hey thought i would add what we feed our kakarikis :)
they have a millet based seed diet which suits finches as well, egg food, soak seed, loads of fresh veggies although avoiding lettuce as finces supposedly can't have it. they also have cuttlefish, grit in food, chicken and pork bones and millet spray. they occassionally have calcium added to water in form of zolcal as one of our females supposedly has a higher calcium need than the other kakarikis so will occassionally be given zolcal straight into the crop if she shows symptoms of calcium deficiency.
This is an old wives tale about parrots need grit for the crop....and one very convient for those who make up seed...it adds a heap of weight for free....or put another way...a rip off.
Broccolli, cali...the stems copped up are a good source of Ca And phosporus....and so is the chopped up bones from your KFC. fast food...the marrow is also good source of iron. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
finally experimented with chicken. It wasn't very popular, but I left the leg bone overnight and when I showed up today it was completely clean. Tomorrow I'll crush it with the hatchet and we'll see how they finish it.
regards / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
I have had a colony and it is boom / bust every 3 years. 2 years of the occasional pair raising chicks at random times of the year. Then on the 3rd year, most females raise young and some of these nests with 8 fertile eggs.
Interesting info on the breeding cycles!
Out of curiosity, for how long have you been keeping kikes?
Would be great if you could open up an introduction post explaining us about your experiences keeping birds, facilities etc... always nice to meet new hobby mates.
Cheers! / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
8 years holding a kakariki colony in a large aviary. The aviary is completely planted in fully grown Carex trifida (they grow to chest height) and most of the time the birds are in the grass. I can count the birds by the grass blades moving! The key for planting out the aviary was dividing the plants that survived their chewing and keep dividing. Plenty of fertiliser and overhead sprinklers to keep the plants thriving in the middle of summer.
How "large" is the avairy?
Are they red or yellow crown?
How many in the flock?
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2 years of the occasional pair raising chicks at
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random times of the year
.
And where in NZ are you?....where we chatting on the phone the other evening?
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Carex trifida (they grow to chest height)
The Carex trifida we have around our gardens...grows and spreads wild now, only grows to around a little over knee height in ideal conditions???
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I have had a colony and it is boom / bust every 3 years. 2 years of the occasional pair raising chicks at random times of the year.
Last yr for us was near nil, the yr before better, and this had to limit down to 3 pair a boomer yr... 6 to 8 eggs with 1 to 3 not hatching ....and on their 5th batches.....
And yes going back over records it does seem to be 3 yr cycles, with a major 6 to 7 yr cycle for real boom yrs.
This seems to be for most of the parrot species we breed, not just kakariki. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
This is an old wives tale about parrots need grit for the crop
Just seen this quote further up the page...
I never knew that! I've always put grit in the food cus I thought they needed it to grind up food in the crop. I did an animal care course at College and I'm sure in a biology lesson they told us they needed it cus they don't have any teeth to do the grinding of the food.
Should I not really be buying the grit then?
I did an animal care course at College and I'm sure in a biology lesson they told us they needed it cus they don't have any teeth to do the grinding of the food.
yes they would have told you that...and a lot of bird species certainly do need a few pebbles in the crop to be able to digest the type of foods they eat....hens and birds of that type.
I believe the grit, which is usually a calcium type grit, crushed shell is more for a calcium source...a poor calcuim source due to the chemical compostion of the grit.
Calcium and phosphorus are esentual for good health...and in capitity birds only get what they are given which in most cases the diets lack in.
You will also notice most seed mixes have grit or sand added....this is cheap and heavy....a very profitable way of bulking out the product. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
idk if this is right or not, but if we stop to think about it, some species of birds like chicken don't shell the grain and they don't really chew what they eat, they more kinda swallow.
On the other hand the food parrots eat is usually softer and besides any grains or nuts they eat only the edible parts, and they usually discard the shell and some fibers, and they usually take rather small bites.
And I guess the digestive system across species has differences. Even within the order of Psittaciformes we have lorikeets which have a very specialized digestive system, very different to most other psittaciformes.
Same as with mammals, despite of being mammals, rodents and hervibores have different digestive systems despite of having 'similar' diets.
I don't know if this makes sense for all of you or I made a big mess
Cheers / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
On the other hand the food parrots eat is usually softer and besides any grains or nuts they eat only the edible parts, and they usually discard the shell and some fibers, and they usually take rather small bites.
that makes a lot of sence...our parrots even 'shell' sweetcorn and green peas....then the quail finish off the shells...
Also thr poo of quail is very different from that of parrots...myna are different again. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
The Carex trifida we have around our gardens...grows and spreads wild now, only grows to around a little over knee height in ideal conditions???
Definitely Carex trifida. Maybe it's the conditions as I have seen the lower kinds of trifida like you mention on road verges in the city (ie. not doing well with compacted soil, wind, no watering in summer, no fertiliser . . . .).
I never knew that! I've always put grit in the food cus I thought they needed it to grind up food in the crop.
I have been allowed to watch a vet perform autopsies on parrots. No grit in the crop, however, definitely grit in one of the divisions of the stomach/gut complex (3 divisions?). This grit division (I know will have a fancy name like proventriculus , or something like this, I don't know if this is the word), is thick with grit . . . . most of it very fine like a sludge. However, some coarse grit too. I was surprised the contents of my aviary in this division! Obviously, the birds will find grit. The large grit I saw was fine bits of the aggregate in the concrete walls of their aviary! The aggregate was so distinguishable because it is the only place in the aviary where it is found.
Now, back to why birds may need grit. With the lack of teeth they can't grind nuts, so maybe this stomach division full of grit sludge is part of the whole digestive system of the bird that prepares food for absorption in another area of the stomach.
Hope this helps.
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