new to breeding please help?

Question

my quaker parrot i have i thought was a boy till i bought another boy and brought it home now my 2 quakers are mating and i don't know what i need to do to get a nest ready please help. could i put a shoe box in the cage. and would shreaded paper work as the nest or do i need to buy certain nesting stuff.

Answer 1

Before I say anything...just because your birds are mating, it does NOT mean you have to breed them! Why do people think this!? Also, just because birds are mating, does NOT mean they are of the opposite sex! Birds take mating stances and do such favours because it is stimulating to the bird and is taken as an affectionate favour, not always procreation.

Given that you don't exactly know what to do (that's not meant to be degrading - a lot of people don't know what to do because breeding is a HUGE responsibility, and with exotic animals, I don't think it's the job of any captive animal owner to continue the pet trade and irresponsibility of people who think these are easy animals to keep and breed), I would say DO NOT BREED THEM! PLEASE!

To give a quick gist, breeding birds requires financial stability, emotional stability, a high devotion of time, and huge amounts of dedication. If you do have a male/female combination or possibly two females (I believe DNA testing is the only foolproof way to sex quakers), the females could become egg bound and die through trying to lay eggs. Even healthy birds can suffer such problems, and malnutrition is incredibly common in captive parrots. If you feed a seed only diet or supplement it poorly by not offering fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, sprouts, pellets, etc. then chances are your birds have some sort of deficiency, most commonly seen in parrots vitamin A and calcium. Calcium is important in the production of healthy, strong egg shells. If the shells are soft, babies won't survive or will be very weak and if an egg shatters and the yolk leaks out inside the female's body, the female will die immediately. If the parents are inexperienced or young in terms of sexual maturity, they may lose interest in their babies meaning you have to hand feed them because YOU decided to bring them into the world. If you hand feed a formula to a baby bird too hot, the baby will have crop burn. If too cold, sour crop - both very bad. Also consider the many birds who are homeless right now - are you willing to add to that ever-growing number? Especially since quakers are illegal in some states like California, quakers can't be in demand everywhere so much so that breeding them at all would be necessary. Most breeders can, do, and will lose babies in their breeding "careers", sometimes at their fault and sometimes not - it's a hard thing to live with knowing you allowed this baby to be hatched and that it died. You won't always make money from breeding your birds, and if you can't sell them, you'll have to invest in separate cages, other toys, other perches, more food, more vet visits (vital when you're trying to breed - if your birds have not seen an avian vet, it is essential they do in breeding or not), etc..

Please reduce the mating triggers because believe me, breeding is WAY too hard on people who have not been formally educated and studied for months upon years on the topic. It's incredibly stressful and scary if you don't recognize what's going on.
1. Reduce daylight. Cover their cage for at least 12 hours at night so they have that darkness that mimics the long hours of winter, a poor breeding time.
2. Monitor their food intake. Offer them only enough food for them to eat until you refill their food. An excess of food will cause them to believe there is enough to feed babies.
3. Supply them with constant mental stimulation. Have at least 10 to 15 toys on hand to rotate in and out of the cage at least once a week so they become adaptable to change and are kept happy. If they become bored, they may also take to nuisance behaviours, like screaming, plucking, or excessive biting.
4. If you're petting the birds anywhere, avoid petting any body part and pet the head only. Body parts are stimulating areas that would be touched by mates and trigger mating processes.
5. Remove nests and nesting materials. If there are any nooks and crannies in the cage, remove them so the birds can't see this as a nest. If there are materials, like if they decide to shred paper, for nest building, remove them or put a barrier between them and the bird. A grate works well to keep birds from shredding the paper on the bottom of the cage.

Answer 2

I do not have a professional source for my help, but I used my head.

Provide your female with a larger cage and provide LOTS of soft stuff. Give her straw, grass, twigs, cotton--and used fabric softener, so that all the chemicals were washed off in the washing machine, because used fabric softener is super-soft and very useful. Tissue can be used as well. Make sure the cage is warm but not too warm, to make sure the eggs are safe. Separate the birds from now on, or neuter one if that's even possible (I'm not really into birds so I wouldn't know).

On taking care of the babies...I really don't know what to say. Contact your vet; she/he will know what to do.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Please don't do it. If you don't know anything about breeding and taking care of baby birds. My cockatiels had baby's and killed the first two to hatch so I had to raise the third one. The bird is a month behind where it should be. I had to make a home made brooder and in the beginning feed it every two hours day and night. You have to hand feed it a certain way or you will drown it. You need to hang out with a breeder first and learn how to do it. I'm still hand feeding my bird. It takes a lot of time and energy to raise a baby bird. I had to go away on an airplane and take him with me so I could still feed him. Please find out about it before you decide to. A baby bird is a lot of work and a lot patience.

Answer 4

i suppose the only way to learn the ways of breeding is to experience them your self, but keep in mind that you are putting more then one life in danger, chances are the babys wont live because the parents are so unexperienced, there are also chances that the nother herself may experience egg binding and that in itself is also deadly to her.

i would google this up and find a good trust worthy site on quaker parrots and read that

Answer 5

you need a nest box, get at a pet shop or bird specialty store, make sure its big enough for the parrot to fit comfie and put wood shavings in it

Answer 6

Good question, I suggest you check out books of bird-breeding. I'll keep a good eye on this question. I'm real interested!

Answer 7

I don't have much expirience with birds, but i would suggest going to a pet store and asking them.

Answer 8

so you need to know about the birds and the bees for the birds? being a bird pimp sounds like it would be hard

Answer 9

check out this website, gives great info
http://www.lafeber.com/Products/feeding_instructions.asp
good luck