Breeding Hand Reared African Cape Parrots Poicephalus robustus fuscicoUis
by Greg Bockheim Disney's Animal Kingdom Bird Department Kissimmee, FL
any of us have read the interesting articles pub M lished over the past sever al years concerning the intriguing members of the genus Poicephalus. The Cape Parrot, being one of the rarest psittacines in aviculture, as well as declining in its wild habitat (Wirminghaus 1994), is in need of a dedicated captive breeding program. As with many parrot species, the Cape Parrot is one in which hand reared offspring, especially males, often lack the social and reproductive skills necessary to effectively reproduce once they have matured. I am aware of sev eral pairs of hand-reared Capes which have not bred successfully. Fortunately there are a couple of hand-reared pairs which have proven to be exceptions to this lack of breed ing success. I own a hand-reared pair of P. r. Juscicollis that have bred suc cessfully and reared their young. I also know of another hand-reared Cape pair, P. r. suahelicus, which has done the same. These are the only two hand reared male Cape Parrots, that I know of, to have successfully bred in captivi ty, although there are a handful of hand-reared females that have success fully bred when paired with wild caught males. It has become clear that hand-rear ing and human imprinting is interfer ing with the breeding future of this species. This article will review the information gathered from the repro ductive success of the hand-reared fus cicollis pair.
44 September/October 2000 Identification the way they were raised. A notable bluebeny Eleocarpus decipens are rotat The Cape Parrot subspecies can be difference between hand-reared ed throughout the week and offered difficult to identify if you have not seen Poicephalus and wild caught birds is every other day. the two perched side by side. My male that hand-reared pairs rarely enter their The lighting provided for the birds Capes, juscicollis and suahelicus sub nestboxes outside of the breeding sea was full spectrum fluorescent shop species, show very obvious color dif son whereas wild caught birds often lights cycling for 14 hours on and then ference on the head and neck. The hide in ide of theirs. 10 hours off. The lights come on just head and neck of the juscicollis is less While in Kathy' care, when they after daybreak allowing the birds the silvelY gray and is suffused with bur were four years old, the pair began to earliest morning light through win gundy from the cheeks through the show interest in a metal nestbox. At dows. I always provide four-watt night throat. A size difference also exists this time they were housed outdoors lights in my bird room allowing the between the males with suahelicus alongside an older, nonbreeding, birds to quickly recover from any being larger. In my collection suaheli hand-reared pair of Capes. By the end , night frights." cus subspecies have weighed ' 330- of 1996 they had laid two infertile Although I prefer 'wooden nestbox 400g, and juscicollis 320-340g. I have clutches of eggs. The following year es, on this breeding occasion I was not found as clear of a difference in the pair laid two successive clutches of given an all metal nestbox in the shape size and color to exist between fertile eggs (when they were five years of a flattened "Z." Since the birds had fen1ales of the subspecies. old). The chicks were pulled for hand previously bred in metal nestboxes I rearing at two weeks of age. decided to stay with what had proven . ~ I purchased this pair several months to be successful. The box contained a
~o after the chicks from their second built-in inspection door in the lower ro ~ clutch had been pulled for hand-rear- portion of the "Z" ~hich opened ~ ing, when they were just over six years directly over the nesting chamber. .0 ~ old. My intention was to take on the £: a.. challenge of parent-rearing Capes in Reproductive Behavior order to exchange parent-reared In behavior this pair acts like any young for the same produced by other hand-reared, mature, and bond California breeder Ben Cooper. At the ed pair of Cape Parrots. The male time, I was successfully breeding could be described as fearless outside Jardine's PalTots POicephalus Jantsien of the breeding season, posturing sus and was prepared to foster the aggressively and frequently rushing Cape Parrot eggs, or chicks, to the the door when I come to feed. On Jardine'S should the Capes have diffi many occasions he displaces his P. r. rusrirollis chicks 53 and 56 days old. culty incubating or rearing their chicks. aggressive behavior, directing it They were reared by their parents. Until recently my Poicephalus col toward his mate by lunging in her lection had been housed indoors. At direction. During the nesting season Pair History that time all five species of Poicephalus this male could be described as sav The complete histolY of Iny fusci that I had kept, including this breeding age, attacking me every time I feed the collis pair is not known, therefore crit occurrence with the Capes, had bred birds, and on more than one occasion ical information with regards to the successfully in flight cages lTIeasuring actually making contact with my hands techniques used to hand-feed them, four feet long by two feet wide by and doing serious damage. the methods in which they were three feet high. Each of these cages is Cape parrots, like many other housed after weaning, and other para placed on steel conduit legs which species of large psittacines, exhibit pair meters that may influence the level of raises the cage floor to four feet above bond behavior and reproductive human imprinting are unavailable. The the ground. Nest boxes are fastened to behavior well before actually getting birds were purchased from a pet store the outside of the cages allowing for down to the business of copulating in Ohio in early 1995 by Florida Cape easy inspection. and laying eggs. The male of the pair breeder Kathy Millikin. They were The staple diet fed to the birds, year was observed inspecting the nesting then placed in an outdoor aviary mea round, is 5()O/o Cockatiel seed and 500/(l site for five months prior to the female suring three feet square by six feet Pretty Bird African Parrot Select pellets. la ying her first egg and the pair was long. Kathy described the pair as hav Added to this lTIix daily are fresh fruits observed copulating 40 days before an ing a strong pair bond, having occa and vegetables including: Corn (fed on egg was laid. Although the female was sional noisy battles, and frequently the cob), apple, carrots, and an addi not observed to enter the nestbox until squahbling through the wire with the tional seasonal item. During the cooler the week of la ying. The male had been Cape pair in the adjoining aviary. weather additional sunflower seeds and observed preparing the nest site, by I have found most of these behav whole dried corn are added to the dry fonning a slight depression in the pine iors to be typical of the members of seed mix. Leafy branches of eucalyptus, shaving substrate, more than 30 days the Poicephalus genus regardless of acacia, willow, citrus, and Japanese before his mate laid her first egg.
