FEATURE
Ruppell’s breed at almost any time of the year and very often this is in the winter, bearing in mind that in their natural country in Africa the coolest time of year would be their best chance of the young surviving.
natural function for all parrot like birds in the wild, but in captivity they can only do it if we provide the branches for them to chew. This chewing also helps the birds to carry out a generic function that greatly assists their well being in captivity. Ruppell’s breed at almost any time of the year and very often this is in the winter, bearing in mind that in their natural country in Africa the coolest time of year would be their best chance of the young surviving. It seems that a cold spell of weather is imprinted into their gene pattern and triggers them to go into a breeding cycle. Therefore a sudden cold spell at any time of the year can start them breeding. I have cameras in some of my nest boxes which can give you a good insight as to what is happening at different times of the day and how organized a successful pair of birds can be. The normal situation with Ruppell’s in breeding mode within the nest box is as follows: - The male will spend the most time in the box at first chewing the box into shape and shuffling the nest material around. The female will go in every now and then and seems to inspect what the male has done. She will spend a lot of time just sitting in the box looking round and he will not come in until she has come out. At this stage it is very rare for both birds to
32 BIRD SCENE
be in the box at the same time and during this period they will roost at night outside the box. After a couple of weeks at this the birds will then spend more time out of the box during which time they usually mate. When the hen does lay her first egg they will then spend the next few days out of the nest box and not entering much until the hen lays the second egg. She still does not sit on the eggs for the next 4 to 5 hours but usually sits along side it. From then on she sits and incubates properly. The incubation period is between 28 to 29 days. The ring size is ‘R’ and the best age to ring the young is at 18 to 19 days. Note. Most books tell you to ring the birds at 17 days old. This I have found is too early and the rings often fall off. They usually fledge at 9 weeks old but again this can vary depending on the weather.
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