Green Cheeked Conures - help please

[smivs]

Hi Guys

i have 2 green cheeked conures that are now approaching 9 months and 8 months old.

i believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that the become sexually mature around a year old although sometimes younger.

i don't know the sex of the birds.

i just wondered if they did happen to be male and female (they are unrelated) whether they would breed as soon as they are ready if i didn't provide a nest box ( i don't want them to breed yet as i have a child on the way).

if they did mate and the female (if i have one) became gravid would she hold onto the eggs and risk becoming egg bound without a box or would it be ok to just leave no box for them.

Thanks in advance

[georgieabc123]

Originally Posted by smivs

Hi Guys

i have 2 green cheeked conures that are now approaching 9 months and 8 months old.

i believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that the become sexually mature around a year old although sometimes younger.

i don't know the sex of the birds.

i just wondered if they did happen to be male and female (they are unrelated) whether they would breed as soon as they are ready if i didn't provide a nest box ( i don't want them to breed yet as i have a child on the way).

if they did mate and the female (if i have one) became gravid would she hold onto the eggs and risk becoming egg bound without a box or would it be ok to just leave no box for them.

Thanks in advance

im not too sure but if you go to the site in my sigg they will help they deal wiith all parrots

[stucoady]

Sorry I can't offer any advise as I'm somewhat new to keeping GCC and mine a are a bit young still. Carlycharlie is the chap to ask or check Parrotlinks as there are many owners of GCC's who will be able to help out.

[vicky_rose]

im pretty sure that if you dont provide a nest box they shouldnt breed but its worth checking out another source as i know this is true with smaller with birds but not sure about the bigger ones.

[stucoady]

MUTATION GREENCHEEKED CONURES Gary breeds GCC and may be able to help you out.

[9Red]

I would suggest finding out what gender your birds are first, that way if you have 2 males you wont have a problem, although I think 2 females may still try to lay if they come into breeding condition even though the eggs would be infertile.

You can get your birds' DNA sexed quite easily and cheaply. Try www.avianbiotech.co.uk - they send you free testing kits in the post, you then send the kits back with a couple of feathers or a spot of blood on a peice of special card, and they then send you a certificate stating the sex. It's quick (results usually in under a week) only costs about £12 per bird too.

If it turns out you do have a m/f pair I would fully recommend talking to Carlycharlie (Ken) on here - he's very knowledgeable and experienced in breeding conures and has been brilliant in answering all our questions about the baby we're collecting from him this weekend.

[Zoo-Man]

Your Conures are much less likely to attempt to breed if there is no nestbox present. They may still go through the motions of bonding behaviour, preening feeding, etc but hopefully no eggs will be laid.

[selina20]

The will still breed but will be less likely. If they do breed she will lay. Females will often lay batches of infertile eggs also.
I would get someone to sex them for u so u can separate them etc.

[Pimperella]

Originally Posted by selina20

The will still breed but will be less likely. If they do breed she will lay. Females will often lay batches of infertile eggs also.
I would get someone to sex them for u so u can separate them etc.

You don't need to seperate them!!!! If they have bonded and you split them, you'd end up with feather plucking, depression and servere stress!

The bonus thing about birds is, that if you don't want to breed from them, then just don't put a nest box in. If the hen (or if both are hens) then they may lay the odd few eggs on the bottom of the cage.
Your not obligated to incubate fertile eggs but if you so chose to do so, and after DNA testing, if you do have a pair. Have a chat with Carlycharlie (Ken) who, I'm sure, would be more than happy to give you advice.

My sister has a pair of Yellow Sided Green Cheeks. Tom and Jessy. and they are amazing little birds, so full of fun and mischeif lol

[carlycharlie]

Originally Posted by smivs

Hi Guys

i have 2 green cheeked conures that are now approaching 9 months and 8 months old.

i believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that the become sexually mature around a year old although sometimes younger.

i don't know the sex of the birds.

i just wondered if they did happen to be male and female (they are unrelated) whether they would breed as soon as they are ready if i didn't provide a nest box ( i don't want them to breed yet as i have a child on the way).

if they did mate and the female (if i have one) became gravid would she hold onto the eggs and risk becoming egg bound without a box or would it be ok to just leave no box for them.

Thanks in advance

Green cheeks have been known to bred as young as 7 months old, & I myself had eggs from a hen who was 9 months old. Not recommended though!! Most GCCs wont breed till over 12 months of age & some don't ever breed even if in a pair - birds don't automatically breed just because they are in pairs.

As already suggested the best way of finding out the sex of your birds is DNA sexing (unless one does lay an egg of course ).

A nest box is not necessary for them to breed - if they really want to they will still produce eggs & will often find a place they feel happy to have the eggs. A recent case similar to this was a pair of Maroon Bellied conures who laid a clutch of eggs on the floor underneath a sideboard/unit in someones lounge - these turned out to be infertile so no chicks hatched. If a hen decides to lay she may well just lay them on the floor of the cage or even lay while sat in a perch.........and they don't need a cock around to produce eggs & 2 hens together can still lay eggs (in fact if one hen lays it can induce the other to start laying also)

As long as the hen is on the correct diet & is in warm enough conditions the risk of egg binding is low. Ensure they have plenty of egg food, cuttle fish & other calcium rich foods to make good egg shells & also ensure the bird is in peak condition as ill health can cause problems. If you do a google search you will find plenty of information on preventing egg binding & also what to do if it happens. They don't hold onto the eggs........once they are on the way, out they come assuming there are no problems.

Conures can have a nest box or something to roost in as they naturally sleep in hollows when they go to roost - why not get a snuggle hut from Pets @ Home & see if they sleep in that.

I think your next step is to find out what sex your 2 are & then decide what you wish to do. Feel free to PM me with any other questions, or go over to www.parrotlinks.com & connect with other conure/parrot keepers.

PS - you dont want any more do you? I still have a couple available