Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 3/20/2006

Question
Hi Chrys
 I have a pair of Peach faced and they are always together in the cage very close and feeding each other Male always providing her with offerings of seed and other food
 Just latly they have taken to hiding in the nest box for anything upto 5-8 hrs at night and 1-2 hrs in the day they have not started shreding the paper yet but they are young birds hatched in september 05
  I normally hand rear Teils and this is a new venture for me can you advise what i should do or not do in the case
  I have read back thru many questions and dont see what i need

Many Thanks
Ian in the UK  

Answer
Hi, Ian.  Thanks for posting.

I'm not sure what you are looking for!  If you've hand reared tiels, you have a pretty good idea as to what you should/shouldn't be doing.  What you should do depends on your intentions for these lovebirds.  Evidently, you plan on breeding them since you have a nestbox up for them.  However, the female is too young to breed.  She should be at least 18 months to 2 years old.  She's able to breed sooner than this, but her body isn't ready for all that's involved in breeding, laying eggs, and raising young.  

Most parrots will sleep in a nestbox or other enclosure if it's provided for them at night.  This explains staying in the nextbox 5-8 hours at night.  Parrots nap several times daily, so this can explain the 1-2 hours in the nestbox during the day.  When they start shredding paper and making a nest in the nestbox, they are starting the breeding process.  

I recommend you remove the nestbox and give these guys some time to grow up before breeding.  Allowing them to mate so young can have a detrimental affect on how long they live, particularly the female (breeding and raising young is hard on a female parrot).  Also, they might not have learned all they need to yet in order to care for young and there could be problems with the young since the parents are so young.

In addition, before breeding them, I recommend you make sure they are on a healthy diet to ensure their babies arrive healthy and they stay healthy throughout the process.  A healthy diet includes a variety of nutritional foods, including soft foods that the parents can feed to their babies easier.  Minimize seed as seed is full of fat and contains little nutrition.  Try getting them on pelleted food that contains vitamins and minerals parrots need.

I'm assuming you will handfeed any babies (handfeed with a handfeeding syringe and baby parrot handfeeding formula).  This is a must with lovebirds if you intend to sell or give them away as pets.  Pull them from their parents as early as possible (7-10 days of age) in order in ensure their tameness so they will make good pets.

Come back if I haven't provided the information you need.

Chrys