Most people know that Rainbows and Red-collared
Lorikeets usually lay two eggs, as does the Weber's Lorikeet, (which is
a Foreign sub species of the Rainbow Lorikeet), but sometimes can and
do lay more. They hatch around 22 to 25 days later. I use a mixture of
wood shavings and potting mix for nesting material, which is changed
every two weeks when parents are raising their own young to fledging.
The nest box is sprayed with Coopex every change to prevent Mites etc.
I leave one out of four clutches with the parents to hatch and raise
their chicks themselves. I feel this is very important to the parent
birds and it also gives my wife a break from hand rearing.
The
other three clutches are taken away at two weeks of age to be hand
reared by my wife Donna. They are placed in 1or 2 brooders, depending
on how many, with the temperature at 27deg cel. From 2 weeks of age
they are fed with my wet-mix solution, as mention earlier, 5 times day,
with the last feed being at around 11 PM. As they grow older, both
temperature and feeding comes down to suit.
As other hand-rearers would know, hand rearing birds is a very
stressful but enjoyable job with long hours and good patience needed.
Hand rearing is done with a bent up spoon, not a syringe. Too many
unnecessary accidents happen with syringes.
Lorikeets make excellent companions either parent or hand raised, but
hand reared birds stay very quiet. Hand-rearing Lorikeets is a long
process but the end results are always rewarding. |
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Red-Collared
Lorikeets Olive cock & normal hen
Olive
& Normal Musk Lorikeets |
In my conclusion to this article, I would like to add that I have had
only pleasure in caring for and breeding Lorikeets with very little
heartache. I can only ask my fellow aviculturist to give them a try,
and maybe you will agree with my thoughts, but then again I am know
I’m a bit biased to these great little birds,
NOTE:
This particular article was written many years ago, but I have kept it
as such so that other aviculturists can maybe learn something from it.
Like most aviculturists I have worked my way up the long bird chain,
meaning I have started with normal birds that are easier to control
with genetics, before getting involved with coloured birds. The colours
that I keep now, and the new banks of suspended aviaries I have built
since this article was written can be viewed on my information page on
this web site.
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