DanaandPod wrote:Wolf wrote:There are certain things which all come together to initiate the breeding cycle in birds.
1) a mate - in captivity we are the mate
2) a nesting site - this is provided by their cage
3) Climate - We provide a comfortable environment that is conducive to reproduction
4) Food - again we provide an abundance of food
5)Light - This is also provided by us.
Of all of these items the one that is most important is lighting and the second is food. By keeping our birds on a human light schedule and not exposing them to the proper wavelengths of light we allow the breeding cycle to begin but not to shut down. This is why exposure to the twilight periods of dawn and dusk are so important as the wave lengths of light that start and stop this breeding cycle are contained only in the light produced at these times. Food is also important especially in the amount of protein contained in it which is why we don't want to feed a high protein diet to our birds.
Does this help?
Somewhat helpful. But still a little sketchy on my end. So you are saying that the solar light schedule is also helpful in starting and stopping the breeding cycle?
Let's see if I can clarify. Parrots are what is called 'opportunistic' breeders, this means that they only produce sexual hormones that will allow them to breed if certain environmental conditions are present. This is the reason why people who don't know enough about the subject would say that pet birds breed all year round when, in nature, this never happens -only in captivity. There are three main triggers (environmental clues that turn the breeding on or off): photoperiodism (length of day or number of daylight hours), food availability and weather. Ergo, when the days are of a certain length (it varies by species), there is rich and plentiful food and good weather, the birds will breed. Tropical birds, because they live in a very specific environment where the days and nights are almost the same length all year round, use food as their primary trigger and weather as their secondary (although, if you think about it, weather and food kind of go hand in hand because it's the weather that determines whether plants will grow, bloom and fruit). Now, in captivity, food and weather are always good and this presents a big problem for us, parrot keepers, because we would have (and most people do) a bird that produces sexual hormones all year round with the corresponding physical and emotional problems this brings (aggression, screaming, chronic laying -and the eggbinding that could easily result from it, physical discomfort if not outright pain, plucking, self-mutilation, etc). BUT, thankfully, we know (through studies) that ALL birds are photoperiodic and that tropical birds will switch to using photoperiodism as their main trigger if there is a big enough difference between the seasons.
Photoperiodism implies that the bird is able to set its internal clock (circadian cycle) so it's in tune with the seasons (circannual cycle) but, in order for this to happen, the bird needs to be fully (from almost the beginning to the very end) exposed to the two periods of twilight that happen every day (dawn and dusk) because what their endocrine system reacts to is the change in the colors that make up the light at these times. Noon light is white and has the highest UV output, dawn and dusk's lights are redder (and you can tell just by looking at the color of the clouds) and has the lowest UV output (this is because of the way the sun rays refract when they hit the atmosphere -straight down for noon or on an angle when the sun is low on the horizon).
So, when the parrot wakes up with the sunrise in the morning and goes to sleep with the sunset in the evening without been exposed to artificial light, his internal clock sets the circadian cycle at the seasonal number of daylight hours (it works like a stop watch, it starts 'ticking' with the sunrise and stops with the sunset and his body registers that the day had so many hours of light in it). If you, at the same time, decrease protein during the short days, eliminate all nesting places and triggers (like touching them in erogenous zones), the bird will not produce sexual hormones, his sexual organs will shrink and go dormant until the days are longer and the food is richer.
There are other triggers that are specific to each like female budgies (and canaries) reacting to the males songs or vocalizations, cockatiels both male and female to rain or baths, etc. Truth is we don't know enough about all the different triggers of all the different species - there have not been enough studies about them. I'll give you one example that I just learned the other day. Cockatoo breeders would split the jaw bone of the males so the lower beak was 'loose' because this way, they could not bite hard enough to kill the females, a problem they had very, very often. We knew it did not happen in the wild, only in captivity, but nobody knew why until now. Apparently, long days and good food would start a female cockatoo producing sexual hormones but it was her watching the male build the nest that 'finished' the job and, in captivity, as the birds are given nests already made, the males were ready from day one because, as far as they were concerned, their job was done (there was a good nest) but the hens were not ready because they had not watched the male building it so the males, frustrated by the females not wanting to reproduce (and, most likely in acute physical discomfort) would attack them and often kill them.
So, although we don't know ALL the triggers for each species, we do know that keeping them to a solar schedule, not feeding them a lot of protein and reducing it during the 'resting' season (winter), not giving them any nests and not touching them in an birdy inappropriate manner would, at the very least, ensure that you will not end up with a sexually frustrated bird.
