Budgies (Budgerigar) are native to Australia and are one of the most commonly kept and popular pet birds in every country of the world. In the United States they are often referred to as parakeets (or keets), although due to the large number of various parakeets available, the rest of the world just calls these amazing little birds budgies.

In the wild, budgies are colony nesters, meaning that groups of birds will nest very close together, each having their own private place. They do not build a nest by bringing material to it, instead choosing to hollow out a small area & lay eggs directly onto a hard surface. This nest could be in a hole in a tree – or in a crevice of a rock (or under the rock) or even in a hole in the ground.

Due to the fact that budgies are colony breeders, the results of breeding them may be better if you have more than one pair, so they can all see each other. This can be done with cages being near each other, or by putting the nest boxes up into the flight where they are normally kept. I used to keep my birds in a large flight and just take out 3 pairs at a time to put into a smaller flight, with 4 nest boxes hung. They would have plenty of room to fly and each pair would have a choice of nest box, so I found that this method worked best for me.

I would often put a handful of wood shavings into each box and watch the pair of birds busily remove each one. The act of making their own nesting spot this way would sometimes stimulate the pair into breeding.

A nest box for a budgie must have a sight rounded indent (concave) to prevent the eggs from rolling in the nest box. The hen will lay the eggs in this spot and usually starts to sit on them after the 2nd or 3rd egg has been laid. The eggs are laid every second day and will begin hatching 18 days after she begins sitting on them.

Normally, the hen sits on the eggs by herself & the male will bring her food, and sometimes the male will sit beside her in the box. Once the babies hatch, both the birds will feed the babies.

Have a plentiful supply and variety of food & lots of water available at all times while the babies are being fed. You will be amazed at how much a clutch of babies will eat.

The babies will begin venturing out of the nest box at approximately 4 weeks of age (fledge), with their parents still feeding them and will be ready to go to their new homes at 6-7 weeks of age.

If your birds are eating a good & varied, healthy diet, you shouldn’t have any problem breeding them if that is what you want to do. Please try to have homes lined up and available for the babies before you start.

For more information on Budgies, please see:
Hand Taming Your Budgie
Getting To Know Your Budgie
Finger Taming Your Budgie
Shoulder Training Your Budgie


Please take a look at my new Budgie E-Book written after many years of experience with these wonderful little birds.


You can find this book on Budgies at Amazon.com (left link) or Amazon.ca (right link).

I have a short video of Sweetie the Budgie and since he is new to my home I am still trying to figure out what he says. Please take a look (he's hard to see, but you can hear him) at Hi Sweetie and maybe you can help me figure out his words.