Green Cheeked Conure - Chicks

Three out of my four Green Cheeked Conure chicks have came out of the breeding box. There have been some big differences as opposed to my Indian Ringnecked Parrots. Firstly they have been very staggered when they would come out at least a few days between each one unlike the Ringnecks that all come out within three days (I guess more related to staggered hatching). Secondly the conures will go back into the box after emerging something the Ringnecks simply did not do, once they where out they where out.

Green Cheeked Conure - First chick out of the box

My first Green cheeked Conure has emerged from the nesting box. I caught it peeking out the entrance hole last night and then he was out this morning. Not quite fully feather yet but flying.

Another Death!!!

I have lost another Scarlet Chested Parrot this time a female I found her at the bottom of the aviary with this weird brown dust at the back of her neck. She had not hatched her first clutch of eggs and never really left the box after and was now sitting on her second clutch. I hope the deaths are unrelated as I could have a real problem on my hands if not. I'm seeking some further information from a forum on the matter.

Mystery Death

I discovered my Scarlet Chested male dead today. He was a recent addition to my aviary and fathered two young recently. He was on an upper branch facing outwards with a tuft of feathers missing on the back of his neck. I suspect attack from a bird exterior to aviary such as butcher bird, the death must have been instant as he did not even have time to fall from the branch...He will be missed he was not only a good breeder but he was also had a lot of personality, with a bit of luck he may still father some further young but I will still need a new male to replace him.

Cage maintenance

Today I introduced fresh branches into all cages. Giving the birds something to chew and to help with boredom. I try to maintain fresh branches but I try not to change them during breeding times as I might upset the process.

I also always keep cuttle bone in the cages for chewing and calcium intake (at least I believe it good for that).

I have had to do some repair work to the rear of the main aviary as some wood rotted and fell away. If I still had my smaller grass parrots in the aviary it could have created a perfect escape opportunity.

The two Scarlet Chested Parrots that sat on eggs have never fully left there boxes and on inspection today I noticed that they both have new eggs. I will see what happens with these new eggs but I probably should have removed the boxes to give each of them a rest.

Worming

I choose to worm my birds with water based wormer twice a year. Based mostly on advice from my father I worm healthy birds to keep them healthy and improve vitality and seems to work.

I have wormed only my Indian Ringnecked Parrots and Princess Parrots as they are the only ones without young in or just out of the nest. I didn't know if it was recommended to worm birds with chicks and the only advice I could get is from a forum advising to to not.

Green Cheeked Conure - Chicks progress

The Green Cheeked Conure chicks are feathering up well. They are lot more active when I take them out to clean the box - flapping wings, climbing the wire wall of the aviary and biting (I suspect because they have not been handled as much as my Indian Ring Necks were).

Green Cheeked Conure - Feathers

The Green Cheeked Conure chicks are developing there pin feathers. Not much to report otherwise, there parent have upped there intake of food (specially seed) to cope with feeding there rapidly growing chicks.

Green Cheeked Conures - Progress

The Green Cheeked Conures are now getting there pin feathers. I'm checking on and even handling the chicks now as the parents allow me good access and I'm sure that I'm not upsetting the parents looking after the chicks. The pair seem to be good parents and hope this a start of many clutches to come.

Scarlet Chested Parrots - Chicks

 The Scarlet Chested Parrot chicks have came out of the nesting box earlier than expected. They should be able to be sexed after the first malt around four to six months when the get there adult plumage. They are not the best fliers but a lot better than the Ringnecked parrot when they started. They also seem to be working out a "pecking order" with the Bourke Parrots in the cage.

Chicks Progress

The Scarlet Chested chicks now have most of there feathers. It should still be a couple of weeks before they are ready to leave the box. I'm hoping that there is at least one male as all I have had in the past is two females.

The Green Cheeked Conure chicks seem to be doing well. The mother has been leaving them in the box alone during the day now. I took the opportunity to clean out the box and handle the chicks. I have been more closely monitoring the chicks since the mother has vacated the box during the day. 

