Parrot Care - Parrot Breeding

In case you’re breeding Eclectus parrots, here are a few ideas that can make it really successful:

1. The best thing is to keep male and female together since they are babies and if this in not possible, at least let your parrot chose their mates, so that chances of breeding them increase for real.

2. Eclectus parrots can breed with other species as well, although it it advised to keep only Eclectus parrots in the same cage. This is because they need some privacy away from other species that are noisier and having other Eclectus parrots around strengthen pair bonding, with a certain visual barrier of course. Thus better production is achieved. I would say, decide on a certain subspecies of birds before starting parrot breeding, because raising the babies will be safely then, and if a bird of a pair is lost, you can successfully switch mates. This is only possible when pairs are compatible, meaning that they are of the same sunspecies.

3. Before you can see any sign of bonding in a pair of parrots you should never prepare a nestbox for them, as it has been proved that if the hen starts living in a nestbox before she has trained the male to feed her, chances of successful breeding become very slim. A pair of parrots can have clear eggs should the nestbox is given before they bond. An interesting thing is that a hen stays in the nestbox up to 23 hours a day.

4. It is very important to place the nestbox in the highest part of the aviary with the greatest possible degree of privacy, although it becomes less important from the moment when a pair has already started producing. The location of the nestbox should be away from loud noises, car traffic, other pets and children, but also safe from any kind of predators like hawks, cats, rodents, reptiles, raccoons, and opossums.

5. Both male and female Eclectus parrots need wood for chewing, as it is part of their pre-mating ritual. Just as in the wild the hen and the male build a nest in a high tree. If you don’t have any real wood, you can as well provide them safe and clean tree branches.

6. For the pair to be sure that there will be enough food to raise chicks, you must give them big amounts of food every day, thus picturing a time of plenty in the wild. Eclectus parrots love cooked brown rice, beans, corn, and sweet potato mix, but be careful to include sprouts as well, as it is a natural source of enzymes. Also include hard boiled eggs for the calcium and protein they need. Should a proper diet be provided and the parrots had access to sunshine, there will be no need for supplemental vitamins and minerals. Sunshine helps to produce vitamin D, that must not lack as it affects the calcium absorption. A vet can prescribe a calcium supplement for hens that are producing eggs, if you keep your parrots indoors, and if they have only artificial lighting available. On the other hand, too much vitamins can make parrot mates aggressive and they might physically injure themselves.

7. When Eclectus parrots are breeding they love any type of bath, especially rain water baths. They also enjoy sprit baths from spray bottles as well as bathing in a shallow "pool" of water. Unfortunately there is no official record about any benefits an Eclectus pair might have by bathing during mate time.

8. When bred indoors, Eclectus parrots can be stimulated to produce more reproductive hormones and have increased breeding behavior. A good idea to do this would be to gradually increase daylight hours, using a timer.

9. If you cannot get your newly-mature Eclectus pair start breeding, try a taking them on a car ride together, or move them to a different aviary and in a new nestbox. A change of scenery might be a great thing for them and a way to release stress. This has big odds of working, and your parrots might start breeding.

10. Now have a few tips regarding food that increase breeding chances! There is no unique „remedy” to fix everything, as every pair of breeding parrots have their own chemical makeup. What we can do is at least use some products that have proven to be effective in some cases. Hemp seeds stimulate a breeding parrot pair. On the other hand, if you have strung or stressed birds, try herbal remedies such as chamomile tea, kava, passion flower, valerian root and other relaxing herbs. This should calm them down and get the pair to start breeding. A boost in vitamin E level can be achieved by feeding them fresh, raw wheat germ, as you all know that vitamin E is very important to successful breeding. Nevertheless, exceeding the vitamin E requirements is not advised. Increasing the nutritional substances in food have proven to get the pairs to start producing eggs.

To sum up, Eclectus parrots are quite easily bred should they have a proper diet and setting. Baby parrots bring much joy and happiness to the owners and they are easy to raise.

So, those of you who have healthy and pure parrot pairs of the same subspecies, will be for sure really successful in trying to breed Eclectus parrots.