Principally we are breeders of cockatiels, although our flock also includes Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Alexandrines and Maroon Bellied Conures.
We were given our first cockatiel, a normal hen, who absolutely adored Alan. Unfortunately, we were also given poor advice. In our ignorance, we did not feed her the correct diet and were told to remove the eggs from the cage when she laid them - which she did - a lot. The combination resulted in the death of the bird.
In our efforts to discover why Teevey died, we discovered the many beautiful colours of the cockatiel species. Completely hooked and armed with greater knowledge, we bought another cockatiel, a cinnamon hen and the flock soon grew from there.
We love Cockatiels for their playfulness, curiosity and intelligence. However, we are also greatly interested in the various mutations of this bird.
So apart from that, why do we breed cockatiels? We’re certainly not in it for the money as the cost of handraising a bird far exceeds the amount we sell them for. We breed them because we get a lot of pleasure in raising these birds to become wonderful pets for people to enjoy; the joy in having birds wanting to spend time out of the cage with human company; seeing people fall in love with the chick when they first meet it because it is happy to settle on their finger or snuggle into their neck, well this is a reward in itself.
But, we are also very interested in the genetic side of breeding. Cockatiels come in a variety of colours such as pearl, pied, cinnamon, silver, whiteface, lutino and various combinations of these. There are other mutations such as yellowcheek, pastelface and even olive, but as yet these mutations aren’t available in New Zealand (to the best of our knowledge). But, wouldn’t it be amazing if we were the first to develop one of these mutations?
Our other family members include 3 cats and Saba, a border-collie cross. She sees herself as the protector of the birds and zooms around the back yard chasing away any predators every time the birds start squawking. When it comes time for feeding the chicks, she sits in her chair next to us to make sure we are looking after her flock.