Prolific and hardy, Amazons can make great breeder birds. Breeding Amazons
By John Meade, John & Linda's Aviary
What psittacine best fits the mental image of a parrot? One of the many species of Amazon parrots is what comes to mind. We've all seen pirate movies with a yellow-naped or double-yellowheaded Amazon parrot as the captain's talking companion. This mostly green, short-tailed bird with a colorful array of head, wing and tail markings has an exuberance for life rarely matched by other species of the bird world.
A well-adjusted Amazon parrot makes a wonderful lifelong companion. Their ability to make toys from the simplest of items (such as frozen treat sticks, wooden clothespins and paper towel inserts) makes amusing them an easy task. They rarely show the neurotic behavior more often seen in Old World birds, such as African greys, cockatoos and Eclectus. Amazon parrots are often noted for their elevated state of excitement during breeding season as they mature. Actually, some well-behaved Amazons show little change during breeding season, but others will be completely taken over by their hormones. We find that with loving patience and by accommodating overelevated moods with plenty of space and handling them only after their excitement has subsided you can avoid confrontation with your companion. Also, most parrots mellow with age, so each new breeding season becomes less of a challenge.
In the past, most available Amazons were wild-caught and imported from their homeland in South and Central America. With the 1992 Wild Bird Conservation Act, importation has virtually come to a halt. Now the need for aviculturists to ensure the future of our captive stock comes into full light. In the past, it was thought Amazons were difficult to breed. But we soon found when basic needs were met, most healthy, well-bonded pairs became productive. Even pairs that actually dislike each other can sometimes yield to the call of nature and produce young.
One of the problems often encountered with breeding Amazons is the more birds in a restricted area, the less productive they can become. Particularly, some of the members of the Ochrocephala genus are very territorial. Throughout the years, we've seen producing pairs of yellow napes or double yellowheads become unproductive when another pair of the same species entered their territory. Some pairs would resume producing when visual barriers were installed, while other pairs were disturbed by just being able to hear similar species nearby. This is one group of birds where trying to house and breed several pairs of each species can make successful breeding difficult. Alternating species in adjoining cages, such as a pair of yellow napes next to a pair of Mexican redheads, then a pair of blue fronts, maybe a pair of lilac crowns, then a pair of double yellowheads, usually produces the best results. Also, privacy from excessive human activity proves beneficial. Most importantly, keeping an open mind and treating each pair individually will ensure the greatest amount of success.
Housing
In the beginning, we kept our birds indoors mainly because of the fear of theft. We found that keeping birds in buildings, especially when overcrowded, makes it easy to start epidemics. Through the years, many large indoor collections have been devastated. This rarely happens, if ever, in well-spaced outdoor aviaries. Problems are isolated to individual pairs and rarely spread among the other birds.We are very fortunate here in central Florida to be a subtropical zone where birds can be kept outside year round. The hottest days of summer can cause more problems than the coldest days we've ever experienced. It is interesting to hear of many northern breeders keeping birds outside through the winter with no heat; only shelter from rain, snow and winds. In Canada, Mark Hagen has been keeping several pairs of Amazons, among other birds, outside through the winter. James Murphy in Washington state brings his birds inside during the worst of winter where he keeps his birds comfortable at around 50 degrees. He notes if they are kept much warmer it can throw his birds into a molt, which is not desired in winter months. Another method often seen in colder climates is keeping birds in buildings along outside walls with adjacent elevated flights outside. Access can be a cat or dog exit door for freedom of choice or a slide door where the keeper controls their access. An interesting observation many breeders report is that even on the coldest days they will find their birds outside when given a choice. Feed stations and nest boxes are usually kept inside the building for protection from the elements.
One of the most asked questions from beginning Amazon breeders is, "What size should my breeding cages be?" Our reply is, "The larger the better." We have never believed in the antiquated theory that birds kept in spacious cages tend to play too much and be less productive. The benefits of health, extra vigor and longevity from more exercise merits large caging. Our Amazon breeder cages are 3 to 4 feet wide by 4 feet high by 8 feet long. In the future, we plan to make the cages even larger. We use 1/2- by 3-inch 12-gauge galvanized after-welded wire because it resists even the most destructive pairs. Only stainless-steel crimps are used in assembling the cages because they do not rust or corrode. The cages are made from two pieces of wire. Each piece of wire is bent in a "U" shape to form two long sides and one end. This saves a lot of extra cutting, thus exposing less bare metal for rusting and requires less crimping. Most of our cutting is done with an electric 7 ¹-inch skill saw equipped with a steel cutting abrasive blade. These blades can be purchased from most home centers for $2 to $3 each.
