Hi Again.
Heres a very handy link for those of you who would like to beed birds successfully.
In order to do so, a very important aspect is record keeping.
Firstly it is very important to be able to identify your birds. Dont rely on your memory too much.
When your birds start breeding well and there are a lot of youngsters, its important to know who their parents are and where several babies are reared by one pair of parents, you need to be very careful not to
match siblings together to breed at a later stage. This will inevitably lead to interbreeding deficiencies, deformities, and may result in weaker and poorer performing birds, ( which incidently should never be sold as this just exacerbates the problem ) and a definite drop in your bird breeding success rate.
So its important to ring the babies according to a system, so that data can be recorded for each individual bird. In the case where its not pratical to ring babies in the nest for fear of parents deserting,
or any other reason Coloured Split Plastic Rings may be used as these can easily be fitted after the birds have fledged.
So check this link out on a Record Keeping System for your birds; its about as good as it gets and is very comprhensive. Click Here http://www.birdsevolutionpro.com/
Rand Avicultural Society
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Getting Started by building your first aviary
Now that the festive season is upon us and we are in holiday mode, you may have the desire to keeping a small collection of birds with the aim of managing and breeding them. You are sold on the idea but are not quite sure what is the best way to build an aviary or more for your birds.
We at RAS drew up, after a lot of research conducted by our Breeders Group, some basic specifications for building aviaries suitable for keeping and breeding birds . Bear in mind that these relate to the geographical and climatic region in which we are based, ( at an altitude of about 1500m and average distance of 500kms from the coast) so these specs may change slightly for other areas of the country eg for coatal areas.
Before you even start, its most important to decide what you would like to achieve.
There are at least 3 different routes you could follow when setting up a collection of birds.:-
1.You may just be interested in keeping a collection of birds in a single large aviary, mainly for display purposes. In this case, due to interference by certain birds, you may find that that the birds do not breed well in a display aviary. However, you can get a lot more pleasure by just sitting and watching your birds in a display aviary. (see Picture below)
2. You may decided that you really would also like your birds to breed well, which would add a lot more interest and motivation and can even cover the cost of their upkeep and even more in many cases. In this case, Cubicle aviaries would be more appropriate, as they are smaller and therefore are more easily managed and controlled. (See Pictures below)
3. The third choice you can make is a combination of both. This would give you the best of both worlds i.e
the pleasure of watching and observing your birds in a display aviary perhaps in a garden setting, and the satisfaction of breeding birds, some of which may be quite uncommon.
The main purpose of this post is to focus on suitable accomodation for your birds. There are other forms of housing them but here the focus is specifically for Finches and Sofbills
RAS BREEDERS GROUP: Setting up the most ideal. environment in an aviary for Finches and Waxbills
The following are considered the moist ideal specifications which were determined by the Breeders Group in August 2005, taking into account limitations of most members aviaries regarding space and finance :-
1) The sleeping quarters and flight to face in a Northerly direction.
(This is to ensure that sunshine reaches the flight from early morning till late afternoon producing adequate heat and light for plants in the aviary to grow. It also ensures that the flight and shelter is protected from the cold southerly winds in winter.) Make sure the birds can receive early morning sun which can assist them in recovering from a very cold night.
The inside of the aviary should be painted a light colour to brighten up inside
2) The most northerly end of the aviary should be sheltered from the northerly winds that are most predominant throughout the year.
( This can be in the form of clear plastic sheeting, glass or similar screen which can be removed in the height of summer for ventilation.)
3) The sleeping Quarters should be made from insulated material to restrict temperature fluctuations to a minimum. (Try and avoid using sheet metal which reaches very high and low temperatures during summer and winter respectively.)
4) The floor of the sleeping area should have a sandy or cement substrate and should be raised about brick-height above the general level of the flight area
( This is to ensure that rain water does not flood into the sleeping area)
5) Feeding utensils should be under cover and protected from the rain.
There should preferably be 2 feeding stations to prevent bullying this applies mainly to larger display aviaries.
6) Drinking Water should be protected from wild birds droppings which could cause disease and introduce parasites.
7) The aviary should be made as vermin proof as possible. ( This is probably one of the most important items
as the biggest killer of birds in aviaries is not Cold, Not Disease, Not Wet conditions from rain, but.......... Rats, so it is absolutely imperative to have your aviaries Rat Proof, especially in the Winter months when Rats are especially partial to live food such as birds.
8) Seeing that Finches and waxbills are totally dependent on grass in the wild, there should be clumps of suitable grass planted in the flight area. ( this provides seeding heads, and greens and creates a community of insects---aphids, moths, spiders, crickets and beetles. ---an important source of protein especially when feeding young.
The grass also provides hiding places for the birds to hide in as well as nesting sites and nesting materials.
9) The flight area should also have shrubs and/ or clumps of blue bush or similar. This is to provide not only for nesting sites but also, very importantly, for ROOSTING SITES. The same applies to the sleeping quarters regarding clumps of Blue Bush being placed in strategic places for the birds to roost in. Having bare perches in the sleeping quarter should be avoided at all costs since many birds may be lost due to the cold and insufficient shelter if they do not have some form of plant material in which to find shelter on cold nights.
