Noise Medium. Surprised when it first occurred but the mostly quite quail actually has a very loud call.
General Care I got the quails just to keep the Conures floor clean but I really enjoy these little birds. They are very placid and easy to handle. They act much like mini chickens.
Breeding I have been told a grass tussock is the best way for these birds to sit but I have put one of these in the cage and she still lays the eggs on the floor of the cage randomly. The only thing I can think that the grass is to high for them and they have to climb up into it. 10th May 2009 For the first time I have seen the female in the grass. I have shifted two eggs into the tussock to encourage her to lay and sit there. 8th June 2009 The female is know using the tussock to commonly hide, hopefully this means she is getting used to it and she will lay there soon.
Sexing The male has a small blue bar above its beak.
Noise Low. They have a pleasant distinctive whistle.
General Care I've had the Bourke only for a matter of days. I choose the breed because they are placid birds that can be housed with my Scarlet parrots. I have decided to go with the normal Bourkefirst opposed to the Pink or RosaBourke.
Breeding The pair I have now have had two breeding seasons with the previous owner, both times the female abandoned her eggs.
Sexing They need to be DNA tested for sure, I have been told that they are female and male but I don't know for sure. What I believe is the male has more green around the eyes (see lower picture) because he regularly dances and performs for the female.
Noise High. Louder generally than the ring neck's, I'm lucky the neighbours don't seem to mind. General Care They are messy eaters spreading the seed all over the ground presumably to get at the sun flower seeds. They play a bit when they think your not looking, enjoyable to watch them climb up the side of the cage as quick as they can over and over.
Breeding I haven't had any luck thus far but I have only had the pair since Christmas. The previous owner said they had laid but crushed the eggs. There is a few issues I might have; they both maybe females, I've used a standard nesting box (I've been advised that they like a secondary chamber inside the box for the female climb up into) and also it may have not been good time of year for the birds. I have also read that they like to sleep in the nesting box but this pair don't seem interested in the box at all. They sleep on the side next to each other.
Indian Ringneck Parrot Psittacula krameri Sexing Both colours that I have required DNA testing. In some colours the male has a ring around his neck. I have used DNA Solutions for DNA testing. Noise High. They can have very high pitched squawks. I have taught my male "Nippet" to talk.
General Care The male is hand reared and the female "Nelly" is the dominate one of the cage. Since she has been introduced to the cage about a month ago my male has been relegated to the lower side areas of the cage, although it has been getting slightly better lately. Breeding I'm breeding an albino or white male with a pastel or turquoise blue female. I will be introducing a nesting box the end of June for my first try of breeding this pair. I'm expecting greens, light blues and pastel blues colours from the babies.
Scarlet Breasted Parrot Neophema splendida Sexing Very easy to tell. The male is the prettier of two with a Scarlet or red chest, the female is plainer with a predominately yellow chest.
Noise
Low. A few chirps a whistles.
General Care
The are a grass parrot so they tend to like leafy greens. They also spend a lot of time on the ground because of this (so far a have noticed more in the colder months). They have some pecking order issues from what I have observed, when I first introduced the extra birds to the original female she chased the new birds around for a few days and after my first clutch all the other birds chased the younger male until I separated him and he died a few days later.
These were the first bird I kept. I had a female "Tishi" that I kept indoors that had out lived two males. I introduced her and the other scarlets that my parent gave me (2x males and 1x extra female) all from the same blood line into the cage.
Breeding
Attempt 1
I had two breeding boxes in the cage, one egg was laid in the first and three in the second. My original female sat on the three eggs of two hatched and one chick survived. They both the chicks got lice but no other birds where affected. They sat and hatched in February roughly. I used the boxes pictured with some saw dust in the bottom.
As I'm relatively new to bird breeding, I thought I would start this blog to help share tips that I have picked up a long the way to other newcomers and also hopefully pick up some more useful information myself. I picked up a four sectioned cage late last year and although I had birds before this they where caged only in small cages indoors. I currently have Green Cheeked Conures, Scarlett Breasted Parrots, Indian Ringneck Parrots, Bourke Parrots and Jap Quails. So far I've only had one successful clutch of Scarlet Breasted chicks. I'm currently looking forward to spring when hopefully I will get some further results I will be listing result I have gotten from each breed of bird (number of eggs, number of chicks, colour mutations sex, time of year, materials used etc). I'm based on the east coast of Australia.
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