In April 2000, I purchased a 2 year old unrelated pair of Moustache Parrots at the Gunnedah bird sale, which is held in Gunnedah, N.S.W. Australia. I purchased these birds from Syd & Jack Smith, well known breeders of Asiatic Parrots from Victoria, Australia. When brought back home to our Donpaulna Aviaries they were placed into a suspended cage measuring 2.4metres long X 0.9metres high X 0.6metres wide. This cage is built inside an aviary, which measures 7metres long X 2metres high x 1.5metres wide housing Slatey- headed Parrots. Although I believe that this pair of parent raised birds are somewhat flighty, I also believe that the suspended cage was the right choice for them, this gives them a little privacy and hopefully should quite them down in time. They are fed from inside a walkway at one end, with the nest box placed at the opposite end hanging on the outside of the cage. To inspect their nest box I need to enter the Slatey- headed Parrots cage.
After a few months together I noticed that the cock bird was starting to feed the hen, and that she was going in the nest box for short periods of time. This continued for a few more months, with the hen staying in the nest box for longer periods, and with the cock bird staying near the entrance. This indicated to me that the Moustache Parrots have a longer breeding courtship than other Asiatic Parrots, this was also later acknowledged by other breeders. After watching them preform, and becoming somewhat noisier I inspected the nest box to find a single egg had been laid. After a week I again checked the nest box to find a further two eggs had been laid, giving her three eggs in total. She sat tight on these eggs for her full incubation period of 22days, but the eggs had not hatched. I let her sit a further week before removing the eggs from her, they were full but had died off in the egg. Being young birds and their very first clutch, I believed their inexperience to be the main factor of why they did not hatch. She did not lay any more eggs that season.
In the 2001 season they again started courtship around September, with the hen spending most of her time in the nest box. Well into October I had believed that they were not going to do anything, but on inspecting the nest box found three eggs. This time I provided them with plenty of calcium, fruit & vegetables, and sprouted mung beans, as well as their normal apples and corn. This was to be their main supplementary diet while she was brooding. After her incubation period of 23 days, she hatched out the first chick, and then two days later the second, unfortunately the third did not hatch. But we had two healthy Moustache chicks, and after ten days they came inside to be hand raised. This was done for two reasons, so we had a better chance of them surviving, and so they would not be as flighty as their parents. We plan to keep these, swapping one to make up another unrelated pair. As I have mentioned before in a previous article on Asiatic Parrots, Moustache parrots are quite noisy birds, and this is also in their young as we found out when hand raising them. The parents did not lay again after the chicks were taken from them.
General Information: Being Asiatic, these birds originate from the Indonesian Islands. They are more solidly built and have shorter tails compared to other Asiatic species. They are roughly 330cm(13inches) in length, and when matured after 15months the cocks beak changes to orange while the hens stays black. They are a very striking looking bird, with very tight feathers, as are all Asiatic species, but during the moulting season can look somewhat bleak. This lasts for several weeks until they regrow their feathers. For more information and photo’s on Asiatic species, please visit Keeping Asiatic Parrots in the Article Page.
NOTE: We no longer keep this species of Asiatic Parrot here at DONPAULNA AVIARIES.