|
After holding off in purchasing a pair of
Red Tailed Black Cockatoos for many years, I finally decided to take
the plunge and buy a pair from a good friend of mine. Before I bought
my pair, the hen bird had gone through some bad experiences, as she was
paired up to another cock bird that decided to take to her and give her
a bit of a hard time, so that cock bird was replaced with the one with
her now. After receiving them I placed them into a conventional aviary
measuring roughly 3metres long x 3metres wide x 2metres high. In the
aviary was placed a log to the back on the left hand side, the log
measuring around 1metre deep with an inspection door near the bottom.
After having these Black Cockatoos for a few weeks, I noticed that they
were very much bonded together already, with the cock bird always
following the hen around where ever she would go in the aviary. After
12 months or so I then noticed that they would be constantly near the
logs entrance, only venturing away from it to feed or drink. I also
noticed that the cock bird was making some very strange noises, this I
believed to be some sort of courtship, but although I never seen any
mating taking place it was not long before the hen bird kept
disappearing and spending lots of time in the log. Her first egg was
laid in March, and although she brooded this lonely egg for the full
term, approximately 30 days, unluckily it was infertile. That egg was
taken away from her and to my surprise a second egg was laid in April,
this egg was laid only days before I would fly out to Europe for a five
week holiday, so that meant if this egg was fertile it would hatch will
I was away overseas.
The hen bird again brooded the egg for the full term, approximately 31
days, and hatched out the chick about one and a bit weeks before I got
home. This was a great sight to see for me when I checked the nesting
log, a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo chick of over a week of age. A big
yellow ball of fluff just looking up at me, this is something I had not
planned on as soon as this. For the first two weeks the hen stayed with
the chick, sometimes through the day, but always at night. The week
after the hen only went to the log to feed the chick, never staying
very long, and would not stay
|
with it at night. This fascinated me,
and then confusion set in, not breeding these Cockatoos before I did
not know for sure if this was a natural occurrence, or that something
had gone wrong. I was put at ease after a phone call, when a fellow
aviculturist informed me that in fact that is completely normal. After
the chick stayed with its parents for another week, it was
|
|
Seconded
single egg laid in April 2003
|
then decided to take the young chick out and hand raise it.
|
