Breeding of the Lesser Jardine’s Parrot. PART I

Breeding

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I bought my first pair of the Lesser Jardine’s Parrot (Poicephalus gulielmi fantiensis) in September 2003 from one animal import company. The trader caught for me two birds and without any DNA tests or surgical sexing he said that it is a pair. There is not any distinct sexual dimorphism in this species but fortunately, he was right. Birds were wild caught and came from Guinea.

Both parrots were put to an outside aviary. However, they just ignored each other and both sit at the opposite corners. This behaviour lasted for two weeks and then the male started being apathetic. Therefore he was replaced to the inside heated cage and received antibiotics along with dry seeds. A week later, the bird was getting better and finally he recovered soon after that. I tried to put it together with the female again and suddenly it worked. They were sitting close to each other, preening all the time and also mutual feeding occured.

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The breeding pair… (c) Oldrich Siska

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The first clutch

In January 2004, the female started visiting the nest box frequently. I use the conventional vertical type. During the following two weeks I have observed copulation for several times and on February 26th two eggs were laid. Both were infertile, unfortunately. At that time, I suspected the previous treatment of my male was the cause of infertile clutch.

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Successful breeding

My Lesse Jardine’s Parrots use their nest box all over the year. Because of that I did not remove it after unsuccessful nesting. It was a surprise for me when a new clutch appeared there at the end of April. Copulation has not been observed but all three eggs were fertile. Two of them hatched a month later. I put a ring of size 7,5mm on their legs at age of 20 days. Parents were feeding their babies very well up to the end of fourth week. After that, frequency of feeding changed significantly and condition of chicks was getting worse. Therefore I decided to take them out of the nest and hand feed. There was not a single problem with nest inspections before.

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Fantiensis male, three years old (c) Oldrich Siska

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Hand feeding in the nest box

When the pair was nesting for the next time, the same situation repeated. I wanted to prolong the time which chicks would spend in the nest box and therefore I tried to hand feed them there along with their parents three times a day. Both parents tolerated me well however the feeding frequency was getting worse and worse.

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READ THE SECOND PART OF THIS ARTICLE TOMORROW!

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author: Oldrich Siska

Title photo: (c) Oldrich Siska

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