Abstract
European aviculturists, in my opinion, are a number of years ahead of the American aviculturists in their techniques and successes. This can be attributed to several reasons. The most important one is that they have specialized in one group of birds, the Australian parakeets. This is not to say that they do not do well with other groups of birds; but that they are so exceptional with the Australian parakeets. So many of the European aviculturists started out with Budgies or Cockatiels, advanced to the Rosellas; and then worked their way to the rarer species. They have done their homework on the less expensive, more common species and they have gone to extraordinary lengths to learn the specialized requirements of the rarer and more delicate species. It is not uncommon to hear of an aviculturist saving his money for a long period of time,. to acquire a pair of rare Australian parakeets. With the goal of reproduction in mind, much energy is spent keeping these birds healthy.
I would like to relate to you the life of one such aviculturist in West Germany and explain his avicultural techniques with just one of the Australian parakeets, the Princess of Wales Parakeet. Herr Josef Dexler, who lives in Burstadt, West Germany, is known throughout Europe for the blue mutation of the Princess Parakeet which first appeared in his aviary in 1964. He is one of the very few people who are successful in breeding this mutation with regularity. All of his birds are bred in outdoor aviaries and are able to withstand the sub-freezing winters. It is because of his extreme dedication to his birds that I feel Josef Dexler is one of the finest aviculturists I have ever known.
He started raising pigeons at nine years of age. After World War II he worked as a farmer, and besides growing crops in the open fields, he built a long greenhouse for vegetables and flowers. In 1948 he acquired his first psittacines, budgies, and built an aviary for them in his greenhouse. In the early 1950's the English budgie was extremely difficult to obtain and commanded a very good price. In 1953 he joined the AZ (Austauschzentrale de
Vogel/iebhaber), the national avicultural society of West Germany. (He is number 83 on the list of aviculturists who joined this organizaton; it now numbers over 17 ,000.) He became so good with breeding show budgies that he won many awards locally and won 1st. place in the National show for five years, (1956-1961).
It is surprising that prior to the middle 1950's the mutation of any Australian parakeet was not generally considered to be of high value because the thinking was that aviculturists must be pure in their breeding. The mutation was down-graded to where it was unthinkable to let anyone know that a mutation had shown up in your aviary because then your birds were not considered top quality. In the 1940's a lutino many-colored parakeet occurred in Germany. It was not sold as an aviary bird but was turned over to a pet store in hopes it could be sold to the public as a pet. Ironically, this mutation has not shown up again. It was only in the late 50's that this trend started to change and very shortly thereafter the mutation was considered to be a highly desirable bird.
In Australia the Princess of Wales Parakeet is found in the dry, arid, interior regions. Their habits in the wild have not been well documented and they are considered rare in their natural habitat. Being from the arid regions enables these birds to withstand cold temperatures in captivity.
In captivity the Princess Parakeet has been a very popular bird. They were first imported to Europe around 1895 and since World War II have been bred in great numbers and are now a very common aviary bird. The Princess of Wales Parakeet will breed when it is a year old and on rare occasions females have been known to lay eggs and rear young as early as eight months of age. It is not uncommon that eggs are infertile the first year, for females often will lay when the mal.es are not sexually active. The Princess Parakeet should breed in their second year and normally is a spring breeder. Though not common the Princess Parakeet may lay a second clutch during the summer.
Josef Dexler will place several young
Princess Parakeets together in a large aviary before their first breeding year to enable them to choose their own mates. He knows his stock very well and does not let related birds pair-bond together. He most often sets up a single pair to an aviary, but has very successfully colony bred these birds. It is much better to place at least four pairs together instead of two pairs as two males will often contest a single nesting site; where-as four males have so much to contend with, that seldom do serious altercations occur, and they will then settle down together. It is a must to supply more nest sites than the number of pairs. Mr. Dexter often supplies two or three boxes for a single pair and will locate them in different spots. They then have more choice. Though they most often stick with one nest site year after year, it must be noted that they may unexpectedly choose a different site and even a different shaped box.
When a mate from an older breeding pair dies, several birds may have to be introduced before a pair bond can again be established. They may cause a loss of a year or two before one gets production again. The Princess is a free breeder, but often the eggs are infertile.
The nest box supplied to Mr. Dexler's Princess Parakeets measures 14" by 14" and is 18" in depth. The entrance hole is 3" in diameter. The thickness of the board on the bottom of the nest is 2" thick, but this does not apply to the sides. This aids in the insulation of the eggs as it gets quite cold in West Germany during the early spring. There is a scalloped out portion of the wooden bottom of the nest box and only about 1/2" of wood pulp is placed in the nest box. The scalloped area is to keep the eggs in one spot as the Princess Parakeet will lay and then scatter her eggs. The Princess is noted for being rough on the eggs or young chicks as the hen will often not use the ladder, but will jump directly onto the nest. This habit causes many eggs to be broken or slightly cracked, and this is why so many Princess Parakeets produce only two or three chicks, when a normal clutch of eggs is 5 to 6 in number. Mr. Dexler's nest boxes do not contain a ladder on the inside going from the entrance hole to the nest bottom. He feels it is not needed for this depth of box. This only applies to the Princess Parakeet as he uses ladders in the boxes of the other types of Australian parakeets.
The eggs are normally laid in March.
When the hen first visits the box to build her nest, the box is checked every night so that the first egg can be pulled the very night it is laid. The eggs are normally laid between 7:30 and 8:30 at night and are pulled immediately. The hen lays every
other day and each egg is pulled until five have been laid. The eggs that have been pulled are placed in the house at room temperature (65 degrees fahrenheit). The eggs are turned 180 degrees each day while in the house. After the fifth egg has been laid, five dummy eggs are placed together inside the nest box. The dummy eggs can be old infertile eggs from the previous year or artificial eggs of correct size, color, and density. A careful watch must now be done to insure that the hen stays in the box during the night and that incubation has started. The hen will not stay in the box at night during the laying stage. When incubation is assured, the five good eggs are returned to the nest, replacing the old ones. When the hen is incubating tightly, she is much more gentle and seldom cracks her eggs. The incubation period is 18 days, but may extend an extra day if there is cold weather. The female incubates the eggs without the help of the male. The white eggs are smoother and are more glossy than most of the other Australian parakeets. The eggs are candled the seventh day to insure they are fertile. Blood vessels are first seen forming just under the shell in a web-like fashion. All eggs that prove infertile are removed. If the complete nest of eggs are infertile they are removed, for there is a good possibility the hen will lay again. If only a small number of eggs are fertile, these eggs are often placed under another hen which also had only a few fertile eggs. The Princess of Wales Parakeets, as a species, will lay very close to the same time of year. It is to the aviculturist's advantage to have several pairs of the same species as one can easily foster out eggs if a nest is abandoned or few fertile eggs show up.
Young chicks can also be fostered if one pair stops feeding or will not feed their chicks enough food. This often happens to first year birds. Fostering young chicks to other species of Australian parakeets is also done when problems arise, for handfeeding Australian parakeets is seldom done in Europe. The Golden-mantled Rosella is the best Australian parakeet to use for foster parents, for they are most consistent in feeding the foster babies until they are weaned on the perch. Several other species may be used as foster parents, but they will often stop feeding the young as soon as they come out of the box. Two good foster parents for the small Australian parakeets are the Red-rumped Parakeet and the Red-fronted Parakeet. Mr. Dexler keeps quite a number of Golden-mantled Rosella pairs in which he has bred the good traits of fostering parenting. Ironically they are the yellowmantled variety.