Need advice from breeders please?

[Amandastander]

Hi guys, so here's a quick overview, Piper is 5 months old, Buster I have no idea, but he only got a slight ring in December after his molt so could be about 1 to 2 years of age? My issue is that Buster is starting to do the mating dance for Piper, wooing her and feeding her every tidbit he lays his beak on. It could be that he is starting to become hormonal due to age? Breeding season pretty much usually only starts in May in South Africa though. What bothers me is that I don't have a nest in eithers cages, Piper is still far away from being mature enough to breed, I don't even think she is physically able to. So I don't really know what's triggering Busters behaviour. And how do I curb it for future reference? I do not want to breed them, hence no nestbox and seperate sleep areas. Could he just be loving her or showing his affection in the only way he knows how? Thanks guys.

 

[Echo]

Sometimes a young bird being around a baby can trigger "baby memory", where he'll care for the baby like his own. Seeing the feeding response on a baby for example can trigger your older bird to revert a bit to that behavior as well where your older bird will want to feed him or beg the baby to be fed too.

I don't breed IRNs but I breed GCCs and when I have babies weaning, some of my other birds(different species) will show that behavior too, and try to feed (or pretend feed) the babies. I don't let them because of size difference, but I wouldn't worry about your 2 IRNs.

However, I would not put a breeding box/nest around.

 

[DuffanoErskineBirds]

Do not give her a nest box! It's dangerous to breed her so young. IRN birds are mature at age two. It's like an eleven year old human being pregnant. Don't give them an opportunity to build a nest and she will not lay eggs.

 

[DuffanoErskineBirds]

Please, for her safety do not think about breeding her until you know she is at least 2 years of age, that way her body is fully developed and an egg will not take out quite so much. First thing is when she reaches the proper age, you have to give her calcium supplement when you want to breed. Eggs take a whole lot of calcium from the mother's body.

 

[Amandastander]

Hi guys if you read my post again you will see I do not WANT them to breed. That's y I was concerned that there's not even a nestbox around, but Busters displaying courting behaviour. Where I live too many IRN are being bred and sold, and then resold because the owners cannot handle the bird properly. Do any of you think that as Piper gets older she may try to breed even though I don't supply a nest box? For now she is shunning him but I am afraid that may change in a year or so. How do I stop that without having to seperate them?

 

[DuffanoErskineBirds]

You can't, what you could do is cage them seperately and let them out for free time together. some birds just don't care if there is a nest box or not.