conures mating but no eggs?

Hi everyone, I'm new to the site so I hope I'm in the right place ..

I have 2 conures male and female and for the last month of so they have been mating maybe 3 to 4 times a day but no eggs? Could there be something wrong with one of them? They have there breeding box and a big cage. We have noticed that the male Charlie spends more time in the box then what Bella does, she only goes in now and then, and I think that's because Charlie is in there, she doesn't go anywhere without him. He loves being in there loves the sound of his voice I think.

Charlie is a year & half and Bella is about 2..

Any info would be great. Thanks.

A lot of the time same-sex pairs will go through similar motions that opposite gender pairs do. Are you sure that Charlie and Bella are male and female?

Since they're young, they're still figuring out how to do things. It took a while for my cockatiel pair to finally get things right (it was their first time breeding). I was just starting to give up on them when I came back from vacation and found a single egg in their nest box (they had a clutch of 6 eggs, and only 3 were fertile)!

Hi thanks for your reply, i really didn't know that two birds of the same sex would mate :11: and i did my research and bought books obliviously i need to do abit more im very surprised.

Im not 100% that they are male and female i just presumed as they where mating and charlie makes this really weird noise as he is doing it.

Maybe they are still figuring out what to do, i think my best option would be to have them DNA tested now as with you saying that two birds of the same sex would mate, which i didn't know.

jenster said:

Hi thanks for your reply, i really didn't know that two birds of the same sex would mate :11: and i did my research and bought books obliviously i need to do abit more im very surprised.

Im not 100% that they are male and female i just presumed as they where mating and charlie makes this really weird noise as he is doing it.

Maybe they are still figuring out what to do, i think my best option would be to have them DNA tested now as with you saying that two birds of the same sex would mate, which i didn't know.

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It's alright. There's no limit to the amount of things to learn about parrots... There's a lot that we still don't know about them. I used to have a budgie pair (both males) that would not only court and mount each other, but would also court and try to mount my older female budgie. In captivity, they'll just make do with whatever they have.

I agree, your best bet would be to have the two DNA tested just to confirm their gender. It should be easy to find a nearby avian vet to do it for you.

Gryphon is correct about same sex birds going through the motions/practicing.....actually, many animal species do that, but if they are not male & female, no eggs will ever be fertile, though eggs can be generated from their practice sessions.....

As to the noise, sounds like Charlie may be enjoying himself (assumed he).....maybe DNA tests might be in order.....

I know it's not my business but why do you want two different species to produce viable eggs? In crossing species without maintaining proper records & controls you corrupt established specie gene pools as well as take a chance of injecting/introducing any possible deformities in the lineage of one bird into the succeeding offspring of the cross breeding.....



There are several avian DNA laboratories that will send you a free collection kit, that will allow you to collect a drop of blood or allow you to pluck a couple of feathers (not old already expelled feathers) and I believe these kits are postage-paid for return also.....