Cross-Breeding

[johngooding89]

I have a male Lovebird and a Female Conure who mate regularly which is followed by our Conure laying eggs but since we don't have a nesting box she apparently lays her eggs from a perch (I say apparently because I've never actually seen her lay) where they fall and break. My question is If I were to put a nesting box in, would the eggs be viable?

I've researched this before but I've seen mixed responses, some say yes and some say no.

[Wolf]

There is only one way to know for sure, and that is to get an intact egg so that you can candle it to see if it is fertile or not. And then there is the issue of whether it would hatch or not.
This is not like breeding two different breeds of dog, cats or horses, because these birds are different species of parrots. That means it would be more like crossing a cat and a rabbit, it is possible, but the offspring is likely to be infertile and incapable of reproducing. It would be a hybrid, sort of like a mule.
Personally, I see no advantage to doing it.

[Pajarita]

No, the eggs will not be fertile. Lovebirds come from Africa while GCCs come from South America so their common ancestor, if they had one, is too far back in time for them to have any genetic compatibility.

There are different types of hibrids, you have:
- intraspecific - between two subspecies - like a Congo gray with a Timneh gray
- interspecific - between two different species of the same genus - like a Military macaw with a Green wing macaw which are both of the genus Ara.
- intergeneric- between two species of different genera - like a Hyacinth macaw with a B&G
- interfamiliar - between two species of different family and this is where yours would fall because lovebirds are of the Psittaculidae family while a GCC belongs to the Psittacidae one but this type of hybridization is super, super, super rare in birds and, in parrots, there is only one example: a blue-winged parrot with a cockatiel but they are both from Australia and, because it's an island (evolution in islands is different than in the mainland because it happens in a small, isolated geographical area), they had, most likely, a common ancestor not too far back. It has never, ever happened between New World and Old World parrots.

[Wolf]

Wow!! I didn't know all of that, great stuff.

[Pajarita]

Yes, birds are an inexhaustible source of interesting and cool stuff to learn and, there is sooooo much of it that even if we spent the rest of our lives doing research, we would not be able to learn every single fact about them.... and that is super cool on itself!

[lrhodes91]

No, the eggs will not be fertile. Lovebirds come from Africa while GCCs come from South America so their common ancestor, if they had one, is too far back in time for them to have any genetic compatibility.

There are different types of hibrids, you have:
- intraspecific - between two subspecies - like a Congo gray with a Timneh gray
- interspecific - between two different species of the same genus - like a Military macaw with a Green wing macaw which are both of the genus Ara.
- intergeneric- between two species of different genera - like a Hyacinth macaw with a B&G
- interfamiliar - between two species of different family and this is where yours would fall because lovebirds are of the Psittaculidae family while a GCC belongs to the Psittacidae one but this type of hybridization is super, super, super rare in birds and, in parrots, there is only one example: a blue-winged parrot with a cockatiel but they are both from Australia and, because it's an island (evolution in islands is different than in the mainland because it happens in a small, isolated geographical area), they had, most likely, a common ancestor not too far back. It has never, ever happened between New World and Old World parrots.

Wow!!! This is interesting!!! Thanks so much for sharing your wealth of information!!!

Lyn