Meyer’s Parrot Awesome Priced Advice, Caring, Breeding
Meyer’s parrot – Poicephalus meyeri
The identification of subspecies.
By Rinus van den Broek
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Introduction:
When I started with the first Meyer parrots at the end of 2016, I discovered that the well-known Meyer’s also had 6 subspecies. What do they look like, what is the difference between these subspecies? Questions that, even after a lot of searching, were answered only fairly briefly. Olivier Vercauteren’s exam piece for his bachelor’s degree already brought some light into the darkness.
His test piece was based on his study of the various bellows in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren (BE) and the conversations with and the writings of various enthusiasts at home and abroad. This description of the Meyeri subspecies is largely based on his test piece, but with Olivier, his new pictures have been approved and where necessary adapted and expanded, for which I thank him.
I also thank Piet Onderdelinden for his photos and support, the Verburg family for the cover photo, and the specialized breeders who have allowed us to have their beautiful birds photographed. Thank you very much Rudi Kock, Gert Groen & Jos Jansen!
Objective:
The purpose of this work is to map the different subspecies of the Meyer parrot (Poicephalus meyeri). All subspecies are carefully discussed with their own specific characteristics. The differences are demonstrated on the basis of visual material and the problem of the minimal difference between subspecies is made clear.
The Meyer parrot is known as ornithologist and parrot lovers as the main breaker. The difficulty of distinguishing the subspecies from each other is a challenge for me to present in a clear way and possibly inform other enthusiasts to keep the subspecies pure. Although today’s taxonomist has indicated that the head signature can no longer be seen as a characteristic of the species, I felt that it should be included as such.
General species description of the Meyer parrot.
Species description:
The subspecies of the Meyer parrot can be divided into two groups by the belly color. The group with the blue belly color such as the P.m.damarensis, the P.m.matschiei and the P.m.transvaalensis. In addition, there is the so-called green group which contains the P.m.saturatus, the P.m.reichenowi, and the nominal form, the P.m.meyeri. Other recognition points between the different subspecies are the back color and the amount of yellow on the head. For a further description of the subspecies, I refer to the species description per subspecies itself.
All the subspecies are described in detail in the following eBook:
https://www.wwbirds.co.za/dir/bird-ebooks/101-parrot-breeding-profiles/
Meyer’s parrot distribution area:
The Meyer parrot is the only species of the genus Poicephalus that is so widespread and common on the African continent. Depending on the subspecies, its range extends from the south of Chad, Sudan, and Ethiopia, to more southern countries such as Angola, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. (Jordan, 1999)
My breeding with the Poicephalus Meyeri matschiei Meyer’s parrot
When I received the first pair of Poicephalus Meyeri Matschiei parrots in early 2017, I had no idea that this was the start of a completely different direction for my bird hobby.
Now, more than 2 ½ years later, I am the lucky owner of 10 pairs of Poicephalus Meyeri in various subspecies, kept in breeding cages and small flights. The Matschiei is 1 of the 6 subspecies of the nominal form Meyeri Meyeri “the Meyertje”, and clearly distinguishable from the nominal form by their much dark, black-brown back color and the clear blue belly color.
The Matschiei occurs from the southeast of the democratic republic of Congo, central and northern Zambia to the north of Malawi and southwest of Tanzania where it occurs together with the P.m.saturatus. (Forshaw, 2006)
Housing Meyer’s parrot:
My Meyeris are kept both in flights of 1.3 x 1 x 2.2 meters (WxDxH) and in cages of 1.2 x 0.6 x 0.8 meters, in both locations my Meyeris feel at home. In addition, there is a flight for young birds of 3.6 x 1.6 / 1 x 2.2 meters in which they can grow beautifully.
Nutrition:
All birds receive daily seeds from Versele-Laga (Prestige) to which a 33% racing pigeon feed has been added. Grit, minerals, stomach gravel, and clean bath & drinking water are always present.
In addition, they receive soft food every other day based on egg food or soaked pigeon food mixed with a variety of all kinds of fruit & vegetables.
Breeding Meyer’s parrot :
The Matschiei couple were fine together, a male 2006 with a 2015 female, and pairings were observed regularly from the beginning of March. On April 28, the first egg was laid in the nest, two days later the second egg and two days later the third egg, completing the clutch. Three in a nest is normal, but 4 also occur regularly. The incubation period is 26 days, calculated from the third egg. The eggs were all fertilized and incubated by the female.
The first chick was born on 27 May, and another one was added every day.
After the second young had been ringed, the female remained outside the nest and no longer looked at the male. She appeared to have a lung inflammation, which she was completely healed within a few weeks with the correct course of antibiotics.
So in the meantime, I was sitting with three beautiful youngsters who were not looked after anymore! Good advice was expensive! Although I am not in favor of it and had never done it before, I found an extensive manual on the internet on how to feed the baby and the temperature at which she should be kept. Quickly fetched some hand-rearing food (NutriBird A19 from Versela Laga), a friend of Lori breeder that I knew had a heated cage and I asked if it was in use, but that turned out not to be the case. He brought it in the afternoon! What a service!
The first week, up to day 20, the feeding of 37 degrees 4x a day with a crop needle. From the 4th week, I switched to 3x a day with a feeding syringe with a kind of spoon on it.
After each feeding, the young were weighed to check their growth. The youngsters, however, grew like cabbage and were already independent at 10 weeks.
The female with a young bird that just flew out:
On March 17, 2018, the first egg of a new nest lay in it, again three this time that was well incubated by the female, the first young was born on April 13. A little later I saw the male throw this youngster out of the nest!
After this I set the male aside in a cage, the baby hatched quietly and on 14 & 16 April the other two eggs hatched! These were greatly fed by the female, after which the two (both females) had already flown out after 7 weeks.
They did return to the nest regularly until after 12 weeks they ate completely independently. A week later they were given their own cage, where they now feel at home. After a few days, the male returned. Looks good and hopefully, it will come to a second round.
