Welcome to the Avenue Huma
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.
Did you mean Indian ringneck parakeet? Or African lovebird? Or one of each? I´m just curious
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)
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:
Getting started with breeding Gouldians – why are they different from other finches?
gouldiangardens.com
Info for breeding cockatiels;
Breeding 1