An Example of a Display Aviary
Further Examples showing Cubicle Aviaries
We at RAS drew up, after a lot of research conducted by our Breeders Group, some basic specifications for building aviaries suitable for keeping and breeding birds . Bear in mind that these relate to the geographical and climatic region in which we are based, ( at an altitude of about 1500m and average distance of 500kms from the coast) so these specs may change slightly for other areas of the country eg for coatal areas.
Before you even start, its most important to decide what you would like to achieve.
There are at least 3 different routes you could follow when setting up a collection of birds.:-
1.You may just be interested in keeping a collection of birds in a single large aviary, mainly for display purposes. In this case, due to interference by certain birds, you may find that that the birds do not breed well in a display aviary. However, you can get a lot more pleasure by just sitting and watching your birds in a display aviary. (see Picture below)
2. You may decided that you really would also like your birds to breed well, which would add a lot more interest and motivation and can even cover the cost of their upkeep and even more in many cases. In this case, Cubicle aviaries would be more appropriate, as they are smaller and therefore are more easily managed and controlled. (See Pictures below)
3. The third choice you can make is a combination of both. This would give you the best of both worlds i.e
the pleasure of watching and observing your birds in a display aviary perhaps in a garden setting, and the satisfaction of breeding birds, some of which may be quite uncommon.
The main purpose of this post is to focus on suitable accomodation for your birds. There are other forms of housing them but here the focus is specifically for Finches and Sofbills
RAS BREEDERS GROUP: Setting up the most ideal. environment in an aviary for Finches and Waxbills
The following are considered the moist ideal specifications which were determined by the Breeders Group in August 2005, taking into account limitations of most members aviaries regarding space and finance :-
1) The sleeping quarters and flight to face in a Northerly direction.
(This is to ensure that sunshine reaches the flight from early morning till late afternoon producing adequate heat and light for plants in the aviary to grow. It also ensures that the flight and shelter is protected from the cold southerly winds in winter.) Make sure the birds can receive early morning sun which can assist them in recovering from a very cold night.
The inside of the aviary should be painted a light colour to brighten up inside
2) The most northerly end of the aviary should be sheltered from the northerly winds that are most predominant throughout the year.
( This can be in the form of clear plastic sheeting, glass or similar screen which can be removed in the height of summer for ventilation.)
3) The sleeping Quarters should be made from insulated material to restrict temperature fluctuations to a minimum. (Try and avoid using sheet metal which reaches very high and low temperatures during summer and winter respectively.)
4) The floor of the sleeping area should have a sandy or cement substrate and should be raised about brick-height above the general level of the flight area
( This is to ensure that rain water does not flood into the sleeping area)
5) Feeding utensils should be under cover and protected from the rain.
There should preferably be 2 feeding stations to prevent bullying this applies mainly to larger display aviaries.
6) Drinking Water should be protected from wild birds droppings which could cause disease and introduce parasites.
7) The aviary should be made as vermin proof as possible. ( This is probably one of the most important items
as the biggest killer of birds in aviaries is not Cold, Not Disease, Not Wet conditions from rain, but.......... Rats, so it is absolutely imperative to have your aviaries Rat Proof, especially in the Winter months when Rats are especially partial to live food such as birds.
8) Seeing that Finches and waxbills are totally dependent on grass in the wild, there should be clumps of suitable grass planted in the flight area. ( this provides seeding heads, and greens and creates a community of insects---aphids, moths, spiders, crickets and beetles. ---an important source of protein especially when feeding young.
The grass also provides hiding places for the birds to hide in as well as nesting sites and nesting materials.
9) The flight area should also have shrubs and/ or clumps of blue bush or similar. This is to provide not only for nesting sites but also, very importantly, for ROOSTING SITES. The same applies to the sleeping quarters regarding clumps of Blue Bush being placed in strategic places for the birds to roost in. Having bare perches in the sleeping quarter should be avoided at all costs since many birds may be lost due to the cold and insufficient shelter if they do not have some form of plant material in which to find shelter on cold nights.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
In addition to about 45 aviaries of Softbills, they also have a large orchid nursery.
We had a very good turn-out considering the distance to travel (about 25 total in all ) and
it was a great time of bonding and sharing experiences about our birds and having a good time
with a lot of laughs and good food as well.
In view of the number of people, we divided into two groups and Nollie and Tinus each took a group
on a guided tour of their set up.
They have an amazing collection of softbills with some really rare birds.
We saw some interesting Barbets, colourful Starlings and Jays ,some ugly Hornbills , and even some beautiful Bee Eaters.
Probably the most eye-catching of all were their pair of hand raised ground hornbills, about 2 1/2 years old. These Birds only start breeding from the age of 7 years and raise only one baby at a time in the wild, and have become very endangered.
Tinus and Nollie have offered their place again as a venue for our 2011 year end do and I`m sure it will become a popular RAS event in the future.
Below are a few more pics of our braai and some of the aviaries..
A Pair of Hand raised Ground Hornbills which only reach breeding maturity at 7 years old
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