Do you think you are ready to breed your birds?? (458 views)

[Casey]

Well read through this and see if you think you are...



Does your area have a demand for the species you have?

Do you know what a good home is for your birds' babies?

Are your birds properly bonded?

Are you home 90% of the day to catch any early problems?

Will you be home for the whole breeding process from nesting to finding homes for the babies?

Do you have enough space for the parents and babies?

Are your birds on a healthy varied diet?

Are you aware of your species special needs?

Do you know what nesting material to use?

Are your birds old enough to breed safely?

Are your birds genetically compatible?

Do you know if your birds are unrelated?

Do you have enough money to support vet checks, emergencies, or upkeep costs?

Do you have what supplies needed?

Have you researched months ahead of time?

Do you know how to handfeed whether you plan on it or not?

Are you aware that some mutations should not be bred together?

Are you aware of the health problems that could arise in your parents and chicks?

Do you know how many clutches a year are healthy for your species?

Are you prepared for a double clutch as they are nearly impossible to prevent?

Do you know how to lower your birds' hormones?

Do you want to breed just because you want babies?

Do you want to breed for money?

Do you care about what happens to the babies you find homes for?

Are your birds healthy?

Do your birds have any special handicaps?



There's a lot to think about with breeding. It's not all about fluffy little babies or money. If you are out to breed just because you want babies or because you want money, do not breed. Those are not good reasons to breed.
If you do not have time to be home to monitor problems, you compromise the birds' health. You risk losing eggs and babies because you weren't home when something needed prevention.
If your parents are not on a healthy varied diet, you are setting them and their babies up for malnourishment. The parents use up much of their nourishment to feed their young.
Some mutations if bred together can pose health risks and fatalities and should be avoided.

Please do your research about breeding. It's not as easy as you think.

[8birdsnc]

Hi, I talked to Casey earlier and told her about a post I made today on the Talk Cockatiels Forum. She seamed to like it, so I asked if I could share it with this Forum.

Let me start this with an explanation,
I have received more than a dozen request from new members who want to buy a pair of tiels from me, most of these requests come from new members who have never owned tiels before. I hope this will enlighten some of you who want to breed.

I never started out wanting to breed my tiels, its just that Tony and Abby never gave me a choice. I had owned tiels before when I was a kid, and just wanted a couple again. The ones I had then never bred. When I was given Tony three years ago, he had been neglected, so I got him a companion bird to help settle him down. next thing I know they were laying eggs in the bottom of the cage.

I had to scramble and find some people who were knowledgeable about breeding. That is when I found this forum. Luckily for me and everyone else the experts on this forum love to share their experiences with these little clown like birds that we have all come to love (I hope every one does).

After about a year, I found that I liked breeding, and became fascinated with the genetics, so I started a small aviary. I only did this because I knew I had the time to care for the babies if something happened to go wrong. I still had to think it over for a while, and talked to many breeders on this forum before I decided to start (Thanks Roxy and Susanne). Last year was my first real breeding season, and I still had questions, and emergencies, I lost some babies that if I had more knowledge and experience I probably could have saved.

It hurts to loose one of these little lives, especially when you know that it was your ignorance that let it die. What I am getting at is, you need to make sure you have the right stuff to breed. Just having a male and a female tiel does not mean you have to breed them.

I do sell my babies, but I do not breed to make money, right now I have about ten people who want babies from me, so I will set up the pairs and let them breed if they want to, but I don't just breed to sell.

First all of my tiels are companions, I love them all and take time to play and interact with them, they are not just thrown in a cage and forgotten, until I can get some babies out of them. I can not remember names, and I would not mention them if I could, but I get the feeling that some people who have mentioned breeding or asked me about pairs, just want another income source, they have no idea what cockatiels need. These are the people who end up posting emergency questions when some thing goes wrong, and then they get all the experts on the forum trying to help. Even then they end up loosing the babies or some of them, and the experts end up feeling the loss even thought they are some one else's babies.

There is also the strength of the breed in the future. Many of the posts asking about breeding, are trying to breed like to like mutations. This is not good for the quality of babies, and can cause problems for future generations.

I know several of the experts (Susanne especially) have mentioned time and time again that breeders should look to improve the breed, make it stronger, and easier to get the desired mutations. When uncontrolled breeding by novices happens, like to like mutations are bred, and small babies, babies who never hatch or do not live long after hatching, and mutation mixes that do not do justice to either mutation occur. Birds with to many splits and cross over mutations so that it will take generations to breed out.

I hope people who read this do ask the questions I had to ask, and decide that they do have the time and are willing to do the research to breed responsibly. I hope all of you can breed your tiels, but breed for the right reasons, and make sure you know what you are getting into.
Thanks for letting me get this out, thank you for reading this.

[Casey]

Thank you for the input! It's really good information and it is definately something for new breeders and owners to think about!