Budggie breeding and sickeness

Question
Hi. I got 2 budggies for my birthday and i want them to breed what do i do?? And i woke up today and found my female budggie sitting at the bottom of the cage moving back and forth and making a clicking sound with her eyes closed, is she sick?? Im really worried. If she does get pregnant what should i do?? How do i know if she is Pregnant?? Should i let them out of the cage and wash them?? Thx sooooooo much for ur time!!

Answer
If you want them to breed, the first thing you want to do is make sure that you have a male and a female (boys have blue or pink ceres (the area above the beak) and girls have brownish-purple ceres).  You will need nest boxes; a good rule of thumb is two boxes per pair to make sure that they can pick and choose which one is best for them.  Try putting strips of paper, animal bedding, or dryer lint in the boxes.  Budgies are little neat freaks and the female will clean it out.  This behavior helps trigger the instinct to nest.  After that, just wait and see!

Sitting at the bottom of the cage is rarely a good sign.  Its possible that she's pregnant, but if she is, it sounds like she may be eggbound (that means the egg is stuck).  I would contact a vet, because if she's sick, she'll need medicine, and if she's eggbound, if its not treated it will kill her.

If she does get pregnant, just let them be for the most part.  Make sure they have plenty of fresh foods, cuttlebone, water, and other than that, they'll take care of things on their own.  Her mate will help take care of her, bringing her food in the nest box too!

Its usually pretty hard to tell if a budgie is pregnant.  In the wild, they try to hide things like this so they won't get eaten by predators.  If she seems swollen anywhere, or is paying extra attention to her vent and the area between her legs, she may be pregnant.

I wouldn't let them out of the cage until you know what's going on with the female.  If she's sick, the stress isn't good for her.  The birds themselves don't need washed, but if you give them a dish of clean water, they'll often bath themselves.  You can also use a spray bottle to mist them with lukewarm water.

You should probably make a quarantine cage for the female until you can get her to a vet; its pretty easy to set up:
1) Heat- use a heating pad or something to keep half of the cage warm.  That way, if she gets too warm she can move away
2) Environment- keep things dark and quiet, making sure that there's at least 10 hours of darkness a day so she can sleep
3) Food and water- make sure she has plenty of clean water and fresh foods.  Things like chopped carrots and apples are goth tasty treats and very nutritious

Best of luck and keep me posted!
-Leah