Food For Breeding Parents

 Nest-box Material

Environment  Temperature

Pairs: Bonded, Proven, or What?

Breeding Stats At A Glance

Selective Breeding

Breeding Challenges

Breeding Cockatiels

Success and Problems
Author ~ Judy Brumley

     Cockatiels achieve breeding age at different times depending on feeding, lighting, and their individual
genetic makeup. The breeding process is not always without problems.
In trying to find out why your cockatiels don’t  successfully breed, do not immediately place all the
 blame on the birds. Examine the circumstances and try to find out the cause by asking yourself the
following questions:

• 1.       Do you know the age of your cockatiels? Are they sexually mature? The Cockatiels should be at least one year old and have completed their first annual molt. Sexual maturity is essential before any interest in breeding occurs.
   

• 2.       Are the birds in breeding condition? Courtship stimulates the reproductive process of the mature hen. The hen won’t show a serious interest in breeding if the hormones from sexually mature ovaries are not circulating in her. The hens are funny when they ignore a cock’s robust singing for a while before she lowers herself on the perch indicating she is ready to mate. The pair bonds with mutual head preening and cuddling.
   

• 3.       Have the birds had adequate time to accustom themselves to their new home and to each other? Cockatiels don’t like change and the unexpected.
   

• 4.       Do I really have a true pair, a cock and a hen? Don’t forget that the sexes are difficult to distinguish in some of the color mutations.  I bought a pied Cockatiel as a proven cock, and he didn’t act like a male. I sent feathers to Avian Biotech to have them sexed for $25.00. Yes, he was a cock.
   

• 5.       Do I feed the birds an adequate, balanced diet? A diet for breeding Cockatiels should be different than a maintenance diet. Wild Cockatiels respond to spring, rainy season to breed because there is an abundance of seeding grasses and other food available. They will only hatch and rear one clutch in a season if the food sources decline due to less rainfall. Breeders take advantage of knowing we can bring our Cockatiels into breeding condition by feeding soft foods, i.e. germinated/sprouted seeds, 100% whole grain bread with a little wheat germ oil or milk, crushed very hard boiled eggs, moistened egg food products - are just for example.  Spray misting and providing a shallow bowl of water for bathing, and lengthening daylight hours to 13-14 hours, mimics spring and longer days to search for food for the chicks.
   

• 6.       Do they have an adequate nest box? Cockatiels aren’t real demanding about a nest box, but it should be 12” x 12” and not wobbly.  A nice size box gives the cock and hen room to sit on eggs together overnight. The larger cockatiel pair and chicks really grow fast and take up a lot of room.
   

• 7.       Are they exposed to only the minimum disturbance?  Another bird landing on top of their cage or nest box, or a cat coming to the cage are examples.
   

• 8.       Once in a while one of the birds of a pair considers the other as an unsuitable mate, and breeding will not take place. It is rare, but it has happened a cock only likes a normal gray hen as an example. If you are attempting to change mates of a bonded pair, that can be difficult. I have separated a pair from basement level to the second floor upstairs apart and the pair called loud enough to hear the other one.  If a pair has raised chicks together they can become very bonded. They can be very unhappy about the loss of a mate for a month or more. Getting another cockatiel friend won’t matter. 
   

              
Nest-box Material and Splay-legged Chick
Author ~ Judy Brumley

   When we give an experienced cockatiel pair a nest-box, they will be excited. The breeder needs to put 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" deep wood shavings inside the box. The cock and hen will scratch and move the shavings around to make a depression for the eggs. I find the cock always wants to go in it before the hen does, it seems to be his role to make sure it is safe inside. Sometimes a hen tries to look in the nest-box before it has been approved by the cock, in which case he will scold her, even strike at her, and make her wait until he has chewed around the opening hole, and gone inside. When he sees it is safe for the hen he will tell her to come in.

