Off Season Hen Housing

[Christian]

Is it true that it is recommended for a female bird(s) to be put in a large cage, so they can get the needed excercise in preparation for breeding. Being in that large cage without a male. Just females during the non breeding season. Can someone validate that?

[lovezebs]

Christian

Many breeders keep their males and females in seperate flights when not breeding.

The thought behind it, is that everyone needs a good rest, and this way the boys won't pester the girls when they are not in breeding mode.

[Dave]

I'm sure it depends on the species, though. What birds do you have?

For instance, it is never a good idea to put male Canaries together, as many will squabble even in the off season. The lower-ranked males will be constantly stressed and sometimes never are quite right after a long period of that.

[ac12]

I keep all of my non-mating birds separated by sex.

#1 - This prevents unplanned population growth, especially with the zebras, where the males would mate at any opportunity. In fact with some zebras I had to separate the M from F, to stop the hen from laying eggs.

#2 - But more important, for breeding, I NEED to know who the parents are, for record keeping and planning for breeding.
While it might be fun for some to have a surprise of different color chicks, with limited space and a target color that I want, I have to be selective. Following are gouldian examples.

Example1, if I want a blue gouldian, I have to mate a blue with a split to blue. So I have to select the appropriate birds to pair up and mate.

Example2, if I want a RH-WB-YB, I will not mate a RH-PB-YB with a RH-PB-YB. Or even PB/WB.

Example3. I need to know if a bird is split or not, and mating to discover this is a waste of time and space, for me. So I would not mate a PB/WB to a PB/WB, because the visually PB could be PB or PB/WB. All of my visually PB birds are PB/WB.