King Parrot

I get many different species parrot around my yard.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Crimson Rosella
Galah
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Eastern Rosella
Corella
Black Cockatoo

Although to date I had never seen King Parrots in my back yard. A juvenile pair I think but one allowed me very close before it took off in the same direction as the other.

Tommy

"Tommy" as he has been become known is my Indian Ringeck runt. After the last of his brothers and sisters left the nest its was clear that he need at least another few weeks in the box.

He was actually the first to exit the box (not sure if he was pushed out) but I returned him and did not come out again until after all the others had left. Once he was on his own I was taking him and the box inside at night and comp feeding him with hand rearing formula morning and night. He never really took to the formula but one night witnessed him exit the box and try to get "Boe" to feed him. Boe being an unrelated male Indian ringneck I thought would have nothing to do with this actually looked as if he may feed Tommy but after providing some apple to feed Tommy with got more protective of his new food source.

I now leave Tommy out in the aviary. I take him out of the nesting box every morning and return him every night. He has slowly been climbing the aviary sides and is now sitting on perches. "Nippet" his father feeds him regularly but have not seen "Nelly" doing the same.

Galah's Breeding

The Galah's have started to gnaw around the entrance of there  breeding box which I thought maybe a sign that they will start to breed however no eggs are present yet. I expect them to need to settle in aviary so I'll hopefully get chicks next year.

I have found Galah's to be in general very destructive to any timbre in aviary. Chewing anything wood.

No Green Cheeked Conure chicks this year

After early breeding signs it look like one of my most reliable pairs aren't going to breed. After breaking their first egg and the second ended up in the water dish, there has not been any more eggs.

 The female has now started to malt a little and I do not expect a female that has lost condition to have a clutch. The one thing that I liked to do that I have not this year with the Conures is partially cover the breeding box with branch. Can't say for sure if this had anything to do with this years failure but I will certainly do it next year. 

Indian Ringneck Parrot - Chicks

18th September

My first year of hatching four Indian Ringneck Parrot's

23rd September

Rapidly growing and eagerly awaiting feeding time every morning

30th September 

Soon became clear that I had a definite "runt" as it was well behind the other birds in developing

  

8th October

Colour this year were 2x Albino, Creamino and Blue.

28th October

Expecting the first to leave the nesting box any day now.

And then there were four

My first year my Indian Ringnecks have produced four young. It appears three maybe a lighter colour via eye colour.

14th September

Green Cheeked Conure - First egg broken

My female Green Cheeked Conure had been staying in the breeding box and I assumed she had at east one egg but would not allow me a look. However yesterday morning I found her out of the box and thought it would be a great time to see how many eggs she had however I only found one broken one...

I have since removed the egg from the box and very hopeful that it doesn't affect their breeding season.

In good news my third Indian Ringneck hatched this morning!!

12th September 6.45am

First baby Indian Ringnecks

8th September 6.45 am

My first two baby Indian Ringneck's hatched on 9th September. I first noticed a chip in one of the eggs on the morning of the 8th of September but they were not hatched until the following afternoon.

9th September 5.30 pm

Taronga Zoo

We decided to take our son to Taronga Zoo (also my wife's and my first visit). 

It provided some great bird life to view. There was a free flight show that always fascinates me how they keep the birds from simply just flying away (It would have been a even better if I could view the birds after the show). It also had a large walk in aviary with many different birds but seemed to be a large amount of Scaly breasted Lorikeet compared to anything else but the highlight for me was being able to get very close to a Yellow tailed Black Cockatoo.

Indian Ringneck Parrot - Nesting

My ever reliable breeding pair of Indian Ringneck Parrot's "Nippet" and "Nelly". I seem to have down pact with breeding.

1. Introduce breeding box at start of August. Then breeding activities start such as removing nesting material from the box to suit and aggression toward me by "Nippet".

2. Mid August the first egg is laid and by a week all four have been laid. 

Bird Escape

I'm very dirty on myself!

I so very careful in regards to aviary doors but for the first time I must not have latched a door correctly and my female Red Rumped Parrot escaped. I found the door just a jar and my new female was gone.

Just not a good feeling knowing your mistake has lost the bird for good. First and last time hopefully.

Wollongong Bird Sale

I attended the first of what hopefully will become an annual occurrence

Wollongong Bird Sale

Similar to the Nowra Bird Sale in amount of birds and people attending but just in a bigger venue (this made it a lot more pleasant to walk around a view the birds).

The variations of amount and type of bird seems to be different at each sale I attend but the more common birds such a cockatiel and Budgie always seem to to available in large numbers.

I enjoyed a number of the sellers giving me some time to answer some questions I had and found it very helpful.

I purchased a female Gouldian Finch ($25) and a female Red Rump Parrot ($15) to be paired with my two males who have lost there mates.

Parrot Re-Homing

I have become a bit of a parrot re-homer. 

I have taken on two Indian Ringnecks that became a little too much for their owners. "Turk" that I have had for a while and "Beau Beau" that is my newest addition. This coupled with my adoption from a local animal shelter (RSPCA) of "Boe" seems to have made me quite the animal re-homer.

Each bird has had different circumstances that has they have come to me with

"Turk" was found by the previous owner in poor condition and although improved by the previous owner, he now looks a much more healthy well adapted aviary breed bird.

