Is it possible to have hybrid amazons?

[Jmonkey1708]

I have a Mexican redheaded amazon and when I show him videos of other parrots he doesn't have much of a reaction but when i play videos of blue fronted amazons he loves it. I'm just curious.

 

[MikeyTN]

Not that it's impossible, but never had a Amazon. But why would you want to hybrid the two? There's been many hybrids out there and I have heard and seen hybrid Amazons before. But I'm not a fan of doing hybrids....

 

[Jmonkey1708]

im not planning on making a hybrid just thought if its possible.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Yes it's possible, there isn't a market for them like the hybrid macaws so they aren't common at all.

 

[Jmonkey1708]

would it be a good idea to get a blue fronted amazon as a friend for him?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

would it be a good idea to get a blue fronted amazon as a friend for him?

No, never get a bird to be your current birds friend. Only if you're interested in having another bird. Amazons in particular are known to attack one another, even killing each other.

 

[Jmonkey1708]

I'm interested in getting another bird. I plan on a caique or african grey I'm just worried that hes so bonded to me he will try hurting them.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

They can be in a cage side by side [and be friends ] Just NEVER out together . Caiques are great but are definately aggressive towards others.

 

[Jtbirds]

Ive met many many hybrid amazons through and the reputation they have is bad breeders just throwing two zons toghether because they generally look the same and then they get hybrids. In the pet trade there is no market for them really and people tend to shy away from them if they know there hybrids, sadly.

 

[Jmonkey1708]

thanks for the advice.....i will keep all this in mind when i get my second bird. but that's not anytime soon. =]

 

[MonicaMc]

Unfortunately, the market is probably flooded with hybrid amazons, and no one realizes they *are* hybrids. There are two different types of blue fronted amazons which have been bred together. People realized they were different, but they thought it was just a color difference, not a difference in subspecies. Some people think Orange Wings are blue fronts, and then we get hybrids like the bird pictured below in the link...

Orange Wing x Blue Front Amazon Hybrid | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Not to mention two different subspecies of orange wings... Then we have the Yellow Crowns and all their subspecies... Yellow Crown, Panama, Yellow Nape, Yellow Head, Greater Yellow Head, Tres Marias... and people have once again hybridized these amazons either because they couldn't tell between the subspecies, or they did it for color.... yet again, not realizing they are creating hybrids.

City Parrots (on Flickr) has some photos of Urban Parrots - including hybrid amazons....
Flickr: Search Hybrid Parrots
Flickr: Search City Parrots' photostream

I have photos of an amazon of an unknown species, might be something like a yellow nape x blue front hybrid (no photos showing his nape - might be some on my computer... forever lost?)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/MonicaNFids/SF/AJ/P1010018.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/MonicaNFids/SF/AJ/P1010007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/MonicaNFids/SF/AJ/P1010006.jpg



I think it's good for birds to have companions. With a few exceptions, parrots live in flocks. It is unnatural for birds to be single companions (not to get into detail about how everything humans do is unnatural...) That said, two birds is more work, and there is the chance of losing your bond with your bird. If you want to get another amazon, you need to try and weigh the pros and cons against each other and decide if that's the route you want to take.

Never expect two birds to get along, even if they are the same species. Expect the worse and hope for the best!


BTW, some birds may identify with another species better than their own if they were raised in a mixed flock kind of setting rather than kept with their own species.

 

[Jtbirds]

I agree wi Monica about the market having way more hybrids then we believe...

I also agree about maybe doing a different species as my amazon is great friends with my senegal

 

[Jmonkey1708]

@monicamc- thank you so much for the pictures and info. I can see why people don't realize they have hybrids. If I ever see one I wonder if I would tell.

@jtbirds- well I never really thought of getting another amazon I just thought me might get along with one better. Does the size difference ever make you nervous when there together?

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm a "red head fanatic" of conures, and every now and then I'll try and research a species a little better. In the process, I often come across birds that are either labeled as something they aren't, or birds who are hybrids. Recently spoke with someone on a group about their two red headed conures. Surprisingly, she was able to determine that one was indeed a mitred conure, and she thought the other one was too, even though he's smaller. She said they have the same amount of red on them! I saw photos of the second conure and immediately knew he wasn't a mitred. Hybrid perhaps, but not pure. This second little guy had the face of a cherry head, but wasn't quite as red as a cherry head. He also had some coloring of a larger red headed species (i.e. mitred or waglers), but he definitely wasn't a cherry head either! Too much red for a mitred, too little for a cherry head.

• Someone owns a green conure and they think it's a white eyed
• A breeder is trying to sell off a white eyed conure as a mitred (he changed the pic to a red lored amazon... not that stupid...)
• I've seen two pairs of red heads that were made up of one cherry head and one mitred. One pair was being sold as cherry heads, as well as their hybrid offspring. The other pair was being sold as cherry heads, aka mitreds as if they were the same species, when they are not.
• Speaking of which, I saw a mitred conure being sold as a cherry head, aka mitred....
• Came across a Waglers being sold as a Mitred....

All that within the past year on various ad websites or other places... If I knew as much about amazons as I did the red headed conure species, I'd hate to "see" just how many amazon hybrids are out there! I've already seen orange wings being sold as blue fronts, and recently came across a hybrid pair of "yellow heads" - which wasn't the first time! (this pair was being sold as 'talking parrots' - no info on species or anything else about them)



If you do want to get a companion for Pepe, at least with the hopes that they'll get along, it would be best to go with an amazon that is same or similar species to him, or at least one that is close in size... and don't ever expect them to get along, so the new bird would need to have it's own cage!

 

[Jmonkey1708]

I would of course have different cages for them to be safe. I guess another amazon is going on my list for my flock=]. I'm going to be driving my boyfriend crazy with my flock lol. For now he's a single bird he just looks so lonely sometimes and he has tons of toys but doesn't care for them much. I looked at the different conures and i think since i didn't do much reserch on them i would get a bit confused with those to.

 

[Jtbirds]

Haha I don't worry about the Senegal and amazon at all honestly I did at first, but then realized that Senegal can hold his own. The Senegal came from a lady that put him in an aviary with all cockatoos and larger birds, in the end poor sennie got beat up by the birds he now has scars all over his face. So I took him in, he didn't have a name so we named him rocky because he was a scrapper lol! My amazon is in my room as he only likes me currently, so I added rocky into my room as I didn't want him around all the others in fear he would become very scared.

Well they both had playgym tops and one day rocky ventured over to babes cage on his own, so even though I'd never say do this I let them interact with me in close supervision. They acted great and when babe got out of line rocky actually put him back into his place pretty quickly. I let the Senegal flighted so if it became that babe got to bad he could fly off away from him. They have been friends for 2 years now and I've had no issues at all, not saying one day there couldn't be a issue though. They have there separate cages and everything but are allowed interaction when they are out.

 

[Jmonkey1708]

o ok. So it basically is how your own bird acts to others. That was a good thing taking the little senegal in. hopefully when i get my new addition my amazon wont be to upset.

 

[Jtbirds]

Give them time to adjust for sure, I've honestly never had an issue introducing a new bird into the flock... I know ores have but my birds are so willing to introduce anyone into there home, I suppose it is because they are all rescues.

 

[Jmonkey1708]

well my amazon is a rescue but my next bird will be a baby.

 

[Doubleyellowheadowner]

I also have a question? I have a double yellow head and a red lored parrot.. My question is.. Why they preen eachother and seems like they love eachother but they wont breed i put them together about a week ago