My Grasskeets My new challenge!!

[lovepoodle]

I think I puted myself into trouble..... with these beautiful birds.

[lovezebs]

lovepoodle

They are absolutely gorgeous!
What sort of trouble are you referring to ?
Are they simply too cute ?

[debbie276]

Gorgeous!!
Sounds like a fun and rewarding kind of trouble
All the best

[Jen]

Beautiful birds! Have you been successful breeding them?

Sounds like my kind of trouble!!! LOL

[cindy]

I have breeding grasskeets for a while.... your biggest challenge will be getting the turq's to produce. You also need to watch housing two male scarlets together even if hens are not in the cage....males will get aggressive with other males, sometimes it does not have a good outcome. All three of these species need ample cage length to fly horizontally... height does not count. I use 4 to 5 ft flights I my grasskeet room per pair. (two breeder cages linked together is great) Hope that helps.

[lovepoodle]

Thanks for replay ladies! Almost all people I know who speak FINCH... Turned into Grasskeets!! I was refusing to go into grass keets world longtime. One day, I was looking for a pair for my friend at Mart.. end up getting a pair of Turquoisine myself!! Then this pair layed & hatched a chick right away. Made me feel like a I'm professional grasskeet breeder!!! Lol Big mistake........I have 6 pairs now.. Who doesn't do anything but eat....( love to watch them though)

[cindy]

Great you got the turqs to produce...they are a bit tricky. Bourkes are fairly easy going.

Scarlet though you really need to watch the males, typically you can't house mature males together. I keep my pairs together when not breeding, young can be kept together until close to maturity and fully colored out. Brother scarlets will often go after each other. Fathers will go after weaned young if they sense the baby is a male and the dad wants to go back to nest. I usually remove young once the scarlet babies wean and have been eating on their own for at least a week.

[lovepoodle]

My first Turq pair which yellow pair in my pictures. Males is 3-4 years old great father who had many clutches with his old mate .but He lost her ..That's why breeder sold him to me. So this one produce for anybody I guess. My other Turq or scarlet are just sits there... 5 months ! I just separated pairs, to see How they react when they get back as a pair. My Bourkes other hand, end up I have all three females!! No wonder nothing going on.. Bourke are hard to tell their sex!! But me & friend who got all males we loaned each other. Now I have Lutino & pink male bourkes!! to pair up with my females!! Lutino male are courting all ready.. Fingers crossed

[cindy]

Scarlets hens have to go into season, it is not like finches where you put them together and they produce. I keep my pairs together always. The hen will start scratching in food dishes or on the bottom in the tray when going into season. Most breed two times a year, early spring and early September. Hens beaks will darken a bit when going into season.

Separating pair and putting mature males together is not recommended and very risking for the reasons mentioned...I advise you put the pairs back together, put a box up and with patience they will breed. Boxes mounted on the outside. I also found opening the hole opening on the box encourages them to look inside more...some of my boxes have a 3 1/4 inch opening. If pairs are bonded, separating them can cause depression. Hens should be over a year old, closer to 14 months, males 10 months or older in age for breeding.

[lovepoodle]

cindy 2scarlet& Turquoisine males are in same cage little while now..no fussing . Maybe they are not mature yet? Are they bond for life? You can't swap ? Oh Cindy , can I call you " my teacher"? I got whole a lots to learn!!! Like when I started to keep finches......see that why I call this trouble

[cindy]

I bought my birds very young, at 4 months old, set the pairs up in their own flights and let them grow and bond to each other. Some do bond strongly I leave my pairs together all the time. If your pairs are feeding each other then they are bonding....it takes time for them to go to nest, there is nothing you can do to force it like separating. I have had boxes up and some go right to nest and others may take a few months. Once they get going I usually let them have a clutch, rest them a bit if they do not double clutch and then let them try again. I let mine breed 2 to 3 times a year mostly in early spring and late summer. Some are breeding now, they are kept indoors.


How old are the hens and males....you do not want to breed hens to early since scarlets are prone to egg binding.

[lovepoodle]

I think most of them are sometimes in Las year. What do you do to make them rest? Take box away? My only breeding pair ( yellow Turquoisine) had double clutch .. female looked like little beats up...so I separatet hem. Now they're back together, already in the mood...

[cindy]

I remove the box after the babies fledge, usually the babies fledge they go back to the box for a couple of days, I give them about three days and take it down. The hens though if anxious to double clutch will go in even with young in the box and lay another clutch.

I take the box down, let the babies wean and wait a bit until they are eating on thier own about a week or so to separate them..also depends on aggression from dad because they can target the sons.

Once the babies and box are gone I let the pair rest, feed them normally. I never separate. Once your males are older unless in a huge outside enclosure/aviary they should not be housed together... one lady put mature males together, the next morning all but one was dead, he was the alpha male.... as beautiful as they are the males can draw blood. Most breeders I know keep pairs together even in rest as long as there is not aggression...once in a while you will see a hen and male open beak challenge, keep an eye on it, generally it calms down if not then separate or try a new partner.

I also keep my bourke pairs together, they bond.

[cindy]

I just spoke to another fellow scarlet breeder, she also does not recommend your scarlet male once mature to be housed together, you will loose your less dominant males to the dominant one.

You can keep you turq pair together while resting.

[lovepoodle]

I guess I still have FINCH mind...I do separate all my finch breeders 6months for resting, then put pairs together another 6months for breeding.. yes, another successful keets breeder told me that he keeps all pairs together all year round. I'll put pairs back together.