We prefer our cages 4 to 5 feet off the ground to keep our birds out of their own waste, make cleaning under cages easier and give the birds a feeling of security. The cages are self supporting and can be suspended with wire or mounted on rails of pipe or metal-covered pressure-treated lumber. Entry doors are centered at the bottom of the cages for easy access to replace perches, fasten nest boxes, install toys and swings, and catch up birds when needed. Our specially-designed feeders are mounted on the outside of the cages with an access hole big enough for our birds to stick their heads through. These feeders hold three bowls: two food bowls with a water bowl in the middle. This usually keeps birds from fighting over food. The problem, though, is that they make their water bowls very messy by going back and forth with their food. We rinse and replace their water daily and wash their bowls twice a week.
We strongly believe in natural perches and have tried to stay away from any type of permanent perching, such as steel pipe, rolled cage material, concrete or PVC. Because of availability in our southern region, we mostly use various types of oak and citrus limbs. Perches are cut with various offsets and dimensions to ensure a variety of grip ranges for healthy feet. Perches are fastened from the outside with 1 1/2-inch galvanized wood screws and 1-inch washers. Secure perching helps ensure successful mating. We have seen oak on toxic lists, but after having our birds chew up tons of oak limbs, we have yet to experience the problem.
Nest Boxes
All our Amazon nest boxes are 2 feet deep. Smaller Amazons are given approximately 10- by 10-inch cavities, with those for larger Amazons ranging up to 15 by 15 inches. We cut 8- by 6-inches-high inspection doors approximately 5 inches off the bottom for egg and baby inspections and removal. We cut a 5-inch hole 3 inches from the top on the cage side of the nest box for bird entry. I cover the inside of the nest box on the cage side with 12-gauge 1- by 1-inch mesh wire, from the entry hole to the bottom of the box, for easy entry and exit. The other three sides of the nest box are striped vertically with 2- to 4-inch by 3/4-inch pieces of soft pine for chewing. We use three-penny-finish nails for fastening the pine strips inside the nest box. Insulated, removable lids or roofs on our nest boxes make it easy to replace the pine strips after breeding season. Most pairs chew on the strips and rarely chew on the 3/4-inch exterior plywood boxes. The boxes are put together with exterior construction adhesive and 2-inch galvanized deck screws. Boxes are primed and finished with exterior paint, and all outer surfaces are painted, except for the cage side of the box, which the birds usually like to chew on. To install boxes to the cages, someone holds the box up against the cage, while another person screws in 1-inch wood screws with 1-inch washers from inside the cage.Whenever we wish to close off the nest box, we just slide a piece of sheet metal between the cage and nest box, covering their entry hole. The perch next to the nest box is always chosen with a limb offset that leads up to the nest box for easy entry by our birds.
In the past, we used Sevin Dust in our boxes for bug control but eliminated it a couple years ago in an attempt to keep all chemicals away from our birds. We use only pine chips in our nest boxes for bedding material. The coarser pine chips with no dust is preferred. We try to change the pine chip bedding right after babies are pulled. One year, everyone was using eucalyptus in their nest boxes, and so we tried it. Then we found, as others did, that it caused aspergillosis in babies.
After breeding season, we empty nest boxes and disinfect them with a soapy bleach solution. Nest boxes are closed off from the cage and sprayed with Camicide to eliminate weevils, ants, etc. that may be hiding in the crevices.
We have found some of our infertile pairs could be stimulated into fertility by nailing a piece of wood inside the box over the entry hole, leaving a small opening at the top of the hole, thus making birds chew their way back into the box. The chewing gives the male stimulation and more time to become fertile before the hen begins laying.
Another problem can be overly aggressive males that break or eat eggs and/or babies. Since it is much more of a problem with cockatoos, we have been solving some of their problems by keeping the males out of the boxes. We remove the perch closest to the nest box and cover the area around the nest hole with sheet metal, making entry possible only by flying into the nest box. Then the male's wings are clipped so only the hen can get into the nest box. This has worked well on most of the problem cockatoo pairs. In only one incident did we have problem; a male umbrella chewed off the flight feathers of the hen, making the box inaccessible to both birds. This year, I am trying this on two of my problem Amazon pairs. Another solution used with egg-breaking pairs is to design your nest box bottom so that once the eggs are laid, they roll out of reach of the naughty pair. The eggs then must be removed for incubation or fostering under a better pair of brooding birds.
We find it very rare for Amazon pairs to double-clutch if they are allowed to raise babies for the first two to three weeks. Of course, several breeders have shown that stealing eggs as soon as they are laid can cause a hen to continue laying many eggs. Other aviculturists we know have stimulated pairs into laying up to 20 eggs by taking them as they are laid. This practice will certainly shorten the hen's life expectancy. Most of our experience with overproductive hens has shown depleted bone masses long before expected longevity.
