Breeding Exotic Birds for Enjoyment: The American Shell Parakeet

The American Shelled parakeet is a native bird of Australia, and is one of the smaller parrot species. The orginal coloration of the bird was green with a yellow head. Wing and back feathers are black edged in yellow, thus the origin of the name Shelled parakeet. Infrequently , blue keets with white heads were seen in the wild flocks.. . The cause for the strange coloration was the hidden blue factor contained in some of the orginal green parakeets.,

The first pair of parakeets were introduced in England in 1838 by naturalist John Gould. Within a few years, due to the popularity of the bird, hundreds could be found throughout Europe. Introduction to the United States was thought to be from Australian sailors bringing the species into ports. American Shelled parakeets are inexpensive and an excellent bird for the beginner.

Sexing

Sexing American Shelled parakeets is quite simple. Females have a pink to brown cere. This is the area above the beak containing the nostrils. Male shelled have blue to a deep blue cere. Ceres of young parakeets are light violet to lavender. Shelled parakeets should be at least six months or older to be properly sexed. One thing to keep in mind is that it can be difficult to sex a stressed bird. I have seen powder blue ceres on stressed females and dark brown ceres on males. However, the edges around the nostrils will usually determine sex of the bird. A stressed female will have a pinkish coloration around the nostrils while her cere is a light blue. A male will show blue around the nostrils with the cere being brown.

Caging

To determine the proper cage size, imagine the bird is sitting on a perch in the center of the cage. The bird should be able to stretch it's wings without coming in contact with the sides of the cage. The cage should be tall enough so that the bird's tail or head does not rub against the top or bottom of the cage. Bars should be close enough so that the bird cannot escape or get his or her head caught between the bars.

Feeding

Birds need more than seed. Try offering them greens, such as turnip, collard, mustard, endive, bib lettuce, or beet tops. Do not give head lettuce because it is mainly water and has little nutrition. Fruits are another excellent source. Try chopped apple, banana or perhaps melon. Do not give citrus fruits such as oranges, it can irritate or burn the crop. Birds also enjoy whole grainned bread. Try egg food also. Hard boil an egg, and put a small amount in the cage. However, with all foods, excluding seed, remove if not eaten. Spoiled food such as egg, fruit and veggies can sicken your bird. Vitamins are fine, and I perfer the dry vitamin that can be sprinkled on the greens, veggies or eggs.

Breeding.

First of all, make certain that you have a pair. Place the pair in a breeding cage, but do not attach the breeding box. Let the two get aquainted. Put the pair into breeding condition by offering more than ten hours of light per day. Feed more veggies, soft food, fruit, breads, egg and seed. Once the pair begins to show interest in each other, with the male feeding the female, attach the breeding box. The box should be large enough for both birds and young. Do not use string as a breeding material. Birds can get their legs caught in it. Natural pine shavings seem to work the best, and it is non toxic. Shortly, the pair will mate and the female will deposit an egg , in the box, every other day. The amount of eggs usually is between five to seven. Once all eggs are laid, the hen will set on the eggs until hatched, about 21- 28 days depending on the room temperature. The male will feed her dfuring this time.

Hatching

Once the young hatch, both parents are hard at work feeding their brood. Make certain that you offer plenty of soft food at this time. Usually within six to seven weeks the young are weaned. If the parents start to pluck them, pull the young. Parents have been known to kill their young once they are weaned.

Colors

Getting various colorations of Shelled parakeets is not like mixing paints. The Blue parakeets carry the white factors and the green the yellow factor. One exception however,is that some greens carry a hidden blue color factor.. Albino parakeets come from the blue shells, while the lutino, an all yellow parakeet come from the greens. Breeding two blues together, will produce various shades of blues, violets, and albinos. Breeding two greens will produce various shades of greens such as lime and lutinos.

Every so often, either color will produce a mutation called a rainbow. This is the banding of several colors down the breast. such as a mixture of blue bands, green bands, violets bands or a combinations of greens blues and violets.Breeding rainbow to rainbow will not give you a rainbow. Instead the results will be a green or blue shades. Breeding blue to green will produce greens since the orginal color is green.

Some of the mutations that can be bred are clear wings, no black on wings or back, reversed wing, black edging on various feather coloration on back and wings, and pied. The pied are patches of color on birds body.

Myths

Some of the strangest myths that I have heard are as follows:

All green parakeets are males and blue parakeets are females. Any other parakeet coloration decide upon what sex they want to be. Sorry but, the color of a shelled parakeet does not determine the sex. The bird is either female or male, and to determine the sex check the cere.

The female parakeet lays the eggs and the male sprays them with semen. Another falsehood, parakeets do not breed like fish. They breed like any other warm blooded species.

Some parakeets cost more because the colorations are a rarity, such as cobalt, violet or rainbow. This also is false, Once the color lines of a parakeet has been established then the results are known as what hen to breed with what male to get the desired color. For example, if a pair of blue keets throw more cobalt young than other shades of blue , then breed this pair when cobalt is desired. As far as rainbow, it is a mutation that can't be bred for, it just occurs. However it is not such a rarity that the bird shoud cost more.

Male birds when stressed laid eggs. Completely false, the probable reason is that the female was stressed and the cere turned blue.

Only male parakeets talk female can't. False. Males do talk and females ofteh will if enough time is spent with them. However since the misconception is that they don't talk, then the less time is spent with them.