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Kakariki, Care, Breeding, Ecology, and Conservation :: View topic - Newbi to this forum/Kaks and breeding questions.....
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Newbi to this forum/Kaks and breeding questions.....
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Ember
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:56 pm    Post subject: Newbi to this forum/Kaks and breeding questions.....

Hello,
I am not new to being owned by parrots, but new to Kaks!! I got a male in August and didn't even know what he was, he just intrigued me so. Did lots of research and between that and living with him, decided these birds were just WAY too cool and wanted to raise some.
I've been breeding English Budgies for 3 years and have raised several wild babies blown out of nests over the years.
Here is my dilema. I got my boy a wife and they laid their first clutch in end of Oct. One 1 out of 7 hatched and died within 36 hours with an empty crop.
I contacted the breeder whom I got the hen from and he said it was probably due to lack of humidity and inexperience, as the hen is young and had never had kids before, just try again. So, the other day, she had 11 eggs and one hatched yesterday. Dead this morning, again with an empty crop. I checked on them once this afternoon and there was another live chick. I called the breeder of the hen, since he has much more experience and he said to leave the chick in there and let nature take its course and that eventually, the parents would catch on. He also told me to stop checking on the nest box every day, as that is too disturbing. The male doesn't seem to mind, as I think he may have been someone's pet at some time, but the hen was parent raised and always squaks at me when I open the lid. I don't look very long, just a quick peak.
Their nest box is an L, or boot shaped box and the eggs and chicks have always been well away from the entrance. They have a warm mist humidifier next to the cage, but not blowing into the cage that keeps their area about 50% humidity. They get fed a variety of foods and meal worms and sprout mix and scrambled eggs with the shell, etc. The parents look wonderful and healthy and I even discussed testing for something after I lost the first baby with my avian vet and he didn't think it was disease.
Do any of you have any advice or opinions to ad???? From what I 've read, you all have so much knowledge and these birds are still a little hard to find here in the US, especially in the midwest, where I am.
Some other info: The Kaks are in a large cage in the corner of the bird room with a UV light on a timer. Their closest neighbors are all budgies, although I do have several other birds in the room, most of whom are fairly quiet, except for my LSC, who waunders around all day and yells for me, but this is not new to any of the birds and he is such a huge love bug, he never has hurt any of the other birds and never goes to that corner of the room. I've told my kids (ages 13 & 17) to stay out of the room as much as possible, but we have dogs and cats that do go in there. Again though, this is nothing new.

Any ideas???

Thanks in advance!
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Steptoe
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:21 pm    Post subject:

1st humidity and temps, nesting box types and all that stuff forget..
We raise kakariki all year round in outside flights, frosts, 30 deg summer heat, rain what ever..
We have even..did not relise hatched and raised chicks in winter and the nest box was soaking wet...so wet the hens flight feathers rotted.

We check our nesting boxes once w wekk, sometime 2 weeks....
just let them get on with it.
Even so kakariki are very devoted to their chicks, one can remove eggs or chicks and put them back a few days later and they will carry on as if nothing has happened...If they are not 1st time parents.

Another issue we have seen in captive birds is that after several generations if hand raised they loose the abilty to raise chicks...
A sever thunderstom can put parrots off also.

Diet in kakariki can also be an issue...NZ has no native mammels and our birds have evolved in the balance of things in many ways as mammals....Kakariki eat a lot of grubs /protein, fish on the shores.
Seed as in normal parrot type seeds is not their diet.
Bottom line kakariki are easy breed and prolific breeders....1 pair can produce over 140 healthy chicks in 4 yrs non stop breeding.

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Ember
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:36 am    Post subject:

So basically, boost the protein in their diet and just leave them alone???
I don't have any idea how the father was raised, as the guy I bought him from didn't even know what he was really. Just knew he had a pair and one died, so he was selling the 'left over'. The hen was captive raised, but I don't believe she was hand fed, as she is a 2011 (early) hatch and much more skittish than the male.
I just don't understand why they aren't feeding the babies and I'm used to checking nest boxes daily with my budgies. I don't want to loose any more and would like to get the hen used to me looking.....
They are housed inside, so maybe that is why the breeder mentioned the humidity. I just don't have anything added onto the house yet for a real bird room where they can go out if they choose. Also, winters in WI can be bitterly cold, lots of snow, etc. We also use a wood burning stove to heat the majority of the house, so it can get rather dry in the winter.
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Steptoe
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:04 am    Post subject:

There is a stick thread "what do you feed....?" lots of pages on diet

And also note u will need 2 nesting boxes..if not when the hen goes to lay the 2nd time, while chicks are still in the nest, she may get territorial about that nest.
On the left is a "quick Search" box where one can find more info.

Just a thought, ..u are breeding in a room, how much distace is their between flights/cages/ nesting boxes and are they in line of sight?

