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Breeding season

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Breeding season

Postby Pajarita » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:50 am

Breeding season is upon us for both the short day and the long day breeders. They might be in different 'stages' of the season but they are all hormonal right now in one degree or another. I am going to ABBA tomorrow to get supplies and starting the breeding season diet for the canaries this weekend and I will start the parrots the week after. In truth, I could have already started it because I have birds already nesting but I like to make the season as short as possible so I always wait a bit before I give them the green light.

This year, I am going to set up one single pair of canaries to breed: Luca and Maria. They are already 4 and 5 years old and at their very prime, which is the best time to 'continue' the blood lines keeping them nice and healthy. I will be putting the male in a flight cage in my dressing room/walk in closet in front of the window and the female in a smaller cage next to it and start feeding condition food as well as give the female nesting materials and a nest. I will post pictures of the entire process for your enjoyment [there is NOTHING cuter than newborn teeny tiny pink-naked canary babies!]. I am planning on keeping the females and giving away the males but, as I am only allowing one single clutch, this is still kind of up in the air until the babies are born and I can tell what I have in terms of gender... Oh, and, this year, I am going to make my own conditioning food for the canaries as well as the hatchling food for the babies because the commercial ones that are available all have egg and soybean meal - wish me luck on this because it's my very first try but I have been doing research on this for some time now and I think I can do it. I am also going to ask the owner of ABBA which company he uses for testing the nutritional values of his mixes and whether he would allow me to pay him in advance and use his account with them to test mine [and, if I can get this, I will also test the gloop so I have exact values for it].
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Breeding season

Postby Navre » Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:10 am

We have a big, male Amazon, former breeder, who has gotten pretty aggressive over the past week, or so. It’s that time of year.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Hooded Parrot
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Re: Breeding season

Postby Pajarita » Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:34 am

Yep, it sure is. Precie YNA has already laid two eggs but she has not even tried to incubate them. I checked them and they are both clear and I suspect both the fact that the eggs are not fertilized and that she is not incubating them is because Zeus YNA does not feed her in her beak [a bad provider cannot really be a good father]. Thankfully, he hasn't gotten super aggressive -at least, not yet- so I haven't had to lock them up in the cage when I am not there. I am very careful when I am in the birdroom and always keep my distance from the cage at all times but, as I do have to clean it even if I don't do it as often as I normally do, I have no choice but to lock them in Linus' cage for a little while. Aside from that, they have been real good at staying on their 'side' of the birdroom and not bothering Linus Too and Sophie CAG which, going by the huge amount of chewed wood and splinters I find every morning [which, by the way, I never sweep up completely, leaving quite a bit of them on purpose] seem to be working on a nest in the same spot they did last year but, so far, no eggs.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Breeding season

Postby liz » Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:54 am

Pajarita, are they like chickens and lay the eggs but not incubate until the have the full nest?

None of my Tiels have been looking for a nest. My females are vocal during mating and have heard 1 couple.
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liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
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BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
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Re: Breeding season

Postby Pajarita » Sun Feb 25, 2018 2:55 pm

Some of them do and some of them don't. As you know, Liz, I don't really have any significant experience with parrots but, when it comes to canaries, some hens wait until they have, at least, a couple of eggs to sit on them but some start incubating when they lay the first one -and that's why it's always recommended to switch them with fake eggs and only replace them with the real ones once one sees that the hen is done with the clutch [which is actually quite easy to figure out because they lay one egg a day so the first morning you don't find a new egg, you know she is done].

With parrots, I think it's the same thing because I have seen numerous pictures of clutches where there is a definite difference in size between the siblings which clearly indicates that some hatched days earlier than the others. The thing with parrots is that, apparently, the parents make sure all the babies are fed, from the largest to the smallest [could it be that this is because they can count?]. This doesn't happen with canaries all the time and, sometimes, if you don't make sure all the eggs hatch within the same 24 hours, the little ones don't get enough food because the parents just feed the ones that are on the 'front lines' by stepping on or pushing the little ones out.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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