Breeding Pair

mickvan · Snr Member Joined: Dec 21, 2010 Posts: 38

After the death of my male kakariki I introduced 2 male kaks into the aivery of 3 hens of which they are mum and daughter.
It was not long before the 2 males paired up with the mum and one of the daughters.
The male which paired with the daughter soon began to mate of which she has laid 5 eggs which are fertile. While she has been sat on the eggs the male has started to mate with her sister she has since taken to a nest box and had later laid two eggs.
This weekend while cleaning out the aivery I found 2 eggs on the floor broken. Later on in the day I found the hen which is sat on 5 fertile eggs trying to gain access into her sisters nest box the 2 were fighting.
Is it possible that the hen has got into her sisters nest box and attacked the eggs because the eggs are no longer there. If so is this common and for future reference should split pairing kaks up when nesting.

bruce · Snr Member Joined: May 15, 2010 Posts: 174

hi mate
sounds to me like the older hen has got territorial .... most people including myself separate the kaks once they've paired up ... a few of the more experienced breeders have managed to breed in flocks but had pretty much similar problems ... from what iv'e read they only have the dominant pair who breeds in each flock.

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

As Bruce says..
Discussed many times over the yrs, and I have done/doing a lot of experimentation.
To breed in a community is near impossible for most parrot species.
To do so a flock must be espablished for at least 6 to 18 months before even introducing nesting boxs...and even then the chances are not even 50/50 not to have trouble and even dead birds.
The critical points is when they go to nest
When they lay
When chicks hatch...it the above goes against the odds, this will break down
When chicks emerge

Bottom line do not even attempt to do so unless you have the spare flights and facilties to sepate , move nesting boxes and pairs.....very quickly...with and hr or so.

At this piont I suggest move all the eggs under 1 hen/pair and get all the other birds out ASAP.

mickvan · Snr Member Joined: Dec 21, 2010 Posts: 38

Thanks for the replies. Since I last spoke on here the hen who was sat on the eggs which were about to hatch has abandoned them her sistor who is sat on another batch is still sat on them. I am thinking about splitting the pair but I am in a diliema because they both have the same partner do I split the hen who is sat on the eggs with the male or do I pair it up with the hen who has just abandoned her clutch. The male seems to be feeding both the hens but mainly the one who is no longer sat on eggs. duno

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

I would have put all the eggs under the one sitting and split the other out...
Its hard to say really....Its not a situation I would have got into...rather one I adfoid.

bruce · Snr Member Joined: May 15, 2010 Posts: 174

hi there
take the hen who's not sitting and the cock and set them off nesting they should get straight bk on it .... the other hen will sit and rear the other eggs herself no problems

mickvan · Snr Member Joined: Dec 21, 2010 Posts: 38

Thanks for your advise being relativley new to keeping birds I never imagined that I could get them to breed. I was told that it was quite hard to achieve in an aivery. But since I introduced a hen a cock into an aivery
they produced two chicks of which both were hens The Cock then died of which I introduced 2 male kaks ( was sold as male plus hen ) but it was not long before the males started to fight in who was the most dominant One of the males has mated with the 2 sisters and the other has paired up with the mother. Looks like I have some serious deviding to do.
One more question to ask if I remove the nesting boxes in the future can the birds live in armony together is it just while they are breeding the aggressive behavior

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550