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 These Red-bellieds are African birds, Poicephalus rufiventris is dimorphic, i.e. males have orangey-red bellies while the hens have green breasts and abdomens. Both have orangey-red eyes.They are SHY, energetic, fast fliers, with loud shrill calls.
Pet Quality: Good talking abilitiy, smart, quiet, nippy and aloof if they don't get their way, handfeds calmer, soft feathers.
In the wild, they have been observed in thorh bushes but rise to the Acacia and Fig trees for their fruit in season (July- Sept. in Somalia). They also eat seed, fruit, and maize. They prefer to sit in the branches of dead trees (Forshaw).
One Aviary's Success With Breeding*
Cage: 2' x2' x4' long 14 gauge 1 x2" wire suspended 4-5' above cement floor. Droppings and waste food fall to floor pressure washed every other day.
Nest Box: 11" x 11" x 16" long, 3/4" plywood, 3" circular entrance hole 2" from the top, Insection door 4" from bottom on back of box (DO NOT LOOK AT THE EGGS BY OPENING THE INSPECTION DOOR) , 1/4" hole drilled on donward slant above door to see eggs without disturbing birds. 1"x1" wire ladder allows hen to climb out. 4" of pine shavings in bottom of box slanted ot the entance hole. The pair will decide how much to keep. Hang the box from the top wire of the cage so that entrance hole is above your eye level.
Perches: 1.5' from the front, another 5" from the back, 6" from the top of the cage.
Light: subdued, a 25 watt in 1809 sq. ft aviary. To keep light from entrance cover top of cage above the box.
Privacy: Visual barriers shield one cage from another. They are secretive and quiet birds.
Feeding: Stainless Steel food and water dishes front of cage. Water changed daily. Food is 5 oz. mixture of pellets, 1 part rolled corn, 1 part sunflower/safflower (more in cold weather or feeding babies). Soft food is thawed mixed veggies, apple, and whole wheat bread. Fed at 1 cup a day. A cube of mineral block a day. Recipe - 2 cups of plaster of paris, 1 large cuttle bone crushed to a powder and 1 cup proso millet. pour into ice cube trays.
Water Bowls Enhance Breeding Progress
Conure and Poicephalus breeder Robbie Harris** says that they can nest as young as 2 years old, it's better to wait til they are three. They usually go to nest in the late fall or early winters outdoors in Southern California. They don't breed during the heat of the summer. She uses wooden cockatiel boxes. Uses water bowls for the breeding stock to bathe in as well as to keep the humidity up. Robbie feeds a good seed based diet (includes sunflower/safflower and parakeet seeds), powdered vitamins and calcium supplements. Don't handle Red-bellies and return to the nest, she maintains that the parents, espesecially wild caughts, are very territorial and don't like the intrusion. They may even kill the babies. The chicks are pulled for hand feeding at 2 weeks and are also banded at this time.
Be Gentle In Nuturing Red-bellied Chicks
Nancy Weaver*** provides some other information. The bird lay 3-4 eggs (layed every other day) twice a year. They incubate in 23-24 days. In her experience this species can be terrible parents for the 1st 24 hours after hatching the 1st egg. Hens have been known to not feed the first hacthling. If the chick isn't fed within the first 12 hrs. she will pull the chick and feed it a thin electrolyte solutionmixed with hand feedind formula and then returns the chick to the nest ot see if the hen then accepts her responsibility. After the first day the hen and cock usually get back to business. She has also found that chicks at 13 days old fed by the parents on average weigh double those that were handfed from day 1.
Handfeeding must be done with care and tenderness. They need to be coaxed to be fed enough food, often leading to more frequent feedings. She covers the chick with a dry wash cloth with only the head showing, making the chick feel more secure. She also puts a small box, turned on its side lined with a washcloth to prevent slipping, in the brooder for them to hide in.
* Basic info taken and abridged from a story about Laura and Kelly Hillyer of Vernonia, Ore. who bred 12 pairs for many years, from the Northwest Exotic Bird Society Newsletter, March '95. the Hillyers now breed Cockatoos and Amazons.
** See Oct. '94 Bird Breeder pg 14-17 "About The Aviary" by Robbie Harris for full story.
*** See July '94 Bird Breeder pg 46-48 "Breeding Red-bellied Parrots" by Nancy Weaver
Copies of the Bird Breeder articles can be ordered by calling Publishers Custom Reprints @ 1-800-256-8271. The cost is $5.75 per article which includes shipping and handling.
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