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Bostonbudgie, are you an Aussie ex-pat? You sure write like one!

I am rarely moved by the death of a celebrity, but I did shed a few tears for Steve. He was such a great figure head for not only Aussie, but worldwide conservation. And he clearly had a heart as big as all outdoors. It was indeed ironic that he met the fate that he met. I don't scuba, but love to snorkel, and it did make me think a bit about how non-challant I had been around rays. I just never saw them as posing any sort of threat. But....as you would know, there is such a sense of peace and serenity when you are underwater. I like to think that his last moments were filled with that wonderful sensation as well the awe that I always feel when I am mingling with the creatures of the deep. He left such an awesome legacy. Lets just hope that it doesn't get stuffed up by commercialism. Not sure I am too keen on the way Bindi and Bob's careers are going.

Bostonbudgie, my son (9), still misses him
He truly was one of a kind.
Bob is the spitting image of him, even talks the same
I wouldn't worry about Bindi Patti, I reckon that kid has got her head scewed on straight she's a heck of a kid, I reckon she's great!

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum. I am new here and I NEED HELP TOO!!!.
I just started breeding Ringnecks and my established pair were a fallow hen and a blue male. Their previous keeper said they had about 7 chicks last year. They had a clutch of 2 chicks sing I got them. My Male suddenly had breathing problems and died within the hour. Two weeks later I removed the fledged chicks and separated them from the hen. I then introduced another Male placing him next to the hen's cage, hoping to reestablish my pair. The Hen was aggressive towards the new Male at first but within two days everything seemed ok. I therefore decided to try and introduce the new Male to the hen. Although wary at the beginning, they were not aggressive towards each other. But during the night, my hen severely attacked the new male, and who eventually died. What did I do wrong!!! Thank you.

that is so sad
You are indeed in the wrong section of this forum but that's okay, I am sure a moderator will move your thread.....

I think the female was perhaps not ready for a new mate yet
Were there any other symptoms of illness your male displayed before he died of respiratory problems actually??

Yes, you need to post IRN issues in the Asiatic Ringneck Chat section, but I will try to answer some here.

My Male suddenly had breathing problems and died within the hour.

1. If your male was sick and suddenly died, he must have been hiding symptoms, or was exposed to fumes that killed him. Do you use teflon pans or other items in your home? Scented candles? Air fresheners? What kind of cleaning products were used near him? Did you refrigerate his body and take him to an avian vet for a necropsy to see what killed him?

I then introduced another Male placing him next to the hen's cage, hoping to reestablish my pair. The Hen was aggressive towards the new Male at first but within two days everything seemed ok. I therefore decided to try and introduce the new Male to the hen. Although wary at the beginning, they were not aggressive towards each other. But during the night, my hen severely attacked the new male, and who eventually died.

2. IRN hens are the dominant bird in the breed. When introducing a possible mate to a new hen, all care should be taken because as you have found, they will kill other birds. A slow introduction in seperate, side by side cages should be done. When they start displaying for each other, I would use supervised in cage together, or out of cage time. If they continue to get along with NO agressive behaviors for several weeks/months, I would then introduce them into a different cage together. This way there is no established "territory" in the cage, and neither feels like they are being intruded upon. I would place a baby monitor next to the cage for the next few months, that way if one is attacked during the night, you will hear it and be able to intervene before another bird dies.

3. Your hen may never accept another male. I have an IRN hen that is a confirmed killer, she is a pet bird now, and is kept seperate from my other birds. Her out of cage time is by herself, and she is still supervised so she doesn't bite the other birds through the cage bars.

Please visit the Asiatic Ringneck Chat and ask for more advise there. I do not breed IRNs because of the agression issues they have. Also search the internet for IRN websites (I have one in the link at the bottom of my post), there are some tips on these sites as well.

Thank you for your reply.

RE: My Male suddenly had breathing problems and died within the hour.

All my parrots (and I have quite a few!!!) are kept in a big Indoor Aviary which is separate from the home, so they do not come in contact with any kind of fumes, cleaning products and the such. The only thing that I might have done different and that might have caused a lung infection is that the bird was exposed to draughts, as I had opened two opposite windows of the aviary the previous day. Also, I am told that peanuts are bad for the birds and that he might have taken an infection from something in the peanut shells. I am afraid that although the bird is still frozen, we do not have any avian vets locally.

RE: I then introduced another Male placing him next to the hen's cage, hoping to reestablish my pair. The Hen was aggressive towards the new Male at first but within two days everything seemed ok. I therefore decided to try and introduce the new Male to the hen. Although wary at the beginning, they were not aggressive towards each other. But during the night, my hen severely attacked the new male, and who eventually died.

I did not think that it would take months for the hen to "maybe" accept the new male. I will be more careful next time, if ever I try to re-establish my pair.

Thank you.

hi, do you keep a mixed aviary?
The suggestion made to me to pass on to you was the next time you want to introduce a new male to the hen is to completely rearrange the cage/aviary, new perches, some new toys, change the location of the food/water dishes etc, put the male in first, then the female
I guess if you have them in a mixed aviary that suggestion is not so easily achievable

I do like the baby monitor suggestion Christie made though
I even think that that would be a fantastic solution for tiels too as they quite often suffer from nightfrights.

That is where I got the idea!!

IRN hens are well known (almost as much as lovies) for killing other birds. This is why all care should be taken when introducing birds. They seem sweet, but there is a protective side that will make them kill birds that invade their territory.

Never freeze the body if you are going to do a necropsy. Freezing destroys the tissues and makes it that much harder to determine the actual cause of death, if anything can be found.


That said, you don't need an avian vet to do a necropsy. You simply need either a vets office that can send the body to a lab, or a state agricultural department that could do the same (and perhaps at a much cheaper price). Vet's offices usually charge within the $100-$300 range for a necropsy, while an agricultural department may only charge $5 and up, depending on the tests performed.


Sorry to hear you lost the male, and perhaps someday you'll be able to pair up the hen with a new male!

Thank you all for the advise. I have since moved the IRN hen to a new cage and I am thinking of placing a new Male at the cage next to hers. I do not intend to introduce a male any time soon, and I will certainly take all the sound advise given by everyone. I also took note of the information with regards to necropsy although I hope I will never need to resort to it. My Aviary is housing all kinds of Parrots, from parrotlets to cockatoos and macaws, but they are all housed in different and separate cages. I am new to this hobby so I am open to any suggestions. I have been researching the subject a lot, but you can learn better from people having gone through the same experience.

I thank you once again.

Wow do you have pictures of your setup? Would love to see pictures of your birds

I will take recent pics, as I have just added new members to my aviary and will post some of them soon!