Need help on breeding Quakers

[josie311angel]

Hi, I'm Josie,
I am very knew to Quaker breeding, but have owned my Quakers for many years now. I have 2 Quakers a girl named Missy and a boy named Gerrard, she is about 5 now and he is about 4. They laid their first clutch 3 years ago, she laid 3 eggs, unfortunately they didn't hatch when expected to and eventually she left them. After we removed the eggs we decided to take a look in one and found that the chick was at a very early stage of development and died early. The next year she laid four and the same thing happened, except for this time one of the chicks had attempted to hatch before dying, and all four were almost ready to hatch. This year she chose a different nesting place, where I can't see her or the eggs I am still not sure what is going on, but I feel that the same thing has happened again, as it is over the time again and there are no signs. It is really upsetting to see as for 3 years now she has tried so hard. She does everything she is expected to do, and nothing seems to be working out for her. They live in a aviary outside, and it has been hot at the times she has laid them, so I was thinking it might be the heat. I just need to find out if there is anything I could be doing wrong, anything I can change or do differently.

Please feel free to ask any questions, Advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SilverSage]

Well, my first thought is that perhaps instead of trying to figure out how to hatch the babies, perhaps they should not be allowed to nest at all. What is your plan for the babies once they hatch?

Are your Quakers tame? Bringing them into the house to live MAY help offset the breeding urge as you can shorten the length of day they have, etc.

If you really ARE ready and prepared to breed, hand raise the babies, and have money in the bank for vet bills, then it is time to take these birds to an avian vet to see what is wrong. Since the eggs are fertile, is seems to be either a health issue or a parenting issue causing the deaths, and either one of these means that your birds are not ideal breeders and if you want to breed you need to choose different breeding stock.

The only thing I can think of off the bat other than taking them to the vet is to pull the eggs right away and incubate them, but I do NOT suggest this, as studies show that birds incubated artificially do not receive the proper mental stimulation in the egg, and thus do not properly develop mentally and psychologically. Also, this method could lead to whatever problem your birds have being passed down to babies, and it is important to remember that every bird you produce could some day end up as a breeder bird, and you could be propagating a problem by allowing them to reproduce. Remember, in the United States the blood lines we have are the bloodlines we have! No more importation of parrots is allowed, so being careful only to breed healthy, unrelated birds is crucial.

 

[henpecked]

Hey. Welcome to the forum. I have a little different response. I'm on my phone and don.t have time to give you a good response. I would say that unsuccessful clutchesarenotuncommon in younger pairs. It does sound like she.s not incubating properly . Is there a reason she might be disturbed. Is the nest in dispute withanotherbird. Are predators visiting during the night. Is the male feeding her like he should.

 

[josie311angel]

Thank you so much for your responses, both of my parrots are tame as they were both hand raised. There are not any predators that I know of and no other birds are bothering her, however I don't know whether he is feeding her properly. She has also had some problems with choosing where to nest, we have a nesting box and a little house hung up in the aviary and she has chosen a different place to nest every time. Do you think it is likely to be genetic, or is it just experience or am I doing something wrong.

Thank you for your time.

 

[henpecked]

Being handraised as pets could very well be your issue. Wouldn't give up yet. Quakers usually keep using the same nest year after year. Have you tried giving them sticks and branches.

 

[josie311angel]

Thank you for your response, they have some branches in their cage, so he has used some of the sticks to build around the nesting area, but I could provide more. I just hope the problem isn't genetic. Another thing should they be sharing the task of sitting on the eggs or doesn't it matter, because it seems to be only her who sits on the nest.

 

[SilverSage]

My Quakers shared the nest, so it could be a problem with him. Also, Quakers do like to build nests rather than just choosing a hole, so like Henpecked said maybe you should add more. The handfeeding could be the issue, but it seems like those problems tend to crop up more once the babies have hatched from what I have read.

I doubt it is the heat, could the diet be involved? What are they eating? Do they have enough clean water that is not in direct sunlight?

 

[Mekaisto]

What you are describing sound like an incubation problem, but it may be related to food - what are you feeding them?
Don't forget that breeders need a significantly better diet than a 'regular' bird.

 

[henpecked]

I'm not sure "better" is the best choice of words. A different diet, yes. Higher fat, higher protein and for me less fruit/veggies than i would feed the "nonbreeders". Around here the feral quakers feeding young tend to hang out around the fast food places. French fries are #1 favorite.

I don't think diet is an issue in your case, unless the male is not feeding her and causing her to leave the nest. IMO it's a combination of handraised birds and young inexperienced breeders.. They do seem to be getting better with each clutch. I think you need more branches (bigger "condo") so she feels more secure. The feral quakers here build nest that are bigger than eagle nest and weigh hundreds of pounds.