I´ve got a couple of Red-Fronted Kakarikis.
The male is 1 year+ and I´ve had him for 6 months.
Two months ago I bought a female for him, she is now 6-7 months old.
The first month together everything went fine. They´re feeding each other, and they have got the hang of mating now (after a lot of practice).
I gave them a nest box two weeks ago, and both of them inspected it and seemed to like it. Then after one or two days they started fighting. The male tried several times to mate with her, but she wouldn´t have it.
I removed the nest box, and they started mating and feeding again...
So yesterday i gave them the nest box again, and the fighting started all over again?
They don´t have the nestbox now, and seems pretty happy.
What do you think?
Is the female too young?
They are in great condition with a good variety of food, and live in a very large cage with plenty of time to fly around my home.
I'm having a similar problem. My male kakariki is attacking the female all of a sudden. They've been together for 2years happily mating and laying infertile eggs. I removed the nest box after the hen ate their last batch of infertile eggs and they started mating again. I did not put the nest box back in yet because they don't seem to be laying any eggs in awhile which is strange. Then I heard my hen screaming, only to find the male trying to hurt her. I've separated them since yesterday and now the male is so upset screaming at the top of his longs. I'm too scared to put them back together incase he hurts her while I'm at work.
It is the nmale that chooses the nesting box, on the females final approval
And it is the female that finally choosed here mate, with approval of the nesting box.
If any of that is incompatable things can get messy.
Hence why we and most other expriancxed breeder tend to let pair match off in small groups so they basically choose their partners.
More often than not , owners choosing a force pairing works out...it isa not uncommon not to work out.
This goes across most of the higher parrot species.
Quote:
They've been together for 2years happily mating and laying infertile eggs.
I have never heard of a pair mating, producing chicks then having this happen...but this pair has never produced fertile eggs, so I do suspect as to they where actually mating.
I would also suspect that the infertility is due to long term diet...
So often we and other breeders (across many bird species) have got pairs that for years never breed or "infertile"... get them into our enviroments, good vaired , consistant , balanced diet, and presto, excellent fertiltly along with excellent results of around 75+% eggs to healty adult birds.
I also suspect there is a relationship between birds not pairing off and general health...ie female not in full good health, resisting the male in a confined space...
We have seen and heard of females hiding in nest boxes, not even come out and eventually die of suspected starvation.
This is not unque to kakarki , and the exteme cases are very rare...except where long term poor diet has been a coincidence in most cases.
Diet doesnt improve these issue with a given pair...it is our experiance that they need to be separated, good diet for several months and new pairs. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Hi Tiptoe,
Thank you for the reply.
I kept them separate for a day and put them back together yesterday. They are back to normal happy as can be. No more fighting just mating hehe.
They did have one batch about over a year ago when they first got together. The hen was very young and they had 4 chicks. However, after fledging, 3 of the chicks died unexpectedly. The one broke his one leg and died during an operation, the other was breathing funny one minute and the next we found her dead in the cage, the other lost use in both of his legs and died that same night. We do think this was due to poor diet as at the time we were just feeding them sunflower seeds which we now know is unhealthy. The last chick to fledge survived and is strong and in a happy home.
Since the first batch the pair have been laying eggs that never do hatch, and the hen eventually eats or kicks out of the box.
We have changed their diet and feed them parakeet pellets and fresh fruit and veg, and mielie food which we cook up for them. So I don't know what we are doing wrong anymore.
Tracy
The one broke his one leg and died during an operation, the other was breathing funny one minute and the next we found her dead in the cage, the other lost use in both of his legs and died that same night. We do think this was due to poor diet
Classic poor diets...think we call similar cases in humans as rickets...a dietry complaint.
And breeding intially then going off also classic bad, inconsistant , unbalanced diet.
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We have changed their diet and feed them parakeet pellets and fresh fruit and veg, and mielie food which we cook up for them. So I don't know what we are doing wrong anymore
Well 1st off, why paraket pellets...one needs to know the enviroment the animal comes from...and in the case of NZ native animals, birds, they have evolved more like mammels than birds....because their enviroment did not have any mammals...and the native plant life also evolved accordingly...
So your normal synthetic expensive 'balanced ' pellets just dont make the grade...besides that we have never used synthetic foods as part of normal diet for any of our parrot species... NZ or other wise.
I again strongly suggest to read thru this "what do you feed..." thread
http://www.kakariki.net/ftopict-12.html
It is based on a good knowledge of our local sub tropical forests with some 50yrs of hunting tramping, and keeping of kakariki for some 30 odd yrs, experimenting, trialing watching , learning... then add to that the experiance and knowledge of other top breeders from all around the world.
Save the money on after market highly synthetic , processed foods..
Would u feed your children from the heathery shelf of vitimn / mineral tablet bottles at the local supermarket and expect them to live to be healty active adults?.
In this morden world where many people no longer know how to cook a healthy meal, and if do cant be bothered....with reasulting long term alergies, health, obsety , fertility issues... yes a few mineral / vit tablets can help... a little....but are NOT the answer.
long term healty, varied, balanced quality diet .. no pills best results, and the same applies to our pets.
Cheaper or no doctor and vet bills either.
How much good food for how long would the cost of the vet bill suppied?
And if get 'defective chicks / birds...dont go spending heaps on vet bills..
