(Splendid Pair)
CARE OF GRASS PARAKEETS (Turquoisine, Bourke, Scarlet Chested)
Housing:
Aviaries are best. They need room to fly and also like to spend time on the ground. Don't mix with Pekin Robins, Green Singers, Pintail Whydahs. One pair of Turquoisines or Scarlets per flight, they may be mixed with finches but Turquoisines can become aggressive in breeding season. Apparently Turqs & Bourkes are okay, as are Scarlets & Bourkes; and Bourkes and Scarlets are fine with finches.
They can take hot weather to a point, but if the aviary is exposed to sun they must have a shaded spot to retire to, and if it is really hot outside, check and make sure they’re okay. You can always put a sprinkler on top of the aviary to provide instant air conditioning. For winter, provide shelter from wind, rain. Below 40 degrees, you should provide some heat. Infrared ceramic bulbs that do not put out light are the best called Pearlco. Supplier: Avitech (661)245-1013 Fax (661)245-1336; Order Line: (800) 646-BIRD. Scarlets can be sensitive to cold and wet weather, so if they become fluffed up, it would be wise to bring them in for the winter.
I also provide a low-watt blue light at night, as they sometimes get scared and can hurt themselves when they fly into the aviary walls.
DIET:
Cockatiel mix without sunflower, then add some finch mix and canary mix can also be added, and some black oil sunflower seed.
Grit with oyster shell and cuttlebone available always.
Water available always. (Water cleanser, such as Saniclens, or other brands to help reduce bacteria, etc.)
Liquid calcium to add to water, various brands
Wheat bread, apple, orange, frozen corn & peas
Spinach, Romaine lettuce, broccoli, other greens like sprouts.
Millet sprays about 3-4 x per week.
You can offer Oat groats and Roudybush crumbles in another dish.
FIRST AID:
The best and most effective first aid to a sick bird is heat and quiet. Have a small cage set up as a hospital cage with food & water and with an infrared heat lamp to provide heat (infrared heat also stimulates the immune system). Keep a thermometer near the cage and keep the temperature at 84-86 degrees.
When the bird is doing better, gradually reduce the heat gradually before returning the bird to the cage/aviary.
Egg binding: If you have a female hanging out on the floor, looking fluffed out, especially if she has laid some eggs, she may be egg bound. Catch her. With a dropper, put mineral oil around her vent and try to get a couple of drops into the vent. Put her in a small cage without perches, with a 100 watt bulb near the cage so she can cozy up to it for warmth, yet get away from it if too warm. She should pass the egg within 24 hours.
BREEDING:
Only one pair of Turquoisines or Scarlet Chested grass parakeets per aviary for breeding. They do get along with Diamond Doves, Button Quail, Bourke parakeets, possibly finches (watch the Turquoisines particularly, who become more aggressive during breeding.) Scarlet-Chested parakeets can be sexed at about 4-5 months of age, but may take 10-12 months to fully color out. One reference says they are not ready to breed until 18 months old. Turquoisines can be sexed when still in the nest box, and are ready to breed at one year of age. Rosy Bourkes are more difficult to sex, but there is a difference in head shape, males with a flatter head, and females with a more rounded head, and females tend to have more gray on the face, though on paler birds, this may be hard to distinguish.
Use a parakeet or English Budgie nest box and pine shavings & eucalyptus leaves for nest material. Nest material: Kaytee Natural Pine Bedding & Litter
Clutches of 4-6 eggs. 21 days to hatch. When chicks come out of the nest they are 3-4 weeks old. They can fly into the aviary walls until they learn to control their flying, so shield the wire with eucalyptus branches and watch for injuries.
Use Quik-stop to stop any bleeding above their beaks from running into the wire.
If you have left the nest box in the aviary, at about 6-8 weeks as soon as they are weaned, watch young in case father picks on them as they are in his way for breeding the next clutch. Let the pair have three clutches, then remove the nest.
Banding chicks. Plastic split bands for easy application. Band at about 12-15 days old. A good supplier is L&M Bird Leg Bands ,
De-Worming
IVOMEC- Injectable for Cattle & Swine Mix 1 dropper full of Ivomec and 2 droppers of propylene glycol, mix and put 1 drop in the cup by the crop near the wing, on the skin. Repeat in 2 weeks.
Another method - 5 cc Ivomec to 1 gal water, as only water supply, leave for 3 days (change daily). Wait 2 weeks and repeat. Or S76 from www.ladygouldian.com or www.fairestfinches.com in the water or SCATT as a single bird application, per their instructions.
Worming with Worm-out gel
By Crop Needle – Mix 1 ml (or cc) Worm-Out Gel + 1 ml (or cc) water. The dose for keets (50 gm weight) 0.05 ml (or cc) in crop w/ crop needle. Insert half the length of needle. Do this if bird has a thin breast.
For a Flight: Withhold water for one day and then use Worm Out Gel per directions on bottle.
NOTE: If you have a health problem with a bird, it is recommended that you see your
Avian Veterinarian. Any advice given here is only this author’s opinion and not to be taken as veterinarian advice.
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