Are you enchanted by
macaws but can't have the loud noise or provide large breeding
aviaries? If so, the marvellous mini-macaws might be just right!
These little charmers are increasing in popularity due to their
moderate size, impish and precocious personalities, moderate prices,
hardiness, and readiness to breed in captivity. Although the minis
don't have the flashy colors
of the larger macaws, they possess a charm of their own and have
many wonderful characteristics to recommend them both as breeding
stock and as pets.
For the purposes of
this talk, we will consider any macaw species that averages fifty
centimeters (twenty inches) or less to be a mini macaw. This would
exclude the Spix Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) at fifty-five centimeters
but include the Red-Bellied (Ara manilata) at fifty centimeters.
Therefore the other five species of minis are the Severe (Ara
severa) at forty-six centimeters, the Blue-Headed (Ara couloni)
at forty-one centimeters, the Yellow-collared (Ara auricollis)
at thirty-eight centimeters, and the Red-Shouldered (Ara nobilis)
and subspecies (Ara nobilis cuamensis) at thirty centimeters for
a total of six species plus one subspecies. Thus all minis
are from the Ara genus which is the same genus as the Scarlet
(Ara macao) and the
Blue & Gold (Ara ararauna).
All of the minis are
native to South America except for a small area of Panama where
the Severe can be found. The natural range of these species and
population density in the range are factors in the relative availability
or scarcity in captivity of the species. Following will be a brief
description of each species and subspecies, some notes about its
natural range, and some comments about each one.
Red-Bellied Macaw
This macaw is physically
distinguished by a large maroon splotch on the lower abdomen.
Notable also is the dull yellowish color of the bare skin area
of the face. Although the natural range of this species is quite
extensive and it is apparently numerous within its range, this
macaw is not common in captivity. It occurs in most of north-eastern
South America including the island of Trinidad , the Guianas,
Venezuela, and parts of Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. The only country
to export it in recent years is Guyana. As an imported bird, the
Red-Bellied is nervous and delicate and has not adapted well to
captive conditions. Although some breeding successes have been
recorded, this species is far from being established in captivity.
Thus this is a very worthwhile species with which to work. Hopefully,
the domestic-raised offspring will prove hardier than their wild-caught
parent stock and will be more prolific breeders. Although it is
reported that the hand-fed babies make delightful pets, it is
imperative that these domestic birds be sexed and paired for breeding
and, in my opinion, should not be sold as pets in the foreseeable
future.
Severe Macaw
Also known as the Chestnut-fronted
Macaw, this attractive macaw is generally green with a chestnut-brown
forehead and a blue crown. This species is native to eastern Panama
through the Guianas and northern Bolivia and part of Brazil. The
Severe was exported from Bolivia for many years and more recently
from Guyana. A large number of wild-caught pairs are breeding
in captivity and the species is prolific. Therefore, this macaw
is well-established in captivity and many are sold each year as
hand-fed pets. The only drawback to this species is that it has
a
loud voice compared to most of the other minis.
Illiger's Macaw
This lovely species
is generally green with a red forehead and a bright red lower
abdomen and lower back. Its natural range covers a wide area of
eastern central South America including much of Brazil, Paraguay,
and Argentina. It is relatively rare in captivity due to the fact
that it has not been legally exported in many years. A few pairs
have proved to be prolific in captivity, but in general, this
species has been difficult to establish, due partially to a propensity
to lay infertile eggs. This is unfortunate as it is such a strikingly
beautiful species. At this time, specimens should not he kept
as pets but should be placed in a breeding situation in the hands
of experienced aviculturists.
Blue-Headed Macaw
Also known as Coulon's
Macaw, this rare species is generally green with yellowish underparts
and an entirely blue head except for the bare facial skin area
which is rather small and grey colored. This mysterious species
hails from a limited range in eastern Peru and possibly a small
area in western Brazil. It has not been legally exported for a
great many years and is very rare outside of South America. Recently
a report on birds confiscated by U.S. Customs and auctioned to
the public showed two Blue-Headed Macaws on the list so there
is a possibility that there are a few specimens in the United
States. Very little is known about this macaw. There has been
some scientific disagreement for some obscure reason as to whether
this is a subspecies of the Illiger's Macaw. This does not appear
likely as the species are so physically different and have different
vocalizations and completely different ranges.
Yellow-Collared Macaw
This is a beautiful
macaw with a spritely personality. Its plumage is mainly green
with a thin line of bright yellow feathers at the base of the
hind neck which gives this species its common name. Widely distributed
through parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, the
Yellow-Collared was virtually unknown in aviculture until the
1970s when a large number were exported from Bolivia. Now well
established in captivity, this charming species is highly favored
as a pet. It has a good talking ability and is moderately priced.
