The Psittacula of South East Asia and Indonesia

Abstract

T here are six species of Psittacula that are indigenous to Southeast Asia and Indonesia. The habitats range from sub tropical to tropical. Psittacula in general are hardy and healthy birds, rarely needing veterinary care. Most breed freely in captivity, and are excellent parents. Asian parakeets are generally spring breeders, but the tropical species like the Long-taileds and some of the Moustached Parakeets may nest at any time of the year if the conditions are right otherwise.

Banding

All immature Psittacu!a look similar to adult females. In adult plumage, Psittacu!a are clearly dimorphic with three exceptions - the] a va Moustached Parakeets. If necessary to know the gender prior to the adult molt, surgical sexing or DNA sexing will be required. Banding or microchip identification will be necessary to avoid inbreeding. The bands we have been using on our birds range from Cockatiel size for the Blossorn-headeds and Slaty-headeds to exotic size 10 for the Alexandrines. The medium sized birds can be fitted with a 9 or a 9 1/2 exotic band.

Housing

Housing requirements are similar for all species of Asian parakeet. My

 

preference is to house the birds in aviaries 4 feet wide, 8 to 10 feet high and 8 to 12 feet long, depending on species and space available. Psittacula species can also be successfully bred in cages. Cages ought to be a minimum of 4 feet wide, 4 feet high and 6 feet long with only one pair of birds per cage or a viary.

Colony Breeding

Colony breeding has been accomplished in very large flights, but the breeding success has been spotty. Asian parakeets are highly territorial during breeding season, and deaths from territorial battles are not unheard of. Achieving a "balanced chemistry" of pairs that will breed and raise a brood in the same aviary is not an easy task. Colony breeding is therefore not something I would recommend.

Mixed Species. Aviaries

Is it likewise not advisable to put different species of Psittacu!a in the same cage or aviary, I have done it, and gotten away with it, however the aggression between the different species made it necessa1y to separate them.

This past year I had a group of newly weaned Slary-headeds and Blossom-headeds in the same large weaning cage. They had grown up together in the nursery and had been getting along just fine. After three months in the weaning cage something changed and it was apparent that the Slaty-headeds were ganging up on the Blossom-headeds. Feathers were missing, toes were bloodied, and the Blossorn-headeds were not getting a fair shake at the food and water. The Blossom-headeds were removed and placed in another cage with one year old Blossom-headeds and are fine now.

Off-season Flighting

Maintaining strength and breeding condition of the birds is of utmost importance. Therefore the breeding pairs housed in small cages during the breeding season should be flighted in the off-season. In other words, they should be removed from any breeding cage or aviary and put into the largest cage or aviary possible so they can exercise and fly around. We have found

 

that flighting the birds without nestboxes and resting them in the off-season has improved production in all caged species. Moving them to a new cage or aviary, and then returning them to a breeding cage or aviary is actually stimulating and not negatively stressful as once thought.

When resting your birds, you want to minimize squabbles so it's best to put the hens of one species in a flight together, and ~--ales of the same species together in an adjacent flight. Very large cages can be used for resting flights if no aviary space is available. Typically, they would be 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, again, females in one cage, males in another. Ten to 15 birds can be placed in a cage this size during the off-season. The birds should be observed frequently to be sure all birds are getting along, and that each is getting enough to eat and drink. I generally put more than one food bowl in a large cage for this reason. Nestboxes should never be left in resting flights.

Nestboxes

My favorite nestboxes are the grandfather clock style. They are inexpensive, easy to hang, maintain, check eggs, and best of all, the birds do well with them. I use three sizes. Small birds like Blossom-headeds, Long-taileds, and Slary-headeds get a box that measures 6 in. x 6 in. x 18 in. deep. Medium sized birds like Moustached Parakeets would get a box that measures 9 in. x 9 in. x 24 in. deep. Larger Asian parakeets like Alexandrines are given a 12 in. x 12 in x 36 in. deep nestbox. If possible it's preferable to use a #3 ground wood fiber instead of shavings for nesting material.

 

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