And I do, appreciate that. One less thing for me to worry about.

I have never seen a Mulga Parrot but my Red Rumps are both great.

Hello jgee .... Don't you think it may be better/more accurate/more fair to say in your experience Andreya's R.R.s will not mate (breed) and possibly lay a fertile egg or more on the bottom of the flight/cage or is there some scientific study that proves there is absolutely no chance of that ever happening with those two specific species - like it sometimes does with other species? What makes Mulga parrots or R.R.s (according to you) different than other parrots which sometimes do mate and lay/drop an egg(s) in a cage without a nestbox or nesting materials/"encouragement" ? (Just trying to learn/understand).

Do you feel it is not detrimental in any way to a bird's health (stress wise or otherwise) to allow birds of the same species and opposite sex to form pair bonds and then to just simply and quickly separate them? I believe it is (from my experience).

Hi Andreya, I just wanted to post my thoughts please don't take offense as absolutely none is intended in my post, I simply want to offer my experiences that i've had over the years with you. I used to be a bird breeder of many, many species from finches to amazons. I used to breed bourkes, scarlet chested parakeets, and yes red rumped parakeets. Most of my pairs were acquired as babies and were allowed to grow up with each other in large cages, nest boxes were not put in place until the birds reached 15-18 months of age to ensure they were mature at this point. I can say the scarlet chests showed no breeding behavior before the nestbox was put into place however the bourkes and the red rumps did. I also had a single female 2 yr old red rump that was never paired up with a male and she laid eggs on the cage bottom and defended them with all her power. The red rump pair mated several times daily even though they had no nest box in place yet, they were over a year old when they started that behavior so I figured I better offer a nest box as the female could often be seen in the bottom left corner of the cage crouching down and trying her best to get to the newspaper in the tray as if she was intending to try and have her nest there. I figured it was easier to simply put the nest in place at that time and give her a proper place to lay even though she was under age in my mind as she was only around 12 months old at this time. I was in fear she would lay on the cage floor though or would retain the egg and may possibly become egg bound. That pair laid eggs within 10 days of the nest box being put into place. The bourkes basically did the same thing, mated daily however they started that a bit later at around 14 months of age so I felt comfortable when I put the nestbox on a bit earlier then the norm for them. They too laid a clutch of 4 within two weeks of the box being placed. I found both of those species incredible easy to breed. My main point being is that in my experience male red rumps can be somewhat aggressive to hens when they want to mate with them, being your male is older then your female most likely he will come into sexual maturity earlier then your hen and will push sexual advances on her. I know that you don't intend to breed them but birds sometimes have other thoughts regarding that and even though conditions may not be favorable, ex. no nest box in place they still may mate and eggs may be laid upon the cage floor. I started breeding parrots when I was only 9 yrs of age and bred them up until I was about 26, I am now almost 31. As you can see I have quite a few years of experience under my belt so to speak and I just want to inform you of possible outcomes when keeping a male and female of the same species together as I want you to be prepared as to what "could" happen down the road. I can tell you love them both very, very much and that's why I want to ensure you know that by keeping a male and female of the same species together once they become sexually mature regardless of whether they have a place to lay or not they may do so anyway. Have you thought about possibly keeping them in seperate cages but next to each other and allowing them to interact under your supervision? I don't mean to scare you and I don't mean to come off as a know it all I just simply want you to be aware of possible outcomes and share my experience as a former breeder with you and how my birds reacted in similar situations. Parrots don't seem to care if the bird is their sibling or not, they will bond with them and once sexually mature MAY try and start a family with them. I hope this information helps you a bit and please as I said before don't take offense i'm simply trying to offer my opinion on the situation and help keep your beloved birds as safe as possible. Best wishes.

Deb76 thanks for a very thorough and informative post. It gives me ideas about what to do and why if and when my Piper Parrotlet starts that crouching stuff...

Deb,

Thank you for the information. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Been a little overwhelmed lately...anyways... I will most likely be separating them within the next week, which will mean just putting the divider between them so they can still see each other. I don't think it's going to be a problem as they mostly seem to ignore each other anyways. No preening, no sleeping next to each other, and it seems no real contact unless they are fighting over who gets to see me first. Kali is definitely the dominant one and Ollie lets her be. She has not hurt him or even come close, but she's still a baby. Besides having to worry about them breeding, I also do not want there to be any problems. So thanks again. It's nice to hear from someone who has experience with them and I do appreciate it.

Ruby says "STEP UP!" They are just beautiful! We love pics and those are just wonderful!Thanks

Thanks Jessalyn. They're both as sweet as they are cute, most of the time.

Andreya, nice to hear from you again I know things can get very busy at times especially during the holiday season. I'm glad you're going to seperate them but still allow them to see each other, that is the safest way and will put your mind at ease so you don't have to worry about siblings mating. I hope you drop by more often and give us updates and pictures of your two beauties! I have always thought this species was beautiful but then again I think all birds are beautiful Best wishes!

Deb,

Yep, that will be my project tomorrow, more toys, and another Budda perch. Ollie has looked a little depressed lately so I think this is exactly what he needs. Ollie is my boy, the birdie love of my life. I of course love them all, but he was the one who picked me, before I picked him. Even when he was still handfeeding if he heard my voice he'd run back and forth in his little bucket and squeal. I couldn't love that bird more.

As for being being back, I definitely have a lot more freedom since I dropped a few things that were sucking up my time and not in a good way.