FEATURE


and adjacent mountain regions of eastern Australia from northern Queensland to southern Victoria they do not stray into the vast arid areas in the centre of this vast continent. They are the commonest species of King within aviculture. Australian Kings are popular among hobbyist breeders who have a reasonable amount of experience keeping Australian parakeets because they are such beautiful birds that if kept well and provided with a large aviary will reward their owners with a brood of youngsters most years. At 42cm in length they are quite a large bird and therefore require a nest box measuring 25cm x 25cm x 60cm. An average sized clutch is four eggs and these are incubated for 21 days only by the female. My breeding pair like their box hung about half way into their aviary, it has an inspection door in the side and has a top that can be lifted off, this is important as most Australian Kings have young in the nest box during July when we experience our hottest time of the year. You would have thought that with a hole near the top of the box (to let the birds gain access) the hot air produced by the growing young would escape through this hole, this does not happen, it just keeps circulating inside the box; the temperature continues to rise and the young can die of heat exhaustion. During


A BIRD SCENE BIRD SCENE 07


ustralian Kings are a common bird within their range in their native Australia which is the costal strip


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48