Breeding In 1999 I took over a small group of Vasas from Mrs. Louwman, a lady well known by the zoo she had in Wassenaar near The Hague. The birds were all wild caught which were kept in a flock, but never had been starting to breed. The group consisted of both C. n .nigra and C. n. libs. The birds came from a large outdoor aviary and were hardy for our winter. Because I did not have enough space to house all the birds I sold three C. n. nigra and some pairs C. n. libs were placed with other breeders. One pair was loaned to my uncle Rens


Schreuders. The birds got a nice big outdoor aviary with an adjacent small unheated stay inside for the winter. In the summer my aunt and uncle went on


vacation and care was left to a son still living at home, my cousin thus. He fed the birds twice as much than their usual supply. Whether this excess food offer was a trigger I do not know, but the birds did go to breed. Eventually, two beautiful males hatched. This was the first breeding result and took place in the year 2000. Unfortunately, the neighbourhood complained the birds caused too much noise pollution. I took back the pair and put them in one of my father’s aviaries, where they didn’t breed unfortunately. In 2001 a second pair started breeding


for the first time. This pair consisted of one of my first hens from 1993, which I had


During the first week the youngest and smallest chick I hand fed extra with Kaytee Exact Hand feeding for parrots. I did not even have a crop needle at home, so quite amateurish I used an ordinary syringe. As this chick grew a little bigger the hen took over the feeding and both two foster children have grown into healthy birds.


linked to a male from the collection Louwman. This pair nests almost every year faithfully. The number of chicks per nest from this pair varies between two and four. Usually, four eggs are laid. A third pair was housed in one of the


aviaries at my friend Tom Barbanson. This pair had two chicks in the nest of just one week old, when the birds due to circumstances could not be taken care by Tom anymore. The pair including the chicks in the nest box had to return to my place. At that time, luckily one of my pairs at home had four chicks that were almost about to leave the nest. The chicks from Tom, that were much smaller, I put in the same nest box with the four chicks from the other pair. This foster hen raised these chicks, together with her own four chicks without any trouble. During the first week the youngest and smallest chick I hand fed extra with Kaytee Exact Hand feeding for parrots. I did not even have a crop needle at home, so quite amateurish I used an ordinary syringe. As this chick grew a little bigger the hen took over the feeding and


BIRD SCENE 19


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