Jul - Aug 2017, Volume 27 Issue 4

Many of us who delight in our larger parrot companions today were first introduced to the many charms of the psittacine world by the budgerigar, or parakeet, as it has been commonly called in the United States. Few small parrots are as charming or engaging, employing so many talents to amuse us.

For over twenty years I have consistently bred three species of Macaws. Concentrating on Blue/Golds and Scarlet Macaws primarily and in the last five to six years, the Greenwing Macaw. After witnessing chicks being removed from the nest many years ago at a friend’s aviaries and subsequently saw two very distressed parent birds and two screaming three-week old chicks, I vowed never to inflict that on any of my birds. The awareness, sensitivity and intelligence of these birds is above the ‘average’ and to make them hate me was not acceptable to me.

I have for 25 years been working directly with the artificial breeding in captivity from eggs and chicks of parrots in Brazil. I’ve tried different methodologies and currently have reached a satisfactory conclusion. The monitoring of the eggs should be done both in nature as with the artificial incubation. For that reason the handling of the nests must be previously, carefully planned to minimise risks of breakage of eggs.