Breeding parrots husbandry guidelines
Breeding parrots husbandry guidelines: By Tony Silva
Commercial breeding operations that supply the pet trade with captive-bred parrots were rare outside the US and South Africa until about twenty-five years ago, when facilities that specifically produce young for pets started appearing in Brazil, Asia, and elsewhere. Today hundreds of young amazons, caiques, macaws, and conures, to mention just a few groups, are captive bred each year and many ultimately become pets. Advances in aviculture relating to diet, disease control, incubation, and hand-rearing of young have been profound in recent decades and it is these advances that have allowed commercial operations to proliferate.
Breeding parrots husbandry guideline – combined experience
As I travel the world, I visit breeding facilities. During these visits, I always spend time talking to the breeders. This provides considerable information to which I add more than 40 years of experience in breeding parrots ranging from parrotlets to macaws and cockatoos. I have also studied parrots throughout the world and have amassed significant data on breeding biology, diet, and behavior. This combined experience and data have led me to some conclusions that can lead to success.
Water is a source of pathogens throughout the world, resulting in many avian mortalities. Most aviculturists in the US, Australia, and Europe utilize tap water, but in Asia, India, and Latin America many treat the drinking water by boiling it.
Water treatment
Many then make the mistake of pouring the water into freshly washed dishes that were rinsed in the questionable tap water. This often undermines treating of the water. Placing dishes on the ground can also be a source of pathogens. There is also the risk of bacteria proliferating in a dish of water where food has been dunked; in a tropical climate food added to the drinking water, a habit of many parrots, soon results in bacterial soup.
Because of this, I highly recommend an automatic watering system or if the breeder has just a few pairs the use of water bottles. The parrots quickly learn to drink from the nipples—wedging a sunflower seed into the nipple to allow the system to drip for a short while is all that is typically required– and the water flowing into the system can be filtered, passed through UV filtration and chlorinated.
All my birds drink water that has passed through filtration and UV disinfection before being chlorinated and entering a storage tank. From this storage tank, the water goes into a pressurized tank that supplies the birds with drinking water. We treat the water thus because in the countryside where the farm is located only well water is available and in a well, bacteria can be a problem. I base this statement on repeated water tests, which are conducted yearly. I test both the incoming well water and the water being administered to the birds.
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