   The type of shavings I like is aspen, a finer texture than wood chips. Don't use cedar chips. I read somewhere that if you have an outdoors aviary you can put a bay-leaf in the nest box to keep mites out of it. My usual source stopped carrying my favorite aspen nest shavings. I found a huge package of nice textured wood shavings at Tractor Supply Co. It will last me for years because I don't breed a lot of cockatiels. An inadequate depth of nest material will cause splay - legged chicks. This means the leg comes out of the hip joint and becomes useless. Last breeding season I had this problem occur. I inspected the nest box and knew that I hadn't put enough shavings in it, and the cockatiel hen laid her eggs on the slippery nest box bottom. The first baby that was hatched had a splay leg, and it was my fault. I took the week old baby out and took a chance to put more bedding in the box. I tried using vet tape to keep the chick's leg in place several times, but she wiggled out of it. Next, I tried setting her in a small Dixie cup. She just fit in to keep her legs together. As she was growing I had to get her a bigger cup. Now she was able to stick her leg up and rest that foot on the side of the cup. Next I put her in a vase shaped teacup that is small at the bottom, narrower in the middle, and larger at the top. She wasn’t getting her bad leg up in this cup. So I replaced the tissue under her in the cup every time I fed her. Her bones were stronger and her joint healed so she could stand on it. I couldn't have expected more! She was ready to go in a small cage. I put shredded paper under the wire cage bottom until the babies get used to standing in a cage. I put her in with her siblings, and she wanted to get up to the perch. She had a hard time coordinating her legs and gripping onto the perch. To my total amazement - she kept trying to perch until she could do it.

                                                                              Sheila N. contacted me to purchase a companion for her 27 year old "Sunny".  Sheila said she was afraid I wouldn't sell this baby to her when she was visiting her brother, who lives not a 15 minutes drive from me. Sheila purchased pretty little cinnamon pearl hen "Ellie" AND a companion for her on their trip home in South Carolina.
Here is "Ellie" and you can see her legs are slightly apart, but she is an amazing little bird with such determination to walk and perch that she corrected her wide stance and coordination with practice.

   Please make sure your nest box has a minimum of 3" nest material in it to help avoid a chick getting splay - legged. The birds always make a depression in the nest material and you don't want them to clear away to the wood bottom.

Environment Temperatures and your Cockatiel
Author ~ Judy Brumley

 Evaluating the temperature at which your Cockatiel is kept will be easier if you know how your bird will look if it is too warm or too cold. Birds don't have sweat glands, so they are unable to cool their bodies the way people do. First, the bird will sleek their feathers against their body, which lessens its feathers insulating function. Second, a bird will open its beak so that heat is lost directly from the moist tissue of the mouth and throat, and directly from the lungs too. Third, the wings are held slightly away from the body - this permits ventilation of the undersides of the wings, which are a thinly feathered part of a bird’s body.
I live in northern Indiana so I'm familiar with hot, humid heat waves. I know many people do not have air conditioning in their house and have cockatiel pairs breeding over our summer months. I know of someone who lost chicks in the nest box from a heat wave that heated her south facing bird room windows to unbearable temperatures. Shade the birds from sun. Place a shallow dish of cool water in the cage, or spray mist the bird/s frequently if you notice them holding their wings away from their body. If the chicks have their beaks open and are panting at all in a nest box, I (personally) would put them in an open cardboard box, maybe a shoebox inside the cage so parents can take care of them there. A bowl lined with paper towels would work. The nest box shouldn’t exceed 80 degrees. You can put a thermometer in - or on the top of the bedding material.
At the other extreme, a room in the house that is allowed to go unheated overnight during cold weather is not a good choice either. A chilled bird reverses the above measures. The plumage is fluffed out to trap air between the feathers. The wings are held close to it’s body, and as a result they are over-lapped by body feathers. Finally, the head is turned back and the bill tucked between the wing feathers (not under the wing) so the air breathed in is that warmed in the feathers.
So if you see that your cockatiel/s presents either of these actions in waking hours, the draft, so can birds, and it often happens that illness worsens. Of course, this includes drafts caused by air conditioners and heat from a heat source.

