Mating

Question
I just bought my 3yr old daughter 2 parakeets about 3 weeks ago, and my boyfriend and I were wondering if birds needs to actually mate. The information that I read has me a bit confused...it appears as though the male and female only have to get along. On the other hand some readings state that after they mate the female needs to have a nesting place. Honestly speaking I don;t see how the female can just produce eggs with fertilization. Please explain, my brain is "keet fried".

Answer
Hi there,

Yes, birds do seem to break all the rules of our understanding don't they?! One useless fact for you. Evidence has been found that birds are closely linked to reptiles in that they lay eggs and all that, but they have an unusual way of making body heat, whereas reptiles are cold blooded. Whats more, their body temperature it that much higher than mammals.

Anyway, back to your question.

Two birds can live very happily together if one is male and the other is female. They may fight, or they may fancy each other. Just because one is male and the other if female, let not insult their intelligence to think that they will automatically want to mate. Like humans in a sense,(or some anyway) there has to be a real attraction and they like to court for a while. However, if this doesn't happen, they will have to live like Joe and Phoebe for the rest of their lives. And thats ok.

I know what you mean about eggs. If you could find a drawing on the net somewhere of the process in which eggs are made, you would understand better, what i am going to do my best to explain. I have had a coffee, so should be ok!

Chickens are best at this, so I shall use them as an example. When a chicken lays an egg, there are already a few more inside her going through various stages of egg development. When the egg first starts to develop, its a ball of goo, and it is at this stage that it can be fertalised. Some birds produce them all the time because they never know when a male will decide to fancy his chances. In a chicken community, it is normals to have one male to several hens. They are lower down the natural food chain as they don't fly too well, so they compensate by breeding lots. (In the natural environment I mean.) That why humans have farmed them. Ducks and geese are also pretty good at it in the right conditions, but can switch it off at certain times of the year for migration.

Other species of birds, such as the albatross, it not so low down the food chain, and will usually have only one egg at a time. These birds have a specific time to mate, when the female knows that her egg is in the first stages. A penguin is similar, but only because it would be impossible to have 4 or 5 eggs on its feet.

There their are birds who are inbetween, like wild birds, parrots etc. these birds can produce eggs for a while, then stop, then start again round about the time when the nest has emptied. Depending of food availability and weather, depends on how many times they go into this state.

So with regards to your parakeets, I wouldn't bother getting a nest box, not unless you can see they want to breed, you have a good understanding beforehand on what to do, and most importantly, you want to commit the time to helping them out. Breeding birds can be a very messy and noisey job when done indoors. You can't clean the nest box out for the time they are sitting on eggs till the babies leave, and that can be the smelliest thing. But the rewards are the most satisfying.

Your birds can live without having babies. And don't be too shocked if the female lays the odd egg, but don't be disappointed if she never does. Its all normal.

Hope this helps.

Charlotte