"Boe" is hand raised bird; he feeds from my hand but has yet to stand on my hand. He can't fly very well (has hand his wing clipped) and prefers the front corner of his aviary section standing on one leg more often than not. I would like to see his overall condition improve but I have not had him long. 

"Beau Beau" well looked after, raised from young age and handled but behaves more like a aviary breed bird. Presumed to be a male but is still under two years of age and has not produced a ring around the neck so I'm not sure. Quite bird and one of the more easier to handle when caught.

Suspicions Confirmed

My suspicions have been confirmed discovering the cat from previous occasions on my side fence. I quickly chased it from my yard; so hopefully the scare is enough to keep it away.

If it is not responsible I still do not like it lurking so close to my birds of a night time, why can't people with cats be responsible and lock their cat's up of a night I do not know.

Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla)

Galah

Cacatua roseicapilla

Sexing -

The female had red eyes while the male has black.

Noise -

Moderate to High, they can produce a very loud squawk when alarmed. They are
generally quite unless that squawk is produced.

General care -

I will be keeping my Galah's in my larger group aviary with Princess Parrots,
Bourke Parrots, Red Rumped Parrots and a Gouldian Finch. They appear to have a good temperament but they are larger than the other species and have no reason to be threatened.
I have been providing my usually mixed seed with daily vegetable, fruit and greens (just in greater levels)

Breeding -

They are a proven breeding pair, so I'll be looking at options for nesting boxes shortly. I do have one I converted out of a hollow log which will be one of my options for these birds.

Bird Swap

During my time of selling birds I have had several offers of swapping birds. In most cases I'm more interested in recouping some money from my hobby than the trade offered or I have not enough space for the traded bird. However recently I received a trade offer that I was happy to take!

I traded a young male Green Cheeked Conure for a pair of Galah. I have had an interest in keeping Galah but never thought I would get an opportunity.  I have housed them in my larger communal aviary and although it has taken the other birds a little while get used to much larger birds all seems to be well in the aviary. They are a three year old proven breeding pair.

Shock Death

My new aviary has allowed me to move around several of my bird to do some extensive cleaning of my aviaries. The first pair I moved were "Turk" and "Blondie" to allow a space and do some cleaning of my main aviary. However one day "Blondie" just seemed a little sluggish and sleepy putting her head into her shoulder a lot and the following day I found her past away hanging upside down.

It had a lot of similarity to my female Princess Parrot that died some time ago; I still suspect cat involvement as these are very healthy birds that have died unexpectedly.  

New Aviary

People down the street from me were getting rid of a aviary, so I managed to pick up yet another free aviary (yes I have paid for one of my four aviaries). This has provided me some much needed space for aviary maintenance (moving birds out while cleaning) and general shifting around of birds.

Aviary Maintenance

An unfortunate downside of keeping birds is the excess seed attracts rodents. I keep my seed in sealed bins and a box of rat sak in the shed which controls the problem but does not eliminate entirely. 

The flooring in my aviaries are pavers that have concreted across to keep out mice and rats, however a rat has recently been exploiting weak areas of this a burrowing under to access the seed. My response has been to concrete in the burrow but it was too late in my larger communal aviary and allowed my female Gouldian Finch to escape.

I recently purchased a pressure cleaner and it has allowed me to really thoroughly clean out all the aviaries and literally blow out all the cobwebs! Great idea for anyone keeping birds and I would highly recommend.

RSPCA Adoption

I decided to adopt a male Indian Ringneck Parrot from a local RSPCA shelter.

His name is "Boe" and believe him to be partially hand reared as when I got him out of the box he climbed on my hand then shoulder but soon after me offering my hand to step up on he gave me a little nip but did not fly away. I have also been feeding him by hand and he is poor flyer (I suspect his wings have be clipped). 

I had an interest in doing this for a while but never found a bird advertised available. It cost me $35 to adopt him, me to provided ID and to sign a form saying I would not on sell him or experiment on him (bit odd but I guess it happens).

He seems slightly larger and differently mark to my other males which leads me to believe he may be crossed with an Alexandrian Parrot but I can't be sure.

Surgical Sexing

I chose to get this season young surgical sexed at a local vet. The procedure cost $20 for each bird as there were multiples ($25 for a single bird).

It was cheaper than DNA sexing through the vet (around $37 from memory) and I also got leg rings put on the Green Cheeked Conure young to help me distinguish from the parents (cost $11 per bird for leg banding).

The procedure involves the bird being put to sleep and examining the sexual organs to determine if its a male or female.

Results

Blue Male

Indian Ringnecks

Blue - Male 

Creamino - Female

From my knowledge; is that the lighter colours in the Indian Ringneck Parrots are generally more likely to be female. I have been told my Albino male if rare on more than one occasion. 

Creamino Female

Green Cheeked Conure

I ended up with two males and a female. The one with yellow tipped wing feathers was a male.

Green Cheeked Conure's - Note Fellow Tipped Wings

Colour Mutation - Green Cheeked Conure

One of my Green Cheeked Conures fairly early on developed yellow tips to its wings. I wasn't sure if this was a developmental thing but they now nearly have their full adult plumage and the yellow tips have stayed.

I'm unsure what to classify the bird as; there are a few common mutations that have yellow on the bird - Cinnamon, Yellow Sided and Pineapple but the wing feathers are free of yellow.