Have your budgie laid its eggs for the first time and are you worried if your mother budgie will feed its babies or not? Let us share our firsthand experience and we will discuss how parent budgies react when they become parents.
We observed that budgies are easier to breed. They are naturally trained parents therefore we don’t need to worry about them as they know how to be a good parents.
Short Answer:
Mother budgies feed babies via regurgitating crop milk which is a mixture of seeds and water. They feed the babies until they start self feeding.
Mother budgies are protective of their babies, therefore, they take parenthood seriously and feed their babies however we have seen some cases where parent budgies do not take care of their baby budgies.
Do Mother Budgies Feed Their Babies?
Yes, Mother budgies are protective of their babies and feed their new offspring timely. Mother budgie takes parenthood seriously and only leaves her babies unattended when she comes to eat and collect food for the babies.
Let me tell you about one of the affectionate and emotional events that I observed from the mother budgie that I had. I noticed that the female budgie avoids coming out of the breeding box after babies hatch from the eggs until she needs to eat the food or collect food for the babies.
The female budgie stays near the babies for 2 weeks after the babies hatch out from the egg shells. During that time male budgie shows his love for her female partner by collecting the food and shifting the food into her beak that helps her in feeding the babies and staying near them.
Does the Male Budgie Feed the Babies?
From our experience majority of male budgies do not feed the infant babies until they grow a little however it helps the female partner by shifting the food to her which she processes by storing the food in her crop.
A bird crop is a section where birds store food. This crop contains special cells that process the food in a liquid form which is called crop milk. Crop milk provides antibodies and strengthens the immune system of baby budgies.
The male budgies start feeding the babies after 2 weeks when babies hatch out of the egg. The male budgies keep feeding the babies until they start self-feeding.
Do Baby Budgies Feed Each Other?
I have been breeding and growing parrots for over 14 years. I have learned that female baby budgies inherit the caring instinct from the mother budgie this is how they learn to feed their siblings after reaching the self-feeding stage.
These female baby budgies become good parents as they have inherited the parenting quality from their mothers.
Why is my Budgie not Feeding her Babies?
Even though budgies care for babies and feed their babies on time however in some cases, we have seen that parent budgies do not take care of their baby budgies for the following reasons,
• First experience of becoming a parent
• Laid out more eggs due to a good health
• Budgies are stressed out if you make a crowd around them
• New Budgie parents like privacy
• Budgie’s parents will only feed the babies if they ask for it
• The single parent does not care for babies
First experience of becoming a parent
If both budgie partners are having their first-time experience becoming a parent then they do not have enough experience in feeding the babies, therefore, we recommend you to make a pair of one breeder budgie and one young budgie whether a female or male.
In this way, the breeder budgie transfers the parenting experience to the young budgie partner.
Laid out more eggs due to a good health
Most of the time, new budgies lay more eggs such as 7-8 eggs due to their good health, and the hatching success rate can be above 80% which increases the workload for the new mother budgie as she is unable to feed all the babies.
One more thing to notice, all eggs are not laid by the mother budgie in one go. Mother budgie lays eggs in the interval and that interval can be one day apart or 2 days apart, therefore, some babies are older and some are young.
In this case, the mother budgie tries to feed all but sometimes the younger ones get neglected as processing the feed for older babies is different and for younger babies is different.
Budgies are stressed out if you make a crowd around them
Budgies get stressed out if you make a crowd around them. Most of the time new owners are curious to check on eggs and babies which disturbs the budgie and due to this stress mother budgie neglects the babies.
New Budgie parents like privacy
New budgie parents like privacy as they do not like the owners to add any extra bird into the cage or check on them frequently.
I have observed that parent budgies do not accept new birds into their cage during breeding or hatching time.
Budgie’s parents will only feed the babies if they ask for it
Budgie as a parent will feed the babies only if the babies ask for food. Babies scream for food and by screaming they try to signal that they need food.
This is why we recommend bird owners to give good nutrients to the breeding pair which will transfer to the babies that give them the energy to scream and signal for food.
The single parent does not care for babies
Mother budgie also needs its partner to stay beside her when eggs are hatching and if the owner removes the male bird from the cage for any reason then mother budgie gets disturbed and does not feed the babies.
How Long Can a Baby Budgie Go Without Food?
Baby budgies require food frequently as they eat less at every interval. Let us discuss this from the beginning. After hatching out of the egg healthy baby budgie can survive without food for a maximum of 4 hours as it has already received nutrients from the eggshell.
After that baby budgie requires food after every 30 minutes however food interval increases as every day passes.
What to Feed a Baby Budgie?
In this era, companies have taken a part in parrot’s dietary food therefore you can look for some major brands that manufacture baby parrot food. You can purchase these products and hand-feed the baby budgies. Popular brands are as follows,
However, if you do not have the time to purchase or for any reason you can also make food for baby budgies at home.
Baby Budgie Feeding Schedule?
Baby budgie feeding schedule varies in different stages. The feeding interval increases as the baby grows.
First week: Baby needs to be fed at every 30-minute interval as babies have a higher metabolism rate due to which they need food.
Second week to fifth week: Baby needs to be fed at every 60-minute interval but mother budgies manage this on their own whenever the babies scream and signal for food.
The above information is just a measure of time for the bird owners who need to monitor if the baby budgie has been fed by the mother budgie or not.
When does a baby budgie feed itself?
After the end of 2 months, baby budgies start self-feeding however until this time baby budgies remain dependent upon their parents or human hand feed if the mother budgie does not feed the baby.
Conclusion
Mother budgie feeds their babies as they are protective mothers however there are times when budgies do not feed their babies. Do follow the above instructions to make sure parent budgies do not leave their babies without food.
If you would need further help in regards to baby budgies care, let us know in the comment below.
