One of the biggest causes of breeding failure is the death of hens due to calcium deficiency. This is very sad and unfortunately it happens regularly which is one reason why there are so many “Wanted female…“ advertisements. Other breeders believe that as their birds eat cuttlefish bone they do not need to offer calcium in any other form. This is certainly not true of most parrots kept permanently inside houses or buildings.
Now back to the subject of keeping
parrots inside garages, and to breeding them in small cages. I am at a loss to understand what pleasure a keeper gets from this, also his or her lack of concern for the poor quality of life these birds suffer. I quite understand the policy of cage breeding inside a building because it is less time-consuming and takes less space. Also, because the breeding
season can be manipulated, for half the year there will be no breeding birds to attend to. In my view, this is acceptable only if they can fly in an outdoor aviary, possibly as a flock, when they are not breeding. In this way they experience a more natural existence, especially in species, such as Cockatiels and Amazons, which would naturally flock together outside the breeding season. One never really gets to know some species when they are kept permanently in small spaces where they cannot fly, forage on the ground or bathe in the rain. For example, Kakarikis are almost invariably bred in quite small aviaries despite the fact that they are among the most restless and active of all parrots. When you see them in a really large aviary and watch them scratching animatedly in the leaf litter on the floor, alternately running and flying, never still for a second, you realise how alien are the conditions under which they are normally kept. Unfortunately, few can keep these parakeets in enormous aviaries but it would not be too difficult to provide them with hours of amusement by covering the cage or aviary floor with leaf litter. Birds kept in buildings are sometimes managed (with lighting and feeding more generously to induce breeding) so that they lay during the winter. By synchronising the breeding of pairs, there is a greater potential to foster young, rather than hand-rear any that cannot stay with their parents. My experience of hand-rearing parrots, over a period that spanned more than 30 years, led me to believe that under optimal
36 BIRD SCENE
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