In 1995, we pulled several clutches of baby Amazons when they were between 5 and 10 days old. Several of the pairs whose babies were pulled double-clutched that year. Of course, the second clutch was allowed to stay longer with their parents. We left some of the better pairs a baby to raise for future breeding stock. We have left babies with parents for almost a year, just barely removing them before the next season started. A few of these babies would still beg for food from their parents, and the parents would reluctantly still feed them. During the 1996 season, we were extremely busy and had waited till the Amazon babies were between 2 to 3 weeks old before pulling them. The parents that previously double-clutched refused to do so again. My theory now being, when babies are very young, even though they have to be fed very often, they require very small amounts of food and are easy for parents to care for. But when babies pass 2 weeks of age, they become more demanding, requiring lots of food, therefore taxing the parents to their limits. Some of my pairs seem happily relieved when we pull their fat little babies for hand-feeding and never even enter the box again till the next breeding season.
Michael DeFreitas Some Amazons seem to look forward to breeders taking over the task of hand-feeding. This is a young blue front. Heat is another consideration, we have noticed that the pairs most likely to double-clutch are under mature oak trees, where it stays a lot cooler. We find most good pairs produce three to four babies each clutch. In the beginning, most pairs started incubation after laying the first egg, therefore hatching babies every other day, the way they are laid. Some older pairs start incubation after all their eggs are laid because their babies will hatch the same day.
Diet
Amazon parrots have a tendency to overeat and become obese in captivity. So, it has always been our policy to monitor amounts fed very closely. By feeding our pairs twice each day, we can limit amounts easily, and by doing so we can get most pairs to eat any wholesome nutritious food we provide them. We have been feeding bird pellets for more than 15 years as our main ingredient and have changed brands of pellets several times throughout the years, trying to use the pellet we believed was being the most thoroughly researched and giving the best results.We had been interested in Harrison's 100-percent organic Bird Diet for some time but had felt it too expensive for a commercial operation. In 1994, Dr. Greg Harrison and his daughter, Tanya (she runs their bird food division), agreed to work with us so that we could evaluate their diet in a breeding operation, not only for breeding production but also for overall health of the flock. The things that really impressed us about Harrison's Bird Diet is their commitment to top-quality human-grade ingredients and human-grade processing of extruded pellets. With a high commitment to freshness, their food is maintained at the optimum 40 degrees Fahrenheit until shipped to your veterinarian, who, ideally, should order the pellets as needed and not overstock, unless refrigerated. Also, Dr. Harrison tries to balance vitamins and minerals at optimum levels and avoids overfortifying his diet. He believes many problems seen today are caused by double-dosing some of the vitamins and minerals. As we enter our fourth year using Harrison's Bird Diet, we are very pleased with our flock. Along with our diet change came our real awareness of the chemicals to which we expose our birds.
Dr. Harrison suggests that, for optimum results, food supplementing be limited mostly to dark-green and dark-yellow vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli and assorted greens. It is preferable that these be organically grown. We rarely find organic produce, so we soak all produce in water and apple cider vinegar for 10 minutes to help neutralize toxins and chemicals that may be on them. Usually, we only feed one item in an attempt to get our flock to eat our selection. Some selections are only seasonally available. Items almost always available in Florida are carrots, apples, corn, sweet potatoes, oranges, cantaloupes, bananas, mangos and pineapple. Other items occasionally fed are mustard or collard greens, green beans, beets and okra. Most birds will eat their produce within a few minutes after they are fed when given an appropriate portion for the size of the bird.
After lunch, we feed our birds again. We empty, rinse and fill their water bowls. Their bowls are washed twice weekly, which keeps bowls from becoming slimy. We use well water that is run through a charcoal cartridge filter, which we change every two weeks, even though the manufacturer claims the filters should last three to four months. It is well-known that filters can grow all types of bacteria, so the more often they are changed, the better the water supply. We also add organic, unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (2 tablespoons per gallon) to our water for a couple of weeks every three months or so for the beneficial bacteria and enzymes it provides.
We feed Harrison's Bird Diet (High Potency coarse) at the second feeding of the day with any nuts or seeds that we supplement. For around two years, we have been using Harrison's Pepper Diet. It is the same formula with 1-percent ground red chili pepper added because of the increased vitamin A content, Also, human research shows peppers have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. We have not used any additional vitamins or supplements of any kind since we've been on Harrison's Bird Diet. Dr. Harrison has found oil very beneficial for replenishing your egg-laying hens. We like to provide the extra oil by giving each bird one nut per day. Almonds are our favorite because they have the best calcium and phosphorous ratio of available nuts. We alternate with peanuts because that is one of their favorite foods. We also like to add a pinch (approximately 6 grams) of fortified parrot seed mix on top of the pellets. Birds will eat any whole natural food item before their pellets, so in order to ensure a large portion of their diet is Harrison's Bird Diet, you have to closely regulate all additional items. We believe in the past when the dominant feeder would become ill or die while the mate (usually the hen) would remain healthy and strong, was a result of over-supplementing. In other words, if a dominant feeder that was very resistant to eating pellets managed to eat all the seeds, nuts and produce intended for the pair, leaving only pellets for the other bird, he would not be receiving a nutritionally balanced diet. And possibly there was just enough nuts, seeds and produce to satisfy his hunger, but not enough to maintain his weight and health.
