Housing accomodation for IRNs

[chitofil]

hello fellow ringneck lovers. i suddenly got an itch for these beautiful birds. i am planning to build a bird house. the dimension will be 6ft high x 8ft long x 6ft wide. a week or two ago i bought 4 albinos, 1 cinnamon, 2 lutinos and 2 greens. their ages are from 8 to 11 months old. is it okay to put them all there in my new bird house? i know i have to wait long for them to breed so i think i will be happier if they are all in one cage. how many IRNs can i still put in this bird house? i would appreciate some comments. thanks.

[Mikaela]

Im moving this to 'Breeding' to make sure Jeremy sees this.

I am concerned as to how they will get along, or lack thereof. IRN's are very territorial, they will kill eachother and not bat and eye.

[Jeremy]

I do know a person who colony bred Ringnecks last season but only one pair successfully bred and they only had 2 chicks.
There will be a lot of fighting, especially around breeding time. I would definitely seperate them into individual pairs in their own aviaries. Otherwise, you may wake up to find dead birds

[birdman5000]

at the local bird farm they have several pairs housed in the same aviary. i talked to the employees and they said all of the birds were put in it at the same time and established a dominance chain or pecking order first and it was a while before they started breeding but currently they have at least five-six pairs and out of them three pairs are currently incubating eggs.

they also have a lot of nest boxes in with them i didnt count but id say they have at least ten in there so the birds have a choice of wich ones they want

also the employee called it an established flock and if they try to add any others to the flock they all gang up on it and attack i saw a female lutino in a separate cage there with a bald spot on the head and some broken tail and wing feathers. they said they put it in there and it was attacked. so they dont do that anymore.

and one more thing make sure your ringnecks are unrelated or at least not brother/sister or parent/child before leting them breed. it will also be at least a year or preferably two before they can breed so youv got time to make your choice.

[chitofil]

thank you very much for all the replies. my IRNS ages are from 8 to 11 months old. isn't it they will start breeding at the age of 24 months? what i was planning is if they are still young can't they be housed in a big birdhouse together? when the courting starts and maybe thats in 6 months time that is the time i will pair them off in their respective cages. i could just imagine a birdhouse full of IRNs of different colors. won't their instinct to pair off come out naturally? keeping IRNs is really really very new to me. new as in last month only. i have always wanted to keep them. thanks

[Jeremy]

What you are planning on doing is fine. If you want to breed certain mutations it is better for you to choose each birds partner, but it is always best to let the birds choose. That way, they will almost certainly breed.

Most people will tell you they breed at 2 years of age, none of my Ringnecks bred until they were 3.
I did have a 3 year old Cock and a 2 year old Hen but all other birds were 3 when they bred for the first time.

[birdman5000]

i guess im lucky i have a 6 year old male that was kept as a pet for its whole life and a female 2 years old that was kept with the male its whole life as a pet.

i bought them early january and noticed them courting and attempting to mate. A week later i attatched a nesting box to the outside of their normal pet cage they grew up in, wich is in my den (that has been turned into a bird room) and their first egg hatched yesturday.

[natalie]

What a stroke of luck u had. You must be chuffed to bits.I'm so pleased for you. You will av to keep us up to date with mum,dad and junior. Wow .