Outdoors, wild, in their native Australia, cockatiels are able to cope with the daily range of temperature variation, and the range of seasonal variation. They are undoubtedly in condition for it. Animals, and birds kept indoors are less able to adjust to wide and extreme temperature changes, and they are completely dependent on us for their well being.

PAIRS: BONDED, PROVEN or WHAT?

A Definition of Terms by Carol Highfill and Sandra Dobbs

There are many loosely defined terms describing pairs of birds. However, the meaning of these terms becomes very important when buying or selling birds, especially for breeding purposes. Confusion as to the meaning of these terms can lead to a buyer purchasing the wrong pair of birds.
Pairs fall into three main groupings: Pairs, Bonded and Proven. There is no one definition of these, but understanding the differences can help to:  Eliminate confusion caused when the buyer and seller apply different meanings to the same terms.
Assure that the buyer asks the proper questions of the seller.
Improve the chances of purchasing the birds desired.
Some sellers are really tricky with their usage of the English language, so the more specific you can make your questions, the more likely you are to get truthful answers. Of course every now and then you'll run across someone who will just flat-out lie to you.  Another point to remember is that bonded or proven pairs are that way in their current environment. If moved, there is a possibility, that their relationship may change.
For those of you who are seeking to purchase only a male or female to create a new pair, be aware that a bird which is "proven" with one mate, may or may not bond or prove with another.
The following breakdown of terms are our personal definitions, but are pretty representative of most breeders.

PAIR - Two birds which have been placed together. Technically, a "pair" only means two birds - not necessarily two birds of different sexes - so if someone offers you a pair of birds for sale, it's always wise to ask if they are a surgically or DNA sexed male and female or a pair that has laid fertile eggs together.

TRUE PAIR - A male and female which have been placed together - not necessarily with signs of bonding. These birds may often produce infertile eggs due to incompatibility, leading a breeder to believe that they are bonded when in truth they are not.

BONDED - Birds who show obvious affection for each other: mutual preening, feeding each other, showing distress when separated, very often mating activity observed (but not always). Note that a bonded pair can and very often IS two birds of the same sex. So a bonded pair may not be a true pair.

BONDED/EGG-LAYING - Same as above but with the addition of laying infertile eggs. This can also occur if you have two hens, so isn't always an indication of a true pair.

PROVEN PAIR - A bonded true pair which has produced fertile eggs for the breeder who is claiming them as proven. Ideally these birds have hatched live chicks and fed them.
Many "proven pairs" are in environments where their eggs are taken from them for incubation by a breeder. So it is unknown whether or not these pairs would incubate, hatch, feed and otherwise care for their young.
Anyone seeking a proven pair with the intention of having them raise their own babies, should be sure to ask whether the pair has done this successfully before. If they haven't, it doesn't necessarily mean that they won't. Ask if the pair has had problems in this area or if the breeder chooses to always pull the eggs. If the eggs are always pulled as a matter of course, it just means that the answer to this question is unknown.
The decision on whether to buy or not to buy a particular pair is a personal one. However, the descriptions above should increase your chances of satisfaction.
 

Food for breeding parents
Permission to use this article given to me by Bernie Hansen
Hamilton & District Budgerigar Society Inc.

Food for breeding parents:

This info is for most Parakeets, including Budgies, Cockatiels and other Grass Parakeets such as Bourks, Red Rumps etc..
Unless you feed your birds a wide variety of food they may need a supplement while they have babies. You can buy premixed breeding formulas or mixtures, or parakeet chick feeds from some pet shops if you do not have the time to create a similar mixture as stated below. If your birds only get the regular seed, this is hard for the babies to digest and they may not survive or may become weak. They can also get crop impaction from not being able to digest the seed without the additional crop milk from the hen. You should feed the parents something that will help the hen create the crop milk. The below formulas help provide additional proteins and minerals and are easier for the babies to digest when fed by the parents. Soaked groats and brown bread will help but they need more nutritional food added to the mixture as the examples below show.

