DYH Breeding Questions

[DYHead]

Hello all,

I recently inherited a pair of supposedly breeding Double Yellow Heads and was wondering if someone with experience in this area could answer some questions? First, the pair seem well-bonded and the male is very protective, but it is now June and still nothing. The male used to go in the box and the female goes in sometimes, but most time is spent on perches in cage. One or both are still going in the nesting box because I see the bedding from the box on the floor so someone is going in and doing something. Is it too late to expect breeding this year? We are in northeast Ohio if that matters.

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

 

[cdog]

Have you ever bred before, there is a lot more to it then letting the pair do their thing and raise chicks. What if something goes wrong and you have to pull the babies to hand feed every half hour, do you even know how to hand feed? Do you know how to keep the babies, how to wean them? Do you know the proper nutrition for breeding birds? If you don't know any of his please do not breed until you do.
Did you take the pair to the AVIAN vet as soon as you got them, if not you need to do so before you even give them a nest box.

 

[melissasparrots]

Do you hear them mating very often? My pair makes a certain noise when they mate so even through closed doors I know what they are doing. If they are mating and going in and out of the box, that is a decent sign they are interested in having babies. Its getting semi late in the season, however a lot of amazons including mine(in Iowa) are still going strong. Yours might just be thrown off by the move. You might need to wait a year before they give you babies. Make sure their diet is good with plenty of veggies. Have the vet check them over. If you've never hand-fed a baby before, see if you can volunteer for a breeder or talk to your local bird club about finding someone to help tutor you. A word of warning, finding really good homes for amazons can be hard. If you are a really honest person with the bird's best interest at heart, you will end up holding on to those babies for quite a while until the needle in a haystack good owner comes along.

 

[lene1949]

I think, when people are selling off breeding pairs, it's because they're not breeding... or not producing the right amount of chicks or the right colour...

It's rarely because 'they're getting into other birds'...

 

[Spiritbird]

I agree, if a person has a good breeding pair they will not sell them unless they are going out of the breeding business.

 

[henpecked]

Mellisa gave you some good advice,and like the other said ,it's rare to find "good" breeding pairs. If you want to invest the time and money to have a good breeding pair,,,,have them lapriscopically examined by some one who knows what they are looking at, (Dr Scott McDonald).For all you know you have 2 burned out hens.I've been breeding zons for 30 yrs and i have alot of opinions about what it takes to breed zons.If you found a free pair of successful zons ,your lucky. But learn about raising babies and socializing babies and good luck finding good owners.

 

[paulhanlon]

I agree with henpecked its hard to come across a good pair of breeding birds and if some one is selling theres its normally for a reason like there not producing the right amount of eggs and so on id take the advice these guys are giving as they have helped me out loads with my untame amazon he has improved tons since i got him four days ago

 

[DYHead]

Thank you to all who posted helpful suggestions. I appreciate your insight. As for "CDOG," I appreciate your concern, but your post assumed I was ignorant and just went into this blindly. Nothing could be further from the truth. The first thing I did was take the birds to an avian vet and received a clean bill of health - not to mention the hours spent researching the species, breeding, etc. Your condescending attitude sounds more suited to Craigslist and flagging posts than contributing to an educational forum.

 

[cdog]

I'm sorry if I came off that way I just don't want to see another person get into breeding for the wrong reason or without knowing everything.
I'm sure other members can vouch for me when I say I never purposely come try to be rude, I just care about birds a lot and I don't want to see someone make mistakes just because they don't know everything that they could have before getting into breeding.
Again I'm sorry that I came off as rude as I did not intend to.

 

[DYHead]

I appreciate your concern for the birds and your passion. Thank you for your explanation and your apology. It's refreshing to actually see someone act civil in an online forum instead of resorting to "flaming" immediately. Thanks again and keep up the good work on behalf of the birds.

 

[god61021]

yeah cdog can sometimes appear rude at first glance. but he (cdog i assume your a boy sorry if not) is not rude at all. he does have some very good info and from what I can tell he gives only the best to his birds and tries to help others do the same. he is VERY serious about cage sizes. lol. I have learned to read all posts from cdog completely because you just might learn something.

 

[cdog]

Lol, yes I am a guy, my name is Chris.

 

[mab]

Hi all can anyone point me in the correct direction of a good web site with info on breeding amazons thanks

 

[henpecked]

Hey mab, don't really know of any good sites or books. I learned from trial and error ,and of course the good old school of hard knocks.I have learned enough about breeding zons that i learned i don't know it all, when i have issues i call my friend Howard Voren. Howard has a website,,,voren.com .... He's a busy man but if he likes you ,he does know it all. I could help if you want to contact me. but i'd visit Howard's site and read though some of he's articles about zons. He and i both have lived in CA and watch lots of wild birds and learned alot.

 

[mab]

there are some stunning looking amazons on there

 

[henpecked]

Yeah, Howard is the 'Man", i love going there and seeing his birds, unbelievable. Did you get a chance to read some of his articles ?