Chris, it really WAS interesting to watch - and believe me, I watched very very closely the entire time. When I bought the flock the hen was already on eggs, so I was anxious from the beginning. Transporting a nesting hen 45 miles is pretty darn risky!
But when they got here and got settled in, it was interesting watching them interact. The person I bought from had done everything "wrong." There was only one box in the flight and it was on the ground inside the cage. I had no way to check the eggs or the hen without moving the box every day or taking all of the birds and recaging them. I couldn't recage them because most of the males were normal greens or normal blues and I wasn't able to tell which ones were her mates, so I decided to just let it be until the babies were hatched and old enough to pull for handfeeding.
In the meantime, it was an interesting observation in how this flock interacted. The single hen stayed in her box the entire time. The three cocks fed her regularly, but at odd times I'd notice that other birds, hens and cocks alike, would stop by the box opening and peek in... almost as if to say hi. Some of the hens would actually feed the nesting hen, but not too many. There was always one of her mates standing watch atop the nestbox and if anyone stayed too long he would run them off.
At one point something interesting happened. One of her mates was a normal green. It was not uncommon for me to find one of the cocks in the nestbox with her when I'd open it up to check on things but the males would always hurry out. One morning I opened the box and found one of her mates in there with her - the green one. I ignored him and scooted her out of the way to check the babies or eggs or whatever it was that day, but was surprised when he didn't run out of the box. I was even more surprised when he didn't move at all... especially when I nudged him a little. Poor little guy had died.
As it turns out it was not one of her mates, it was one of the older budgies in the flock (the only one who would step-up and stay on my shoulder). For whatever reason he'd gone into the box to die, and for whatever reason the hen and her mates had allowed him to. I'm always surprised at what my budgies end up doing. They're little miracles with wings and I'll always be thankful for the day my daughter brought home the budgie that started it all.
Topic: Multiple Nest Boxes (Read 690 times)