Soaked seed mixture:
A sample of what to give adult birds while they are breeding. We give breeding pairs a mixture of PYM (Philips Yeast Mixture), crushed non-medicated pheasant or chick starter, CEDE (egg mixture for birds) and a powdered mineral premix. Every night some groats are placed in a container of water and let to soak for 12 hours (overnight). The mixture is then washed and drained in a strainer. After this you add a few tablespoons of the above mixture to the soaked groats depending on how many birds you have breeding and feed this to the breeding pairs every morning and evening. (twice a day). You can soak more in the morning for their evening feeding. This is given to them about 3 days before the 1st chicks are due to hatch and up until the last one leaves the nest. This mixture gives the baby birds that extra strength boost and nourishment. Apparently the birds love this and eat it like children with candy but is very nourishing for them.) They also get their normal food along with fresh vegetables such as carrot, spinach or washed lettuce leaves. The soft food is very important to the feeding of the babies by helping the hen create the crop milk which is vital to the babies.

A full, wider sample to consider from one of our Champion Breeders:


BASIC: Basic 50/50 Budgie mix. (50% Canary and 50% Millets) with two table spoons of Wheat germ oil mixed into a container approx. 20lb in size and let stand 24 hours prior to feeding . Gravel (Available at all times) comprising of Crushed (cooked) egg shells, oyster shell, limestone and a fine sprinkling of charcoal, well mixed. Cuttlebone (Available at all times)
Fresh "tap" water.
(Millet spray once a week, when not breeding.)


BREEDING SEASON:

After pairing up, soft foods are given twice a week until a day prior to the hatching of the first egg. Then daily. When chicks hatch, daily feeding of cubes of whole wheat bread soaked in milk fed at 06:00 (as soon as main lights come on.) In the evening a soft food composing of 50% wheat and 50% groats that have been soaked for 24 hours, well rinsed and drained, then mixed with CEDE egg food. NOTE: I will add grated carrot to the mix but not to the birds that I select for a Nest Feather Show team. ½ Millet sprays are introduced directly into the nest boxes as the chicks feather-up. Whole Millet sprays as they leave the nest. Chicks can usually be safely removed from their parents after a period of 42 days. (Observing that the chicks are feeding themselves is a must to be sure). At this time they are placed into an 8ft. Nursery/training cage where the Soft food is continued in Bulk. After the first moult the birds are removed to a Nursery flight which has access to an outside aviary. If fruits, greens or vegetables are fed it is my preference for them not to have come direct from a refrigerator and removed after 24hrs. I am not a supporter of feeding lettuce, I prefer the greener spinaches.
I will put left over steak bones in the flight but NOT during breeding season.
I have in the past played with different compositions of vitamin additives but am a firm believer in the natural goodness of exercise, good fresh air and sunlight that my birds get all summer in the outside flights.
The above is what works for me, not to say that it is correct for everyone.

Another sample from a Novice Breeder:
I feed 3 parts oats and 1 part wheat that are soaked for 24 to 36 hrs. In the morning the mixture is placed in cold water, 12 hrs later they are rinsed off and then the next morning or 24 hrs after being put in water, I take 1/2 half away for feeding. Then 12 hrs later I use up the rest of the soaked mixture. Oats take longer to get soft than groats. The wheat seem to take a bit longer than the oats but in any case they are both fine after 24 or 36 hours. I don't leave the mixture out of water until it is being fed. The mixture is then mixed with 3 parts of 12 grain cereal that is purchased at a bulk food store and 1 part CEDE mix. Also soaked brown bread is placed in the cages daily with millet spray.

