Colony Breeding and Selective Breeding

Depending on the way you breed birds ,can depend on the outcomes you receive and the quality of the birds you can produce. There are two main methods of breeding birds Colony breeding and Selective breeding, there are pros and cons with each as described below.

Colony Breeding

Colony budgie setupColony breeding is essentially breeding your birds all together in one flight. This is a typical view of a colony style set-up for breeding budgies.

Advantages

The main one obviously being time to set-up the breeding campaign. Essentially you leave the birds to their own devices and just put up some nest boxes. The birds will breed as and when they are ready. One tip with colony breeding is to make sure all the nest boxes are at the same height. Dominant birds will always fight for the highest nest box so to stop fighting in a colony aviary it pays to set all you boxes at the same height.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage is the ability to control pairs of birds that breed. If you are looking to produce specific colour it is almost impossible in a colony situation. This is due to multiple cock birds treading multiple hens as a result you can never be assured who the father is. This can also lead to further complications with size and deformity later in the hatching stage as related birds will breed causing further complications.

The number of times i have spoke to breeders of birds who have spent a significant amount of money buying that albino cockatiel or violet budgie with the desire to recreate specific colours, and never being able to reproduce as they can not control the mating process in a colony system.

The time saved in setting up this systems is outweighed in my opinion with the quality or the colours that are produced.

Selective Breeding

Professional Budgie setupSelective breeding is separating single pairs of birds for a breeding cycle into individual cages or flights. The example shown here is that of a professional budgie breeder from Denmark.

Advantages

Advantages are obviously the polar opposite from above. You have the ability to control the pairings. This directly effects quality and colour, breeding to two small birds will produce small birds. Breeding specific mutations or colour will produce specific outcomes. If you have a desire to breed specific mutations or colours this is the only way to go.

Disadvantages

This method requires you to be a lot more organised. You have to ensure you have individual cages or flights to breed in. This as a result increases the time you spend feeding each pair and the as a result the overall amount of time required. It also requires you to keep adequate records of the breeding season. Who paired with what and what was produced. This can be managed with breeding cards (see below). There are also multiple software application available out there that new bird breeders are utilising to help them overcome these disadvantages.

I have bread birds for a number of years and even if the outcome is for hand-reared pets or show quality birds i have always used the Selective Breeding method where a specific outcome has been required e.g. Lutino hens or Violet budgies. I have tended to use the colony method where i require volume e.g. breeding finches in bulk. A well balanced approach of both methods normally suits most breeders.

Record Keeping

As touched on above the next often overlooked essential to a successful breeding season is well maintained records. The ability to pair birds in confidence that they are not related is essential.

Easyzoo

EasyZoo is a relatively inexpensive piece of software that takes care of all your breeding requirements with minimal effort. There are multiple other applications available and some are free of charge. The benefits of managing stock in a controlled way like this become evident the following year when you come round to pairing last years young. For more information on EasyZoo please visit www.easyzoo.com

Patience

Finally the last piece of advise i can give is patience. All too often bird breeders leave pairing their birds too late and try to rush the process. Give the birds the time they require to receive the desired outcome, remembering to rest the hens between clutches. Cock birds can father multiple clutches over the season without much effort but laying six eggs takes its toil on hens so don’t be afraid to remove eggs if she goes straight back down, and give her a break in a flight for a 6 weeks or so prior to letting her have another round.

Hopefully this has been helpful and hopefully your breeding season will be successful as a result. Happy bird breeding!