switching cages while on eggs? yay or nay?

[IcyWolf]

After seeing an ad on craigslist for some cages, we headed out to pick them up. My plan was to get 3 breeder cages with a rack, unfortunately, when I got there someone had already bought them The woman would not hold them and was very strict about her first come first serve policy. By the time we got there, we ended up getting 3 cages and a play gym. The cages are all small, what I would call roomy budgie cages or small tiel cages. Either way, they are bigger and nicer than the ones my budgies came with so we got them. I ended up using one of them for our conure since it is slightly roomier than the ez care cage he came in, so 2 of the budgies will be going in his old cage. So far, I have only switched Billie's cage to the new one. I'm about to switch the budgies over and I was wondering if I can move the pair that has the eggs? If I do it very quickly, just move the nestbox over, then the parents, will there be any ill effects on the eggs? Momma budgie seems pretty okay with me opening up the box and checking on the eggs pretty frequently, she just looks up at me, I give her a piece of millet and she moves off the eggs so I can see them and then I close it back up. the eggs should be hatching in the next 2-4 days, and I would kind of like to get them in their new cage before they hatch but if it's a bad idea I can wait another couple weeks until I pull the babies. Has anyone ever done this before? If so, what kind of results did you have?

 

[MikeyTN]

I will not move them until they're done with this batch! They can abandon their eggs all together! When you breed multiple budgies, best to have everyone in the same type of cage, same nest box, facing the same way, same height, etc. They're mainly colony breeders and does best when everything looks the same. It may work if you change, but I wouldn't advice it cause your taking an unknown risk.

 

[henpecked]

I wouldn't move them either.If you felt you had to, i'd wait till they hatched. Begging babies are hard to resist. But by then you'd be ready to pull, so why mess with it. Howard Voren's first rule of aviculture,What's to be gained by changing something. If their happy and making babies , what are you fixing?

 

[IcyWolf]

Yea, I suppose you guys are right, like usual lol. I originally wasn't even thinking about switching them yet, but the more I looked at the new cage and then looked at theirs it started to bug me lol. I have all the other birds in their new cages finally, and the breeding budgies' new cage is set up and ready for them. I put it directly across from their current cage so they can even look at for the next two weeks. I'm just going to wait until the babies hatch and hit the two week mark, then I'll pull them, take the box away and then transfer them into their new cage. I'm sure they don't mind the cage they are in but the fact that it is two small cages turned into one awkward looking tall cage is driving me bonkers, is soooo tacky!! It wouldn't be so bad if the two cages that were put together were the same color but the top is red and the bottom is blue so it's quite obvious. :52: Their new cage is quite a bit bigger than their old one, has it's own stand and is in much better condition, not bad considering we only paid $5 for each cage!

 

[MikeyTN]

You got yourself a good deal!!! People do that type of stuffs to their cages and I don't understand why, it looks very tacky! I sold my too's old cage to someone on craigslist for $25, a very old cage! He took it and refurbish it and come back selling for $300 on craigslist....It needed a new paint job, I wonder what paint he used???....It needed a new bottom tray, he made one....The cage looked practically brand new....

 

[IcyWolf]

Yea, I definitely can't complain, although it would have been nice to get those breeder cages, these are nice too. They were pretty grungy when I got them, it took about 2 hours just to scrub the bases out, one of them actually had algae growing on it from being wet and sitting out in the sun! Luckily, the cage bars aren't rusty at all, so they must not have been outside too long.
We ended up putting billie in this cage:

It's slightly bigger than that bowfront, EZ Care cage that he came with but it lets him see a lot more. Since the acrylic is all scratched up he couldn't see through it and I hated that he could barely see anything from inside his cage. We still plan on getting him an even bigger cage, we're just waiting for the right opportunity. I'm a bit of a bargain hunter if you can't tell

Here's Barnaby's new cage:

He was previously housed with another male and female budgie but they picked on him a lot so I separated them. They can still see each other but they can't pick on him now. He's the one that is unable to fly for some unknown reason, I think that may be why they picked on him to begin with. Either way, he now has his own cage
I moved the other "pair" of budgies into Billie's old bowfront cage and this big white cage is going to be for Harold and Maude, the breeding pair of budgies:

All in all, we spent $15, got 3 cages and she gave us this play gym for free It's this play gym, although it is missing the bowls, the perch that goes across the middle and the grate for the tray, but all of that is pretty easily replaceable. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038KYG4K?&tag=shopwiki-us-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325]Amazon.com: Blue Ribbon Bird Playpen, 14-Inch by 16-Inch, Ocean Blue/Granite: Pet Supplies[/ame]
The cages were dirty as can be, missing all of the perches and bowls, but luckily I had all of that stuff anyway.

 

[MikeyTN]

Wow! You got yourself a deal!!! Can't beat that for $15!!!!! Walmart started selling those nice screw on cups, I LOVE them!!! You attach them to the sides of the cage, cup goes in and twist on. Very easy to remove to feed and clean!!!

 

[IcyWolf]

AHH! don't tell me that! There's a brand new walmart about 3 minutes from my house, it's the closest store but I hate walmart soooo much! I never liked the place to begin with, then, the other night I watched this documentary called "Wal Mart: The high cost of low prices" and now I just can't shop there without feeling guilty. It's a great movie though if you have a chance to watch it

 

[Ash]

Wow, what amazing cages! You really got a great deal there!

 

[cockatielfan17]

those cages are awsome i see why u would want to move them into that one