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she will not do in the nestbox

23 9:50:01

Question
QUESTION: hey me again lol ,we im shur leah has an egg  and im worried that she will not go in the nest box can i encourage  her at all? do u think she will only go in as she is laying her eggs? help plz thanks a lot bye

ANSWER: Does she have multiple nest boxes?  Sometimes they don't like or trust one.  You can try to encourage her by putting treats or something around the nest box, but if she won't go in, you can't force her.  She may go in as she starts to lay, but I would still get another box.

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QUESTION: i have two nest boxes and she looks in side them from a far and she will sit on the perch by them to but will not go in tried her favored seed but she did not care i just hope that when she lays she will go in, but ever since i put her in the breeding cage she have took all the supples from the bottom and put them in a corner at the totem so she might lay there today she was at the cudell bone a lot and has been spearheading her wigs allot. does this sound normal?

ANSWER: She's going to be going at the cuttlebone a lot lately, since she's going to need the calcium for her eggs.  Is the nest box accessible?  Sometimes they don't trust themselves enough, and if they don't think they can get it, they won't try.  Is there a perch or ladder so she can get to it?  I've also heard that in some cases, budgies won't go into a nest box if people are around, because they don't want to end up cornered.  You can also maybe try moving the nest box to a location she might like better.  

How old are they?  You may have already told me this, but sometimes if they're too young, they won't really know what to do.  Its kind of like teen pregnancy; just because they ca physically have a baby doesn't mean they're ready.

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QUESTION: hi leah ,yes both nestboxes have a large hole so she can enter them and i guess i should not watch them as much ,on both nest boxes there is a small perch attached(one nest box is on the ground and the other is not far like 4 in from the ground could this be the problem?) jordin is about 4 and Leah about 1 years. she also follows jordin around  all the time getting food, he does not do to much of thee head bobbing at the moment could this mean the have already breeded? should i put the nest boxes up higher? thanks allot  

cloe:)

Answer
From what you've told me, they shouldn't have too much trouble getting into the nest box.  1 year is about the absolute minimum age you want to breed females.  Not only are they less prepared, they also have higher rates of eggbinding if they're less than a year old.  14-16 months is when I generally recommend starting.  It doesn't really matter what age Jordin is.  It sounds like they may well have already bred.  You could try moving the nest box, just try to avoid messing with it when and if she starts using it.