the afa \YJATCHBIRD 45 were one month old. They could he heard playing inside the nestbox from the time they were just under six weeks old. Also at this age, when the parents entered the nestbox, the chicks would vocalize loudly until they were" fed. The parent birds never entered the nestbox while I was in the room unless I attempted to inspect the chicks, at which time they both would aggressively posture and then run into the nestbox to attack me. lt was very amusing to obseIVe the A two-year-old pair ofP. r. fusricollis . Note the darker heads and grey bib. parent birds when they were unaware For just over two weeks prior to lay area around her beak, became caked that they were being watched. When ing their first egg, the pair was and messy with food, although the they were traveling to the nestbox to obseIVed to copulate every other day chicks did not become exceSSively feed the chicks they would crouch around 8:00 P.M. (I was not able to messed by food so all was left alone. low, and very qUietly creep over the make midday obseIVations). These The food on the beak and facial feath perches to the nestbox entrance and bouts of mating lasted from 1-4 min ers of the female and the chicks was go in. On many occasions I watched utes and neither bird was vocal at the absent by the time the chicks were 30 as the male and female would sneak time. As with another pair of Capes days old. No food was ever obseIVed into the nestbox, sometimes staying for that had laid eggs for me, the female on the male's facial feathers. just a couple of minutes and other suddenly retreats to the nestbox within The chicks' eyes began to open times remaining inside for 20 minutes a couple of days of laying and is only from the time they were 16 days old or more. Once inside the nestbox no seen out of the nestbox to defecate. lt but were not fully open until 20 days vocalizations or sounds could be heard is likely that the male takes on the of age. Soon after this they could be that revealed that the parents were responsibility of feeding the hen while heard vocalizing from the nest. The actually feeding the chicks, only the she is laying and incubating eggs as male began to spend long periods of chicks silence suggested that they she was never seen to eat during the time in the nestbox from the time the were being fed. incubation period. chicks were 16 days old. No vocaliza At the young age of 45 days the The female laid her last clutch of tions were heard by the pair or the chicks were seen peering out of the two eggs in November, when she was chicks while they were all in the hox nestbox entrance. They were very just over seven years old. At this thne and I suspect that the male was feed tirnid and would fall crashing to the she also plucked her ankles slightly, ing the female and possibly the chicks floor of the box if I entered the room. the feathers growing in soon after the and then resting within. I feel the design of the nestbox, being chicks weaned. The eggs were laid When the chicks were two weeks a gradual sloping incline Cabout a 45 with a day inteIVal in between and old I became concerned that the par degree angle), allowed the chicks easy hatched after 28 days of incubation. ents were not feeding them often access to the nestbox entrance. The The birds tossed the dry and empty enough because early morning and oldest chick left the nestbox on only eggshells from the nest two days after early evening inspections of their one obseIVed occasion when it was 10 the chicks hatched. crops revealed little or no food. But as weeks 4 days old, but returned to the The chicks appeared pink, and with some cockatoo species, with box by that evening. Neither chick was aside from wispy down they were which I have some experience parent again seen outside' the box until they nearly naked. Down feather follicles rearing, the Cape parents filled the were both 12 weeks old. The chicks did not begin to grow in until the chicks crops at about 8:30 A.M. and were good flyers within their first chicks were a week old and began to 7:00 P.M. (I was unable to monitor mid week of leaving the nest and, unlike open at 14 days, covering them in day feedings). These chick feeding the parent birds preference for climb dense white secondary down. times were up to 90 minutes after the ing, the chicks took the more direct adult birds received their morning and route and flew most of the time. Parental Care evening feedings. The chicks often returned to the The female of the pair was described The parent Capes began sleeping nestbox, perhaps to rest or to roost for as being a messy chick feeder by the outside of the nestbox at night when the night. The head and neck of each previous owner, getting food all over the chicks were 28 days old. The chick was gray washed with brick red. the chicks' faces and suggesting that she chicks were robust and covered in The tips of their flight and tail feathers was likely overfeeding, possibly due to down at this time so this was not cause are still , at 11 months of age, orangish her lack of experience. Soon after the for concern. The chicks primary flight yellow. The head of one of the chicks chicks did hatch the female's beak, and feathers began to open when they was more extenSively orange than the
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