Help me choose - Kakarikis or Lovebirds

Post Reply
User avatar
CanFinch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 9
Joined: 24 Jan 2013, 07:13
Location: Canberra

Its time for me to try soemthing new besides finches and budgies and pigeons.

After much research I have it down to Kaks or Peachfaces. Each has pros and cons but Im after something interesting to breed that is also easy to keep n an aviary situation in suburbia.
Are the peachies gonna be a bit noisy for neighbours - even if the aviary is a good way away from any house?
Will Kaks handle the summer heat (Canberra)?
Kaks seem more my style and have a conservation angle too but the Peachies would be a hit with my kids I think. Am trying to get them interested in aviculture and budgies/finches get the boring tag!
I need to build 1 more aviary for this so Im limited to one or the other at this stage.
Interested to hear your experiences with these.
Thanks...
Cheers,
Greg
Canberra
User avatar
vettepilot_6
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 2826
Joined: 07 Aug 2011, 17:50
Location: Childers
Contact:

Peachfaces can be a murderous lot....they dont like any new birds...so if you want to breed them buy all the ones you need and put them in an aviary at same time...do not try and add any later... Kakarikis would be my pick much quieter and comical antics.... :thumbup:
The Bitterness of Poor Quality Remains Long after the Sweetness of Cut Price is Forgotten
User avatar
Craig52
...............................
...............................
Posts: 4979
Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
Location: victoria

I agree with VP regarding lovebirds being killers and also very noisy. Kakariki's are very similar to lorikeets in their antics,can be become very confiding and tame.
The first time i saw a totally yellow kakariki it took my breath away. :shock: Craig
User avatar
Shane Gowland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posts: 1430
Joined: 19 May 2014, 22:42
Location: Adelaide
Contact:

To my eyes, few things beat a normal coloured lovebird. Though I'd go for the slightly less murderous Masked over the Peachfaces.
User avatar
CanFinch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 9
Joined: 24 Jan 2013, 07:13
Location: Canberra

Yes agree...boring is not my word at all...sometimes I wonder if they are my kids!!!! :wtf:

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. The Kakarikis are sounding more my style by the minute.

I like the idea of maintaining a wild type colony to keep the genetics intact and maybe try some pieds as an interest. The red crested species are quite amazing birds. They seem to breed easily and not too demanding. Just have to maybe not breed over the summer months and keep them cool on extreme heat days.
Cheers,
Greg
Canberra
User avatar
finches247
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 2546
Joined: 04 May 2011, 20:16
Location: Whangarei Northland New Zealand

I say Kakariki's cause there one of the few native parrots of NZ and they get quite friendly after while.
User avatar
Zebra finch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 22
Joined: 23 Jul 2016, 21:09
Location: Queensland

Hey so i see that your pretty much one over on the Kakarikis but i just better put my input in as well if you go down a few post in the parrot section below your post you will see a post by me called My peach face Lovebirds in it are alot of photos of my birds. Ok so noise i guess it depends how far away the neighbours are my avairy with eight pairs in it is about less then thirty metres from the house and the noise from there is actually pretty good and to be honest now i barely notice it and the biggest advantage of having it that far away is that they are quiet at night so if i here them calling i know that i have a snake or mice getting in so i can deal with it before anything happens. So if your aviary is at least 50m from the neighbours you should be fine.

Now as for the viciousness like i said above i have eight pairs in the aviary i have only lost one bird and that was because i had limited nest boxes like maybe 10 and the new pair i let in killed my fav creamino but it is so easy to avoid any killing at all. So depends how big your avairy is to the number of pairs that you have may aviary is 3m deep 2m wide and 2.5 high (something like that anyway) and i have eight pairs in there and could hold ten no worries but even eight could be considered over crowding but its not in my case. If i had three pairs or eight the birds still fly the same distance and do the same things and i know a bloke that has the same size flight cage with forty breeders in it. Any way it depends on how many pairs you want but its is as simple as not over crowding and lets say you want three pairs in the aviary i would go and buy three proven pairs and keep them in cages until you get all three then introduce them at the same time without any nest boxes. I would provide a couple of different feed stations for the first week and then go back to the one. I couldn't see any dying by this point but of cause there might by some missing feathers and but they should be fine. Then if your breeding put double the amount of nest boxes to the amount of pairs so 3 pairs = 6 boxes. I can't see any killing so far but once they start breeding and chicks start to leave the nest they could get picked on from the other pairs so i would pull the chicks as soon as you see them eating and i would leave them with there father so he could finish the weaning. But you could leave them in as well and just wait for them to be weaned it just depends i have one bird that is just a killer and then i have a flock that gets along really well but i have found that in my size avairy four pairs do really well with minimum fighting. The best part about Peach faces are there is over 200 mutations but some say 500 so lots of different colours and i know that from some of my pairs i can breed six different coloured babies so colours are a big thing for me plus its just like with all pets a privilege to own them.

But yes going on the viciousness the Kaks would be better however you can easily keep and breed a colony of Peachfaces it all depends on how you keep them together and how you breed them but the most inportant thing is space.
User avatar
Zebra finch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 22
Joined: 23 Jul 2016, 21:09
Location: Queensland

I know there is defiantly 200 hard to believe it is true but i know that much. As for 500 the biggest lovebird breeder in Brisbane said that but i find that a bit hard to take in but it is possible. Peach faces have come along way and more mutations are appearing every few years. I could list at leat 50 to 100 mutations just from the research that i have done covering the birds i have got and am getting and then there is a whole lot more that i haven't even tried to research much because of the whole genetics floating around in my head :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
User avatar
finchbreeder
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 11489
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Lovebirds have every colour that Budgies do and Pink. And most of the feather variations too (I think) So there are certainly quite a few mutations. Advantage is that the Lovebird breeders could follow the Budgie breeders lead with genetics, while the Budgie breeders were breaking new ground.
LML
LML
User avatar
Zebra finch
...............................
...............................
Posts: 22
Joined: 23 Jul 2016, 21:09
Location: Queensland

Yer like i said i know of 50 to 100 mutations but every one reckons 200 and they obviously are getting that from some where but i doubt 500 its just not realistic however you've got me thinking so now i am going to do some research on the matter and shall report back as it will be interesting to know how many i can actually find and list down :thumbup:
Post Reply

Return to “Parrots”