by Pajarita » Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:08 am
Please, please, PLEASE reconsider allowing them to reproduce! For one thing, it won't make a difference to them if babies actually come out of the eggs or not so long as you allow them to go through all the motions: courtship, nesting, laying, incubating, they will be happy. Birds in the wild don't always produce viable eggs and they lose entire clutches to predators, weather, accidents, etc. so, to them, when an egg doesn't hatch, there is no ' mourning' for what could have been and was not. They simply start another clutch. Ergo, switching the eggs with plastic ones is a wonderful solution for them and us. And, for another, it's not only their wellbeing that you need to think about but the babies'. There aren't that many good homes for parrots (not because people does not try real hard but because it's almost impossible to find a good that is stable (people marry, divorce, have children, go on vacations, move, etc), financially able (for years and years and years), has somebody who loves birds and stays home all day long (because they need to follow a super strict solar schedule and avian circadian cycles), is knowledgeable and willing and able to do research all the time (because we learn new things every day about them), etc. so the chances of the babies ending up in good homes is really very slim (breeders sell to whoever has the money to pay for the babies). Breeding an animal is a HUGE responsibility (and I am not even going into the HUGE overpopulation of pet parrots!) because you become responsible for the beings you bring into this world. It's like having children of your own. And it requires A LOT of knowledge because you need to know about the right environmental conditions it requires (people don't even know that humidity is a huge factor in DIS, for example), condition the birds for months in advance, know about physiology, pathogens, genetic conditions, etc as well as hand-feeding, weaning, etc. And you cannot learn these things by reading something somebody posted on the net, either. It requires hands-on experience of, at the very least, a couple of seasons AND in-person mentoring. I started helping to care for canaries when I was 8 years old and have kept different breeds throughout my entire life but I did not start breeding them until I was in my 30's and under the supervision of two mentors. I was very successful, no DIS, zero infant mortality, no genetic defects, healthy parents and babies, etc but I stopped doing it because even though canaries are 1,000 times easier to care for than parrots (they are a domesticated species and there is no overpopulation whatsoever), I still could not find enough good homes for them. So, please, think about this very carefully.