A Look at Why Parrots Don't Breed, Part 2

Renowned author and aviculturist Rosemary Low shares stories illustrating how to get your parrots to breed.

By Rosemary Low

You can read part one by clicking the Archive link from the home page then clicking November.

I believe that many problems these days result from keeping pairs of many species, from rosellas to ringnecks, in flights that are much too small. The current low prices of birds are making matters worse. Many people seem reluctant to build proper aviaries for inexpensive birds. The fact is that cages only 6 feet long are entirely unsuitable for active birds like the larger parakeets. They need a flight with a minimum length of 12 feet and preferably 15 to 20 feet. Little pleasure is to be gained in keeping them in cages—and breeding results suffer.

My advice to anyone starting up with parakeets, parrots or other birds that need to be housed one pair per aviary, is to draw up an aviary plan. Then divide by two the number of aviaries and the number of pairs to be kept and double the size of the aviaries. There is so much more satisfaction to be gained from watching and keeping birds in more spacious aviaries. Ultimately, you may breed the same number of birds from twice the number of pairs in cramped conditions. Initially, breeding results may be good in cages but over a period they will deteriorate—usually in the numbers of young bred and inevitably in their quality.

Breeders of the larger parrots should always try to reserve an aviary for the emergency removal of one member of a pair where aggression suddenly occurs. If there is nowhere suitable to place a male, for example, who is harassing its mate, either by direct aggression or perhaps by keeping it away from the food, the temptation may be strong to leave it there and hope for the best. Unfortunately, picking up the body of a dead bird is likely to be the next event. If one bird is removed it should always be the aggressor. If the subordinate bird is removed from the aviary it will probably be attacked if and when it is returned. The other advantage of leaving the subordinate bird in the aviary is that it can regain its confidence on its own territory. If the subordinate bird must be removed, its mate should be reintroduced in the new aviary.

Unfortunately, however, parrots are a lot like humans. Once serious differences occur between them, the relationship may be permanently damaged. The subordinate bird may be under a tremendous amount of stress, which could result in it becoming ill, or at least in lacking the desire to reproduce. Trying a new male or female may be the only answer if breeding success is to occur.

You also need to consider the wisdom of not keeping too many species. Your understanding of each one will be greater if you keep, for example, three pairs of one species rather than one pair of three times as many species. Your opportunity to foster eggs or chicks will be greatly increased, thus the need to hand-rear will be reduced.

Having more than one pair is especially important with the rarer species. It provides you with the opportunity to offer unrelated young pairs. Now that it is a simple matter to have birds sexed by noninvasive methods even before they leave the nest, full advantage should be taken of this fact. It will also give you an advantage over other breeders offering unsexed birds of the same species.

Technology has reached most aspects of parrot breeding, especially veterinary science. If the breeding results from your birds are poor, do not overlook the fact that it may be because they are carrying a disease. You might think this is impossible because they look fit. But failure to nest, embryos dying in the egg, the death of chicks and poor feather condition in chicks are just some of the results of infectious diseases.

Diet—A Solid Foundation

One of the most important factors in successful breeding is, of course, diet. To start with, if it is wrong the birds will not even attempt to nest. A classic example is the case of several pairs of macaws in Australia. They were in the first batch to be imported when quarantine restrictions were lifted there. Aviculturists had not previously had the opportunity to breed macaws. A couple of pairs of about seven pairs imported by one man had bred successfully soon after they came out of quarantine—and that was all. About two years later, I was visiting the owner of these macaws. He was anxious to have my opinion as to why they were not breeding. It took me 10 seconds to tell him! The food dishes were filled with low-fat foods, including small seeds such as millets. He was under the impression that he should not feed sunflower because it resulted in feather plucking! A couple of his macaws had started to pluck themselves.

I suggested that he change the diet to one with a much higher fat content. When I spoke to him about 10 months later, he had reared about $200,000 of large macaws. In the wild, the high-fat fruits of palm trees are an important part of the diet of most large macaws. They form most of the diet of the blue species, such as the hyacinth.

In contrast, if one fed such a high-fat diet to Amazons, cockatoos and cockatiels, for example, the result would be disastrous. Their natural food sources have a low fat content. These birds easily become overweight if fed too much sunflower seed. With some species, such as rose-breasted cockatoos (galahs), the result is often fatal. Fat will be stored as a lipoma, a large lump on the abdomen. This will prevent successful breeding. Although a lipoma can be surgically removed, it is imperative to change the diet because it is usually very difficult to attempt surgery on a subsequent occasion. Galahs should be fed either low-fat pellets or small seeds, such as canary and millet, with plenty of green food.

If you keep parrots of widely differing species, it would be wrong to think that you can fed them all the same. They may exist on the food but some will not breed because their dietary requirements have not been met.

There are several important factors to consider when pairs are feeding young. One is that their dietary needs may change totally. Let me give an extreme example. While fig parrots will eat and enjoy seed, to offer it when there are chicks in the nest invariably leads to the chicks dying at an early age. The seed should be replaced with a mixture of fruits and cooked pulses. Until this was understood, rearing success was almost nonexistent.

Other parrots may also cease to eat seed when the chicks hatch. One needs to offer a variety of nutritious foods at this time, in addition to the normal diet. If the food that the parent birds need is lacking, they will stop feeding their young. Suggested extras include an egg rearing food; green food, such as chickweed and young dandelion leaves, pomegranates when in season; and cooked pulses for their high protein content. Obviously chicks have a need for good quality protein or they will die or spend a longer period than normal in the nest.

Another aspect to consider is the combination of foods. For example, while fresh corn (corn on the cob) is a good food when fed in conjunction with balanced diet, if fed in significant amounts to parrots that are fed large proportions of sunflower seed, it will be harmful. Both seed and corn have a low lysine content—lysine is one of the essential amino acids. Even more harmful is the fact that in both foods the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio is unbalanced. This will prevent the absorption of calcium and is likely to result in chicks suffering from rickets. The ideal calcium to phosphorus ratio is 2:1, but females that lay a large number of eggs may need a ratio of 3:1. Vitamin D3 plays an important part in controlling the levels of calcium and phosphorus in the body. All owners of breeding pairs should add a supplement that contains calcium and vitamin D3 to the food. Without it, the result could be egg-bound females. They become egg-bound as a result of low blood calcium levels—not in response to cold weather, as is sometimes suggested.

I have covered just some of the factors which need to be considered by parrot breeders. Much more detailed information is given in my recently published book Parrot Breeding.

Rosemary Low has kept and bred parrots for over 30 years. She has written many books and articles on various aspects of aviculture, and is a frequent lecturer. She resides at Palmitos Park in the Canary Islands where she works with a wide variety of avian species.