Colony Breeding

Tips for successful breeding and troubleshooting breeding problems.
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Yuumai
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Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:08 pm

Colony Breeding

Post by Yuumai » Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:44 am

Hello folks,

As I posted in another topic, I am currently planning a large outdoor aviary and would like some guidance on Colony Breeding. Specifically, how many unrelated birds do I need to get so I can avoid problems with inbreeding?

I currently plan on getting several starter pairs and then periodically removing a few young birds that don't meet my color mutation desires and replacing them with new birds, at least until I have a reasonably -sized group. But, assuming I can build a decent sized colony, I would prefer to have a mostly self-contained flock and just periodically remove some birds to sell and/or trade for seed and supplies.

I seem to remember reading that any species requires about 50 members in a closed group to avoid inbreeding, but even in a large enclosure (24'x8'x8'), this seems like way too many birds.

As a point of interest, I have long had thoughts of breeding a group of Florida Fancy Zebras and then selecting birds for elaborate next building skills. As I posted years ago, I had one male standard Zebra who would build tunnels to his nest and it was great fun to watch. I am not sure how practical it will be to selectively remove birds for this kind of thing, but perhaps I can keep a close enough eye on them (and maybe band them) so I can see which birds have the qualities I want.

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