I currently have 10 breeding pairs of Cockatiels and 3 pairs of King Parrots. I find that keeping only a small number of different species allows you to really study their habits ensuring every chance for successful breeding outcomes. I also love natives and get a kick out of seeing wild Kings come down to the aviaries every morning and afternoon. Studying the habits of these birds can open your eyes to a variety of plants, fruits and berries which you can provide your own birds for either nutritional value or to relieve boredom. For example, I recently saw I King parrot devouring a number of lily pilly berries. While I knew they were edible, I never thought to give them to the birds.
With the Cockatiels, I keep a variety of different mutations, including the more common pieds, pearls, cinnamons, lutinos, whiteface and pastelface, as well as the less common “olives” or suffused. I have noticed that very few birds these days are solid colours, i.e. not carrying a pied gene or for that matter carrying multiple colour mutations, either visually or hidden as splits. It is very hard at present to purchase just, for example, a cinnamon pair or a whiteface pair of birds, which are not split. It is even harder to get a normal pair of birds. One of my goals over the coming years is to have a breeding colony of normal birds. Having a normal line of Cockatiels is invaluable in establishing new mutations, which are still possible in Cockatiels even given the limited palette of colours you have to work with.I am also working with a fellow cockatiel breeder to explore the relationship (if any) between Olives and Spangles. There are a number of stories behind the recent establishment of these mutations in Australia and I would like to explore more on these mutations from a genetic point of view. The first approach is to breed a Spangle and an Olive and see if you get a normal, double spilt offspring, which should be the case.
My cockatiel breeding pairs for 2011
I have started to pair my breeding pairs together for 2011, placing them from the large flight aviaries into individual breeding cages.
Breeding pair 1: The first breeding pair is a whiteface pied split cinnamon and pearl cock (ANCS 06 1330) with a whiteface cinnamon pearl pied hen (ANCS 07 462). He only has one spot on this back shoulder. They are both good size birds, showing great shoulder width and good rounded heads with solid thick crest. This pair has breed before, producing nice offspring. The hen does have a tendency to lay excessively and in doing so gets quite obese. In the off season, she quickly loses the weight through having a good flight and low fat diet.
My cockatiel breeding pairs for 2011
I have started to pair my breeding pairs together for 2011, placing them from the large flight aviaries into individual breeding cages.
Breeding pair 1: The first breeding pair is a whiteface pied split cinnamon and pearl cock (ANCS 06 1330) with a whiteface cinnamon pearl pied hen (ANCS 07 462). He only has one spot on this back shoulder. They are both good size birds, showing great shoulder width and good rounded heads with solid thick crest. This pair has breed before, producing nice offspring. The hen does have a tendency to lay excessively and in doing so gets quite obese. In the off season, she quickly loses the weight through having a good flight and low fat diet.
This pairing will produce lovely whiteface cinnamon pearl pieds hens and cocks as well as other combinations.
Breeding pair 2: The second breeding pair is a whiteface pastel silver cock (ANCS 09 43) and a pastel silver split pastelface hen (ANCS 07 577). Both birds are a bit small, but have nice deportment and other features, including head shape and crests. I have not breed this pairing before.
This pairing will produce pastelface pastel silvers hens and cocks as well as pastel silver hens and cocks.
Breeding pair 3: The third breeding pair is a Olive split whiteface cock (ANCS 09 233) with a Normal split Olive and whiteface (PSA 9 5376). He won cockatiel of show at the Queensland Royal Show, the "Ekka" in 2010.
This pairing will produce Whiteface Olive, Olive and Normal hens and cocks.
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| Breeding pair 1: Whiteface pied and Whiteface cinnamon pearl pied pair |
This pairing will produce pastelface pastel silvers hens and cocks as well as pastel silver hens and cocks.
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| Breeding pair 2: Whiteface pastel silver and pastel silver pair |
This pairing will produce Whiteface Olive, Olive and Normal hens and cocks.
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| Breeding pair 3: Olive cock and Normal hen |
Breeding pair 4: The fourth breeding pair is a Olive split whiteface cock (ANCS 09 241) with a Normal split Spangle and whiteface (ANCS 09 59). He is the brother to ANCS 09 233, which won cockatiel of show at the Ekka. They are also the pairing which produced the interesting offspring, which you can read about in the "photo gallery" page. He got picked on during the off season, resulting in some lost feather around the back of his neck. They are a great looking pair.
This pairing will produce Whiteface and Normal hens and cocks. If history repeats it will also produce Olive hens and cocks, indicating that the hen is split Olive as well as Spangle.
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| Breeding pair 4: Normal hen and Olive cock |
This pairing may only produce Normal hens and cocks split Olive. However, with some luck the pairing may also produce Whiteface Olive and Olive hens and cocks.
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| Breeding pair 5: Normal cock and Olive hen |
Breeding pair 6: The sixth breeding pair is a Olive cock split whiteface (ANCS 07 513) with a Normal hen split whiteface and spangle (ANCS 09 76). It will be interesting to see the breeding outcomes of this pairing. She is the sister to the hen which produced the interesting offspring in pairing 4, which you can read about in the "photo gallery" page. In addition, he is the father to the cock in this interesting pairing.
Like pairing 4, this pairing will produce Whiteface and Normal hens and cocks. Olive hens and cocks may also be produced indicating that the hen is split Olive as well as Spangle.
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| Breeding pair 6: Normal hen and Olive cock |
