March 28, 2024
Pink galah
When is it to old for them to breed? Someone is selling a 14 year old breeding pair and I want them but want to make sure they are still good to breed.
Question:
Answer:
Hi,
They technically are not too old for breeding. However, nobody sells a good breeding pair unless they are retiring from breeding birds completely. Always beware of anyone who says they are reducing their stock, or selling extra pairs or selling a proven pair. The pair will have an issue – infertility, breaking eggs, eating eggs, refusing to incubate eggs, not feeding their chicks, killing their chicks – the list goes on. Parrots are very, very, very hard to breed, and cockatoos are probably the hardest to breed. The males are known for suddenly killing their mates. This is not really understood. Some breeders separate the pairs when they are not breeding. But this is not without risks, as sometimes an attack comes out of nowhere. Even if the pair is proven, and incubate their eggs and feed their chicks, sometimes when a pair is moved, they never breed again. Conditions have to be perfect and even then, they might not breed. And unless you have a large breeding operation, and force chicks to wean as early as possible, and sell to just anyone, there is no money to be made with breeding birds. You have food bills, vet bills, and a responsible breeder lets a bird wean at their own pace. With a cockatoo, that can take 6 months to a year. Most breeders don’t do this, so the birds end up with behavior issues or food insecurities and end up in rescues. I’m sorry to be negative, but I seriously doubt that you will ever see any chicks out of this pair if you buy it.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
