Looking for advice on how to prevent my pair of conures from mating.

[Ganon]

I have a pair of conures, a green cheek conure almost 2 years old (Ringabel) and a black cap conure about 1 year old (Alternis). I don't know the gender of either but Ringabel is trying to regurgitate for Alternis and has been looking for a place to nest under the bed I think. I've been trying to stop the behavior, putting them to bed early, supervising them when their outside and keeping them away from dark places, but today Ringabel tried to mount Alternis so I'm keeping them in separate cages for now. He has also been aggressive off and on for almost a year now. They're bonded and have always been in the same cage, but I don't know how long to keep them separated or if they should be separated permenantly since I don't want them to mate. I plan on scheduling a DNA test for both of them as soon as I can but until then can anyone offer any advice on how long to keep them separated or any other advice during this time?

 

[Mizzely]

I personally think that it's much easier to just deal with eggs after the fact than to try to prevent them from mating. If there is a will, they will find a way. Get some dummy eggs on hand to replace any eggs laid to prevent babies. Hopefully they get it out of their system and move on, but it's very hard to stop that primal urge.

 

[Ganon]

Thank you for your reply, Mizzely. I just wasn't sure if Alternis was even mature enough yet to have eggs or if there would be any problems since they are different species of conures.

 

[Mizzely]

How old is she? That definitely could be a concern. Different species isn't as big of a deal as long as you are dealing with the eggs.

 

[Lady Jane]

Do you know if they are siblings? You cannot prevent mating but as so rightly said you can substitute dummy eggs or abort the eggs laid. Problem is you must take care if the hens calcium needs with high calcium food or supplements if there are many eggs laid over time. Good luck

 

[Diesel13]

Like everyone has said order dummy eggs since it's hard to prevent the mating. Do it as soon as possible! I see many people saying they'll order fake eggs and then keep putting it off till their bird lays eggs. Then the fake eggs don't arrive in time and you have all sorts of complications with "killing" eggs, making sure the hen doesn't keep laying if you take them away, or even babies. Here's a good website to order fake eggs, your birds would be under the "cockatiel" size:
DummyEggs.com by Melanie Dummy Eggs Stop Egg Laying! Fake Solid Plastic Eggs

There are some things you can do to help calm the hormones some, but it can't be prevented completely. Make sure they get at least 12 hrs of complete darkness and undisturbed sleep. Don't offer anything that could be considered a nest and take out shredded toy parts after they're destroyed if they attempt to build a nest with them. Do offer lots of toys though to keep their minds elsewhere! Keep petting on your part to a minimum and to just the head. Lastly, try to avoid offering them warm, mushy foods.

 

[Ganon]

Thank you all for your advice! I'm already starting to feel much calmer about this haha. Mizzely I think Alternis is just over 1 year old so I don't know if that is old enough to lay yet or not. Lady Jane I don't think they are siblings because we got them from different breeders. And thank you Diesel 13, do you know if dummy eggs might help prevent them from laying or will they still try to lay? I will order those dummy eggs either way, asap.

 

[webchirp]

They may or may not lay. Do try to keep them from nesty areas though. Although it can be difficult with some. Tuck and Rue constantly sneak under my bed when I try to give them out of cage time. Sex doesn't always result in eggs. Knocking on wood here but out of all my cheeks, Giggie has laid two eggs in the last 8 years that I have had a mated pair. I have another girl who mates with any male (no eggs), we shall not name names although many know her...lol.

 

[Mizzely]

Thank you all for your advice! I'm already starting to feel much calmer about this haha. Mizzely I think Alternis is just over 1 year old so I don't know if that is old enough to lay yet or not. Lady Jane I don't think they are siblings because we got them from different breeders. And thank you Diesel 13, do you know if dummy eggs might help prevent them from laying or will they still try to lay? I will order those dummy eggs either way, asap.

Dummy eggs should be introduced as soon as an egg appears, then flood the nest to make a "clutch" of at least 3-4. The idea is that her body will get a notice that she doesn't need more eggs and will stop producing more. It is NOT foolproof, but does have a high success rate. I don't know if introducing them before she lays would have any effect.

I definitely would try to prevent her from laying until she is at least 18 months old; the best thing will be to do as Chandra said and try to limit the possible areas that they could nest in.

If they are different species, they can't really be siblings

 

[Ganon]

Mizzely I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner lol ok I'll keep supervising them and keep them out of the dark areas. Should I still separate them at night?

 

[Monica]

If you separate them, put them in cages right next to each other!


Conures will mate with each other, regardless of sex, though... so a pairing could be M/F, M/M and F/F. M/M you wont get any eggs. F/F, you may get eggs, and you may get too many eggs, but they wont be fertilized!


Black cap x green cheek hybrids are known as "black forest" conures. Since the two species are closely enough related, the offspring are quite healthy! The downside though is that the hybrid offspring can be mistaken as pure green cheek conures.... which could result in more hybrids being produced when one is paired up with a "pure" green cheek...

Not necessarily bad... but not necessarily good, either...

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Sexual activity is a need and a normal behavior for all species. Preventing mating can only be done if you keep them in separate cages. However, I allow my birds as much sex as they want and just perform birth control by destroying fertile eggs. My birds are happy and healthy and I did not get too many pets to feed or take care of.

 

[Ganon]

Thank you all for your advice! I was worried about Alternis' age and the fact that they're different breeds at first but after all of the responses and reassurances I went ahead and ordered the dummy eggs and decided to just let them do their thing, with supervised outside time of course lol. Thank you all again!