Green Cheek Breeding

[pacor]

I have 4 Green Cheeks(two pineapple/High Red/Turquoise) and one Peach Face love bird. All Green Cheeks are DNA sexed Female. The Love Bird is not. My understanding is the Love Bird is a male. One of the reasons I got all Females was so they will not reproduce. One of the pineapple Green Cheek laid 5 eggs and nested. I assumed they will not be fertile eggs since there is no male, so I didn't remove the eggs. To my surprise the eggs are hatching. It seems like Love Bird is the father since he has been going into the nest and stays outside guarding the nest, since the beginning.

Are Green Cheeks know to breed with other parrot species? I always wondered if some of the color mutations came by breeding with other birds.

The high red/yellow side and turquoise are babies I bought from a local breeder and they are only 3 months old and don't get along with the other two. The other pineapple was always with the other. They were like twins but once the other started nesting she hangs out by herself. I'm pretty sure the father is not a green cheek.

All of them are hand feed birds with the exception of the love bird. I'm not sure he was hand feed. He is somewhat tame. He will let you feed him but he definitely will not come to you. I'm not into hand feeding. Never done it and really don't want to do the feeding in the middle of the night. What recommendations to raise the chick so they will be somewhat tame and allow you to touch them.

 

[itzjbean]

Hi there,

Sounds like you have a male green cheek as it is genetically impossible for a green cheek and a lovebird to create offspring! They are completely different species from each other with different DNA, there woudl jsut be no way. My guess is the pair is the pineapples! Have you had every single one DNA tested with certificates?

Also, do they all share one cage? Or come otu to play together?

 

[Flboy]

Yep, you have a GCC male stowaway! Unless one of them did the Jurassic Park thing!

 

[pacor]

Interestingly enough I have the DNA certificate of the other three. The only one I do not have a DNA certificate is the one that lay the eggs. The lady I bought it from told me she had to be a female because of her color and who her parents were. She could only be a female because of the genetics.

I have never breed Green Cheeks before, but I would think that if the other Pineapple GC was the father it would have been in the nest or bringing food or some of that other behavior I have seen on other birds but that has not been the case. Only the Love Bird has been doing that. Actually the other Pineapple GC has been getting closer to me now that it doesn't have the other one to hang out with. She will not come to me unless I had food and would not get on me or on my finger. Now comes to my finger and flies to my shoulder.

I guess I would have to have the other Pineapple GC DNA tested again to double check.

Any places recommended for DNA test?

 

[ChristaNL]

I love the fact the lovebird is trying to help (I also do not believe he is the father, but maybe get them all re-tested?).


Since it is possible to do DNA-testing from the eggshells as well ... you can find out about the babies from day 1!
(just make sure you send in the seperate shells/ you can order the tests now -> you get the collection baggies, and fill them when the babies hatch one by one)


I think you (or the vet) botched the original DNA tests by not working cleanly (males are ZZ, females are WZ / so if you are mixing the materials they will always test female: the W's stand out more).


I always use this company/ lab. https://gendika.com/winkel/birds/bird-sexing/?lang=en
There are cheaper options, but I like these guys.

 

[itzjbean]

Interestingly enough I have the DNA certificate of the other three. The only one I do not have a DNA certificate is the one that lay the eggs. The lady I bought it from told me she had to be a female because of her color and who her parents were. She could only be a female because of the genetics.

I have never breed Green Cheeks before, but I would think that if the other Pineapple GC was the father it would have been in the nest or bringing food or some of that other behavior I have seen on other birds but that has not been the case. Only the Love Bird has been doing that. Actually the other Pineapple GC has been getting closer to me now that it doesn't have the other one to hang out with. She will not come to me unless I had food and would not get on me or on my finger. Now comes to my finger and flies to my shoulder.

I guess I would have to have the other Pineapple GC DNA tested again to double check.

Any places recommended for DNA test?

It's quite possible that the lovebird tried to mate with her, which happens, but there's just no way the lovebird could be the father, period.

It will be interesting to see how the babies turn out! IN the meantime I would definitely get all the bids tested for sure.

IQ Bird Testing does DNA tests for $13 each.

 

[itzjbean]

Is there a reason you have all of these birds living together all in one space? Do they share an aviary? Or a cage? Not sure what the living situation is but by the sounds of it its sort of chaos running wild with the setup you have now, as you don't know who is the father, sounds like a Jerry Springer or Maury show (You are NOT the father!)

Is there a reason you keep them all together like this, and not their own separate cages? Especially the lovebird not sure what he's doing with the green cheeks.