breeding eckies

[hillcresttiels]

Hi Tim as i don't hand rear I was under the impression that a bird hand-raised and a bird hand-reared are 2 different techniques is this what you mean by Human Imprinted ie. a hand-raised bird is one that is excessively handled by humans but still reared by parents and hand-reared bird is one that has been totally raised by human from egg or very infant stage thus not having any maternal instincts passed on to them
cheers Frank

[coltfire]

tim the cock bird is around 4.5 years old,i have never been attact by any of my eckies,the pair im talking about are quite funny ,when i go into check the box he will meet me at the door jump on my shoulder,when i knock on the box she just says hello and comes out and joins the male on my shoulder.

[macawvic]

hillcresttiels said:

Hi Tim as i don't hand rear I was under the impression that a bird hand-raised and a bird hand-reared are 2 different techniques is this what you mean by Human Imprinted ie. a hand-raised bird is one that is excessively handled by humans but still reared by parents and hand-reared bird is one that has been totally raised by human from egg or very infant stage thus not having any maternal instincts passed on to them
cheers Frank

Hi Frank,

Yes, technically on paper there is a difference between a handraised and handreared bird. As far as I am concerned, the variance between 'raised' or 'reared' is purely subjective. Both methods require the breeder to physically feed the chick, provide shelter, heat, suitable humidity, etc. The chick is still classed as parent-raised if it has not been removed for handfeeding.

Based on personal experiences I believe that the imprinting occurs over increased exposure to sole human contact. Unlike poultry, which imprints at point of hatch, I have found psitaccines to be more 'persistent' with their inherent instincts. I'll use the eclectus as an example as we are discussing eckies in this thread. One particular breeding pair I have were raised from 1 week after hatch with a fair amount of interaction with humans as they were being raised and weaned. They are an excellent breeding pair and equally entertaining and friendly stock. They are also much more resilient to stress and environmental change. Short of causing physical harm, they would allow me to do anything to them.

Rgds
Tim

[macawvic]

coltfire said:

tim the cock bird is around 4.5 years old,i have never been attact by any of my eckies,the pair im talking about are quite funny ,when i go into check the box he will meet me at the door jump on my shoulder,when i knock on the box she just says hello and comes out and joins the male on my shoulder.

Be exceptionally wary when she is at point of lay. Even the friendliest of friendly hen will partially revert to her maternal instinct. Just remember that they have half a tonne of pressure at the point where the lower and upper mandible meet. You could VERY easily loose your ear or worse, an eye.

At 4.5 years of age, your cock should be producing viable sperm. There could be a number of factors why they are producing clear eggs. I'll just list them in a summarised form:

1) Perches - too loose, too thick, too thin, too smooth, too short.
2) Inexperience - even humans bum out sometimes on this one...your boy just needs practice to perfect his techniques. I've seen cocks literally fall off hens and smash onto the floor of the aviary.
3) Eager hen - she's likely more willing to procreate than he is. She has probably laid the eggs before he has had the chance to fertilise them.
4) Diet - this may not be a reason as you mentioned that they are receiving a balanced diet.
5) Undeveloped testes - There are cocks around who have undeveloped testes, hence shooting blanks.
6) Incompatible pair - Little pair chemistry will lead to the hen laying with no 'honey'.

Rgds
Tim

[coltfire]

just to give you all an update ,for the first time the male spent 3 days in the nest box with the female last week ,i just checked the box and she has laid 1 egg as of today,so now ill just wait for the second egg and then try fostering the eggs with 1 of the other pairs,or should i just leave them and see what happens.

cheers
Steve

[billspets]

ha steve
if possable i would reccomend trying to place another egg under her while your foster her eggs even if it is a fake one but preferably a real one if you can
hope this helps
regards
bill

[billspets]

ha steve
if she has 2 eggs you could foster one and leave her with the other but only try to foster if you have another female one eggs that are due to hatch at the same time period
regards
bill

[coltfire]

unfortunately none of the other's are sitting on eggs at the moment.