help breeding jendays? please!

[murphyzoo]

Hello, I am new here:)

I bought a pair of jenday breeders over a year ago from someone who lived in another state. I talked to her a ton beforer I actually picked them up from the airport. Anyway, I have done just about everything I can think of to get them to produce for me, and no luck. According to her, they were 3 years old when I bought them and they had just laid their first clutch at that time and had destroyed the eggs. Now nothing. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. I had a pet sun and a pet jenday before that produced quite a few babies before, and I didn't even try to breed them! So I do know about breeding and the babies and other things -- I'm not completely new, but I can't figure these guys out! Help....

[Carbon]

First obvious question comes to mind, did you DNA sex them to verify they're a pair?

[RXK]

Xafsmom is the resident breeder -and an excellent one at that. hopefully she'll be able to answer you question.

Good Luck :)

[xafsmom]

Tell me how you have them set up. Cage size, breeder box size, room they're in - aka - privacy level.

IF they're all perfect, it could be many things. The first is that it takes Jendayas to get into the groove. They may be destroying the eggs because they're moving around in the box too much. This will settle as they clutch more and get more used to it.

Or, it could be the male is going to be an egg destroyer. In that case, you'll have to remove the male from the box and hope the hen will sit them.

Or, it could be the hen or the male likes to eat the eggs. In which case, you might need to either separate the pair and repair them, or pull and incubate from day one.

But, let me know the answers to the above ?'s first.

[murphyzoo]

Good question about sexing them, and the answer is no, simply because I am going off of what the woman that I bought the birds from told me.

"The female was DNA sexed when we got her. The male was paired with another female when we got them and then we lost her. They were proven, so I didn't have the need to sex him"

I was checking out dna sexing online and am pretty sure I should get it done. Any suggestions as to which company to use?

I have them in a large cage, one that my eclectus was in, 36"H 24"W 24"Deep. The nest box in 8 x 8 x 10deep. They are in a room in my basement which can get cold in the winter (I live in michigan). I put a small heater down there last winter. I also have a pair of lovebirds in there that produce like crazy. They have a light on them for 12 hours a day on a timer. My next thing is going to be a humidifier.

[murphyzoo]

Also I forgot to say that one of the birds will continuously empty out the nest box everytime that I fill it. I put wire mesh in the bottom to hopefully keep some in, but the bird chewed a hole in it! That was just last week. I put chips in today, so we'll see. The fact that they go in the box gives me a tiny bit of hope! I also have given them nekton E in the past.

[RXK]

just a small note on the room heater you said you have for them: just make sure there are no teflon/non-stick parts since they are known to overheat and produce toxic fumes that can be lethal to birds. you can call the manufacturer to make sure.

[murphyzoo]

Thanks for the info!

[Monica]

Cage, to me, seems too small for a breeding pair. I wouldn't even put an eclectus in a 24x24 cage... but that's me.

"Proven" can mean a lot of different things. It could mean they are friendly. It could mean they lay eggs but they don't hatch (perhaps it's two females?). Or it could mean the real thing. They lay eggs, eggs hatch.


With a heater, well the birds may also need some humidity?



Light... if you want them to breed, try increasing the amount of time they get light to like 14-15 hours a day? When you don't want them to breed, increase their nightime to 12-16 hours.


And right now isn't exactly the time for breeding... although I'm not a breeder, and different species do breed at different times of the year...



Tina?

[xafsmom]

Jendayas, unlike Suns are seasonal. Meaning, they'll reduce their breeding periods during the fall and winter. However, some pairs will breed year round, like Suns do.

The cage... Not as big as I'd like to see. But, (I say this through gritted teeth btw), it's fine for breeding. That's minimum of the size I'd stick GCC's in. My Suns are in 3' Wx 4' x 4' flights.

Yep, if heating, add humidity.

The box, I believe is your problem. You said it right there.. the male is tossing shavings out. This is common and a good sign. It means the male wants to entice the hen into action. However.. 8"x"8"x10" is way too shallow. A min of 18" is best, I use 20" to great success. I get my boxes here: Mediumclockbox

12 hours of light is iffy.. especially the TYPE of light. If there's not enough "sunlight", then they're going to be deficient in what they need to start breeding.

What's your diet like on a daily basis?