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Cockatiels: Breeding Smart! Excerpt
COCKATIELS:  Breeding Smart!
by Linda S. Rubin
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*  NEWLY UPDATED SECOND EDITION
*  REVISED CHAPTERS on nutrition,
sports and new mutations
*  Text Length equivalent to each of the  
author's hard cover books  (Multiple  Bird
Households and Ultimate Parrot Guide
*  Packed with insightful information
for the novice and most seasoned
aviculturist desiring to delve deeper ...
Readers of Cockatiels:
Breeding Smart! are also
interested in these books:
Excerpt From Chapter 3:

The Breeding Season

Breeding Condition
Breeding birds require five prerequisites: 1) optimum nutrition; 2) increased
photolight (i.e. daylight) period; 3) proper humidity; 4) an acceptable mate; and 5) an
adequate nesting site. Increased, or normal room temperature (e.g., 68 to 72
degrees) will mimic the breeding season, although many breeders have been
successful with lower temperatures as long as they remain constant and without
fluctuation. Increased humidity via open water drinking bowls, or spray baths, signal
the onset of the rainy season, which wild pairs rely upon to provide the "milky stage"
seeds with which they feed their young.

Optimum nutrition is key to the growing chick and must be provided before the egg
receives its outer calcium shell, meaning well BEFORE the egg is actually laid. This
can easily be accomplished by providing a soft food supplement, in addition to the
regular diet, fortified by a lighting salting of an avian multi-vitamin mineral supplement
containing vitamin D3, made especially for birds. The author uses a salt shaker filled
with the powdered avian vitamin/mineral supplement to daily "salt" the soft food mix,
before it is presented to each pair.

Breeders have utilized a number of soft food supplements from: cooked, mashed,
hard-boiled egg combined with carrot, whole wheat bread and commercial mashes,
to the popular parrot corn/rice/bean (legume) diet. The author's faorite is the
corn/rice/bean supplement to the regular diet utilizing a variety of legumes such as
lima beans, black-eyed peas, chick peas, navy, pinto and kidney beans  or the
15-bean mix found in the market. Beans such as lima must be well-cooked to remove
any toxins remaining in improperly cooked, or raw beans.

An easy short cut for just a few birds, is to purchase frozen whole kernel cut corn,
instant whole grain brown rice, and a 15-bean mix (or in a pinch, fresh-frozen lima
beans), found in most supermarkets. Microwae the corn until warm, add the softened,
well-cooked, or microwaved beans (e.g., lima beans), and enough cooked brown rice
to coat the corn and beans. White rice does not contain the food value found in whole
grain brown rice. The leftover rice may be stored in the refrigerator and the remaining
bean mix can be stored frozen in portions. Portions of the corn/rice/bean mix should
be increased as the chicks grow. I t is an excellent soft food, and a complete protein,
useful for conditioning birds, rearing chicks, and for sick birds too infirm to crack
seed. The author feeds it periodically to the resting flock so all birds enjoy and are
familiar with the soft food mix before it's required.

Soft foods such as whole wheat bread is also an excellent supplement. Although
many authors in earlier years report dipping the bread in milk, avian research studies
have found that cockatiels lack the enzye lactase, and are unable to break down the
milk sugar, lactose, giveing the birds a case of diarrhea. Calcium can be supplied in
other forms and it is therefore recommended to ...

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   Excerpts:               Controlled vs Colony Breeding                      Breeding Condition                      Line-Breeding                     Inherited Faults                      Miscellaneous Faults                       Order >>
COCKATIELS: BREEDING SMART!
Now Available as a Downloadable Digital Book
The second edition in e-book format provides
an overview on breeding cockatiels through
optimum husbandry management. The second
half is directed toward understanding the
principles of line-breeding, and provides a
unique discussion on how to recognize and
establish new color and pattern mutations at a
depth not often found in the literature.
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