Expert Tips for Parrot Breeding and Incubation Success

How to Cope with Parrot Breeding and Incubation Activities

1. Pairing Your Parrots

If you have a single parrot at home and wish to encourage breeding, you'll need to introduce a compatible female parrot for mating. It's generally advisable for beginners to purchase young or subadult birds for pairing, while those with experience might opt for breeding birds. For newly acquired parrots, the owner should first isolate them for a few days to ensure their health before introducing them to a separate cage for initial meetings. Once they become accustomed to each other, they can be placed in the same cage. If the parrots are seen resting together, preening each other's feathers, this indicates a successful pairing. The next step is to wait for the parrots to become sexually active and begin the mating process. After mating, the female will frequently enter the breeding box to lay eggs.

2. Preparations Before Breeding

1. Cage: The cage for breeding parrots should be spacious enough to accommodate the breeding box.

2. Diet: To stimulate breeding, provide highcalorie and highprotein food, along with adequate vitamins and minerals.

3. Breeding Box: The breeding box should be appropriately sized for the parrot's body and ideally should be a wooden vertical box. A perch at the entrance will facilitate the birds' access.

4. Litter: After setting up the breeding box, ensure it is wellinsulated to aid in normal incubation and prevent the female from getting too cold. Use appropriate bedding like wood shavings, dry straw, or hay for insulation. If these are not available, cotton fabric or newspapers can be used as substitutes, but avoid using very fine cotton ropes to prevent them from entangling the birds' feet.

3. Assisting with Egg Laying

Approximately one week after successful mating, the parrot will lay an egg every other day, usually ranging from 5 to 6 in total. After laying, the mother bird will incubate the eggs within the breeding box. It's common for firsttime mothers to lay only 3 to 4 eggs, which is perfectly normal. During this time, the owner should change the food and litter daily and monitor for any eggbinding issues, offering assistance if necessary.

Once the mother begins incubating, the father will also enter the breeding box daily to feed her or assist with incubation, allowing her to leave to forage. After seven days of incubation, the owner should check the eggs for successful fertilization using a flashlight. Be cautious not to touch other eggs or anything with a strong odor to prevent the parrot from abandoning the nest.

4. Care During Incubation

The mother bird will typically hatch the chicks in the order of the eggs laid, while she continues to feed the newly hatched chicks and incubate the remaining eggs. During this period, maintain the breeding box temperature between 28℃ and 30℃ and the humidity between 60% and 70%. After hatching, increase the humidity slightly, and the parrots will selfregulate. The owner can place a small amount of water in the breeding box for this purpose.

Pet Doctor's Tip:

Incubation times may vary slightly between different species, but generally, it falls between 20 to 26 days.