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Learning to breed

BirdsSquar

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HI, I'm a newbie here. not new to birds. Grew up all my life with them. Started with budgies as a kid, raised cockateils for 21 years and then conure and indian ringneck lovebird. I LOVE them all. My children love to pamper and train birds (they are older kids) and are experienced in care. We also have a number of mentors nearby. But if there are breeders of cockateils and lovebirds and goulians here id love to learn from you. Im in learning and research mode right now.
Input id love to get: What ages , pre bonded or let them bond ( yes i know about quarantine but am always willing to learn more), supplements and the use of preventative medicine, what feed you preferred. I would only start with small birds for now. Do i DNA the lovebirds and finches too?
I WELCOME POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE INPUT. If you are having a bad day or find my post upsetting please pass me by.
 

BirdsSquar

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Im also willing to take clutches of 2 week babies to raise and train as well. (under mentorship of my friends in addition to personal experience). Preemptive advice and guidance welcome.
 

Chase Hein

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I Raise Lovebirds Occasionally, it cool to meet someone who does the same!:)
 

Zara

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Welcome to the Avenue Huma 1.welcome signs.gif

Here is a great article: Tips For Breeders

cockateils and lovebirds and goulians
Do you know which species you want to breed? If not, here is a little snippet from the article I linked above:
¨In choosing what types of birds to breed, you will need to consider these things:
  • What will the pair cost?
  • Do you have room for the size of cage required?
  • Will they be too noisy?
  • Are they an easy type to breed in captivity? Are they known for being good parents?
  • Will the babies be sold mostly as pets, or breeding stock, or both?
  • If being sold for pets, will they be easy to sell (are they popular as pets)?
  • If selling the babies to other breeders, are they in demand?
  • Is there a lot of competition in your area from other breeders of this type of bird?¨
The article is a good read, a couple of things I found off, but most of it is solid info.

Im also willing to take clutches of 2 week babies to raise and train as well.
You would be better buying pairs and breeding from zero. Bringing home clutches to raise then resell is not ideal. You won´t turn a profit, and you won´t have the parent birds if you need them.
If you decide to pull the babies from the nest, 3-4 weeks old is ideal for the parrots you mentioned. As for the Gouldians, I don´t know anything about those, but @finchly mayb have some more info.

What ages , pre bonded or let them bond
Age will be determined by which species.
You can buy bonded pairs, but be sure they are not siblings and that they have all their medical records too. You will also want to see the birds before you buy them and spend a short while observing them to be sure they are in fact bonded birds.
The other option is to buy a small flock of birds, and allow them to choose their own mates. Be sure none are siblings to avoid any sibling pairings. If you go for lovebirds, make sure they are all the same species of lovebird, and make sure they are bonded before moving them into a breeding cage.

indian ringneck lovebird
Did you mean Indian ringneck parakeet? Or African lovebird? Or one of each? I´m just curious

supplements
For small parrots, having them on a balanced diet of veggies, pellets and a smalla amount of quality seed should be enough. You will have to converse with your vet to see if they are lacking in any vitamins or calcium and go from there with the aid of your vet in RE to supplements.
(again, sorry, I have no knowledge about finches)

Do i DNA the lovebirds
Yes I would, just to avoid wasting your time. If you have M/M or F/F pairs, but them back into the flock to choose a new pair (one by one or they will just choose each other again)
Some cockatiels can be sexed visually, but if you can´t then I would DNA them too.

I recommend a book too. Look into Dirk Van den Abeele for lovebird info. The first half of the book is about the species, husbandry and breeding. The rest is about their mutations and how to acheive certain mutations etc. A fantastic resource;

Info for breeding Gouldian finches:

Info for breeding cockatiels;
Breeding 1
 

Ira

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Lovebirds are pretty easy to visually sex check. The female has a wider pelvis and perches with legs further apart than the male:

I would observe any large group of birds “for sale” anywhere. If you see two that are close to each other and you can see these leg characteristics, you’re good to go.

I built a small outdoor aviary for my peach faceds, and they bred like crazy. I put two boxes in there so they could choose their favorite. Gave them thin, fresh branches every day or so, and once you see their nest building activity (it’s fascinating to watch them strip branches and tuck the shreds on their back under their wings)...babies are coming soon!

