budgie breeding

Question
hi, i have several birds, cockatiels a kakariki, 2 senegals and an alexandrian ringneck and today we bought a pair of budgies. they all live in the house as pets although 2 of my tiels have recently laid eggs which is great. i would very much like my budgies to breed but everything i have read on the net says that i need to have more than one pair to be successfull. the cage they are in is quite large, it was being used to house 3 cockatiels and easily did so with room to spare, so if i have to put another pair in can they all go together or would it be better for them to just be in a cage next to each other?  i'm not a complete newbie, i reared 2 clutches of kakarikis last year and they made great pets i just want to get this right. its not essential that they breed, it would just be nice, its taken me years to get my husband to agree to let me get some so i'd like to make the most of it:-) any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. thanks very much...angela

Answer
Hi, Angela.  Thanks for posting.

I do not recommend colony breeding any parrots.  I've colony bred budgies/keets, tiels, lovebirds, etc., and it just doesn't work with most individuals.  I recommend keeping 1 pair of birds per cage.  This will ensure there are no fights between females, no eggs destroyed, babies killed, etc.  Budgies can be successfully bred all by themselves (1 pair) or several pairs at a time (in individual cages).  I've successfully bred hundreds of budgies/keets over the past 18 years and have found this to be the best breeding situation for all concerned.  There's nothing more heartbreaking than to find a nest full of healthy babies dead from an intruding female (female intruding into the nest of another pair).

Visit my website for more information in general:
http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Good luck!

Come back if you need to.  Thanks.

Chrys