Aviary Maintenance
Since we have several aviaries, we clean a different building each day in order to wash every unit at least once a week. The aviaries with concrete floors are scraped, and the refuse is put in a compost. Then we thoroughly pressure-wash the cages, perches, walls, windows, screens and floor area. We find that by keeping accumulated waste cleaned from cages, we do not need disinfectants in the aviaries. We maintain a weekly cleaning routine year round, even through breeding season. As stated earlier, bowls are cleaned twice weekly. After washing bowls thoroughly, they are soaked a minimum of 10 minutes in a bleach solution before drying. We never mix bowls between buildings in order to avoid possible cross contamination. We only disinfect cages if something happens to a pair and we have to replace them with a new pair, and even then only the cage itself is reused; the perches, toys and nest boxes are replaced.Health
Amazons, on the whole, are very hardy. Their longevity is well-documented. We have a 43-year-old yellow nape hen that laid her first eggs last year. This year she double-clutched with three eggs each time! The only problem is that she doesn't like her mate or any other males I've had her with, so the eggs were infertile. We bought her from a friend who had kept her in a flower shop for over 20 years. We had her eight years before she finally laid eggs, just eight months after she was on Harrison's Bird Diet.Once a closed collection is achieved, fewer health problems occur. With periodic checks from our veterinarian, we have steadily increased baby productions and eliminated most health problems. We are very fortunate to have one of the few certified avian specialists available to aviculture as our veterinarian. Most importantly to us, they are mobile, making regular visits on site. This saves us valuable time and eliminates possible exposure to other patients at the vet's office. Our veterinarian (and noted authors), Margaret Wissman, DVM, Dip., ABVP—Avian Practice and her husband, longtime aviculturist, Bill Parsons, combine their knowledge to offer complete evaluations of birds, their housing and husbandry practices.
In the fall, after breeding season, we begin to evaluate breeders individually, automatically worming them as we assess their health, weight and general appearance. We vary wormers from year to year, alternating between Ivermictin, Strongid T and Panacur. Notes are kept on each bird for future reference and comparison. Any noted concerns are evaluated by our veterinarian and handled appropriately.
One problem that occurs in a small percentage of Amazons outdoors is allergies. In the springtime, around their eyes and nare area, they will appear swollen, scaly and irritated, then perfectly normal the rest of the year. Most vets and aviculturists argue pollen, possibly from oak or pine trees, or small biting bugs called "no-see-ums" are the culprits. Since these birds usually have no problem inside, going into an indoor breeding program can be a good solution. The couple of individuals we have with this problem have slowly improved through the years and have less of a problem than in the past.
When we acquire a new bird, we perform our general health exam before the bird is allowed to stay on our property. Naturally, general appearance is first studied before even handling the bird. Many maladies can be uncovered by carefully observing individuals. As our flock has grown, so have our requirements of new candidates for our breeding program. Many birds are rejected without even handling them. Often seen problems in older Amazons are obesity and deficiencies that are hard to correct. Should we like their physical appearance, then we restrain them with a large towel and perform a throat inspection. Ideally, all surfaces in the choanal area should be smooth and free of abscesses. The papillae should be pointed and well-defined. Bacteria, candida, hypovitaminosis A and trichomonas all cause lesions in the choanal area and destroy the papillae. Next, we inspect the vent with a cotton swab dipped in 5-percent acidic apple cider vinegar. Carefully, we invert the vent area, looking for any signs of papillomas. The apple cider vinegar whitens any papillomas bumps, helping detect them even in the early stages. Any birds showing any signs of papillomas are rejected. We also suspect infections in birds that have inflamed tissue in the vent or bleed easily upon inspection.
If accepted, new stock is individually caged and placed outside to acclimate to their new home. They remain individually caged for a minimum of 60 days. As soon as they adapt to our diet, our veterinarian again inspects them. We automatically worm new birds and inject with vitamin A, since most birds we receive are vitamin A deficient to some degree. A culture and bloodwork is performed, along with any other tests our veterinarian deems necessary.
We have found breeding Amazons to be a challenging endeavor, and because of their individuality, one must keep an open mind. What worked on your first pair of double yellowheads may not on your next pair. The aviculturist who studies his birds, researches available information and strives to meet his pairs' needs will most likely be rewarded with many babies.
John Meade is a bird breeder residing in Florida.