Things to know before starting budgie breeding business.

Parrots are the most common pet birds all around the world and budgies are the smallest ones among them. When we talk about “starting a bird breeding business” or “breeding parakeets for-profit” the first bird that comes into our mind are budgies because they are not only affordable(How much a budgie cost?) but they also have a small breeding cycle and can produce 3-5 clutches in a year (Budgie breeding guide) with 1-7 chicks in one clutch.

How to start a bird breeding business?

This is one of the businesses that can be started in the backyard of your home with very little investment. All you need is a healthy pair of a budgie (How to buy a budgie?), install a nesting box and give them breeding conditions. Is this so simple? Yes, it is but this requires a lot of attention and care towards budgies because they are very sensitive birds. Let’s see what we required to do budgie breeding business.  

1- Cage Requirements: 

For cages, there are two ways to get budgies to breed either you can make a colony of budgies or make a small breeding cage for each individual pair. The cost of building an aviary is very less than making individual small cages for each pair but small cages have more benefits as there will be a healthy breed with no mixing of mutations and a higher number of chicks than the aviary. On the other hand, if you want to do breeding budgies for color then the aviary is the best option because you have to open your budgie for selecting their partners by their own choice. 

The small cage for a single pair must be H2Ft x L2Ft x W1.5Ft with an individual nesting box which is the only budgie nesting material because they don’t need any kind of grass or branches to make a proper nest. This will cost you around $30 and if you are starting a business with 10 pairs then you can estimate a cost of $300 for small cage while a big cage of H6Ft x L6Ft x W4Ft will cost you $150 with at least 10-12 nesting boxes. 

2- Selecting Breeding Pairs:

If you are living in India or Pakistan you can buy a breeding budgie pair range $10 to $20 depending on the mutation of budgie while in USA or Europe it will cost you from $30 to $70. Make sure you buy mature and young pair (How to Identify Budgie Sex?). Notice the male budgie behavior towards other budgie or female. It must be very active and healthy while selecting a female.  It is required to notice its size and activeness. The size of the female must be good and must have good feeding habits.

3- Proper Conditions: 

Like all other birds budgies are warm-blooded parakeets and they are originated from Australia, that’s why they are called Australian parakeets in some parts of the world. By proper conditions, we mean weather and temperature, food and vitamins, and proper VET examinations.  

Budgie breeding season starts from August and ends in April, almost 9 months in a year. Don’t Breed your birds in hot weather during May, June, July because this will not only give you less number of chicks but also kill your female budgie due to excessive sitting on eggs during hot weather. For avoiding breed, remove nesting box from the cage and separate your budgie pairs and let them ready for the next breeding season. 

Give them food which includes sunflower seeds in winter and cuttlefish bone with a proper supply of fruits on a daily basis. 

Make sure you self-examine your budgies periodically in order to find any abnormality or disease because this can be life-threatening to birds during breeding. One of the most common disorders in females during egg-laying is Egg Binding. Don’t ignore if your female budgie is all of a sudden sitting down in the corner of the cage, she might have egg binding, consult a Vet on the prompt basis because a female budgie can lose her life if egg is not removed on time and this is one of the most common budgie breeding problems. 

4- Getting Chicks and taking care of them: 

Once your budgies start mating it will take them 8-9 days to lay eggs and egg will be hatched in 15 to 18 days( Budgies BreedingGuide). Once the eggs are hatched, baby budgies will take 4 to 5 weeks to fly out of the nest. Once they leave the nest, separate them from parents and keep them with you until their black color from their beak has vanished because a baby budgie clear beak has a good price than with a black color beak. During this time give them healthy food, so that they can increase their size.  

5- How to sell birds to pet shops? 

Once your birds are ready for sale, contact with the pet shop owners shows them the pictures of your birds and your set up. Explain to them how important budgies are to you and how much stock you can give them on a monthly basis. While you do discussion with the shop keepers make sure you do bargain because most of the shop owners offer you the lowest rate and they will buy from you if you have a health aviary environment and budgie pairs.