Lol okay, illusive. Others are telling me to put nesting material in there asap to prevent splayed legs, but I'll leave them alone like you say.

sigh...she still has what you put in there... if you put more in like i said tbe babies might get lost or worse..and a LOT of times this is ONE reason for nest mortality rates to be high actually. In fact...i wish she didnt still have that crap in that box to be honest...and when she moved it out of the way even SHE knew this was potentially dangerous for her babies instinctively,... and was showing you that.

also if this is a regular nesting box it has a concave insert which helps to prevent splayed legs and this is partly why they have those... also mama moves them around enough while feeding and their siblings will do the same as they start to hatch...

splay legs are not from this its from, POOR NUTRITION. and dont let anyone tell you different PLEASE...

AGAIN, i dont know who "OTHERS" are who are telling you this BUTTTT....and if "OTHERS" are also telling you its ok to peek or mess around or handle those babies... its not

again thank gawd for late nite post as ive now also edited this at least three times...no make that four times now... from what i initially had to say...

Im sorry if this even sounds harsh however, one, namely me ..gets a little worn out from hearing misdirection all the time.

Unfortunately this is the sort of thing you will usually hear from "hobbyist breeders" who learn from other "hobbyist breeders" etc etc.

you can google this info yourself and see what ive been saying is the general consensus and here is only one link to that affect...

Listen sweetie...I NEVER say something im not sure of or that would harm a bird NEVER EVER...

may i ask WHO ARE OTHERS PLEASE.??? ID LOVE TO KNOW WHERE THIS MISINFORMATION COMES FROM...you can private message me if you like about it. mumble mumble grrrrr

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090316115954AApzQso

nesting material can harbor some SERIOUS bacteria as poops and crap build and if it were hot and humid OMG...i dont want to go there...

to say nothing of the fact that their poops while in this mode ...is like cement we should market...anyway....with a PROPER nestbox...[/b]nesting material is not necessary[/b] and only cause more serious issues ...

again pleaseeeeeee tell me where you getting your OTHER info from OTHERS. so please once again do not mess around in there.

There is this budgie breeder who has been giving me that nesting material information. She seemed very stern about adding more material in and gave me a big lecture about it. lol I will private message you her info. Also, 2 friends of mine breed baby budgies and also told me the same thing. I didn't do anything, because I really don't want to disturb the nest. When Hades was getting ready to lay an egg (last year), stupid me cleaned up the nesting box and she was too scared to go back inside. So that ended up in her laying the egg from a perch and it broke. So yeah, I really don't wanna mess with anything.

I hate getting bad info!! Grrr. Why can't everyone just agree on the same thing? lol

because as i said everyone listens to hobbyist one feeds another the info and its like a domino affect....you would be surprised how often mis information is out there and what the heck some unknowing person thinks hey this is a breeder what the heck they must know ...ok well its like doctors not all know what the others know and so it goes...

and then of course now ...hobbyist never of course will disclose info or true info on nest mortality rates...and what they learned from that as most go thru it but never try to figure out why...and so keep making the same mistakes...

so thats why many dont agree with each other...and this will always be this way so i really feel sorry for the innocent person who trust to much in stead of doing MUCH research about MANY things for themselves and TALK TO MANY not a few...but that at times can be VERY confusing also and the rule of thumb...generally ...go with the LOGICAL consensus....giggle...and no one will admit its poor NUTRITION on splayed legs...so there ya go kiddo...it all is what it is.

Hello everyone~~ It's been a month since I last posted!! Whew. :| Anyway, the 4 budgie chicks that have hatched all grew up nicely! The oldest is 5 weeks old and the youngest is 4 weeks. Every one of them is now out of the nesting box. The oldest is a troublemaker, because s/he already learned how to open the cage door and fly everywhere!!

Things are good, but Hades laid another egg this morning... I really don't want her to have another clutch. Are the chicks ready to be moved to another cage and eat on their own? I notice the 3 eldest can munch on some seeds, but they break the shell into a million pieces and sometimes don't even swallow the seed. Also, can I remove the nesting box and stop Hades from laying more eggs?

you should of taken down the nest box the minute they were out of the nest and also separated the male and female ...get those birds separated kiddo...try taking out the nest box and the egg with it...but it maybe to late....

and its not cute that the baby has learned to escape fix that also...leave plenty of loose seed on the bottom of the cage for them to learn to eat seed and be sure no one is getting a gourmet lineup of foods and treats now...just straight seed ...NOTHING else...also be sure your female is with only 10hrs of daylight...

this is what happens then owners find themselves in a real pickle...you should have three cages now...one for babies one for female one for daddy...so they are NOT TOGETHER....because now the babies are even keeping mama in breeding mode not just daddy and all the rest.

but EVERYONE now needs to have their own cages.

I already separated Hades, but papa is still in the cage with the little ones. Will they be able to eat on their own without him?? The egg was already broken when I found it earlier today... The chicks probably stepped on it.

Oh, and I've tied down the doors of the cage so none of them can escape now.

give it one more week no more with daddy in with babies after that the older babies will aid in finishing out teaching the youngest how to find and eat seed.

i suspect papa isnt feeding the kids all that much now anyway and is probably trying even to avoid their persistent begging.

and if the chicks stepped on the egg this tells me they... were altogether ...even with mama ...cuz papa dont lay eggs giggle

Yes, mama was still in the cage when the egg was laid! I took her out because she was being aggressive, and then I opened the nesting box and saw the broken egg... That's what I meant... lol

I'll keep a constant eye on them! Thanks, illusive.

your most welcome...remember you need 3 cages now ...and will have to watch very carefully as babies mature what sexes they are...hope you can find some great homes for them all...remember no more than 10hrs of daylight for mama even if you have to also put her cage in another room for now till you see her cere go back to normal and not be crusty brown...and straight seed nothing more...babies and daddy can have more than straight seed in fact while babies are so young would be a good time to also introuduce some nice wet green leafy veggie ..torn up a bit with some fresh corn small cooked carrots and some cooked plain rice and pasta into a bowl on the floor with some seeds sprinkled on top of it all ...