Update on my macaw's first hatch

[Gabie]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to give everyone an update on Stevie (my female macaw). I was adviced to take the first egg that was not fertil out of the nesting box but I am going to wait until she ventures out of the box. Stevie has been in her nesting box all morning. She just come out to eat and went back in. My boy ( Josh ) hangs upside down just looking inside the nest. I think it's real funny when he does that. I was wondering how many weeks does it take for the eggs to hatch ? Well, I will post an update soon...Bye !

[peeker]

Good Morning Gabie,

I will be curious to hear what others have to say--those with more experience I mean. I think you said your male is a little over a year old? Everything I have read on macaws says they don't reach sexual maturity until a minimum of two years old and some things state 3+ years old. I would think that means that your male couldn't have fertilized this egg.

[Alika]

It kind of bothers me that you have ventured into this breeding thing without even knowing the incubation period of your eggs. I sincerely hope you are in the process of doing extensive research and that you know how to handfeed in case of an emergency.

Best of luck to you. I do not breed birds, so I can't give you any more advice than that.

[Monica]

I am by no means a macaw expert, let alone a macaw owner, but you mentioned that your female is 16 years old, and the male is a year old. It is possible for Josh to fertilize eggs, but saying how young he is (he's still just a kid, in human years!) that chance may be slim. From your website, I take it that both are blue and golds, however since it doesn't seem appearent that you know much about breeding, that you shouldn't be encouraging it.

I don't mean to be insulting, though before you breed, both birds MUST be AT LEAST 5 years old before letting them raise a family, and there are multiple reason's behind this. And with anything, just because she has layed an egg doesn't mean she has mated with Josh as female birds, even when kept alone, can lay eggs.

Please, remove the nesting box and separate the pair to keep them from getting any more ideas about raising a family. If you are still interested in breeding them, then study as much as you can for at least 4 years (when Josh becomes fully mature), on the pros and cons of breeding, as well as handraising the chicks, and the various supplies needed in raising any possible chicks. If you had planned on handraising, you wouldn't get much more than a couple hours of sleep at a time because the babies would need to be fed constantly.

[The Outlaw]

Monica:

Some macaws can fertilize at 3, but that is very,very rare. And, immature pairs don't have the resources to actually take care of their young. They are really babies themselves. I too think that before one starts breeding birds they really should be well read, and have everything necessary to assist the parents. That includes an incubator and handfeeding skills, minimally.

[lisa908]

I wanted to add my 2 cents to the replies that Gabie received regarding her inquiry as I think she was misunderstood by the responders to her post. I am a long-time B & G macaw owner (along with senegals, conures and tiels). I have never, nor would I ever, breed any of my birds, especially for profit. That is something I could never do. There are too many "cash & carry" breeders as it is who over-breed & cross breed to lengths I would consider immoral. For example, I adopted a cockatiel that is the product of many cross-breedings. The result is she will never fly, her chest cavity shows deformity, and she is very small, slightly larger than a parakeet. I was told she probably would not live more than a month. That was over a year ago...
Anyway, the way I interpreted Gabie's post was that she adopted a macaw that was about 15 and later acquired another who turned out to be a male. She said that she never had either bird's sex determined. It also sounds like they are caged together which is very common, afterall, a macaw cage (for those of you who never actually owned a macaw) is extremely large and costly. Macaws are very intelligent, very social animals and if Gabie had kept them in separate quarters, they still would probably have "rendez-vous'ed". As for the maturity of a male macaw, there is no set minimum as to when they should or could mate. The minimum of 2 years is wrong. These are animals, they do not use reason, they use INSTINCT. Also, from her post, she is not 100% certain they've mated; female macaws lay eggs like every other bird on the planet....for a variety of reason. Logic follows that if Gabie adopted/rescued this bird, it was in less than agreeable condition and she probably needed an intense dose of TLC, so my hat is off to you, Gabie, for having the patience and the strength to take on such an enormous responsibility. Her message did NOT indicate that she had INTENT TO BREED her macaws...and even if she did have intent, then the PROPER TIME IS DETERMINED by the birds. They are guided purely by instinct. No one, no time chart can pre-determine the how's or the when's in the matter of allowing nature to take its fundamental course.
Gabie, listen to me, a long-time macaw owner: please disregard (with all due respect of course) the other responses and by all means, DO NOT REMOVE the nesting box, do NOT TOUCH THE EGGS, and do leave your macaws as they are. But I do agree that you should investigate the matter of caring for the young as you will be needed if and when the time comes. Good luck to you and please feel free to contact me should you need any expert advice

[FeathersNFur8]

Her message did NOT indicate that she had INTENT TO BREED her macaws...and even if she did have intent, then the PROPER TIME IS DETERMINED by the birds. They are guided purely by instinct. No one, no time chart can pre-determine the how's or the when's in the matter of allowing nature to take its fundamental course.
Gabie, listen to me, a long-time macaw owner: please disregard (with all due respect of course) the other responses and by all means, DO NOT REMOVE the nesting box, do NOT TOUCH THE EGGS, and do leave your macaws as they are. But I do agree that you should investigate the matter of caring for the young as you will be needed if and when the time comes. Good luck to you and please feel free to contact me should you need any expert advice

If there is no intent to breed, then why are they housed together with a nesting box?

[The Outlaw]

With all due respect, if the male isn't yet 2, it is extremely unlikely that there are fertile eggs in the box. I have 6 macaws. I know them quite well. I appreciate your input, but you hardly are expert in the breeding habits of BGs, or so it seems.

Please refer to The Large Macaws, by Joanne Abramson. There is much good information there for breeding and related handfeeding information.

It is up to all bird owners to completely understand the ramifications of putting opposite sexed birds together. In fact, often immature birds are killed by their older more experienced mates. Happens often with cockatoos and Eclectus parrots. We are responsible for that which we tame. We all make mistakes and this seems to be a real mistake for all concerned.

[Stizby]

Lisa908: Perhaps you did not mean for your post to be insulting, but it certainly was a bit offensive to me. I am somewhat surprised that you would tell Gabie in your very first post to this forum to disregard the other posts, including the ones made by Outlaw, who is not only a seasoned macaw owner but also a moderator of this forum! Hopefully, I have misconstrued your post and you meant no offense.

[The Outlaw]

I was in no way offended nor did I intend to offend. Its a forum for discussion and to learn. It is obvious that this new member doesn't exactly know what they are doing as far as breeding these birds. Its up to responsible owners to point out where improvements can be made. Its heartbreaking when a month or so later we read the sad posts of novices simply not knowing how to help baby birds. Its too late once they are here. You have to be prepared before they arrive.

In regard to the male being able to fertilize, it has to do with him being physically able to produce live sperm. That's not likely at that age. He can "mess around" til the cows come home, but he probably isn't fully loaded.
Under the circumstances, that's probably a very good thing.

In any event, since miracles DO happen, I surely hope that Gabie finds an experienced handfeeder/breeder to show her the ropes. Otherwise, I fear the outcome of this experiment. Raising birds is a science. Its really more like zoology. Novices confuse the fun of raising puppies with breeding birds. They couldn't be more different. In the two years I've been posting to this board, I can remember AT LEAST 6 handfeeding disasters. Its so heartbreaking.

I would also suggest seperating the birds now and removing the nestbox. Its simply a very bad idea.