Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 1:41 am Post subject: Looking for advice
Hi there.
Having bred budgies for a number of years now, I acquired my first kakarikis early on this year. Bass - who I have introduced on here has created an absolute love for these mischievious creatures. I am downsizing my budgie flock in attempt to breed kakarikis (not Bass - he will remain a house dweller)
Where I live they are very difficult to find, however I was lucky to trace 2 pairs for sale on the other side of the country. I collected them and they are currently in 2 seperate large holding areas until my budgie flock is depleted and we can reconstruct the bird room to house the kakarikis.
I do not want to colony breed, I did not do this either with my budgies, each pair had a seperate cabinet. I know the type of nest boxes I will need but I've checked around for a kakarikis required space for breeding and can not find any information on the subject. If you help by advising what size breeding area and flight area each pair will need I would be most grateful.
Hi there... im no expert.... but....... mine breed in a large parrot cage. I fix the nest box on the outside with the hole lined up with one of the small feeding doors. I use cocketile nest boxes but have to make the holes bigger .... was quite funny watching one of the males charging at the hole trying to ram himself through _________________ May........
How big is your cage and do they get out time? If they get out time is it at set times and for how long? Sorry for all the questions - just want to make sure I have everything 100%
Like may we have breed in a large budgie , hole cut on the side and nesting box hang on the side...have to secure the cage otherwise it falls over with the weight of the nesting box.
Yes they got flighing time...hints how to get them back into the cage in older posts. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
How big is your cage and do they get out time? If they get out time is it at set times and for how long? Sorry for all the questions - just want to make sure I have everything 100%
My cages are about 2ft x 2ft and about 4ft high
i do normally give them flying time ...but tend to limit it a bit when they are on eggs letting them out early evening and then feeding so they go back in. my hen tho is very reluctant to go out of the cage at all when she is on eggs or chicks so i just let her do what she wants.... which is usuall sit tight in the box except for a couple of 5 min breaks a day for a stretch. before ive kept them in once the chicks hatch .... feeding is a full time job for them for a while!
i dont know if these are the right things to do or not ... i just sort of play it by ear but personally i think feeding is the most important thing _________________ May........
i have a very large parrot cage its about 4ft wide, 3ft deep and about 6 ft tall, i followed Steptoes instructions on the 'boot shaped nest box and it is fixed to the front access door with the 'toe' sticking out and the 'leg' going up the inside of the cage, so far it has proven to be effective.
If you use parrot cages, would not the bar space be too wide for the little ones?
Asking this cause I am thinking about buying one big indoor cage for several kakariki's. Instead of housing them all seperatly. ( I will only have males)
The biggest parakeet cages (barspace between 15 en 20 mm) I can get my hands on are still too small to my liking.
The ones I do like, are parrotcages with a barspace of at least 25 mm.
But as I said, I am afraid one of them might get his head stuck between the bars.
Off course I could always built my own, I know, but I am lazy
this is something i have thought of.....my cage has a perspex sheet on each side which go about the third of the way up (its for stopping seeds) so i know that at least for the first wee while the chicks won't get stuck in there...just measured the spacing and it is 20mm, so should be okay.
I bought the cage second hand but i know it is from a company called croft.
www.croftonline.co.uk, they have a small collection but they may haave what your looking for and are very reasonable.
But I am thinking more like: http://happybird.nl/?artikel=OS93056
(Strong villa Dahlia)
But cages this size almost always come with barspaces over 20mm.
Oh well, no hurry. Still have to sweettalk hubby into something like this anyway... the cages I have now are 6 and 3 months old.
Maybe the smartest thing to do is to invest in some expensive lingerie first.
Gives the negotiation a big boost in my fav I noticed over the years
I've looked at both the cages, http://happybird.nl/?artikel=OS93056 is very similar the one i've always wanted but i just had to get the best i could with the money i had.
The ones you have are quite similar to the one i have with the stand except mine is taller with a dome top. I should point out though, mine is 6ft tall however aprrox 2ft make up the stand.
Have you tried a blacksmith? It may be pricey but i'm sure you could get one made to your specifications.
If you need to buy some lingerie?? Go for it.. haha...we do what we must
as for breeding cage sizes, if you look around several member websites they successfully use cages around 100x50x50, and additionally they have a large holding flight for those birds not breeding, recently-weaned youngsters, etc...
There's a good bunch of UK-based breeders in the forum, I'm sure you guys will be in a position to swap birds in a short period, or help each other with contacts, etc...
Cheers / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
There's a good bunch of UK-based breeders in the forum, I'm sure you guys will be in a position to swap birds in a short period, or help each other with contacts, etc...
Pab has a very good piont there.....
Untill this site appeared , in NZ private kakariki breeders where slipted, limited in genetic diversity, and a hell of a lot of hybrids.
Since then sever small core groups of us, yeah often 100s of miles apart, share stock , bring or kakariki into pure breed and good big healthy birds again.
I believe a few of the Aussie guys have been doing the same, and they are talking 1000s of miles apart.
There is a core of breeders in The Netherlands and Belguim.
So lets see what we can do in the UK.
And those not in the UK we will give u guts all the best support we can.
Pab is in Spain...real eger to...except in his part of the world too many breeders are not willing to give up hybrids...Pab can explain that more. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
the problem over here, and in Portugal also, is that generally there is a lack of rigor, but not just breeding birds, I think it's a cultural thing. We take it too easy, nothing seems to be important, mediocre is good enough, etc...
Cheers / Pablo _________________ AD ASTRA PER ASPERA
true pabloc ... spains where i go to relax ... u guys have such a easy way of going about things .. anyway i better go and have my siesta _________________ thanks brucie.....
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum