Budgie Egg Problems | Breeding Problems of Budgies

Budgie egg problems, and their treatment in the end. Learn more about egg bound is a condition when breeding budgies.

Problems with budgie eggs are common and can cause serious problems for budgies. For the sake of saving your budgie, stay tuned and we will present you with the main problems and their treatments!

Budgie Breeding Problems

Let’s start with the fact that budgie breeding is not an easy job! It requires your dedication and commitment.
As you probably know, first you need to find a breeding pair but the job does not finish with finding a breeding pair. There are many problems that can occur. Here are some of them:

The first problem could be regarding budgie’s health! Before breeding, make sure to take your budgie to the vet to check if it has any issues. If budgies have some issues you’re not aware of, this can lead to serious complications that could be fatal to baby budgies. Taking your budgie to the vet before breeding will save you time and stress. Also, when it comes to the breeding pair, be careful when choosing the pair. Both parents need to be healthy if you don’t want any further complications. Equally important is your budgie’s reaction to the breeding pair. Track your budgie’s reaction with the intention of checking their relationship and whether they get along.

The second problem could be age. Budgies cannot be too old nor too young. Budgies need to be at least 1 or 1.5 years old to be able to breed.

The third problem is the diet. The diet is of utmost importance for budgies to be able to develop physically. If the diet is not proper, your budgie could produce eggs that do not hatch. The diet should be balanced so your budgie can produce more fertile eggs.
Pay attention if your budgies are in the appropriate time period when they’re supposed to breed and if your budgies are related. When budgies are in the breeding condition, they’re ready to have baby budgies. You should breed at the appropriate time so you can follow their inherent body cycle. This will make them feel as if they’re breeding in the wild („Problems with a Budgie Breeding, n.d.).

One more problem is if one of the budgies is not motivated to breed and this is connected to problems with hormones which your vet can explain to you in detail. If the inherent body cycle is abnormal, you could encounter breeding problems. However, if a baby is born, due to hormonal disbalance and lack of motivation, budgies could abandon their eggs.

If you want to be sure that your male budgie is ready to breed, check out the symptoms below:

• the budgie’s cere is deep blue
• budgies sing all the time

When it comes to female budgies, check out the symptoms below:

• the cream color of budgie’s cere
• more aggressive behavior
• more chewing and shouting
• Read these tips carefully and you won’t have any problems!

Female Budgie Infertility – Does not lay eggs

One of the main causes of female budgie infertility is a serious condition. If the female budgie has an illness that is serious, it can prevent her from laying eggs. This could be connected either to genetics or physical defects. Here we present you with a couple of serious conditions that can manifest from fertility problems such as egg binding, oviductal prolapse, and peritonitis. Additional physical injuries are ‘soft belly, hernia, uterus infection, and rectal prolapses’ (Marshall, n.d.).

We will discuss egg binding later in detail so without further ado we continue with peritonitis.

Peritonitis is a serious disorder that happens when the egg yolk penetrates into the abdominal cavity instead of the oviduct. This can lead to an infection and inflammation of the abdomen peritoneum. Some of the symptoms are ‘abdominal swelling, weight loss, weakness, fluffed feathers, lack of vocalization’ („Egg yolk peritonitis in birds“, 2022).
Oviductal prolapse happens usually because of inadequate body weight, obesity, or if your budgie is too young and has not developed properly yet (Espinosa, 2020).

If the diet of your female budgie is not adequate, it can cause infertility. There are some elements that cause infertility. If your budgie’s diet consists of too much calcium or zinc, it can prevent your budgie from laying eggs. Your budgie should not be overweight because it can cause temporary infertility. But also if the temperature is drastically changing, it can cause temporary infertility („Infertile/Clear Eggs“, n.d.).

If the place for breeding is not comfortable for female budgie, it won’t lay eggs. Besides, the deficiency of vitamin D3 is an important factor that can cause female sterility. This vitamin or in better words, the hormone is produced by birds and it is crucial for their health. Oil from budgies’ feathers is turned into vitamin D3 when exposed to sunlight.

Male Budgie infertility (Clear Eggs)

When it comes to males, there are multiple reasons that can cause infertility. When males have problems with fertility, this can lead females to produce clear eggs called „duds“.

