New here and very interested in grass keets! :)

[SarahJo]

Hey everyone!

So my name is Sarah and I am new to this forum!

I have two pet green cheek conures and a pair of parrotlets who have laid one clutch that never hatched...but it was their first. Crossing my fingers for the next one!

I am just now looking into grass keets but I think bourkes, splendid and red rumps the most
I am looking into breeding these birds as aviary birds and making elegant aviaries so people can enjoy their beauty in their homes.se
But they can be good pets if hand raised as well?
I would love to do both

Can't wait to look more into them and learn more about these gorgeous birds!


Sarah

 

[Anne & Gang]

sorry Sarah I do not know anything about grass keets but someone will come along who knows more. I did want to comment on t he parrotlets..I heard that breeding them is incredibly difficult...so youhave won half the battle already there..let us hope the next clutch is viable..

 

[SarahJo]

Hey Kelli!!

Yeah I know, I have heard that too. I think they layed because I got two green cheek conures, both are from South America. So I think thats what set them off
But idk...I found a guy would would trade me a pair of rosy bourkes for my parrotlets. He would breed them as aviary birds as well. which I could do...but like you said they're hard to breed...I think rosey bourkes would sell better? Plus with parrotlets they're really territorial. So you could only have two in one aviary, maybe more but as far as I know its really hard to get them ok with each other. But rosey bourkes are known for being laid back and getting along with other birds. So with them I could put other birds with them, like finches and stuff? I raise lionhead bunnies too. And a women will trade me two pairs of zebra finches, a pair of society and their cages, nests, everything for one of my bunnies who is $65. So they're really common finches...which i dont love but they would be good to start out with?
And if I had the parrotlets I would want to hand feed them and I dont know. I just have a better feeling about this...
what do you guys think?


Sarah

 

[isma945]

well as far as the bourkes go i have one my self a rubino female and she is very sweet not loud at all and she loves to spend time on my shoulder. So i would have to say you cant go wrong with a bourke.

 

[Twitter09]

Sarah,

Grass keets are generally safe with finches in a large aviary - in fact, they are perhaps the only parrot family birds compatible with finches - and then, only in a large aviary with plenty of nest boxes. However, you don't want to mix your grass keet species in the same aviary. Scarlet-Chested (Splendid) and Red Rumps, for example, can interbreed and it generally not a good thing to produce hybrids. And I believe most of the other grass keet species can interbreed also. Bourkes, on the other hand, cannot cross breed with the other grass keets. So Bourkes and 1 other grass keet species might work together. BTW, from what I understand, Parrotlets are not safe in the same enclosure with grass keets or finches - so hopefully you weren't thinking of putting Parrotlets with anything else.

I have a hand-raised Bourke and a hand-raised Scarlet-Chested keet. Both are fully-flighted (not wing-clipped) and have stayed pretty tame. I have not tried breeding grass keets so I can't tell you too much about that.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Hey everyone!

So my name is Sarah and I am new to this forum!

I have two pet green cheek conures and a pair of parrotlets who have laid one clutch that never hatched...but it was their first. Crossing my fingers for the next one!

I am just now looking into grass keets but I think bourkes, splendid and red rumps the most
I am looking into breeding these birds as aviary birds and making elegant aviaries so people can enjoy their beauty in their homes.se
But they can be good pets if hand raised as well?
I would love to do both

Can't wait to look more into them and learn more about these gorgeous birds!


Sarah

I wanted a red rump but had a really hard time finding one and definitely NO hand fed ones. I have a hand fed, now one year old Rosy Bourke and I adore her. She was clipped (badly) when I got her, but I held her all the time. Her wings have grown out so now when I have her out she flies around but lands on me to hang out all the time. She is easy going, quiet and very cute and sweet. I totally recommend bourkes

 

[SarahJo]

Aww!

Your birds are gorgeous twitter!
But thats good to know about them interbreeding. I didnt really think about that, lol
But I am glad to know bourkes can go in with at least one other grass keet species because I think they are my favorite
And yeah! thats what I really liked about grass keets. how beautiful they are and how they do well with other small birds like finches and stuff. so they would be perfect for what I want to do
yeah they're pretty rare in general I think. I think I would let the parents feed them most of the time but if someone contacted me and wanted a hand fed one I would pull a clutch and hand feed them
dont worry...I know how. I finished hand feeding my green cheek conures. but will will take a lot more studying to do birds so young and little. ugh! I cany wait to get some!! I'm SO excited
and yeah I know parrotlets dont do well with other birds...thats a big part of why I am trying to sell them and then and buy some grass keets and finches

Ok, so tell me if you like this aviary idea. I think its pretty creative and unique

So my father is an amazing bronze sculptor.

David R. Nelson - Sculptor of life size monumental sculptures
http://www.davidnelsonsculptures.com/
And this is where my dad comes in. I am thinking about making aviaries still but they would be made out of bronze. Ok, so stay with me.
Ok, so for my idea is it would be a large four side rectangle shaped aviary. so tall & wide. It would be a rain forest theme...It would have legs but the legs would be roots. And the posts holding the glass in would be wider and they would look like part of a tree and they would have animals carved into the "wood". Like toucans, jaguars, ect....and they would go up to the top and it would have branches like a tree would. And maybe little sculptor birds on the branches. And maybe something else like a lynx or something. Then behind the birds would be a design too. I'm not sure what yet. I was thinking a water fall? but it doesn't really fit with the tree theme....
And then there would be plants on top of the aviary that would hang down on the side of the aviary but it would still leave the front open so you can see the birds of course. So it would look like a tree with the plants hanging down. Not spider plants...but something similar. And have you ever seen the tomato plants that hang upside down? Well you can do that with a lot of other plants too. I will have to do some research into it because plants are kind crazy. the roots naturally follow gravity and the leaves naturally go up towards the light. So this part might not work but I could have a plant hang down into the aviary so the birds can climb on it and chew on it and stuff. Also the bottom could have a plant as well. Maybe some form of moss or something? Or something they like to dig into. Since they like to forage on the ground. But there would have to be a way to catch the birds poo otherwise it would just be a mess. Any ideas with that?
That might not work...And then the aviary would have vents on the top and maybe the bottom so that you can hear them and they can breathe....
lol!
and there would be branch in it so they can fly around and there would be a pull out try on the bottom so they can clean it and there will have to be a way for the glass to come out, so they can clean that too. But yeah! it will be kind of complicated to get all the specifics figured out but thats my idea!
As you can see from my fathers website he is more than capable of making something like this. I on the other hand am not...I wish I was...lol
So its all a matter of getting him to actually make it. With the detail he puts into his work it could take up to a year....but whats nice about bronze is once you have a mold of the original you can keep using it over and over.

So then I would have the foundry make it into the bronze and do all the work once we have the molds. Which would cost about $2,000 but this aviary would be art as well as an aviary and bronze is pricey. So it would be worth $10,000-$15,000.
So it would be a live aviary!! There are a lot of people out there who spend that kind of money all the time too. My dad could bring one with him to show it off when he goes to art shows....

Well thats my idea! Let me know what you guys think


Sarah

 

[littlegreen.feathers]

If you do it, please share pics