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When you go to the local pet shop chances are that these birds are home bred and this brings down the price at times than if you go to a breeder. Be carefull to purchase only healthy birds.
I would suggest that you only breed parrots for yourself or perhaps friends as this is not seen as a way to increase your riches, as breeding some pets will provide.
I have not had much success in breeding wild birds that have been caught as I have had with my aviary-bred birds. Also, I would not suggest going and buying some expensive or rare birds in the hopes of breeding them and making a fortune, it just doesn't happen, or at least not very often.
If you plan to breed, having two sets of pairs of birds is sufficient. I would suggest housing each set of birds in their own separate housing and not putting all four of them together in one housing area.
It is well to know that it is very hard to obtain a true pair of parrots. By the meaning of a true pair, it might be hard to obtain birds that are truly alike in every way to produce little ones that will be exactly as the parents.
There is also the problem of putting a set of birds together in one housing in the hopes of them mating as some birds are just not compatible to one another. Sometimes the male is very mean and aggressive and will have to be removed and you will need to try again daily. It could also happen that the male and female will just not adjust to one another and will not mate. Sometimes it takes virtually years for a set of birds to like each other enough to mate.
You will need to have some nest boxes prepared for the birds for nesting. It will depend on the size of the bird as to the size of the nest box. I like to have the bottom of the box square and probably the length about as long as the hen, perhaps a little longer. You will need some bits of branch to be placed in the nesting box and on the larger birds I would place some pieces of wood so that the hen can gnaw on these and make her base for her nest. You don't want the entrance hole to be any larger than the space it takes for the hen to go through. I always place a little perch for her to fly and land on by the nesting box also.
Be sure to feed the hen a little extra during those weeks before she will lay her eggs as she needs lots of protein for the little embryos. I always give milk and bread or calcium to make sure that the little birds will be healthy.
When the hen gets ready to lay her eggs be sure to carefully watch her as there is a condition called egg binding that will prevent her from being able to lay the egg. You can lubricate her vent and then the egg will just pass on through. If this doesn't work I would advise you to consult your veterinarian, never try to get the egg out yourself.
I keep a journal on each mother hen as to when she lays her eggs, if she has problems in laying and if the chicks are healthy or unhealthy. I also keep a log of any eggs that she loses to damage or if the chicks are just dead in their shells.
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