Some of the obvious reasons are physical defects that can happen as a result of genetics or physical injuries. Male budgies should feel comfortable. If the environment is not adequate for them, you could encounter problems. First, make sure that your budgie’s cage is far away from any noise or bigger animals such as dogs and cats. The cage should not be placed either too high or too low. For instance, if it’s too low, the male would resent the fact that everything else in the room is higher („Infertile/Clear Eggs, n.d.).

To avoid this kind of problem, prepare your environment accordingly and check with your vet if your male has any illness that causes infertility.

You are probably wondering what can I do to help my budgie? It’s pretty simple: include additional vitamins and proteins in your budgie’s diet (Marshall, n.d.).

Budgie Eggs Fertile or Not

Do you want to learn how to distinguish between fertile and infertile eggs?
Let’s dive in! One of the techniques that could be used to check if the eggs are clear include a candling technique. Shine a light using an optic fiber torch over an egg to check if it is clear/infertile or fertile.

Every egg goes through a certain phase of 15 days. In the first 2 days, fertile and infertile eggs look the same. Starting with day 3, we can see the difference: the fertile egg has a dot that is darker than the rest of the egg. As time goes by, this dot becomes darker and darker. On day 5, you can notice heartbeats. Later, the embryo is expanding and the egg acquires a pink tone and gradually becomes darker. After 15 up to 20 days, the egg is ready to hatch („Are your eggs fertile“, n.d.).
Infertile eggs are darker, show no blood vessels and once they are cracked have a specific odor.

Nutrition Cause of Sterility in Budgies

Sterility can be caused by nutrition. In most cases, nutrition is the leading cause of sterility. Among factors are budgies not being fed enough or fed too much. Nor starvation nor obesity are benevolent. You can refer to our last post about homemade budgie food for the purpose of keeping your budgie healthy!

Inadequate diet is an immediate cause of sterility. This could include excessive intake of zinc, the presence of aflatoxins in seeds, and a lack of sodium and calcium. Aflatoxins can cause cancer and may be found in maize, seeds, and different kinds of tree nuts. We have to be careful when choosing the right type of food for our budgies for this reason.

Budgie Egg Binding symptoms? How to know?

Egg binding is a condition where a budgie is having trouble with laying eggs. This can happen because of the absence of contractions and failure to provide the right amounts of calcium for your budgie. In this case, eggs cannot pass through the reproductive tract. It is a serious problem that can cause your budgie’s death.

Causes could be physical defects, lack of necessary vitamins, dehydration, inappropriate environment, infection, etc (Hollinger, 2022).

We observed several signs of egg binding: ‘tail wagging, straining, swollen abdomen, difficult breathing, inability to balance, paralysis of a leg, decrease in appetite’ (Hollinger, 2022).
It is vital to take your budgie to the vet when you notice these signs. The vet will diagnose the condition and advise you what to do next.

How do you treat egg binding in budgies?

One of the huge problems when breeding and waiting for Budgie Egg is egg bound or binding. Since egg binding is a serious condition, its treatment consists of various techniques. The foremost move is to check your budgie’s temperature. Then try to increase your budgie’s temperature and give water to your budgie to prevent dehydration. These are simple steps that you can do at home.

The next few steps should be performed by your vet. If there’s a lack of sodium and calcium, the budgie should receive suitable medications such as ‘calcium injections, oxytocin, arginine vasotocin’ (Hollinger, 2022). Antibiotics and gels can be used in place of injections.

Following this, the budgie should try to lay eggs herself. If not possible, the vet will perform ovogenesis. A syringe will be inserted in order to remove unnecessary parts of the egg. Once the size of the egg is reduced, your budgie will be able to lay the egg. Lubricants could be used to speed up the process.

Afterward, your budgie’s recovery is up to you. Keep her safe in her cage and prepare a balanced diet for your budgie. As always, your budgie’s diet is crucial. Make sure your budgie is eating various food rich in necessary vitamins. Observe your budgie and contact your vet in case you notice any complications or in case your budgie is acting weird.

We presented you with budgie egg problems, possible reasons for it, and their treatment in the end. This can be your guide but mind you, every budgie is different and if you notice anything strange, contact your vet!