FEATURE
Long, sharp toenails can also cause infertility. If the cock has a habit of placing his foot on the side or back of the hen before copulation, he may irritate her with his pointed, pin sharp nails and she may not accept copulation at that time. A simple cut and file is all that it takes to prevent this problem.
to achieve something similar. One of the most common problems with an inadequate diet is reproductive failure and infertility. But in order for us to overcome this, we need to know more about the foods we feed to our birds. Some foods promote fertility while others inhibit it. It is up to all of us to know which foods are good promoters of fertility and which are bad. A common problem when breeding birds, especially Psittacidae (true parrots) and the Cacatuidae (cockatoos), is infertile or unhatched eggs. There can be several different reasons for this to happen, incompatible unbonded pairs, immature birds, disease, illness, bacterial infection and even something as simple as loose wobbly perches, preventing successful copulation. If the perch is loose and wonky the male can not make good contact with the female during mating resulting in infertile eggs.
Strangely enough, the causes can be very simple to remedy. Birds copulate between the laying of every egg, and therefore a mistake can be the cause of one or two infertile
eggs in each clutch. An interesting solution, designed by Mr Perry Webb, an aviculturist in South Africa is to provide the birds with a solidly fixed mesh mating platform that is positioned in front of the nest box and over the closest perch. This platform provides a stable gripping substrate for both the hen and cock to achieve balance during copulation. A worthwhile, inexpensive fixture to any breeding aviary.
Long, sharp toenails can also cause infertility. If the cock has a habit of placing his foot on the side or back of the hen before copulation, he may irritate her with his pointed, pin sharp nails and she may not accept copulation at that time. A simple cut and file is all that it takes to prevent this problem.
An infertility problem may also just be that the birds don’t get it right on the first attempt this is usually the case with a young maturing pair that is attempting to breed for the first or second time. Birds do not always reach sexual maturity at the same time. Some are very late developers, with either the males or females maturing
BIRD SCENE 17
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