too friendly with breeding pair?

[TJNL]

Hi,

I have a breeding pair of sun conures that I got earlier this year, theyre proven and gave 4 eggs last December but being me I just want to cuddle and love them!

so my question is:
Will there be any negative impact if I somewhat tame these two? ie I was feeding them from my hands and ted lets me touch his head on the occasion, they've never been tame or played with so I'm worried if this will have an effect on their egg production/relationship?

 

[Lady Jane]

Are you a breeder?

 

[macawpower58]

I'm not a breeder, but know breeders that have relationships with their birds.

I don't see why you can't try. They may accept you into the flock, or may not.

They also may like you some of the time, and hate you during breeding season.

Why not try though. Stimulation is good for parrots, it will enrich their lives.

Just don't get your heart broke if it doesn't happen, or if you can't cuddle them.

Cuddling may never happen, but becoming friends could.

 

[iamwhoiam]

They should be OK. Many years ago someone told me not to work with my pair of red-bellies because they wouldn't breed. I half listened to that but wish I hadn't listened at all. Now they are separated and Lucy runs away or tries to bite me although I have been working with her. I've been working with Ricky and he will come over and talk to me,step up on a stick/dowel and sometimes I can scratch his head.

Since I only half-listened to that original advice they were always comfortable with me and I could look into the nest box and handle the babies and they never had a problem with that.

 

[PoukieBear]

Not sure if it's different for conures, but many of my breeding pairs of budgies are hand tame. When they are in the breeding cages, I do leave them to do their business and they don't get as much play time or time out of the cage.

Once breeding is all done, they go back to their regular schedule of play and free flight time. By then they are ready to get away from raising the chicks. LOL

 

[madfrog]

I'm new here...and this is my dilemma!!! i have a lilac crown amazon and a male ringneck, and much to my
my dismay are mating...is this gonna work??? am i worried for nothing??? not looking to breed...gestation period for amazon might be a good start... then i would have an idea when to really watch my girl.

 

[Laurie]

This is my pair of White-bellied Caiques. They have had babies the last three years. I only have to be careful with the male for about two weeks before the hen lays eggs, he is very protective and will bite hard if you get between him and his girl. Otherwise, they are not any different when they are breeding then when they are not.

This is not always the case though. I have another male who is obviously interested in breeding with his mate but so far she is not. He is quite aggressive and I really have to watch his mode and body language or he will take a piece out of me as a souvenir our interaction.

As for how much privacy a pair needs to be breeders and produce, it depends on the species. Also as with my pair in the video, I try to limit my time in the room with them when the have eggs because the hen gets distracted and leaves the eggs because she wants to play with me.

 

[madfrog]

thank you...my male ringneck...RIO, already is a pain and i watch him or leave him in the cage to play with my lilac crowned female...Violet, or clean the cage!!!
but how many days before the egg appears??? I'm worried about the egg getting stuck or any other catastrophe!!!!

 

[karen256]

It should be no problem at all.
Bonding with people is only really a problem with breeding when someone is trying to breed two pet birds who have grown up only interacting with people and don't really know how to interact with other birds. Since your pair are bonded and have raised babies before, interacting with them a little is really only a good thing. If you really manage to gain their trust, they may even allow you to coparent future babies, which is a great way to raise babies.
Quite a few years ago, I read about a breeder who not only coparented with their sun conures, but actually brought the parents and babies along to work every day - and the parents happily allowed people to help feed and handle the babies. Now that is not typical, especially since your pair are not very tame - and many times, even sweet, tame pairs become protective/aggressive when nesting. But sun conures do seem to do better with coparenting than many species do. In any case, even if you don't coparent, taming your pair should only be beneficial to them.

 

[aooratrix]

A ringneck and an Amazon can't reproduce successfully, to my knowledge. It would be like trying to breed a macaw to a cockatoo.

 

[melissasparrots]

Trying to be friends with breeders can be tricky business. In general, if your first goal is to have babies, I would not recommend trying to be their friend. You're likely to end up with a lot more dead in shell chicks and poorer weight gains in babies if the parent birds are constantly being pestered for a head scratch of if they think sometimes when you come into the room you are going to pick them up or let them out. That all tends to lead to poor incubation and...death. I had a cockatiel pair when I was a kid that I was great friends with. We did manage to walk that fine line between breeder and pet. But those were cockatiels and they are known for being FAR more easy going as breeders. I now have amazon and parrotlet pairs that are not pets. I'm not currently breeding them, but their pair behavior is such that its not fair to the birds to try to make them pets. Even with the amazons in which the female is a former pet, the best I can do is a quick scratch through the cage bars a few times a year. Anything more and the male attacks one of us to get me away from her. If there are eggs involved, the male flys into a fit of rage and dives into the nest box sometimes cracking eggs. So again...death. That's enough motivation for me to pretty much conduct my business for cleaning and feeding and then get the heck out of there so they can be birds and preferably not kill their babies.

 

[melissasparrots]

I'm new here...and this is my dilemma!!! i have a lilac crown amazon and a male ringneck, and much to my
my dismay are mating...is this gonna work??? am i worried for nothing??? not looking to breed...gestation period for amazon might be a good start... then i would have an idea when to really watch my girl.

Even if your female lays eggs, they will not be fertile. There is too much genetic difference between amazons and ringnecks. However, letting them get too friendly can result in sexual behavior that includes laying of infertile eggs and attempts to incubate. I'd try to keep a pairing such as this apart from each other.

 

[madfrog]

melissa...if it was up to me it would never be!!! pets is all i want!!! but knowing persistent ringnecks!!! thank you for this information. could you tell me the approximate gestation time??? so i have an idea if all the tagging took.

 

[Mizzely]

melissa...if it was up to me it would never be!!! pets is all i want!!! but knowing persistent ringnecks!!! thank you for this information. could you tell me the approximate gestation time??? so i have an idea if all the tagging took.

They cannot produce viable eggs. They will be infertile. I believe they lay eggs within a few days of mating if it was a real copulation, because the real gestation is outside the body (in the egg)

 

[madfrog]

THANK YOU MIZZELY!!! music to my ears...