by did on Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:34 am
In my opinion, your cages are too small for the dya's. It can be done, but zons are famous for getting overweight. This will lead to problems in a laying hen (egg bound). If a male is overweight, he may strugle to fertlize the eggs (not mounting properly). My amazon breeders are housed in 4x6x 4ft high suspended cages and fly from perch to perch. They are side by side, but cannot see eachother. I noticed when I added my second pair of breeders (BFAs), my DYH's became much more vocal. I was told that by hearing other birds, they stimulate eachother to want to breed. If I had to guess, the males want to put the females on eggs to secure them as theirs for the season. My 1st pair went to nest on the 2nd week of April. As soon as my 1st pair laid, 5 days later the 2nd went to do the same. I noticed that before laying, they were as loud as I've ever heard them. Now that they are incubating, with the exception, of a small afternoon yell, they have become very very quite. I don't know much on the WFA's but guess they would be similar. They are much smaller than the DYA's, so you may get away with a smaller cage, but bigger is better. As far as when they lay, I depends where you live. In S. Tx, I think they laid a bit late this year, but the wheather has been odd.