Scarlet chested parakeets

[Greybeard]

Hi, about 12 months ago I bought a pair of scarlet chested parakeets with the intention of breeding them. I was told that they were young birds, only a few months old. The male already had his red chest however a couple of months ago, the female started to develop a red chest.. The male was regurgitating food for her which she accepted and she was going in and out of the nest box however no eggs were laid. Is it possible that she is actually a he? "her" chest is now almost as red as his so I'm wondering if females can have red chests like the males.

[avinet]

Jan 25, 2014 18:33:14 GMT 10 Greybeard said:

Hi, about 12 months ago I bought a pair of scarlet chested parakeets with the intention of breeding them. I was told that they were young birds, only a few months old. The male already had his red chest however a couple of months ago, the female started to develop a red chest.. The male was regurgitating food for her which she accepted and she was going in and out of the nest box however no eggs were laid. Is it possible that she is actually a he? "her" chest is now almost as red as his so I'm wondering if females can have red chests like the males.

Sounds like two males - can you put up a photo of the "girl" - front view.   However since she is around 18 months old a male should have a full chest before now.  SO photo needed.

cheers,

Mike
 

[Greybeard]

Sorry for the delay I had to figure out how to downsize the pics. This is a pic of the birds as bought 12 months ago. I will load yesterdays pics once I get it uploaded to my pc.

Attachments:

[Greybeard]

Ok now for the current pic taken a few days ago.

[avinet]

Two males - no doubt about it. The "hen" in the first photo, 12 months ago, was very young - he was barely weaned - no more than 3 months old. By 6 months a male has coloured up enough to distinguish him from a hen. That red chest starts to appear normally between 6 and 12 months. I would say that the one that you bought as a male was already over 1 2motnhs old when you got it, and he had been put with a very young bird supposed to be a female. Basically it sounds like you were scammed!!

cheers,

Mike

[Greybeard]

I had read somewhere that the males get their red chest at around 4-5 months and then the colour intensifies at the next moult so I was surprised when the "hen" started to show red colour late spring, early summer. She/he would have been about 10 months or so old at a guess. Seeing the red colour I was hoping that maybe she/he had some mutation.
Oh well, thanks for bursting my bubble! At least this explains the absence of eggs!
I appreciate your reply.

[Greybeard]

I forgot to say that the have got to be the cutest, quietest birds that I have owned. They will eat out of my hand most mornings and are a treat to watch when they do laps around the place!

[spoton]

Apart from the non-pair issue they are nice looking birds. Am thinking of getting a pair in the future

[Greybeard]

Well I finally bought a female two weeks ago, I'm told that she is 8 months old and a "white" mutation. She is pastel blue in colour and very skittish, unlike the males which were pretty calm from day one. it's taken a year to find a female. The males started to fight from the moment that I put her in the cage so I removed the more aggressive bird. Well the female DID NOT like the calm male at all. He would try to feed her, sit next to her etc but she didn't want to know him. After one week I swapped the males and she took an instant liking to the new male. Within minutes they were sitting next to each other, eating together and he would feed her. They are now in and out of the nesting box so there may be the chirping of little birds soon.

[Laraine]

What do they say about chemistry lol. Good luck with babies. I have a pair of pastels, they are very pretty.

[Greybeard]

As you said, chemistry works. Of the four eggs laid, two hatched. Mum is doing her thing and dad is waiting on her beak and claw!