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Has anyone here tried it? I read a little about it, but wondered if anyone has ever done it and what their success rate was.

Don't know that you (anyone) could afford such a thing, and I would think it would not be the way to go unless you had a very rare specie in hand type of scenario. Not sure if they do it in parrots or not, I know they do in some other animals. With parrots, that's only part of it because if they do turn out to be fertile then what, is the hen raising the chick and/or what are the chances that the chick(s) dies? That's a huge expense for such as it is. I know I would not ever try this sort of thing myself.

A.I. is done in English budgies. I know one breeder in FL that does that with ALL his show stock - none of his birds breed naturally. Others do this if they have a good cock that has lost a leg. I have known of a few people who have wanted to breed a hen to someone elses cock bird, but they did not want the cock bird to leave the aviary. When the hen is ready they would bring her over and AI her. If done properly it works very well.

Unlike in larger animals semen is not frozen. In the cages of budgies one only collects a drop per bird anyhow.

Not that I am interested in doing it myself. But just for my own edification, do you have any links with info? I am suprised to hear that at least in some places it's common practice.

Patti In Oz wrote: But just for my own edification, do you have any links with info? I am suprised to hear that at least in some places it's common practice.

The American Budgerigar Society put out a video on how to do it. I don't know if they are still selling copies on their web site or not. You will have to Google them for the web site address.