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Is there a phrase with a similar meaning to the phrase
Don't put all your eggs in one basket
which doesn't make reference to eggs?
I'm writing a story in which one character is a bird and I feel it doesn't make sense for them to use this specific phrase about eggs, given that eggs are essentially bird pregnancies
Expanding on a comment:
The best well-known phrase that would serve as a drop-in replacement would probably be hedge your bets, which has already been suggested. It's a complex enough idea that there aren't that many well-known alternative phrases that you could just drop in.
However, the flip side of the talking birds of your setting avoiding certain common English expressions is that they probably have some expressions of their own. You could consider coining one for the purpose. Perhaps it would suit the style of the story to choose one that is similar in form, so that readers could be expected to understand by analogy. For example, don't keep all your worms in one can. We don't say that, but your birds might.
On the other hand, don't focus so tightly on "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" that you neglect the possibility of a broader rewrite that just conveys the idea differently.
One African expression I read went like this: "Don't test the depth of the river by jumping in with both feet".
I personally would think that the image with the eggs is even stronger when used about a bird. A bird would then risk what it has most precious. But if you are looking for something more abstract, you could use instead Don't put everything on the line.
To put something on the line means:
to do something which causes you to risk losing something such as your reputation or your job He had put his career on the line and I wasn't prepared to allow what he had done to be diminished in significance. (Collins)
Another way to put it is don't risk everything/all you've got.
There is a phrase to hedge your bets. It means to diversify your approach, especially in investment, but it can be used figuratively in many situations where to rely exclusively on one thing could prove ruinous.
"Don't put all your worms in one nestling."
Or as Mark suggests: "Don't feed all your worms to one nestling", which is less of a reference to the original saying, but reads more naturally.
Don't put all your twigs in one nest.
Keep your options open. Diversify you investments so that if one opportunity fails, there are others open to you.
The term shots on goal can be used to refer to multiple best effort attempts with the knowledge that several of them will likely fail. It can describe a similar scenario where it would be unwise to rely on only one approach. In this expression, you're likely to have multiple backups since failure is expected, whereas "not putting all your eggs in one basket" connotes a lower likelihood of failure with a high consequence.
"We can't put all our eggs in one basket if we're going to find a method that works by the end of the year."
"We need several shots on goal to find a method that works by the end of the year."
You can use this unique proverb as is and it makes sense whether it is used by a human or a bird. In your story, the birds are personified anyway by giving them human speech.
Depending on your context, an option would be using a literal phrase:
Don't put all your resources in one place/thing.
Some online sources mention an earlier English proverb which expresses the same sentiment but it is not really used today:
Venture not all in one bottom.
Note: Bottom here means "a ship, boat, or other vessel" which is a historical sense of the word. You can still find some usages of this phrase online; thus, you can consider readopting it by possibly replacing "bottom" with "boat" or "ship" to make it more clear.
Additional thought: The analogy to pregnancy is not really relevant for birds as eggs are like an external asset. Thus, it wouldn't be strange for a personified bird to use this proverb. And perhaps, the human version could be "Don't put all your babies in one crib." in an alternate world.
The phrase "don't put (all) your Xs in one Y" is a bit of a snowclone, so the possibilities are pretty limitless. Choose something that you think a bird would say. Just don't word it like straightforward advice (e.g., "Don't put all your money in one place").
Some examples from the web:
And if you are willing to include the word "eggs":
Don't put all your money in one mattress.
I just made that up but think it conveys the same point you're trying to achieve.
I think the idiom "Bet on multiple horses" is exactly the synonym you are looking for.
It comes from horse racing and means you shouldn't bet all your money on the same horse, but instead spread out and bet on multiple ones. Higher chance of winning something, but if you win your gains will be lower.
Your best alternative may depend on context.
Increasing your opportunities
Hedging against possible loss
Since the characters are birds rather than humans, you could perpetrate a reversal and refer to (bird-assisted) human pregnancies, like "don't dangle all your babies from a single stork's beak".
The phrase "cover all your bases", derived from the sport of baseball, is defined by Wikipedia as "To ensure safety; to take all relevant details, problems, or exigencies into account, even unlikely ones."
This might be more or less appropriate as a substitute for the "eggs in one basket" idiom depending on the exact circumstances. In this case, since the speaker is a bird, and since birds don't play baseball, well...
But then again, birds don't speak English either.
"Hanging it all on (a single point of failure)" is one from aviation.
Normally if an airplane engine quits, the wings keep functioning normally and it can be flown like a glider. This expression's canonical use is maneuvering a sport airplane so gliding wouldn't work, and the plane is totally depending on engine power to stay flying. This is "hanging it all on the prop".
Or the guy who puts an EV charge rig on the house air conditioning circuit, promising to turn off the A/C when charging, "if I forget, the circuit breaker will just trip." "Don't do that, you're hanging it all on the breaker". (The caution is that if the breaker fails to do its job, you're setting stuff on fire).
"Diversify your portfolio"
However, this turns your "don't" into a "do".
