Carlson's Spray Milletcomes in Regular~nd Premium Lengths.

See the Marsh Dealer in your area orwrite for our FREE CATALOG today.

• INCUBATORS-With fully automaticturners, temperature and humiditycontrol

• BROODERS &CAGES• FEEDERS & FOUNTAINS• FLY CONTROL• HOW TO BOOKS & MORE

Three FactsYou Want to Know About

CarlsonSprayMillet

CarlsonCartons Ibs. Regular PremiumSpecialty 8" to 10" 10" and

Seed Sprays Longer Sprays

RT..2, BOX 535 5 $15.00 $18.00PLAINFIELD, WI 54966(715)335' 4564 2 10 $24.00 $30.00

!!f 4 20 $46.00 $55.00

Postage is paid in Continental USA.Inquire for quantity prices.

CyclonicUp tc 6,360 eggs

More people buy SprayMillet from Carlson'sthan from any growerin the country.

and quallt . ~hey ex~ect Pesticide Free!each hand-pick d millet nlik import dpra from Carl ~n.' to b • millet hi h ar

a clean and nutritiouS a th hi f . t d . h. d d . oroug y umlga Witnature Int n . h . I . 'dc mica p tiC! e ,

Carlon' i pesticide freend com pletel af for ~_...

even th mall st, mo td licat bird.

Breeding theWhite-capped parrot

byRichard ZimmermanJackson, Michigan

White-cappedpa1Tot (pionus senilis)

In the fall of 1975 I obtained fromquarantine seven white-capped parrots(Pionus sent/is). One died, one arrived in­jured and has been kept as a house pet,and one was incompatable with the re­maining four and was given to a friend.

The four intended for breeding weresexed by the fecal steriod method andpaired up for about one year with noresults from either pair. As the birds wereabout six years old I felt they should getdown to some serious breeding. Since thefirst pairing-up seemed unsatisfactory Iswapped mates. The following resultswere produced by one of the newlycreated pairs. The other pair was sold.

The pair of white-capped parrots washoused alone in their aviary. During thelate winter they began some nesting ac­tivities including enlarging the nest boxhole, throwing out cedar shavings, andtearing the roof off their box. By springthe female seemed anxious to breed. Shecrouched on the perch, dropped herwings, and shivered. The male acceptedher invitation and they mated. Prior toand during the actual mating the henmade a loud whining sound.

The weather at this time was typical ofthe mid-west with warm bright daysfollowed by cold dark days and a lot ofrain. It didn't seem to bother the birdsand they remained intent upon nesting.Finally, during the last week of April thehen laid her clutch of eggs. When laying,the female's abdomen was so swollen thatit touched the perch she was sitting onand she seemed very uncomfortable. Ionly saw her out of the box once in thatcondition.

Once she began laying, in fact, the hensat so tightly that I could only approx­imate the following dates. The eggs were

41

42

BUY-SELL-TRADEBIRDS

BIRD SUPPLIESAND EQUIPMENT

SEED,FEED

HalfmoonsCockatielsLovebirdsParrakeets

White Headed NunsGreen Singers

Golden Breasted Wax billsCordon Bleu

AND MANY OTHER TYPESOF FINCHES

AND HOOKBILLS

layed the last week of April. The first egghatched on May 24. The last baby tohatch was smaller than the first three. Thebabies left the nest on]uly 17,22,24, and31. I was able to tell just about when thebabies hatched by the harsh, raspy noisethey made while being fed. The rareglimpse I got of the babies under themother showed they were covered withwispy white down.

The male was not seen to enter the boxuntil the young were feathered out. Thejob of feeding the young, as far as I coulddetermine, was the sale responsibility ofthe female. She, ofcourse, was fed by themale. When the young were featheredand the female no longer stayed in thebox during the day, the male did most ofthe feeding. He still fed the hen occa­sionally, too. When the young left thenest box the male was the most activefeeder. He would often go up to a baby asif asking if it wanted to be fed. The hen,on the other hand, seemed to ignore thebabies. When the babies would beg toher she would sometimes feed them butshe rarely, if ever, initiated the process.Indeed, she would often ignore the beg­ging baby and flyaway.

