Looking for a guide on how to be a perfect breeder.

[DorianGrey]

Hello everyone. New to the board, glad to be here.

I am a long time bird lover, and a huge fan of the IRN. Best bird ever, in my opinion.

I have NEVER been a breeder of anything, and have always done rescue through various organizations.

However, I have decided that I would desperately like to raise ONE clutch of IRN's for myself. The whole clutch will be hand raised and kept (seperately) as my personal pets. We have always adopted adult birds, and while I do love them, we have to work incredibly hard with most of them just to achieve a "friendly" status. We have never had the kind of bond with an adult bird that has been in several homes as I do with the one IRN I bought as a baby and raised myself. It is sad, but true. We follow Barbara Heidenreich and Sally Blanchard's methods for bird training and rehab, and our 4 personal birds as as friendly and social as they may ever get. But I cannot kiss or cuddle them as I can with a baby I would raise and train to my methods.

But I digress. I come to you today to see if any of you have advice on being an outstanding breeder. I'd like information on proper nutrition, temperature, nesting box, materials, hand rearing, socialization, etc etc etc. I don't expect anyone to type me out a guide, but the internet is so full of conflicting information.

Can you please provide me with some good website links so that we can make our birds as comfortable and healthy as possible? We are amateurs, and will admit that, but one must start somewhere to become a knowledgeable pro, and we are eager to learn all we can.

I'd also like links on understanding color mutations. My two IRN's are a white female and a grey male. Both were bought/adopted from private individuals, and therefor, I have no idea what colors their parents were. Again, the chicks won't be for sale or breeding, so I don't feel that it is as important to know their genetic history. Both birds are vet checked and healthy, and currently live in seperate cages. The female is 7, the male is less than 2, and is probably not ready to be a parent yet. The female is a former breeder, the male has always been a pet.

I sincerely appreciate all the help, and I look forward to raising some happy, healthy babies.

[mikeb]

hi there, there is a site www. gencalc.com that has genetic breeding for all types of birds not just irn's you just find the species of bird and punch in the colors of the parents and it will tell you what colors the babies could be. as for info on breeding, nutrition, & etc don't know of any website that has a whole lot of info but if you go to www.ringneckmutations.com he has some info on his site and a real good book for sale that i would highly recommend it's asiatic parrots and their mutations it will show up on his home page or shop page he is located in great briton but will ship it anywhere I live in the US and it cost me $129 shipping included it has general info and all the mutations with a lot of pictures of them also on www.abkpublications.com there is a cheaper book that is pretty good for a lot less $ it's the indian ringneck breeders guide by phil robsen it has pretty good info just not as much about the different mutations hopes this helps you and good luck mike