Breeding Orange-Winged Amazon

[Zmassi]

Hello,
I’m looking to find a mate for my 10 year old Orange-Winged Amazon Parrot. She is genetically perfect, no past injuries, not past illnesses, no mutations, and she is showing nesting behavior (I have given her a nesting box so she may show these behaviors healthily). She is incredibly gentle with every living thing, she is showing natural mating behaviors. I have intended to get her bred for a while but she only now has begun to show this behavior. The vet approved and said she would make a good breeder, in addition, I went to school and studied veterinary science for four years at a technical school and I worked with her vet for about a year as I wish to specialize in exotic animals. I know exactly how to care for her and her possible young, I know how to deal with every possible issue that may arise but first I need to find her a suitable male to mate with. She really does seem to want this, and I do my best to give her what she wants, she has everything she could ever want and more, and now that she wants to have babies, I feel the need to help her with that. If anyone could help me find a suitable mate or give me some ways to find her one, I live in the state of Massachusetts on cape cod, I am willing to travel as far as New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island. If anyone knows anything I would very much appreciate it.

 

[Emma&pico]

@BrianB

 

[BrianB]

She is beautiful. My first question is—has she been treated as a breeder her whole life, or is she a pet? If she was raised hands-off with the intent to be a breeder, you will have some beautiful babies in time. I don't know anyone who breeds Amazons, and most hate me on sight, so my interactions with them are limited. There are a lot of breeders in Florida, so I'm sure you can find one, but you may have to arrange for shipping. Make sure the bird was bred domestically and did not come from out of the country.

 

[Zmassi]

She was hand raised, and has always been a pet and treated like family, but she would be a good breeder but I of course would not breed her alot. And yes she was bred domestically

 

[melissasparrots]

You don't sound like you quite understand how breeding parrots works. You don't get her bred. You find a mate, cage them together while monitoring closely. Amazon love can be spicy and there is a thin line between spicy and hurting each other. With luck, eventually(weeks or years later) a bond will form. You keep them together full time with intention of keeping the pair together forever. If you set everything up right, the pair will nest. There are exceptions, but amazons don't always do well being both pet and breeder bird. For starters, if you want to breed her, you will have to deal with the male who may seriously want to kill you, and may very well be aggressive toward your female in order to drive you away from her. Even if she does not herself loose her pet qualities, it might not be to her advantage to maintain a hands on relationship with you if it means getting beat up or knocked off her perch by the male every time you try to give scritches. That aggression can also extend to the babies. Diving into the nest box possessively when they see you coming and cracking eggs. You can do some things with nest box set up to mitigate those problems, but not eliminate them. The parents can also mangle the babies to vent their frustration at your existence for cleaning their cage, feeding them, or definitely for checking on babies. Orange wings are often a little more mild tempered compared to my yellow napes, but those are the things you have to watch for.
Also, there are plenty of people out there willing to give you money for an amazon. Few of those people would qualify as good owners. If you are honest and tell them orange wings are not the best talking amazons, fewer people will want one. I stopped breeding amazons because it's a pain in the butt finding good homes for the babies. I did leave my pair together though until the male eventually died of age related issues. Again, you don't just put a pair together for the length of time it takes to make babies and separate them when you don't want babies. Separating a bonded pair is borderline unethical. Like breaking apart a family. That's not even getting into the complications related to keeping the babies alive and knowing when to intervene. If you want tame babies that aren't missing body parts, you'll probably have to hand feed eventually. If you try to co-parent with the pair, you risk the parents killing babies out of frustration that you keep touching their stuff, walking by the cage and generally existing in their space.

 

[BrianB]

She was hand raised, and has always been a pet and treated like family, but she would be a good breeder but I of course would not breed her alot. And yes she was bred domestically

I was out of town for the weekend and didn't get back to this. If she was hand-raised and has always been a pet, she will not be a good breeder. Hand-raised parrots lack the knowledge and instinct to mate correctly. They may be unable to form bonds with their kind because they have been around humans all their lives. You may have to deal with jealousy and aggression between birds. She is undoubtedly a beautiful bird, but beauty will not make her a good parent. Please do more research before you continue with this. If you want to breed amazons, look for parent-raised birds and let your beautiful girl stay as your companion.