When the young first left the nest boxthey spent the daylight hours in the aviaryand returned to the nestbox at night. Thefirst two out returned to sleep in the boxuntil the third baby left the nest. Afterthat they would periodically return to thebox and pile in two or three at a time. Asthese babies feathered out they hadbronze colored wings, blue flight and tailfeathers, a little red around the vent andthe feathers of the white cap were tippedwith dark green. The rest of the plumagewas bright green except for blue ear­patches. The eye ring was grey. Theparents raised the four babies to in­dependence as I preferred not to pullthem for hand feeding. I did handle thefledged young, though, and found themto be very tame-they didn't even bite.

This breeding success took place in­doors. That is, in the shelter area of myaviaries. I have a bird house with indoorcages that measure three feet square by sixand a halffeet high. Attached to each in­door shelter is an outside flight sixteenfeet long, three feet wide and six feethigh. The birds have access to the flightthrough a small sliding window. In coldweather, ofcourse, the birds are confinedto the shelters where electrical heat is pro­vided. Even in the winter, though, thebirds have a good deal of light as the toptwo feet of each shelter is clear plexiglass.The flights are framed of steel tubingand covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth.The floor is limestone gravel and noplants grow in the flights as the parrots

are very destructive of vegetation. Theydo not, however, touch weeds growingout of the gravel.

None of my Pionus seem to eat a greatdeal ofseed although they have access to abowl of sunflower seeds and another bowlcontaining a mixture of safflower seed,canary and parakeet mix, turkey mashpellets and cracked corn. Each pair ofPionus seems to differ in its preferenceregarding seed. And each individual pairis haphazard regarding eating seed. Daysmay pass with very little seed being con­sumed. Then the pair my go on a seedbinge. The subject pair of white-cappedPionus ate sunflower only when theyoung were starring to feather. When theyoung left the nest the consumption ofsunflower and safflower decreased. Icheck the seed and change the water everyday.

In addition to seed and water, my birdsare fed an assorrment of extras daily.Their favorite is peas-in-the-pod but theyalso get corn-on-the-cob, raw peanuts,grapes, apples, cheddar cheese, and car­rots. All fruits and vegetables are fresh,not frozen. I use a mixture of Plus BrandSuper Yeast and Gevral Protein which issprinkled over their fresh food. Three orfour times a week I also sprinkle HeadstartPoultry Vitamins over the same food. Thesame diet is fed all the year roundalthough corn-on-the-cob seems to be thefavorite rearing food and is increased dur­ing breeding.

My aviaries are very private and I alonecare for the birds as they are very suspi­cious and afraid of strangers. I try to ex­amine the nest boxes regularly but thesubject white-capped hen sat so tightlythat it was difficult to see what was goingon. I only caught her off the nest twice,once after the first egg had been laid andagain after the clutch was completed.After that she wouldn't budge from thebox even when I opened the small view­ing door. She puffed up and hissed untilthe door was closed.

As a general rule, all of my Pionusspecies tend to scream and attack throughthe wire when a new bird is put into theadjoining flight. In the case of the newfledglings, however, there was no scream­ing or attacking from either sides-theyoung were accepted routinely.

Members of the Pionus genus ofparrotshave all the best qualities for either aviaryor pet birds. They are beautiful, especial­ly in the sunlight, active, curious, not toonoisy, and can make gentle, enterrainingpets. It is my hope that more and morepeople will awaken to the beauties andvirtues of the Pionus parrots and willcause them to flourish and increase inaviculture.•

1I~==============i1THE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE

CONSERVATION OF BIRDS

proudly presents the

Jean DelacourIIFCB Symposium onBreeding Birds in Captivity

February 24-27, 1983

at the Sheraton-Universal Hotelin Universal City (Hollywood), California

Over Fifty Prestigious SpeakersFrom Around The World

join in honoring Dr. Jean Delacour,one of the hosts for this event as an active member of I.F.C.B.

The program will emphasize natural historyas it applies to the future of captive birds,

their husbandry and management

Because the interest in this symposium is worldwide,and because registration capacity is limited,

reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis

We advise a prompt response

For more informationregarding this important event

and for a registration form, send your name and address to:

DELACOUR/IFCB SYMPOSIUMc/o Gary Schulman

11300 Weddington StreetNorth Hollywood, California 91601

(213) 980-9818 Telex: 686119 Schulman LSA

43