parrotlets mated. Need advice

[tash0605]

I have a breeding pair of parrotlets that I just acquired. I do have a nesting box that I just put on 3 days ago. I haven't seen either of them go into the box prior to breeding. I wanted to ask will the female still go into the box if she lays eggs now? I thought the male or female would inspect the box before mating.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

I would advise against breeding your birds. You can remove the breading box. You can buy dummy eggs to help with your female.

If you are interested in breeding please read this thread first. What's the real cost of breeding birds? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[tash0605]

I am aware of the care that the both parents and babies will need and I do want to breed them. They have bred before but stopped for a year. However, my question was regarding their behavior of mating prior to going into the next box. Is that normal for them to do that?

 

[finchly]

I think they inspect around the same time as breeding, so it could be before or after the actual event. Don't worry; if things are moving along and they're truly ready, they'll use the box.

 

[tash0605]

Thanks! That is encouraging

 

[SpecialistElbru]

I am aware of the care that the both parents and babies will need and I do want to breed them. They have bred before but stopped for a year. However, my question was regarding their behavior of mating prior to going into the next box. Is that normal for them to do that?

Sorry if I assumed too much. Your first post was rather short and I did not whether or not you were intending to breed them. You might say that you are interest in, "Discouraging breeding in former breeding pair".

You must look at the situation from a risk management point of view. Every thing in life has some risk associated with it. The best option is to choose the less risky option over a more risky option. Every time a bird lays eggs there is some risk of egg binding. So the best option is to lower the number of eggs the female produces. However extreme options can be more risky than the egg laying itself. If the two birds are a mated pair I would definitely recommend against splitting them up. This would reduce egg laying, but the long term physiological stress could be worse that egg laying.

Assuming they are not in an outdoor, the first thing I would do is to remove the nest box. The birds do not need a nesting box. However simply removing the nesting box will not prevent breeding all together. Statistically speaking removing it will reduce the number of eggs layed.

The female may continue to lay the occasional fertilized egg. To prevent an over population of captive birds, you will need to render the egg infertile. Some people are sensitive to the destruction of a living embryo. My position id that if you do it within the first few days of laying, there is no nervous system to cause suffering.

Once the female lays, you DO NOT want to simply remove eggs from her environment. You must provide a replacement, ether the original egg after it is rendered infertile (heat addling) or a dummy egg.

@JLcribber has experience preventing mating birds from producing young.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I got the impression you want them to breed. Correct?

I don't expect you sit all day, every day, every minute watching your birds, so you really don't know if the birds have checked out the box or not, right? I love watching what I like to think is 'natural' behavior, and when I put out a new nest box, the cock birds go over and look it over for all angles, try and peer inside without getting too close to the opening and generally be nosey about the box. Once they are sure there is no one inside, they may go inside and check it out, or they may lead their hen to the box and ask if she is interested. There will be no doubt if she accepts the box, she will start putting nesting material inside, usually a few of her down feathers, maybe so paper strips, especially if they are lovies, sometimes they will start sleeping in the opening to the box and stat displaying ownership by handing from their feet and spreading out their wings in a claiming gesture. It is really a cute process, but is sometimes behavior hard to catch, as they don't want other birds to know they found a good nest and will do the displays and such on the sly until they are ready to lay. It can be anywhere from ten to thirty days from finding the nest, having sex and then producing eggs. Different species have many different timetables.

 

[tash0605]

I got the impression you want them to breed. Correct?

I don't expect you sit all day, every day, every minute watching your birds, so you really don't know if the birds have checked out the box or not, right? I love watching what I like to think is 'natural' behavior, and when I put out a new nest box, the cock birds go over and look it over for all angles, try and peer inside without getting too close to the opening and generally be nosey about the box. Once they are sure there is no one inside, they may go inside and check it out, or they may lead their hen to the box and ask if she is interested. There will be no doubt if she accepts the box, she will start putting nesting material inside, usually a few of her down feathers, maybe so paper strips, especially if they are lovies, sometimes they will start sleeping in the opening to the box and stat displaying ownership by handing from their feet and spreading out their wings in a claiming gesture. It is really a cute process, but is sometimes behavior hard to catch, as they don't want other birds to know they found a good nest and will do the displays and such on the sly until they are ready to lay. It can be anywhere from ten to thirty days from finding the nest, having sex and then producing eggs. Different species have many different timetables.

Yes, I do want to breed them. And I don't sit there all the day. I do sit by the cage for the couple of hrs a day if I have work to do on my laptop but the majority of the day I don't know what they are up too. The cock is doing exactly what you said. He is looking into the next box opening every now and then sometimes even nibbling at the edges of the hole. I have the perch that is right by the entrance to the box and they do spent their nights and sometimes part of the day just sleeping right by the opening. They mated again today so I am assuming they will mate several times until the hen lays her eggs.

I was just worried that she might lay the eggs on the bottom of the cage if they don't take to the nest box since they mated before going into it. I did add some nesting material to the bottom of the cage in addition to some material that is already in the box.

 

[tash0605]

Sorry if I assumed too much. Your first post was rather short and I did not whether or not you were intending to breed them. You might say that you are interest in, "Discouraging breeding in former breeding pair".

