FEATURE


Other breeders share my experience. When the nights are cooler you should decide to stay alert on this. While the cloaca swells anyway (even if the hen is not supposed to lay an egg), it is difficult to recognize egg- binding in time. When the hen is sitting fluffed-up you should act immediately. I have experienced that a hen only sits fluffed-up shortly before she dies. In the introduction under “Dull birds” I


have described the courtship behaviour already. When it finally comes to mating, the birds take the time. Mating lasting more than an hour is no exception. Usually the birds sit next to each other and it seems like they bite each other constantly in the neck, while the genitals of the male are penetrated in the hen totally. Both birds make soft whistling sounds during mating.


Before every single egg is laid a copulation always takes place. One day after mating the egg is laid. Therefore I assume that each egg is fertilized separately and that the hen cannot use the sperm to fertilize more eggs. When the birds are disturbed and scared


during mating and try to fly away, they won’t get loose immediately, just like dogs. The probability that sensitive organs hereby damage is present. Usually unperturbedly the birds go on as they are approached slowly. Once I was not aware that a pair was busy on top of a nest box and they were shocked by my sudden presence. The birds flew away, while they were still stuck together. After this panic reaction I have never seen a mating of these birds anymore. Too bad, because they had raised chicks successfully once before.


BIRD SCENE 23


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