Breeding Questions

[Emma]

Hey

Um, these might sound like silly questions but I was just wondering if you can breed pet birds that have been handraised, well how difficult it is to do so? Because I heard that handraised black cockatoos 'imprint' on the person who hand raised them and therefore don't get attracted to other birds or something and therefore its nearly impossible to breed that bird. Is that the same in green cheek conures or true at all? Not looking to breed my baby for quite a while but I was just thinking about if it would still be possible. Or are avairy birds better breeders? Any experiences you've had with this or any thoughts would be appreciated.
Sorry for such a long post

[meandem]

Questions are what it is all about. Ask away - I always do!

I have hand raised birds that are great breeders. Some of them even breed whilst here inside the house!

Personally I think it all depends on the bird! Whether they want to or not!

[Emma]

Oh ok, because my little Jingo is only a baby (4 months) at the moment but eventually when hes older I thought it would be nice to get batch or two of babies. I'll just have to see

[avinet]

Hand raised birds breeding? - it all depends! Breeding with hand raised birds that have gone into an aviary rather than become pet birds, generally have no problems. Hand raised birds that have been kept with others of their species as pets can often become breeders. Hand raised birds that have been solitary pets for a number of years can often fail to breed. But there are always exceptions.

Asiatics seem to have no problem breeding - we have a Ringneck pair that are near 20 years and they are good breeders, in their cage in the family room - their story will appear in their own thread soon. Similarly with the Alexandrine pair that produced the lutino Alexandrines I posted on another thread - they have bred in their cage in the house, and our only problem is persuading them not to breed if we don't want them to.

Our hand raised cockatiels have been mixed, some have bred OK but others have been hopeless. We have one pair that we have given many opportunities to and they have never been successful. They can produce eggs, but are hopeless at sitting.

We have a Princess pair about 14 years, that have never bred. The female is willing, and I suspect able, but the male is hopeless. He is great at the song and dance act that precedes mating but when he gets to the jumping on top stage he, instead, gives her toes a nip and flies off shouting in joy at what he thinks is a job well done. We used to have a very frustrated female but in recent years she seems to have given up on it all and is resigned to remaining a virgin

Budgies will breed anywhere, hand raised or not.

Quakers also seem to breed just fine if hand raised, especially if they are socialised with other birds as a youngster - sometimes an older bird kept alone can have problems relating to another bird arriving in it's territory.

Conures are variable. A friend had a pair of Sun Conures that never successfully bred - they would lay and incubate OK but never had fertile eggs. They were never endoscoped to check if there was a problem, but the feeling was the male didn't know how to mate properly. I have heard of Green Cheeks that were hand raised breeding successfully, but have only bred with aviary Green Cheeks and not hand raised ones. I suspect they would breed OK.

cheers,

Mike

[jusdeb]

My 2 hand reared Quarrions have been my best breeders so far , they are very laid back when it comes to any hands on things that need doing because they are used to me .

However as said it depends on the birds .

[Emma]

I'd just have to see when the time comes. Conures don't have mates for life or anything do they?

[Robyn]

All my breeders have been hand-reared & placed in their aviary at about 12 months old. Although H/R they were never human imprinted. So i have had great success with breeding them. I think they have to be a compatible pair to breed.

In an aviary situation & provided a mate is not lost to death or escape, yes they will & can mate for as long as they are together.

[alemap]

I have a hand raised pr black toos which have been together 18months now and they are no longer tame, you certainly couldnt just pick them up and i hope will breed 1 day. My galahs were all hand reared and breed with no problems.

[kopperjam]

i have a pair of zebra doves for the past two years i am certain they are a pair but the problem is they always mate, the female goes to the nest lay the eggs but abandon the nest two or three days on and this is happening for all the months i have had them i have even put in different nesting boxes at different locations and i am watching to see what will happen now can you help

[avinet]

Jun 12, 2011 11:13:47 GMT 10 kopperjam said:

i have a pair of zebra doves for the past two years i am certain they are a pair but the problem is they always mate, the female goes to the nest lay the eggs but abandon the nest two or three days on and this is happening for all the months i have had them i have even put in different nesting boxes at different locations and i am watching to see what will happen now can you help

Firstly I have never heard of the name Zebra Dove - I assume you mean the Peaceful Dove?

Working on the assumption they are the Peaceful Dove, there are a few questions to ask.

How big an aviary are they in?

What do they share the aviary with?

What do you feed them?

You talk about nest boxes - do you really mean an enclosed nest box or open baskets or dishes?

How old are they?

Hopefully with the additional information we may be able to make some suggestions. I always found Peaceful Doves pretty good breeders, so we should be able to work out the problem.

cheers,

Mike