Red-Shouldered Macaw
There are two subspecies
of the Red-Shouldered Macaw that are generally known by other
common names. The nominate race, called the Hahn's Macaw, is the
smallest of all the macaw species. Total length is about twelve
inches but this length includes a long slender tail so the actual
body size is smaller than that of some conure species. The slightly
larger subspecies, the Noble macaw, very closely resembles the
Hahn's. The head and beak are slightly larger in the Noble and
the upper mandible is horn-colored whereas it is a dark grey in
the Hahn's. General body plumage for both subspecies is green
with the forehead and the crown blue. The bend of the wing and
the upper inside wing area is bright red. The Hahn's is more common
than is the Noble in the United States due to the fact that its
natural range is the Guianas, Venezuela, and Brazil and the Noble's
range is in Brazil only. Therefore many more birds were imported
from Guyana which remained open for export many years after Brazil
closed for export. Both species are prolific breeders in captivity
and make delightful pets with an excellent ability to mimic. These
two subspecies are very high on my personal list of favorite bird
species.
Most of the mini macaw
species are easily bred in captivity and some pairs are very prolific.
While not nearly as loud as the larger macaw species, breeding
pairs are prone to chattering among themselves. I feel that pairs
stimulate other pairs to breed by their vocalizations and think
it is best to keep several pairs of a species within hearing distance
of each other but separated from sight of other pairs. They can
be caged side by side if there is a sight barrier between the
two cages. They do not require large flights for breeding. The
Hahn's and Noble
can be kept in small flights three feet wide by three feet high
and four to five feet long. The larger minis breed well in three
to four feet wide by three to four feet high flights that are
five to six feet long. A rectangular nestbox with approximate
dimensions of eleven by eleven inches and twenty inches high is
fine for the smaller minis or an L-shaped or "boot box"
can be utilized if you prefer. The larger species will readily
accept a rectangular box twelve inches by twelve inches and twenty-four
to thirty-six inches tall. Hanging the nestbox on the outside
of the breeding cage will afford ease of inspection and less chewing
on the box by the pair. I prefer wooden nestboxes to metal as
they do not absorb heat or cold and are more natural for the birds.
I feel that chewing the wooden box stimulates breeding behavior
in a pair. An inspection hole located about one-third of the distance
from the bottom of the box is recommended. Pine wood shavings
should be placed in the nestbox to a level just below the inspection
hole. Two perches should he placed high up in the end of each
flight. It is best to raise the breeding cage three to four feet
off the ground. By having the perch level higher than the keeper's
eye level, the birds will feel more secure. This is especially
important for wild-caught individuals or nervous species such
as the Red-Bellied. If a pair is especially nervous, aluminium
flashing can be affixed to some portions of the cage front so
that the birds can hide behind the panels for an added sense of
security.
In Southern California,
housed outdoors as we breed our birds, mini macaws tend to breed
during the hottest summer months. Our pairs begin to lay in late
May or June and lay until August or September. Our Yellow-collared
pairs tend to lay later in the season than do our Hahn's and Nobles.
Three or four eggs is a normal clutch for most species. If eggs
are pulled for artificial incubation, most pairs will double clutch
and might even lay a third time in a season.
If pulling eggs for artificial incubation, I recommend leaving
them under the hen for a full two weeks for increased chances
of successful hatching. Most hens set their eggs well. Incubation
time is twenty-four to twenty-eight days. The chicks hatch with
white down. They are quite easy to hand-rear and grow rapidly.
Weaning time varies with the species but generally is ten to fifteen
weeks of age.
Since it appears that
the days of importing wild-caught birds are generally over for
the United States, it is imperative that breeders keep a percentage
of their offspring back for breeding stock. Although there are
slight dimorphisms, the only reliable way to set up true pairs
is to surgically or DNA sex the birds. It is very important for
breeders to band their offspring and to keep accurate records
on the babies so that inbred bloodlines will not be produced in
future years, We will probably not have the option to obtain wild-caught
bloodlines in the future. Domestic pairs can lay eggs at two to
three years of age. If not overly imprinted as pets, domestic
birds are good breeders. Hand-fed birds destined to be breeders
should be handled as little as possible and paired at an early
age. Caging them in proximity to older breeding pairs will help
to bring them into breeding condition. Domestic-bred birds are
much calmer than their wild-caught parents and can be quite entertaining
in the aviary. Many of our domestic-bred breeders talk in clear
voices.
When deciding which
mini-macaw species to procure for breeding, please consider working
with several pairs of whatever species is chosen. It is much better
to have six pairs of one species than to have one pair of each
of six species. Having a number of pairs has several advantages.
Vocalization from multiple pairs helps singly housed pairs to
feel more secure, as they are usually found in small flocks in
the wild. These vocalizations will help to bring the pairs into
breeding condition. By having a number of unrelated pairs, the
breeder can provide unrelated pairs to other breeders and also
keep back unrelated stock for future breeding. It is very satisfying
indeed to be breeding birds one or more generations away from
wild-caught stock.
Whether to work with
the more common species or to accept the challenge of the rarer,
more difficult species such as the Illiger's and the Red-bellied,
is another decision that the breeder must make. Certainly there
is more potential for profit if working with the more common species.