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Ember
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:24 pm    Post subject:

They can see several of the other birds, but the ones closest to them are my english budgies, who are all nesting.
I do have a severe macaw and a cockatoo (lesser sulfer crested) in the room too and he has run of the room when I am home, but he never goes to that side of the room.
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Steptoe
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:43 pm    Post subject:

I mentioned line of sight to nesting boxes....
We have put up bits of ply between our flights yr ago ..not the whole wall but enough that from the nesting box the hen or cock cant see any other nesting boxes.
We foud since kakariki and same goes for most higher parrot species they get territorial, the hen sees , on the occassions she maybe out from sitting on eggs, the other male female/bird and nesting box and goes crazy....for far too long, and the eggs dont get incubated very well....
That is just therory that when stopped line of sight, our egg to healthy adult bird ratios increased dramatically....80 / 85%

How big is your room Shocked
macaw cockatoo....

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Ember
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 1:59 am    Post subject:

The room is about 14' x 15' and the cages are all against the opposite walls, except for the budgies, they are right next too. They have never even bothered about the budgies, thats the wierd thing. The hen RARELY comes out of the nest. During the day when I am home, I may walk past the room and see her out of the nest box once, if that much. She has been very protective over these eggs, as I mentioned, I was checking on them daily, just for a few moments, so I could write on a calandar when they were laid and just to check on her, in case anything was wrong.
They don't seem at all to care about the other birds in the room. I check nest boxes of budgies near them and they could care less.
I don't understand if she is sitting well and they hatch, why she doesn't feed them. I saw the male feeding her yesterday, first time I've seen her out in days, so I know he feeds her.
All the babies she has ever hatched (so far 3 total) have all died within a day or so and all with empty crops, like shes not even attempting to feed them.
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:19 am    Post subject:

hi!

do you have any budgies hatching right now, or brooding?
You have nothing left to loose if you place a kakariki hatchling in a budgie nest. When the kakariki chick is a couple of days/ 1 week old his call is a lot louder and maybe he can trigger the feeding response on the kakariki hen.

It's just an idea.

I read that a Dutch kakariki breeder sometimes places an older chick in a nest to trigger the feeding response on the hen.
The website is http://www.kakariki.nl/eindex.htm

Good luck!

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:53 am    Post subject:

Yes, I do have 2 hens with very young babies. 1 that hatched just 2 days ago and one that hatched overnight.
I don't know if I did the right thing, but I swapped out 2, what I think to be fertile Kak eggs for 2 English eggs. I also have a cockatiel that lays fertile eggs, but we don't want babies, as there are so many around here. I usually leave them in the cage for a day or so and she is never interested in them anymore anyway, so I put that one in with the Kak this morning too.
I know I disturbed her more than I should have, but I would love it for her to learn to raise babies by herself!! I just don't want to loose anymore Kak kids. The thought of loosing any English bugs me too, but not as bad as the Kaks.
So, I guess I'll just wait and see what happens now.
Thanks for the ideas everyone.
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:34 am    Post subject:

Hi!

have you had any hatchlings during the last couple of days?

I have only had experience with one cockatiel egg that I placed under a kakariki hen and she raised the chick very well, it was much bigger than the kakariki babies. I have never had baby budgies myself, but I think their call is louder than kakariki and they are more active, so maybe the kakariki does well with them.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:46 pm    Post subject:

Hello and thanks for asking! No, no Kak chicks have hatched, but the Kak hen did hatch out an English egg. Same deal though, she didn't want to feed it, so I gave it back to it's mom, who went to feeding the hatchling straight away!! I put a 2-3 week old English baby in there and hung out & listened. The Kak hen didn't get upset with the baby and has been feeding him for past few days!!! I just wish I would get another Kak egg to hatch. I know there was a great space between the first couple eggs and the rest, so maybe theres hope for a baby yet!
Keeping my fingers crossed!!
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pabloc
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:01 am    Post subject:

that´s good news then, at least the kak hen feeds older chicks, maybe next time she feeds them right from the time they hatch, glad to hear you were finally successful!!
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:20 pm    Post subject:

Well, she hatched out the other English egg and again, didn't feed the baby, but is still feeding the older English. I pulled the tiny one today and gave it back to it's mom!! Good thing they love to parent!!
My oldest Kak egg is now 22 days old. Any thoughts on whether any might still hatch?? A couple are still quite dark, but hard to say if they are any good. I've heard to leave them in for 30 days......
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:57 pm    Post subject:

Usually after 4-5 chicks hatch it's less likely that the remaining eggs hatch because they get spoiled because of poo and chicks trashing them around. I don't know though if female budgies do a good job of keeping the chicks and eggs separated, I have seen budgie nests with 7-8 chicks.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:46 pm    Post subject:

Well, sure wish I had good news to report, but I don't. The kak egg that i had in with my English hatched and she didn't feed it. I never even saw it, so don't even know if it lived very long. All the other eggs are old now, so I pulled all of them out. Out of pure curiosity, I opened all of them and all had chicks in them at some stage of developement, but all dead (and from the smell of things, probably for awhile). I really baffled. I know I need to not check on them often now, but even when I left her alone, anything that hatched was not fed. What about the eggs and the babies in there???? She sat on them religiously.....I'm so disappointed.....
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