El Pollo Loco
New member
- May 21, 2023
- 5
- 2
- Parrots
- Sun Conure
Hi! First post so bare with me as I navigate my way through this platform and topic. I have watched so many videos and read so many articles… and counseled with several other parrot persons but I feel responsible parrot parents can never know too much when it comes to caring for their feathered friends and so here I am! Maybe someone on here has some deeper insight that can help to give me some clarity.
I’ll try to consolidate this as much as possible. I bought the male conure (mango) from an elderly couple. They no longer wanted him and told me he was about 5 years old. They couldn’t agree on an age, the husband said Mango was a few years older than the wife did… so I assumed it was somewhere in in that range. A few months after that, I purchased the female (Papaya) at just a few weeks. I hand fed her for several weeks u til she was weaned and eating pellets. During this time I slowlyintroduced them to each other until she was ready to join Mango in the cage. They lived together for about two years. They squabbled from time to time, which is expected, but shared the nest together nothing ever too aggressive was done. When papaya reached sexual maturity, she laid her first clutch of eggs. I was hopeful, although I had never seen them mating or regurgitating food like I would often see my lovebirds do when I was younger.
However, the eggs were infertile. I thought maybe since this was their first run, that it was just a bad start. However, I never saw them mate, and so I was concerned something was wrong. I got them both DNA tested… and yes, they are both male and female. But they just never did the “deed”. I decided I’d give them another chance at it, but this year the eggs were not fertile either. They both get very protective of the nest, and she’ll sit on the eggs… but he’s not mating with her.
So I spoke to the breeder and they suggested they could be mating inside he nest box… and i hoped that was the case, although not likely….But it wasn’t. I thought maybe mango was much older than the couple I bought him from said he was.. since they both had conflicting information regarding his age. Is that a thing? Do older male parrots not want to breed? Anyway, So I separated the pair and reintroduced a new male, closer to her age, from the same breeder I got papaya from. Now it’s Limo and papaya.
As soon as I put him in the cage, he approached her and seemed to display courting behavior. She did NOT like that. I understood it was because there was a new bird in the cage and they were not acclimated to each other fully. I watched then over the next few days and eventuallly he started joining her in the nest box and they now preen each other although he seems to tell her to back off from time to time lol. So they have bonded since then… but occasionally I witness Papaya being a straight up nasty to Limo… she swears it’s her way or no way lol. They are both hand raised. And I’m really hoping they will successfully mate this year. But I’m just not sure if it’s something else. Could she just be rejecting all the males? She’s laying eggs and will sit like any good mom… but I’ve seen no actual mating behavior. Do they mate only when it’s breeding season? Like does she have to be ready to lay for him to mate? I know they Can lay all year but last year she only laid once, during Easter, and this year it was the same, a little earlier.
It makes me so sad to remove the eggs from her after she’s been on them for a few weeks with nothing to show for. 😥 if anyone has any insight on things I could do to help them along or if they have any expeience they’d like to share so that I can understand what might be going on… I’d appreciate it!
I’ll try to consolidate this as much as possible. I bought the male conure (mango) from an elderly couple. They no longer wanted him and told me he was about 5 years old. They couldn’t agree on an age, the husband said Mango was a few years older than the wife did… so I assumed it was somewhere in in that range. A few months after that, I purchased the female (Papaya) at just a few weeks. I hand fed her for several weeks u til she was weaned and eating pellets. During this time I slowlyintroduced them to each other until she was ready to join Mango in the cage. They lived together for about two years. They squabbled from time to time, which is expected, but shared the nest together nothing ever too aggressive was done. When papaya reached sexual maturity, she laid her first clutch of eggs. I was hopeful, although I had never seen them mating or regurgitating food like I would often see my lovebirds do when I was younger.
However, the eggs were infertile. I thought maybe since this was their first run, that it was just a bad start. However, I never saw them mate, and so I was concerned something was wrong. I got them both DNA tested… and yes, they are both male and female. But they just never did the “deed”. I decided I’d give them another chance at it, but this year the eggs were not fertile either. They both get very protective of the nest, and she’ll sit on the eggs… but he’s not mating with her.
So I spoke to the breeder and they suggested they could be mating inside he nest box… and i hoped that was the case, although not likely….But it wasn’t. I thought maybe mango was much older than the couple I bought him from said he was.. since they both had conflicting information regarding his age. Is that a thing? Do older male parrots not want to breed? Anyway, So I separated the pair and reintroduced a new male, closer to her age, from the same breeder I got papaya from. Now it’s Limo and papaya.
As soon as I put him in the cage, he approached her and seemed to display courting behavior. She did NOT like that. I understood it was because there was a new bird in the cage and they were not acclimated to each other fully. I watched then over the next few days and eventuallly he started joining her in the nest box and they now preen each other although he seems to tell her to back off from time to time lol. So they have bonded since then… but occasionally I witness Papaya being a straight up nasty to Limo… she swears it’s her way or no way lol. They are both hand raised. And I’m really hoping they will successfully mate this year. But I’m just not sure if it’s something else. Could she just be rejecting all the males? She’s laying eggs and will sit like any good mom… but I’ve seen no actual mating behavior. Do they mate only when it’s breeding season? Like does she have to be ready to lay for him to mate? I know they Can lay all year but last year she only laid once, during Easter, and this year it was the same, a little earlier.
It makes me so sad to remove the eggs from her after she’s been on them for a few weeks with nothing to show for. 😥 if anyone has any insight on things I could do to help them along or if they have any expeience they’d like to share so that I can understand what might be going on… I’d appreciate it!