Scarlet Chested Parrots - Progress

My Scarlet Chested Parrot chicks are growing well, there mother unfortunately doesn't look any better but she seems healthy enough. I have removed all the un-hatched eggs from the other nesting boxes to stop the females sitting on them as it is waste of there time and I'm sure it won't be helping there health.

The first of Indian Ringnecked Parrots has been sold. The turquoise coloured one has gone to a breeder that hand rears different colour mutation of Indian Ringnecks, so it appears it went to a good home.

Green Cheeked Conures - Progress

The Green Cheeked Conure hen now has four chicks. On first inspection I thought she had three but after looking at the photo there are actually four. They all seem to be staggered when hatching by a few days by each as can be seen by the size differences.

Green Cheeked Conure - Chicks

The Green Cheeked Conure female has hatched her first egg. Hopefully this is the first of a few but a good result no matter what. The only thing I have done differently this year is I wasn't expecting anything and I put a branch that partially covered the nesting box, including the entrance. This possibly made the box feel more secure.

The Scarlet Chested Female continues to raise her two chicks. They are now getting a lot larger and sit to the side of her uncovered most of the time. Both my other Scarlet female and Bourke female continue to sit on there un-hatched eggs. They have been on them too long and expect they will soon give up on them

Scarlet Chested Parrots - Chicks

I firstly would like to explain the state of feather of my female Scarlet Chested Parrot. It is something that I have notice only in my Scarlet Chested Parrots. It happens to all my females are only around breeding times and has been caused by two different males. They always recover from there tatty appearance. I asked on a bird forum if it was normal and the only answer I got was "I don't think its normal" but it doesn't seem to affect there health. I thought I should explain because when I showed the picture to my wife her first response was "Is she dead?".

That out of the way one of my Scarlet Chested females has two chicks hatched, I didn't notice any broken eggs around my other female so I let her be and my Bourke female was out of the box and her two eggs are unhatched.

I helped my third Indian Ringneck chick out of the box and it ability to fly is much like the others but they are getting better. I opened the front section of my aviary to them to give them a bit more room to spread there wings. The colours of the chicks are albino, blue and turquoise also known as pastel blue.

The Green Cheeked Conure female continues to sit. I have not checked the box because I'm worried that she my go off the eggs if I interrupt her in any way. I have even been putting off cleaning the floor just in case.

Indian Ringnecked Parrots out of the box

I got a pleasant surprise today a week before I expected it two of my baby Indian Ringnecked Parrots came out of the box. First the albino then the blue a few hours later. They were both very awkward and clumsy flying around the aviary, I had to leave the aviary as I was worried that they were going to hurt themselves. At one point the blue one put itself in the corner where the breeding box is upside down and slid down into the branches below.

"Nelly" there mother appeared to be giving the albino one flying lessons at one stage flying to the bottom of the cage and up over and over. I expect the pastel blue one to make an appearance tomorrow. I'm glad it happened on a weekend where I could observe them.

Indian Ringnecked Parrot Chicks Progress

Feathers are coming in well for the chicks. They are just interested in pushing themselves into the corner of box and squashing the other chicks in the progress to keep warm.

Nesting box

 I have converted a hollow log into a nesting box. I introduced this into the Princess Parrots cage on the ground as a second option for a nesting box as they are now my only parrots not to nest this season so far.

Green Cheeked Conure on eggs!!

After waiting for what seemed like an age, I was begining to give up hope that my Green Cheeked Conures were ever going to breed. A couple of weeks ago the female was in the box and went into check but still no eggs but over the last few days she had not been coming out during the day. So I checked this moring and she is sitting on at least one egg. As this is this first luck I've had with her I will leave her be as much as possible.

Colours

The Indian Ringnecked chicks feathers are really starting to come in, the colour mutations I think I have are albino, pastel blue (center bird) and turquoise. I'm cleaning the box out weekly and handling the chicks every few days.

The grass parrots all now have three eggs each except the Scarlet Chested female that I moved with the L shaped box from the Princess Parrots cage. She has abandoned her non fertile eggs, I may look at moving the nesting box back to the Princess Parrots cage.