Do what nature does....anything defective doesnt survive, that way, in the long run blood lines dont end up with inheranet genetic defects... blood lines remain with strong breeding stocks, and inocent people dont end up with 'passed off' defective birds at the pet shop for the sake of a few dollars.
With breeding comes responsabilty to the future of our capitive breeding stocks...if that responsabity cant be taken on board...
Sry for being blunt, but we have to deal so often with inocent people and their defective birds, her, in other forums and in real life....its not fair on them either. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Hi Steptoe,
Thank you for the advise. I will stop giving them pellets and folow your diet. Can I feed these to my African Grey Parrot as well?
My birds are so fussy that I gues I gave up on trying to feed them healthy fruit and veg. They only want to eat carrots, apples, spinach (now and then). I tried feeding them grapes, brocoli, cauliflower, pears, lettuce, but they refused to eat it.
I will keep at it so that they eventually eat it.
Tracy
They started fighting again yesterday. The male plucks the female of her feathers and nibbles on her feathers. Is this due to the diet as well? I have separated them, he is not impressed with me now.
Hi Trace,
When birds become violent, they attack/pluck the back. Between pairs this can happen when a female shows no interest. This is funny because she did one year ago. Like Steps mentioned this can be the result of a poor diet. I believe this can be also due to an intestinal problem. For example a yeast infection. This can lead to infertility, self mutilating etc.
You say the male nibbles on her feathers. Are you sure it is the male and not herself?
Like Steptoe I'm not a fan of pellets. I do not see how they can make a composition which can be applied to a large group of species.
For example Budgies and Cockatiels live in an arid area. Their metabolism has adapted by being economical on all nutritions. Some vitamins and minerals are toxic on specific levels for these birds while they aren't for Kakariki's.
About the sunflower seeds. They are more healthier then most people think. In fact they contribute to a higher fertility in birds. This also counts for hempseed and safflowerseed.
See also
http://www.africangreys.com/articles/nutrition/sunflower.htm
Kakariki never had sunflower seed in the wild, but did have a huge amount of unque NZ native plants...they dont have sweet corn or peas either..
So we can subsitute foods for balanced diet.
The diet we use has been experimented on since the 1980s..
Im not a fan of sudden diet changes, more wean off over a few months, advoids possible diet shock to the system, stress ....
As to Afican Greys... never had them... they are a African bird, I do know raw palm oil is essentual to them... the orange/red stuff that still has huskes and stuff in it....
As Peter said enviroment things can be unique to different species of birds...
And going on Peters suggestion of internal yeasts or infection, something wrong in the digestion tracts.... like us...things like that can be and usually are, caused by lacking certain things in a diet... _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:40 pm Post subject: Couple fighting
Hi Steptoe & Peter,
Thank you for the advise. It's definitely not the female plucking herself. The male is openly chasing her around the cage and plucking her when he gets close enough. He did this about a year ago when we just got her, but now its getting worse. He is not nice to her at all. He has become very aggressive. I don't understand why his doing this all of a sudden, they use to be so inlove. I took the nest box out as they were not mating for a month. Could it be the frustration that there is no nest box? Should I just put it back in and let them continue laying infertile eggs?
I have changed their diet to a very healthy meal with most of the fruit and veg you have listed Steptoe. My male is causing me so much frustration now that we have to keep him in a separate cage that I'm considering giving him away. I already have to huge cages, one for the African Grey and the other for the Kakarikis. But now I have put the male kakriki in a small cage which is not ideal for him to be living in. I feel heartsore for him, but I can't allow him to hurt the female like this. He doesn't even allow her to eat, when she comes to the food bowl he chases her away.
This subject or at least what could be related, came up in a consevation in resent days concerning quail and moving to other species....such as crimsons, greys, barrabands etc
Sort of boils down to those of us who avaiary breed our birds and those who incubate and/or hand raise.
Those of us sometimes get new birds that have been incubated/ hand raised then have alsorts of problem breeding off them in avairies.. Everything from mating behavour to abandoning , even not even sitting on eggs to hatching , not feeding chicks or simply abandon them after a sort period time.
Yet none of us or the people we suplly these birds to have any such issues of agreesion, neglete etc...
So the question is, do birds, like humans. loose the parenting, parent relationship skills/instincts when raised in artifical or un natural conditions.
Further discussion, it may appears that this may happen significantly after 3 or more generations have been raised in artifial envoroments.
On theother hand those birds raised in the enviroments are usually produced for the pet market than the breeders markets.
Steps. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:24 am Post subject: Fighting couple
Thanx Steptoe,
So this explains the infertility? Any ideas why his become aggressive towards the hen? I let them both out to fly during the day when I am home but during the day I keep them separated because he gets agressive when his with her for too long in a cage.
Tracy
Fertity still comes back primarily to diet, and the abity of both the get along/ mate together...and actually get along.
We tend to match our pairs by letting them select their own mates in a selected range of males and females....then separate pairs into flights.
This advoids incompatable pairs....which happens
And letting them select tends to result in stronger , bigger and healther off spring.
It is not all simple 1 issue is caused by a single event ...there can be and often is when tyring to pair up a single set of birds. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
If diet change over several weeks, if any intestinal issues have changed from worming / vinegar maintaince...
Those things mentioned above if existed fixed, there is a good chance all will be ok.
If not it maybe a mayyrt of a comunity flight of several males/ females and let them sort out who is best paired with who. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
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