Good luck with yours!

I sold and gave away mine as individual pets, and they bond to people incredibly well when you pull them from the box and hand-feed them young enough.

As individual pets, they do just fine alone, but need attention.
 
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Zara

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Lovebirds are pretty easy to visually sex check.
Very inaccurate. Unless we are talking Tarantas or Canus, as those are sexually dimorphic.
You could check the pelvic bones of lovebirds, but it is not 100%, it will just give you a good guess, and will need to be confirmed with either a dna test, an egg (for female) and a fertile egg (for male).

The female has a wider pelvis and perches with legs further apart than the male:
No, that is just nonsense. Unless you are going to tell me my males are laying eggs.
 

Ripshod

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finchly

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Hello Birdsquar!
:welave:

I breed Gouldian finches. (I have other species, but I choose not to breed because of overpopulation/ lots of birds in rescue)

Anyway here's what I can tell you, and feel free to ask more questions. :)

I do not hand raise or tame my finches, but I know some people who used to pull them at 10 days and hand raise them. They claimed they never lost a baby. I think you only have a 50% chance of raising it to weaning if you hand raise. Use your own judgment.

Anyway, to breed them. It is easy to tell males/females apart so - no need for DNA. The females IMO are just as pretty as the males by the way, that's one of the things that attracted me to them.

Best to breed AFTER age 1 year, this is for successful breeding and raising of babies. It's best to let them choose their mates, right now I have 3 cages with 6 birds each, 3 M/3 F, and they'll choose or I will swap them around. Sometimes I let them all loose in the bird room and it is madness but they pair up.

You'll want deeper plastic nestboxes as opposed to the wide shallow ones.

Gouldians need fresh foods, protein, and a bit more supplements than other finches. I don't have an article about the exact ones I use so I'm going to make you a list (may be a day or 2, I'm sick with Covid). When they have babies I always make sure there is egg food available.

Here's an overview of baby Gouldians: An Overview of Baby Gouldian Finches - Gouldian Finch Information Center
 

Ira

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Very inaccurate. Unless we are talking Tarantas or Canus, as those are sexually dimorphic.
You could check the pelvic bones of lovebirds, but it is not 100%, it will just give you a good guess, and will need to be confirmed with either a dna test, an egg (for female) and a fertile egg (for male).


No, that is just nonsense. Unless you are going to tell me my males are laying eggs.
How come my good guess worked for me for two successful breeding pairs? I was just lucky?
 

tka

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I'd like to sound a note of caution and urge you to check whether there are lots of cockatiels and lovebirds in rescues nearby or being sold cheaply on gumtree/craigslist/facebook marketplace etc near you. Some areas have a real overpopulation of birds - especially tiels - and not nearly enough good, responsible homes for them. A lot of birds simply bounce from home to home as people realise that birds require time, attention and money. I don't like to think too much about the fate of birds being sold for £10 on gumtree or, worse, those that are offered free.

How will you ensure that any babies you breed will not end up bounced from home to home, and stay out of rescues? Will you take back any of your babies if their owner cannot care for them? These are difficult but important questions.
 

sunnysmom

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Welcome to the forum.
 

Zara

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Just snagged a pic of my boy nodding off to sleep with his legs perched very far apart...
IMG_20201211_185213.jpg
Distance between feet is not a method to sex birds.
 

GinaC

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HI, I'm a newbie here. not new to birds. Grew up all my life with them. Started with budgies as a kid, raised cockateils for 21 years and then conure and indian ringneck lovebird. I LOVE them all. My children love to pamper and train birds (they are older kids) and are experienced in care. We also have a number of mentors nearby. But if there are breeders of cockateils and lovebirds and goulians here id love to learn from you. Im in learning and research mode right now.
Input id love to get: What ages , pre bonded or let them bond ( yes i know about quarantine but am always willing to learn more), supplements and the use of preventative medicine, what feed you preferred. I would only start with small birds for now. Do i DNA the lovebirds and finches too?
I WELCOME POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE INPUT. If you are having a bad day or find my post upsetting please pass me by.
I breed gouldian's. I try to stick with the red/purple/green gouldians. Recently had some seagreens hatch and looking for more information on them. Would be glad to share any information.
 
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