Can somebody help me with this question please.

We have always taken our breeding pairs out of the aviary and put them in breeding cabinets. It can be time consuming and stressful to the birds catching them and then re housing and re doing it all over again after chicks have left home.

A lot of people leave them in the aviaries all the time, but when the chicks first come out of the breeding box, wouldn't they fall to the ground and get hurt? As the poor things are a bit unsteady.

It is a long way down to the ground if they fall out of the nesting boxes.

Sounds like a dumb question, but we often look at Breeders avairies and leave asking ourselves the same question.

We saw one, that had nest boxes stacked side by side and upward, 8 boxes across and seven boxes high, just stacked on on the other. We were disgusted. There was nowhere for babies except straight down on the floor. Sure would not buy from them. Also I don't know how he knew what bird was mating with who.

Cindy.

Edited February 21, 200520 yr by Cindy

Seems to me - they don't leave the nest till they can fly. Or at least have enough feathers for a controlled landing. Budgies DO fly first time (well usually).

 

But that said - in the wild they tend to nest on the ground in hollows so it IS a bit unfair to expect the to fly - and get back UP to the nest.

 

For the birds that don't make it - in truth there is an element of natural selection going on that can only re-inforce - rather than weaken the gene pool which is what we do artificially helping a weaker flyer survive.

 

But that said - we have screwed up the gene pool pretty comprehensively by breeding for colors so I guess a commercially "stacked" aviary (as you described) reckons the stacking outweighs the losses in economic terms. Sad but true.

Thats not nessacarily true becasue my budgie when i took it out it was 3 weeks and in my hand it it kept wanting to jump off it to its doom then like 1 week later it jumped out of the nestbox and plummeted to the ground and i came home and the parents were pooin on it!

All of mine went through "flight training" in the nest box. You could hear them flapping away and raising all kinds of dust - it would pop out of the hole in the top you use to open it with. I think if I hadn't had perches everywhere for them to bump into when they first came out, they would have been able to fly enough so that they wouldn't have just plummeted to the bottom. I think most of them don't come out until they have strenghthened their chest muscles enough to be able to fly at least a short distance. They are unsteady as far as being able to perch. They do have to learn that skill as there is nothing to perch on in the nest box. I do understand your concern though, and applaud you for not buying birds from breeders that keep the boxes too high, and have nowhere for the birds to go except the floor.

Also I don't know how he knew what bird was mating with who

i dont see the problem with this if you are breeding for fun

 

There was nowhere for babies except straight down on the floor

my fathers nest boxs are 5 feet from the floor with no way to go but down and i dont think he has lost any chicks with them being this wat except for really young ones (few day old ones) where the hen has either pushed them out or have been startled and the hen has pulled them out by accident birds in the wild dont have this option

All of mine went through "flight training" in the nest box.  You could hear them flapping away and raising all kinds of dust - it would pop out of the hole in the top you use to open it with.  I think if I hadn't had perches everywhere for them to bump into when they first came out, they would have been able to fly enough so that they wouldn't have just plummeted to the bottom.  I think most of them don't come out until they have strenghthened their chest muscles enough to be able to fly at least a short distance.  They are unsteady as far as being able to perch.  They do have to learn that skill as there is nothing to perch on in the nest box. I do understand your concern though, and applaud you for not buying birds from breeders that keep the boxes too high, and have nowhere for the birds to go except the floor.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well mine plummeted ot the floor...

Thanks everyone for your comments. I still feel uneasy, but will give it a go next time round. But I will be watching them like a hawk, Guess I am over protective of the little darlings.

Cindy

Everyone should be they ae alive aren't they?

There is no harm in having breeding boxes up high only rarely will they fall out unless you have a small breeding box with alot of babies in there thats really the only time they will fall out,I have had no troubles with babies getting injured because for one they rarely fall out and i have sand on the bottom of my aviary and everything is fine,and i still know who the father is.

Edited March 16, 200520 yr by Ben H

:parrot:

 

Well I breed in separate breeding cages with the breading box in it.

This way you know for sure who is the farther

And you can improve the quality of the birds you are breeding.

I have five breading cages and at the moment look to producing 22 babies

Of which maybe ten will stay and rest go to the pet shop.

You are right most birds learn to fly in the nesting box and its not very often you lose any

Having said that I prefer to breed in separate cages

In Australia you can expect to pay about $39.00 Aust dollars for a cage and box which is not that bad really

The way things are today $40.00 does not buy that much so to me its good value.

I will post pictures soon