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Kakariki, Care, Breeding, Ecology, and Conservation :: View topic - How can you tell the age of your Kakariki?
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How can you tell the age of your Kakariki?

 
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RoboHip
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:16 am    Post subject: How can you tell the age of your Kakariki?

I've just become the proud owner of 2 Karakis

The male I know is 10 months, but I have no idea on the female. I have designs on breeding them just asking out of curiosity.

I keep and breed budgies and you can see from their iris rings upto the age of 1, info on Kaks is limited I found - any ideas most w3c Laughing
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 1:14 pm    Post subject:

Hi m8,

w3c to the community.

About telling kakariki age I can't really give you specific guidelines, maybe some of the more experienced guys here in the forum can give you some hints.
I have more or less a feeling because of the shape of the head, beak, feathering, color, etc... and I can guess if it's a young (less than 12 months old) or adult bird, but it's a guess.
In cockatiels there's also a big difference between birds younger than 12 months, birds of 1-2 yrs of age, and birds of 3 years or older.
Older birds are stronger, with a more intense color, etc...

Sorry for not being more helpful

Cheers / Pablo

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RoboHip
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 1:48 pm    Post subject:

Thanks for the reply - not sure if these will help.

I know the age of this one. This is Bass and he is 10 months old (knew the breeder)



This one I have no idea - though where Bass has red irises her eyes still seem quite dark. This is Shandy



Thanks for your help
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Steptoe
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:25 pm    Post subject:

As they come out of the nest, they dont have an iris. and pink rather than silver and black beaks
About 2 weeks after that, around the time the parents finish weaning off the iris appears
They behave like normal teenagers getting into mischief with the older birds....females start to settle down around 3 months out...males aropund 9 to 12 months but if mated up the also settle down.
For the 1st 12 months kakariki have 'younger' fresh looking feathers and have not bulked up in the chest and shoulders.
Thisa is difficult to tell even when in a flock with older birds.

From 12 months onwards...with experiance one MAY, somethimes reconised a younger bird from one that is several yrs older, even then , personally I would not be certain

The same sort of thing with kakariki getting on to 13 yrs older, they do looker older but again there is no way one can be certain.

This is all assuming they birds have been raised healthy and kept that way.
Those that have been avariy raised with poor and /or inconsistant diet as smaller and feathers look more that of an older bird....same applies to hand raised kakariki.

But bottom line once the iris has formed about 2 weeks after leaving the nest....its damn near, and is, impossible to tell.
This is reason why we split young birds off to be weaned by the flock 3 to 7 days after leaving thew nest.....there have been several times I have taken a parent, several yrs older out instead of they off spring.
Off spring can and are very often bigger than the parents even when they come out of the nest.

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RoboHip
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:48 am    Post subject:

Thanks Steptoe and apologies for coming back with more and more. I have a lot to learn about my new babies.

So based on that information then I can assume she is young as her beak is still very much pink. Here is a facial shot:



I had a really good look at her eyes too this morning, although you can make out her irises they don't stand out (if that makes sense)

I understand she is a recessive pied, but I am not sure this will have any bearing on either her irises and beak.

Thanks again.
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:54 am    Post subject:

Hi,

recessive pied kakariki have no visible iris, and beak, toenails, feet, etc... are usually pale or pink.

Cheers / Pablo

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RoboHip
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:07 am    Post subject:

Ok thanks Pablo, so I guess if I can see faint irises - she is not a recessive pied then ! Her feet as very pale as you can see from the picture.

Apologies that I am so dim :oops:
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:28 am    Post subject:

Hi!

nobody is dim here, nobody is born knowing everything. 2-3 years ago I wasn't really sure of these things neither, and for instance I still have a hard time to sex kakariki visually if I can't compare a male and a female next to each other, and a long list of things I still don't know about these fellas.

About the iris, if you inspect the eye closely, with the right amount of light, in recessive pieds you can see the difference between the pupil and the iris but the color is almost the same (black-plum).

If you can see a bright orange-red iris, even if it's a thin line around the pupil, then it's not a recessive pied, but a dominant pied.

I hope this helps.

Cheers / Pablo

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Steptoe
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:34 am    Post subject:

My comments above apply to wild colour kakariki..
mitations, we dont have in NZ and therefore I have no experiance with them

A further note for tellow crown kakariki.....the yellow remains a pale yellow for a good 6 to 12 monhs...the becomes brighter and far feeper colour
When the reds 1st merge from the nest the crown is fully formed and nearly fully coloured up, which it does in a few days.

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Freddie
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:22 pm    Post subject:

Hi!
My oppinion ( I´m not 100% sure offcourse) is that it´s a young recessiv pied hen.
Older kikies seem to stand in a more upright possition ( so you can see their legs more)
Also the tailfeathers are slightly shorter before the 1st moult.
Not easy to tell from a coupple of pictures, and indeed not easy when you have the bird infront of you!
I´d let them bond for a year, to be sure that they finished growing - and then introduce a nestbox (if the male is feeding her and they are mating at that time)
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:51 am    Post subject:

Quote:
Also the tailfeathers are slightly shorter before the 1st moult.


Freddie, now that you mention it, this could be right.

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