I give this starting one day before the first bird is due... and I keep feeding this when the chicks are put into the young bird cage. I have been taking the young birds from the cage at around 70 days old and placing them in the large flight with the older birds. Sometimes as a treat (maybe twice a month) I'll put some of this mixture into the adult flight. Carrots are given daily in slices attached to each cage and also the main flight. We also put vit B-12 tablets in 8 oz. of water then mix this in with drinking water. We also put 1 Jamieson Super Vita-Vim and 2 Jamieson B-12 vitamins in 2 L of water and then use 8oz of this mixture in with another 2 liters of water. I change the water every 18 to 24 hrs and the birds get the mixture for two changes, then clear water.

Alternative soaked seed mixture:
Taken from the book 'The Cult of the Budgerigar' (1984)


Four parts Canary seed, 1 part Pannicum millet, 1 part white millet, quarter part wheat and a small quantity of groats are mixed together, put into a bag and soaked for 24 hours in cold water to which for teaspoons of Blue Label Deosan has been added per bucket of water. After 24 hours the water is emptied out and the bag of seed is thoroughly rinsed under the tap. It is then hung to dry out. The next day this seed is emptied into a bucket and laced with linseed, and a small amount of emulsuion rich in vitamins is mixed into it. On alternate days the seed is sprinkled with a yeast product and the emulsion is left out. During the day grated carrot and crumbled brown bread is given to the breeding pairs at a rate of on tablespoon per pair. The young are given this food even after they have left the nest for a few more weeks. You can use spinach instead of carrot.



berniehansen@sympatico.ca

BREEDING STATS At A GLANCE

BREEDING AGE: An absolute minimum of 12 months. However many breeders prefer to set up pairs between 18 and 24 months to allow for full maturity. ONSET OF EGG LAYING: Most pairs will produce eggs within ten to fourteen days after being placed in a breeding pen with an acceptable mate, nest box and conditioning diet. If the pair do not produce in a few weeks, try re-matching them to different mates or check their condition or or breeding environment, including photo-light period and humidity.

INCUBATION: Eggs hatch between 18 and 21 days, depending upon when the hen first begins to sit the clutch. Virgin hens, in particular, may not sit until the second or third egg is laid.

BANDING: Closed, coded, seamless leg bands serve as permanent identification and are available through national organizations. Depending on the bloodlines, chicks may banded between 10 days and two weeks of age, around the time the eye slits are opening. Very large chicks may need to be banded earlier. Pet quality (smaller size) birds may even be banded a few days later. (Check the chicks each morning to be certain the band remains on the leg).

FLEDGING: Chicks leave the nest between four and five weeks of age. They are fully feathered except for a short tail and are still dependent upon their parents for food. They will learn from their parents to pick at food and return to the nest box at night to sleep until fully feathered.

WEANING: Chicks are fully weaned anywhere from seven to ten weeks (eight may be average) when parent-reared; or eight to ten weeks or even later when handfed. Chicks which continue to beg for food and do not have a full crop should continue to be fed. Formal studies at U.C. Davis have demonstrated that chicks will wean when they are developmentally ready to do so and not before. Providing a water dish helps in the process of weaning when hand-feeding birds. Stop feeding only when the chick's crops continue to be full at night, for several evenings, showing they are capable of eating on their own.

Author: Unknown,
Source: On a Table at a Bird-Fair Handout.

 

 These types of problems can be avoided by Breeding Challenges  g your aviaries and placing your perches so that no one is higher than anyone else. Also,
Author: Unknown, Source: Table Bird Fair Hand-out
 
Infertility in birds is the failure of a true pair to produce eggs with viable embryos. It differs from low where fertile eggs fail to hatch. Egg candling allows you to assess whether low hatchability or infertile eggs arethe problem. Poor hatchability and infertility are two different problems with very different solutions. The below information related to infertility (producing "clear" eggs, a.k.a. duds) in birds that appear to be actively breeding, yet are unable to produce any young.