Eggs!!!

My grass parrot have just started laying eggs..

Small box 1 far right - Scarlet Chested female 3 eggs

Small box 2 second from left  - Bourke female 2 eggs

Small box 3 - empty

L shaped boxed - Scarlet Chested female 2 eggs (removed from Princess Parrot cage, definitely infertile as she was in the Princess Parrot cage while they were laid)

Large box - Scarlet Chested female 1 egg

The Scarlet Chested male is young (approximately 12 month) but he still knows how to do the deed as caught him in the act today. I have no idea how these eggs will go.

IRN Chicks Colours

The colours of the Indian Ringnecked Chicks are now starting to show as the pin feathers come in. One is definitely albino, one appears to have a blueish colour and the other more green.

As I have been focused on the new chicks I had not even noticed that two of Scarlet Chested Parrot females are sitting on eggs. One is sitting on three the other is sitting on just one, the male is very immature so I'm not sure if the eggs will be fertile.

Cleaning out the nest box

I decided after some advice from a parrot forum to clean out the nesting box. I quickly removed the Indian Ringnecked chicks from the box, removed the compacted upper layer of saw dust (complete with droppings) and placed a fresh hand full of saw dust. Nippet aka dad sort of hung around the bottom of the cage keeping eye on things, after woods I held him on my finger with out threat of biting (first time in a while). I placed fresh food in directly after. Hopefully I have not upset anything but I will keep a close eye on the chicks over the next couple of days.

IRN chick progress

It is obvious now I have two destint colour two darker and one lighter (possible Albino). The chicks don't seem to mind being held at all. I removed the old egg and shells from the box but I'm unsure if I should totally clean out the box altogether as there is getting to be quite a few droppings.

IRN Chicks Progress

I handled one of the Indian Ringnecked chicks for the first time today. They are now about the size of the small of my hand. One of the chicks appears a lot lighter than the others and it also has the pink eyes which I'm lead to believe is the female.
There parents "Nippet" and "Nelly" quickly devour any fruit or vegetables I put in the cage to keep up the food supply to the little guys. They should be fledged by eight weeks of age.

IRN chicks progress

The Indian Ringnecked chicks continue to grow rapidly. There eyes are open now. I have been told you can tell the sex by the colouring of the eyes (more pink is female), by this I would have one female and two males. I'm not sure how well that works I would still get the DNA tested for sure.

IRN chicks

My Indian Ringneck chicks are growing quickly and healthy. As they do when they are due to leave the nest within a few weeks.

I will keep post up as they grow and develop feathers. I will handle them when they get a bit bigger as there mother lets me get fairly good access to them.

Baby Ringnecks

Three out the four Ringnecked eggs have hatched!!!! My female Nelly has been spending time inside the nesting box with my male Nippet and he has also been inside the box with the new chicks on his own.
Nelly seems to be more aggressive towards my neighbouring Princess Parrots trying to attack them when they are too close and Nippet seems to be strutting around the cage displaying.

My female Bourke Parrot has abandoned her eggs unhatched again. The Scarlet chested Parrots are already trying to use the box she was in. All my smaller parrots prefer the larger parrot box as apposed to the smaller budgie size boxes for breeding.

Ringnecked Parrots

My Ringneck female has hatched two of her four eggs. On my inspection (only the second since she has started to sit) I found two recently hatched chicks. At first I thought she may have crushed them again but one moved, I left the nesting box to be least invasive as possible.

The male also seems to be spending more time in the box with her and even with out her.

Rescue Mission

A Rainbow Lorikeet ran into the window at work, the somewhat stunned Lorikeet was being attacked by Crow's but was rescued by my work colleague, I took him home and put him in the "holding" area of my aviary over night to make sure he was ok. He was very timid for a wild bird and I then released him the next day back at work.

Update

My Indian Ringnecked Parrot continues to sit on her eggs, she will come out to see whats happening when I'm around the cage and around feeding time. Yesterday a caught the male also in the nesting box.

The female Bourke Parrot also continues to sit on her eggs although she is now spending time off the four eggs. I fear it has been too long and the eggs are infertile again.