Not only are they more prolific but there is a market for the
offspring both as pets and as breeding stock. However, responsible
breeders have an obligation to aviculture to work with rarer species
for reasons other than a profit motive. Rather than to jump right
into working with a rarer species, I recommend working with a
more common species first to gain experience with the minis. Once
ability with this group is realized, you might decide to try working
with one of the rarer types. Some breeders balance their collection
with both common and rarer species. Income from offspring from
the common species helps to finance the important work with the
rarer species. This recommendation applies not only to the mini
macaws but to any group of bird species.
Stomach contents of
specimens captured in the wild include seeds, nuts, fruits, berries,
leaf buds, blossoms, and other vegetable matter. Of course we
cannot duplicate the wild diet but I feel it is important to provide
a variety of fresh food to birds in captivity. I do not feel that
a diet comprised of only seed or only avian pellets is adequate.
Instead a diet that includes both seed and avian pellets and a
large variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, cooked grains, cooked
root vegetables, and sprouted seeds is best in my opinion. To
prepare this diet we boil a large variety of grains and pulses
including red wheat, lentils, brown rice, kernel popcorn, and
several varieties of beans and peas. This is boiled for about
thirty minutes and allowed to cool. To this we add chopped fresh
produce in season including corn on the cob, green beans in hull,
cucumbers, broccoli, chard, kale or other leafy dark greens, cauliflower,
squashes, apples, oranges, coconut, grapes, papaya, plums, berries,
and other seasonal fruits. Root vegetables such as carrots, beetroot,
yams, and sweet potatoes are chopped and boiled for about thirty
minutes, or these can be microwaved if you prefer. Cooking these
roots breaks down the cellulose and renders them more digestible
and more palatable to the birds. The birds love them and they
are extremely nutritious, being a wonderful source of natural
carotene. After ingesting beetroot, the birds will often pass
red feces so don't be alarmed and worry that your birds are bleeding
internally! After the roots are cooled, they are added to the
mix of cooked grains and fresh produce. Sprouted seeds are then
put into the mixture. We use a sprouting kit sold by China Prairie
Farm of Garberville, California. This kit provides a high quality
seed mix in great variety, an additive for the sprouting water
that prevents fungal growth, and a vitamin/mineral powder which
contains eighty-eight trace elements and is colored green from
the spirulina blue-green algae that it contains. I feel that fresh
succulent sprouts are an important addition to captive birds'
diets and this kit makes it quite easy to provide these for our
birds. Finally, we add a high quality avian pelleted food designed
for breeding birds and sprinkle a quality vitamin/mineral powder
into the mixture. During the colder winter months right before
breeding season begins, we add some dry seed mix including sunflower
seeds to the diet. This gives the birds a little additional fat
for the cold nights and also increases the protein level of the
diet somewhat. I do not find that macaws get overly fat if fed
sunflower seeds occasionally as Amazon parrots are prone to do.
In fact, macaws require more fat in their diet than do most other
New World psittacines and also can be fed cracked raw nuts in
the shells occasionally. We have been adding alfafa meal to the
diet during the past year to see what effect this might have on
breeding but have not seen any change. We have experienced some
infertility in the recent past in our Yellow-collared macaws and
have recently added spirulina and wheat grass powders to the diet
to see if this will produce better results in the future. We are
also hopeful that the eighty-eight trace elements found in the
China Prairie sprouting kit powder will have a positive effect
on a feather plucking problem that we have seen in some of our
Yellow-collared.
Mini-macaws are generally
quite hardy. At our breeding ranch they tolerate great extremes
in temperatures from occasional dips into the twenties Fahrenheit
in the winter to an occasional day of one hundred fifteen degrees
Fahrenheit. We recently pulled fertile eggs on such a day and
all eggs survived just fine. I do not understand how the parent
birds can properly care for the eggs in such heat but somehow
they did it!
Even if purchasing domestic
stock from a reliable breeder, it is recommended that you have
the birds checked by an avian veterinarian before setting the
birds up for breeding. It is particularly important to have the
birds checked fur papilloma . This is a contagious condition caused
by a virus that will cause warty growths on the cloaca which can
interfere with breeding. Some species of macaws seem particularly
prone to contracting this disease. If a bird is found to have
it, it can still be used for breeding but it is best to pair it
with a bird that is already infected. The growth can be removed
on a regular basis by your veterinarian and there are some experimental
treatments that appear to be effective. Eggs from such pairs should
be pulled for incubation to lessen the chances of the offspring
being infected as well. Macaw Wasting Disease, also known as Proventricular
Dilatation Syndrome, is another concern when adding new macaws
to your collection, especially in an indoor environment. The exact
cause of this disease is not completely understood and there is
no accurate test for it in a living bird at this time but it is
thought to be caused by a virus. It seems to be more contagious
to birds housed in proximity in a closed building. Research on
this syndrome is ongoing and hopefully there will be more answers
in the near future. Ask your avian veterinarian for advice and
current information about this problem.
Mini-macaws are a delightful
group of birds, highly recommended for breeding and for pets.
I am truly smitten by them and cannot imagine not having them
in my collection. For a huge personality in a smaller package,
try working with the minis. You will be rewarded with delightful,
easy to hand-rear, wonderful chicks! Breeding
the Amazing Amazon Parrots Articles
by Gail J. Worth
