Abstract
usually large parrots are ~eproduced in captivity as single pairs in a flight or suspended cage depending upon the species. Many smaller species do well in a colony situation, the three most common being the Budgerigar, Peachfaced Lovebird and the Cockatiel.
These, however, are small psittacines that are flocking birds in their natural habitats. Several of the Australian parakeets have also been successfully bred in colonies; these include the Princessof-Wales, Rock Pebbler, Swift and Bourke's Parakeets. Two small New World hookbill that are often colony bred are the Quaker (Musk) and the Lineolated (Barred) Parakeets.
One need only to see photographs or to observe the Quaker in the wild to know that this species prefers to reproduce in very large colonies using extensive nests of dried twigs and flexible branches. Other parrot species successfully but less often bred in colonies include Caiques, Brotogeris, Scarlet-chested Parakeets and a few others.
The most important aspects of successful captive reproduction in a colony are: 1.) the total amount of space available for the colony, 2.) the number of pairs housed together, 3.) the strength of individual pair bonds and 4.) the number of nests and where they are placed within the aviary.
As one would expect, the larger the birds, the larger the aviary should be for successful reproduction. In the wild, the larger parrots nest further away from each other and occupy greater territories. Many of the larger parro~ are very territorial during the breedmg season and will defend their nests vigorously from birds, particularly those of their own species.
During the years of 1977-1988 when working at Aviculture Institute i had the privilege of reproducing 'a great number of parrot species. One of these was the Eclectus Parrot which
soon became a great favorite. In fact, Aviculture Institute received a Gold Propagators Award in 1985 from the AZA (then the AAZPA). This award was established to acknowledge the successful reproduction of 100 or more clutches of eggs of an avian species. The species for which we gained the award was Edectus roratus vosmaeri. We eventually raised over 500 Eclectus young.
During this time we had several pairs of Eclectus that continually laid clutches of infertile eggs. We switched mates and even fostered fertile eggs under infertile pairs, hoping to trigger fertility. The infertile pairs hatched, fed and reared the babies that were fostered under them, but when they laid their own next clutch of eggs, they were infertile again.
In frustration, and sometimes in desperation, I considered colony breeding a group of the infertile pairs. Within the Eclectus group of parrots, it is the female which is dominant, although I have never had a female injure or maim her male, even if he was afraid of her. The female would usually exert her dominance by taking the highest position in the cage or by being the first one at the food dish. Sometimes a female would move a male off the perch she occupied and the male would have to climb the wire next to the perch. In suspended flights, the male would climb down the wire to
the floor.
In the 1980's, we housed our Eclectus pairs in flights which had cement floors. Each flight was 4 ft. in width, 12 ft. in length and 8 ft. in height. Pairs of Eclectus were not housed next to each other, but were separated by flights containing small to medium sized cockatoos (Goffin's, Citron, Red-vented, etc.). One-third and occasionally two-thirds of the cage's wire walls were covered with a solid partition. The enclosed section was always around the nest box so the inhabitants would not be disturbed by neighboring pairs of birds. In many cases (especially with the pairs laying infertile eggs), two nest boxes were hung in the aviaries, one under the shelter and the other out in the open at the far end of the flight. The standard Eclectus nest box was a grandfather type measuring 12 in. x 12 in. x 36 in. inside dimensions. Additional nest box shapes were smaller both vertically (24 in.) and in width (10 in.). With the infertile pairs, nothing seemed to work.
Speaking with an old time aviculturist who knew a breeder of African Greys who colony bred them over 40 years ago, I decided to use his guidelines for colony breeding my infertile Vosmaeri Eclectus. His colony design was not a typical large flight with extra nest boxes hung on the wall. He had actually placed each nest box for the Greys in a separate, divided off section of the large flight. Taking this as a guideline, I removed the walls of a group of individual flights (each measuring 4 ft. wide by 12 ft. long and 8 ft. high) to make a very large flight 20 ft. wide and 12 ft. long. I left the solid 4 ft. partitions that surrounded each of the five nest boxes. There were now five areas of security, each containing a nest box, from which the members of the colony could choose.
Within each of the sheltered areas was a platform 4 ft. above the ground where soft food and other food items could be placed. A single perch was placed firmly within each shelter just below the entrance hole of each nest. The individual placement of the food dish and a single perch in each shelter was done to minimize possible competition between any of the females who might nest at the same time.
To go into the colony flight I selected four pairs of Eclectus which had been laying infertile eggs.