Tips and Supplies for Breeding Pet Birds

Many bird owners want to breed their birds, for some species this is quite easy, but for others it is more demanding. Overall breeding birds is not something you should get into doing without a lot of thought and preparations. Be sure you have homes for any offspring you produce, do not just assume you will figure that out when the time comes. 

You will also want to use caution not to over-breed your birds as this will lead to breeding exhaustion. To be a proper breeder you need to have a lot of room and time, you need to have many cages, and if you are going to be hand-raising the young birds you almost certainly have to be home for the majority of the day.

Extend the hours of light to encourage breeding, reduce the hours of light to discourage breeding in birds.

Supplies Needed for Breeding Birds

Your birds must be put on a special, high quality, diet for breeders. 

They need a nesting box or nest. Different species have different preferences, but these should be removed later to prevent the birds from continuously laying eggs and rearing young.

The birds need nesting material. Allow your birds to place this in the nest themselves. You can purchase different nesting materials as well as providing some pieces of dried grass from your yard (assuming you have not used any chemicals on your lawn). Aspen or pine shavings may be given, but never give them cedar shavings, never use a cedar nesting box.

Your birds need to be kept in a stress free area.

If you plan on hand rearing the young birds you will need special feeding tubes, lubricant for the feeding tubes as well as special food for the hatchlings. This is not something I would recommend for a beginner to try on their own without a coach or mentor to show you how it is done. Note that different species of birds eat different food and are fed by different methods.

Incubation Period for Birds Eggs

For most birds you must note that they lay several eggs before sitting on them, often laying one egg per day. Calculate hatching by counting from the day when the birds start sitting on the eggs to incubate them.

• African Grey Parrot – 26 to 30 days
• Cockatoos – 28 to 29 days
• Cockatiels – 18 to 21 days
• Conures – 23 to 25 days
• Doves – 16 to 18 days
• Finches – 14 to 15 days
• Lovebirds – 21 to 25 days
• Macaws – 24 to 28 days
• Parakeets, Budgies – 17 to 20 days

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