and leave the mother to raise the babies on her own, some animal fathers are quite attentive and some male birds will even sit on the eggs
This article explores whether male budgies sit on eggs.
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Do male budgies sit on eggs?
Male budgies help the female budgies quite a lot when she’s nesting, and yes, he will sit on the eggs on occasion when it is needed. There are two reasons why this may be happening, here they are:
To give the female a break:
The main job of the budgie male is to provide and protect for the family.
He will do this by finding food out there and giving it to the female and the babies making sure that they are well fed, his other job is to protect the family and fight against anything that threatens the family.
His job sometimes also extends to taking care of the eggs by sitting in them and keeping them warm.
Sitting on eggs is a hard job. Because eggs need to be kept warm and will die if left for too long without warmth the eggs have to be sat on almost 24/7.
This can be very tiring for the mother who is the parent who usually keeps the eggs warm. However, she can’t sit on the eggs all day, she will need to stretch her legs and wings on occasion, forage for food, and relieve herself as well.
When she leaves to do all this the male budgie will come along and sit on the eggs to keep them warm and to keep them from dying.
He won’t sit on the eggs for too long though, only until the mother has had enough rest and comes back to her post. He can go back to doing his job of taking care of the family by providing and protecting them once she is back.
Too many eggs:
Another scenario that will cause a male budgie to sit on the eggs is if there are too many eggs to hatch.
Budgies can lay a lot of eggs, about 4 to 6 eggs in a clutch, if the female budgie realizes that she has laid too many eggs to sit on then she will either break some of the eggs, or have the male bird help her hatch the eggs.
In the latter case, the female will separate the clutch into 2 piles and then let the male incubate the eggs beside her.
The pair will have to share feeding duties in this case as they are both doing two jobs.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Budgie Eating Poop, What To Do When Budgie Eggs Hatch, Cockatiel Bleeding Under Its Wing, What To Do With Infertile Budgie Eggs, Do Budgies Sit On Their Eggs At Night, Budgie Abandoned Eggs