You must look at the situation from a risk management point of view. Every thing in life has some risk associated with it. The best option is to choose the less risky option over a more risky option. Every time a bird lays eggs there is some risk of egg binding. So the best option is to lower the number of eggs the female produces. However extreme options can be more risky than the egg laying itself. If the two birds are a mated pair I would definitely recommend against splitting them up. This would reduce egg laying, but the long term physiological stress could be worse that egg laying.

Assuming they are not in an outdoor, the first thing I would do is to remove the nest box. The birds do not need a nesting box. However simply removing the nesting box will not prevent breeding all together. Statistically speaking removing it will reduce the number of eggs layed.

The female may continue to lay the occasional fertilized egg. To prevent an over population of captive birds, you will need to render the egg infertile. Some people are sensitive to the destruction of a living embryo. My position id that if you do it within the first few days of laying, there is no nervous system to cause suffering.

Once the female lays, you DO NOT want to simply remove eggs from her environment. You must provide a replacement, ether the original egg after it is rendered infertile (heat addling) or a dummy egg.

@JLcribber has experience preventing mating birds from producing young.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my original post. I do intend on breeding them and am trying to encourage them.

 

[Laurie]

Parrotlets pretty much only use the box for breeding. If you saw them mating it does not automatically mean that eggs are coming right away. However, if she does lay then you have a good chance of the eggs being fertile if you have seen mating.

Interest in the box is a good sign.

Parrotlets should only be allowed 2-3 clutches a year and never more than two clutches without a break. (Many birds lay multiple clutches in a season in the wild). I always let mine double clutch (when I had them) and then gave them several months without a box. So perhaps 2 clutches then a six month break or 1 clutch with a 3 month break. Either way it works out to not more than three a year if you are handfeeding babies.

To encourage them to breed you should, install the box, give 14 hours of light and offer an abundance of food they should always have leftovers so they know that there is plenty of food for babies.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

If they are sleeping near the box, they have claimed it. The hen won't go into it until she is close to laying. However, just because they are having sex, doesn't mean she will actually lay this time. My lovies mate constantly, but the hen deliberately unseats the COCK before the ultimate deed is done, so her eggs are rarely fertile. During the summer, they mate but produce no eggs; I only see eggs January thru April. Blue, the hen, calls all the shots, and poor Harley is literally hen pecked.

Increase the amount of protein and calcium in their diet, because the hen needs a lot more of both for maximum egg production.

 

[SpecialistElbru]

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my original post. I do intend on breeding them and am trying to encourage them.

I seamed to have failed at reading comprehension. I have this weird thing if I believe a string of text says something, my brain may twist it into thinking I read something different than was actuality written. If a sentence says, "Do not do thing X". I might mis-remember it as saying "do thing X".

I will sometimes read a passage then it seems to contradict itself. I will then re-read it and it will make since, once I realize my mistake. If the passage is longer I am more likely to correct my mistake. If the passage is only a few sentences I am more likely to not catch my mistake.

Re-reading your 6:02 pm post. I can defiantly see that I was incorrect in my interpretation. Even the part I quoted contradicts my interpretation.

That said, I don't think I have anything farther to add to this thread.

 

[tash0605]

Parrotlets pretty much only use the box for breeding. If you saw them mating it does not automatically mean that eggs are coming right away. However, if she does lay then you have a good chance of the eggs being fertile if you have seen mating.

Interest in the box is a good sign.

Parrotlets should only be allowed 2-3 clutches a year and never more than two clutches without a break. (Many birds lay multiple clutches in a season in the wild). I always let mine double clutch (when I had them) and then gave them several months without a box. So perhaps 2 clutches then a six month break or 1 clutch with a 3 month break. Either way it works out to not more than three a year if you are handfeeding babies.

To encourage them to breed you should, install the box, give 14 hours of light and offer an abundance of food they should always have leftovers so they know that there is plenty of food for babies.

Hard to get anything past 9 hrs of regular daylight hrs since its winter. I guess I can turn on some room lights when it starts to get dark for the extended daylight hrs.

 

[Laurie]

Hard to get anything past 9 hrs of regular daylight hrs since its winter. I guess I can turn on some room lights when it starts to get dark for the extended daylight hrs.

You can just leave them with the natural light and let them go with the seasons or you can add the artificial light. Whatever you prefer is fine.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

They could just discovered sex and aren't really ready to lay eggs yet. Like I said, my lovies and some of my cockatiels have sex all year round, but only produce eggs during certain months. Physically mating does not necessarily mean that the reproductive hormones are complete and present, just like they feel like having sex!

 

[tash0605]

Good news: the male has started to go into the nest box for a couple of days. When he goes in I hear him calling for the female. She finally went in today too but it was only for a couple of minutes. I have noticed though the perch inside the box is a little low compared to the hole. It worked great for lovebirds because they are a tiny bit bigger but the parrotlets seem to be struggling getting in and out because of that low set perch. Would it be ok to chop that perch off and attach a bit higher or does it not matter since both of them can mange to get in? I just wanted it to be easier for the both of them.

 

[finchly]

Great news!

I would chop it off.