Breeding Honeycreepers in the Living Room

Abstract

Y es it started at a bird fair. "What are those?" I asked. I was looking at the most spectacular blue and black bird I'd ever seen. I had to find out more. After some research I decided that I wanted a pair. A few months later an ad showed up in the Sunday paper and my first pair of honeycreepers came home that day.

The previous owner had bought them on a whim at a bird fair and discovered that keeping them in a small finch cage was less than ideal. My "rescue reflex" then kicked in and I started searching my entire region for any other unwanted honeycreepers. I ran an ad in the local paper and spread the word to everyone I knew that I was interested in them.

A local pet shop had purchased two pairs. After one of the males died, the extra hen was put in with the remaining pair where she was not well received. Of course she came home with me and I kept my eyes and ears open for any other birds.

About six months later the pair from the pet store had moved through two homes and was up for sale again. A local softbill enthusiast bought my first pair and I ended up with the "pet shop" pair and the extra hen.

My intent in this articleis to illustrate how easy it is not only to care for these small softbills, but even to breed them. I hope to share how I have accomplished raising softbills in my living room, with minimal mess, and will include the details that help make this possible.

The hen (still lacking head feathers) lives in my kitchen in a cage that is 4 feet long, 2 feet deep and 4 feet tall on an 18 inch stand. The pair lives in the living room in a cage that is 3.5 feet long, 2.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet deep.

Both cages have full spectrum lighting and a heat lamp. I also provide fresh hath water daily. The cages have a comhination of silk and natural plants. Cages stay cleaner if they are large, and the perches are hung from the top of the cage rather than supported from the sides. This allows feces to fall within the cage, rather than "decorating" nearby walls and furniture.

Although I had been told by the vendor that these birds could subsist on pellets alone, I suspected that those beautiful, Jong hills were designed for more than adornment. I provide Nekton Nektar-Plus in the Nekrar feeding tubes. Each bird drinks about one tuhe (roughly 40 cc) of nectar per day. I continued to offer the pellets (small ZuPreern Fruit Blend-they avoid the green ones and eat the yellow ones only as a last resort) hut I also offered a variety of other foods.

I tried some old recipes that included trout chow, eggs, and pound cake hut the birds were unimpressed with my culinary skills. They did, however, appreciate my penchant for exotic fruits. They adore papaya and mango but also enjoy grapes (red globes with the ends cut off) and pears. They will pick at apple, orange, and, rarely. banana. I feed the fruit in large chunks hung on a skewer. This reduces prep time and the birds seem to enjoy tearing off hits of fruit. One of my birds had the tendency to fling the fruit so I provided his in an exterior, enclosed bird hath. This helps contain the mess and keep the plexiglass cage front clean.

I also cut about 10 small meal worms in half every day and bid them on the pellets. This is best accomplished by wing scissors to both pick up the meal worm and to cut it. I tried

Both cages have full spectrum lighting and a heat lamp. I also provide fresh hath water daily. The cages have a comhination of silk and natural plants. Cages stay cleaner if they are large, and the perches are hung from the top of the cage rather than supported from the sides. This allows feces to fall within the cage, rather than "decorating" nearby walls and furniture.

Although I had been told by the vendor that these birds could subsist on pellets alone, I suspected that those beautiful, Jong hills were designed for more than adornment. I provide Nekton Nektar-Plus in the Nekrar feeding tubes. Each bird drinks about one tuhe (roughly 40 cc) of nectar per day. I continued to offer the pellets (small ZuPreern Fruit Blend-they avoid the green ones and eat the yellow ones only as a last resort) hut I also offered a variety of other foods.

I tried some old recipes that included trout chow, eggs, and pound cake hut the birds were unimpressed with my culinary skills. They did, however, appreciate my penchant for exotic fruits. They adore papaya and mango but also enjoy grapes (red globes with the ends cut off) and pears. They will pick at apple, orange, and, rarely. banana. I feed the fruit in large chunks hung on a skewer. This reduces prep time and the birds seem to enjoy tearing off hits of fruit. One of my birds had the tendency to fling the fruit so I provided his in an exterior, enclosed bird hath. This helps contain the mess and keep the plexiglass cage front clean.

I also cut about 10 small meal worms in half every day and bid them on the pellets. This is best accomplished by wing scissors to both pick up the meal worm and to cut it. I tried

my husband called to tell me that the hen had disappeared into the nest and stayed there all day. I called this "day one.

Thirteen days later she was out. looking for food. Thanks to The Life C!I the Tanager (Alexander Skutch), I knew we would have to provide lots of small insects. We had many fruit fly cultures both of wild-type and vestigial (or as the gal at the pet shop called it, .. vegetable"). The cultures were purchased from a pct shop and a mail order house that specializes in reptiles and amphibians. The culture medium is fairly solid and the fruit flies breed on it. The vestigial fruit flies (so named because their wings are small and deformed) are handy because they cannot fly and the birds pick them off quickly.

Once the birds had a taste for fruit flies. we were able to serve them killed fruit flies and thus able to use our wildtype cultures without our living room being overrun. If the culture is placed in the freezer for 7-8 minutes and then removed, the flies are stunned. They can then he tapped into a howl and returned to the freezer. After about 15- 20 minutes the flies will he dead. The culture, after remaining in the freezer for only 7-8 minutes and then returning to room temperature, will he unharmed and will grow more fruit flies in a few days.

I also ordered mini-mealworms and pinhead crickets. 111c mini meal worms can he fed whole. I feed the meal worms apples and whole wheat bread or oatmeal. I feel this increases their nutritional value as opposed to being fed on just wheat bran. Pinhead crickets are easy to manage because they cannot jump out of a clean, empty glass dish (I serve them in a small Corning Ware custard howl). Crickets can he kept in a large glass or plastic container---even a zip lock hag that's left open and upright will confine them. Provide a little cardboard egg crate in the bottom of the container for hiding hut make sure it is far enough from the top or they will jump off the egg crate and get some distance.