It’s in a bird’s nature to reproduce and lay eggs, this is also true for budgies, but this isn’t always helpful to humans, it can even become a burden to humans in some cases
However, there are ways to keep your budgies from laying eggs, and this article looks into it.
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How to stop budgies from laying eggs:
Egg laying is something that all birds do, it’s in their nature but there are ways around this if you don’t want the birds to egg lay or if you want to at least slow the egg-laying process down. Here is what you can do to stop budgies from egg-laying:
Reduce the lighting:
Birds lay eggs when the conditions are favorable, when it is light outside food is plenty and the birds know that they can lay eggs knowing that there will be enough food to feed their baby birds.
You can use this to your advantage by limiting the amount of time that the budgie is exposed to light.
Increase the number of hours that your bird is in the dark to 14 hours a day. This will signal to the bird that it is winter, which has long nights and short days, and will indicate that there isn’t enough food for them to feed their babies.
Change the cage:
Birds know that they can egg lay if they find a safe environment to do this in. If you want to get your bird to lay eggs then you would need to ensure that its environment does not change.
However, if you want to ensure that your birds don’t lay eggs then you would have to change their environment and this will stress the bird enough to not lay eggs.
You can also stress the bird by moving the bird’s cage as a way to slightly change its environment. You can also rearrange items in the bird’s cage which will also stress the bird. You can do this by moving the birds toys, perches, and food bowls.
You can do this every couple of months as she will take a while to get used to the new arrangement.
Remove warm foods:
These birds will lay eggs when they not only have enough food but when they have the right food.
Give the bird foods like vegetables and leafy greens in addition to a diet of only seed mixes. Seed mixes are high in fats and calories which indicates to the bird that this time is good for breeding.
This food is also very easy to regurgitate into their baby budgies’ mouths which makes the adult birds want to breed
Remove the nest box and change the feeding box:
Budges in the wild need enclosed and dark spaces in which they can lay eggs in, they will lay eggs in logs found on the ground and in holes in trees.
They choose these places to lay eggs in because it is isolated and safe from predators.
The breeding box is where domesticated birds lay eggs, if you remove their nest boxes then the birds will feel that there is nowhere safe to lay eggs and will thus not lay eggs.
Some birds will also lay eggs in their food bowls, remove and change these to stop the birds from laying eggs.
Keep mates away:
It is true that budgies do not need a male budgie in order to lay eggs but keeping a male mate with a female budgie will incentivize the birds to reproduce and lay eggs even more.
While you can keep more than one budgie in the cage this will be very lonely for the bird so keep a female with her.
Use fake eggs:
Birds lay a clutch of eggs, a budgie clutch usually contains about 4-6 eggs, once all the eggs are laid only then will the bird start to incubate her eggs.
You can replace the eggs that she has laid with fake eggs or you can place fake eggs in the nest before the bird starts to lay eggs.
The bird will see these eggs as her own and will sit on them to incubate them. Eventually, the bird will realize that the eggs will not hatch and she will give up
Don’t touch the bird below the neck:
Avoid touching the bird below the neck, on her lower back, and on her abdominal area as this will trigger a hormonal response in the bird to start to lay eggs
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other budgie-related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Budgie Twitching Wings, Budgie Twitching Head, Bald Budgie Vent, Why Does My Budgie Bite When I Pet Him?, What To Do With Unwanted Budgie Eggs,