I have separated one of the females from the Scarlet Chested Parrots cage. She seems to be the lowest on the chasing game to achieve "pecking order" for the new males attention. I will give her a rest and put her back in a few days.

New Addition

I have after lengthy search been able to track down a new male Scarlet chested Parrot. He is about a year old and just starting to colour up.

I purchased him after joining the aviary league through Wattle Aviaries. Great idea linking breeder together.

He has created a bit of competition between my three female Scarlet chested Parrots as they are now chasing each other around the aviary.

Progress

My male Ringneck "Nippet" has started living up to his name recently. Normally easy to handle (at least for me) he has started coming up to me when I'm changing the water and putting food in the cage and biting me, he even drew blood last week. Not much fun but I think its a protection thing.

My female "Nelly" has laid three eggs, as of today she is starting to spend more time in the nesting box than out. I suspect this is the start of her incubation of the eggs.

The female Bourke Parrot continues to sit on her eggs. If she is going to hatch any eggs I would suspect that will happen within the next week.

All the other bird have shown no interest in using the nesting boxes.

Nesting Boxes

I purchased two nest boxes from the Nowra bird sale. They include inspection holes and climbing structures. The more upright one was specifically a Ringneck box and I have chosen to use the L shaped box for my Princess Parrots.

I have filled each with one third of saw dust.

The Ringnecks boxs dimensions are 45cm high x 25cm length x 25cm width.

The Princess Parrots boxs dimensions are 40cm high x 40cm length x 20cm width.


I introduced both boxes on the 24th July. My female Indian Ringneck has already started working the box.

Bourke / Scarlet Chested Parrots

I added four boxes mid August, three standard budgies size and one much larger box I have used for my Ringnecked parrots in the past. My reliable Bourke female chose the larger box and she is now sitting on at least one egg.

I filled each box with saw dust (I got a bail for $13 from pet food supplier) just under the entry and the bigger box I filled a third full. Some of the saw dust is now on the floor of the aviary as the birds have adjusted the boxes to there liking.

New Aviary

I have added a second aviary to my backyard. I was lucky enough to pick it up for free and apart from a little rust and few minor repairs it was very good pick up.

I use the new aviary to house my Scarlet Chested Parrots and my Bourke Parrots. I have added another pair Bourke parrots after yet another unhatched clutch of eggs by the Bourke hen. The new pair includes a normal coloured male and Rosa coloured female. Unfortunately the recent colder weather claimed my male Scarlet Chested Parrot, I'm not sure how old he was but I believe they should live roughly 12 years. I'm trying to get another male soon before we get too far into breeding season.

Ringnecked Parrots

Both my Ringnecked Parrots have gone through a malt. Firstly my pastel blue female went through one with she seems to have completely recovered from but now my albino male seems to be going through quite a heavy malt. Usually he is a very beautiful bird but at the moment he is just scruffy with the loss of a lot of his tail feathers.

I have never attempted to house my Indian Ringnecks with any other parrots but I have seen them housed with Alexandrine Parrots, Cockatiel's, Galah's, Crimson Rosellas, Sulfur Crested Cockatoo's and Corella's.

Bourke / Scarlet Chested Parrots

I removed the larger breeding box from the Ringnecks cage and introduced it into Princess Parrots cage to try and get them to breed. However to my surprise both a Bourke and a Scarlet are in the box sharing the duties of sitting on four eggs.

My three species of parrot in the larger centre area of my cage seem to be getting along well. I have witnessed some minor fighting been my Scarlet male and one of the Princess Parrots but with no real intent by either party.

Green Cheeked Conures

The conures continue to sleep in there breeding box but still have not laid any eggs.

They are very aggressive to other parrots of a similar size. When I first introduced the Princes Parrots next to them they would attempt to attack them through the wire. Now they seem to have gotten used to them but I have notice that when the Ringnecks are in a similar position during cleaning they will attempt to retaliate on the aggression.

I have seen them housed with cockatiels in a pet shop. I would like to know how they would go with other conure species