Infertile eggs in previously proven breeders -
The root of infertility is either (or combination of) :

Nutritional:

• Inadequate dietary calcium, sodium and energy can interfere directly with egg laying and fertility.
• Over-supplementation of zinc can cause infertility.
• Obesity causes problems with decreases ovulation especially in Galahs, Budgies, Amazons and Macaws.
• Increasing the variety of foods fed can stimulate fertility.
  Aflatoxins in seed can lower fertility.

Genetics:

• Inbreeding can result in lowered semen quality, abnormal mating behavior and physical defects
• Some bird species have been breed that they have become physically unable to breed, for example some budgie species
• Hybrid eggs have a low hatchability

Physical:

• Either too young or too old
• Poor physical condition for whatever reason.
• Disease: For example, Psittacosis is commonly associated with infertility and the deaths of babies in
breeding aviaries. The first step should be a vet visit to eliminate illness as the cause of the problem. The
only test that may be needed is a simple white blood cell count. If his count is normal or only slightly elevated,then the infertility problem is more likely to be social or environmental.
Overuse of medications. For example, Doxycycline lists amongst its side effects a lowering of male fertility.
• Reproductive disorders: i.e. ovarian cysts or tumors, testicular neoplasia, etc.
• Physical impairments (can't properly balance on top of the female to copulate)

Social:

• Same-sex birds are paired up. If two females or two males are paired up, they will go through the motions of breeding the same way as they were a compatible pair. Two females will lay eggs and incubate them. Two males will also mate and go through the motions of nesting without any eggs.
• Excess time spent in territorial defense against perceived threats or potential rivals can result in lowered fertility. If  birds are stressed by human presence then this will limit fertility. During the breeding season, it is important to limit disturbances, such as visitors, noisy dogs, as well as predators such as cats, birds of prey, rodents and snakes.

Environmental:

• Extreme temperature variations may cause temporary infertility.
• All perches should be firmly fixed. In some instances, the "favored" perch for mating (which could be the
top of the nest box) was too close to the ceiling of the aviary or the top of the cage to allow the male to
successfully balance on top of the female, thus resulting in infertile eggs; or the perch was not providing a stable enough surface to allow successful copulation

Infertility in birds that were previously fertile:

Nutrition:

• If the birds are newly acquired and successfully bred at their previous location, investigating and potentially implementing the same diet they were previously on is the first step.
• If the nutrition has NOT changed from when they were still able to successfully produce, then changes in health status or environmental differentials should be considered.

Physical:

• Marginal illness in either the male or the female can be the cause of infertility. The first step should be a vet visit to eliminate illness as the cause of the problem. The only test that may be needed is a simple white blood cell count. If his count is normal or only slightly elevated, then the infertility problem is more likely to be social or environmental. If the female successfully lays eggs, then the problem is more likely with the male.


Environmental:

• The male may not be comfortable where he is.
Maybe the highest perch is too close to the ground or the male may not like what he sees from inside his cage / flight. He may resent the fact that the perches of adjacent flights are higher than in his own. He may hate his neighbors or he may be intimidated by them if they are larger than him.
Many breeders stack their cages. A pair that used to produce nicely in the top flight may stop producing ifmoved to a lower level.
Another very common problem may be a cage with a group of immature or unrelated birds within view of your breeding pair. Even though a large percentage of pairs will tolerate this situation - a small percentage will not.

These types of problems can be avoided by arranging your aviaries and placing your perches so that no one is higher than anyone else. Also, try to keep birds of the same size together. If these situations cannot be rectified, then you may want to consider installing blinds between the cages.

Author: Unknown,
Source: Table at a Bird-Fair Handout.

Breeders choose to linebreed because they wish to set certain characteristics in their stock, for example, such physical attributes as size, color and markings, crest length; etc. or non-tangible traits such as fertility, hardiness, good parenting, etc.

FOUNDATION
COCKATIELS

NCS 43D 01-03

NCS 43D 02-03

ACS 64T 017-03

ACS 91H 38-97