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hi all. i have just bred 2 male and 1 hen bluegold macaws. and i see their facial feathers are green. the hen is the normal black.
my questions are. is this significat? has anyone heard of this before?
the parents are normal. cock is 15 yo.. hen is 18yo.
these are the first young they have had. i mostly get infertile eggs. is there a reason for this also. ive had them for 4 years.
i hope someone can help please.
max..

Are you sure you don't have two different types of Blue and Gold's?

One that has green facial feathers (well close to green is a blue-green color) in the Blue Throat Blue and Gold. This species is generaly smaller in size and weight than a regular Blue and Gold.

B&G's in Australia easily sell for 10-14k a piece (that's 9-13k USD). Considering how rare blue throats are (at least in captivity), I'd have a hard time believing that one could easily purchase a blue throat in Austalia...

The blue throated macaw is however NOT a B&G. It is it's own species, much like the buffons and military macaw.... they may look similar, maybe even identical to some people, but size is first the biggest difference between the two... and blue throats are more easily distinguished with B&G's than buffons and militaries are between themselves!

One thought, you have discovered possibly a new mutation... second, the parents are related... third, although abnormal, when the B&G's go through their first molt, they will most likely molt out the green facial feathers and be replaced with black ones (I don't know how likely this last one is).

Do you have any pics, macaw?

actually b/gold's in aus only sell for 7k to 9k.
i have no doubt that they are not blue throats. the parents were purchased from the US in the last intake. both parents have normal markings. although cock has dark blue feathers on his back and hen has a teal blue on her back. the sister (all 3 birds are 12 months old) to these birds has black facial feathers.
you asked if i have any pics, i have a blogspot. its on my profile. the cock bird is the first pic on site. and is the bird on the left in the second pic.
if you click on the pic it will double size of pic.
thankyou for your suggestions
did u have any ideas on how i can increase the fertility of their eggs

Do you have any pics, macaw?[/quote]

Hi Max,

Your link worked for me this time, and what a nice spread you have in Canberra. The birds should be happy and healthy for sure! I studied your picture (close up) and struggle to find any differences between the facial feathers of your flock and mine here in Michigan (USA) They all appear to be normal color. I bet they eat good! My best guess would be that they are at least 2 pound birds! Your doing a good job.

I noticed one of your babies (with a full crop) and was just wondering how much (max) are you feeding? Rule of thumb here is 10% of body weight at four feedings, to the max of 140cc at two feedings. Streching the crop slowly all the way.

Increasing fertile eggs: Was there a misprint in their ages, cause I thought you said 12 months? There's not alot of help I can give you at that age. All my pairs either came to me somewhat older, or started being interested after "several years!" But after maturity I found some easy tips to help. First of all increase nuts (higher fat content and calcium helps egg conditioning) like almonds, filberts, walnuts, etc.. Giving more warm moist foods as compared to cold fruits etc.. Proper perch alignment where perches cross at right angles in order to give many chances of the cock cornering the hen (none of my macaws like to mate on the bottom of the cage.) Pulling eggs increases the production but that isn't any good if activity to fertilize the eggs was not successful, so watching their activity by remote camera or telescope proved invaluable. Actually you will be able to see that the male will fill the egg cavity of the female and there will be some spillage if he is successful.

Well mate I'm off to work this am, good luck and I'll be sure to keep an eye on your blogspot.

Dutch

P.S.- I traveled downunder many times in the late 70's and early 80's to participate in the "Kangaroo Military Missions" and always enjoyed the wonderful weather, good food and great people. In fact I was lucky to see wild flocks of Eclectus in a few of the islands we "play" invaded on. To this day I have several pairs of Eclectus which I enjoy and think back of the nice times "on the other side of the equator."

B&G's must have come down in price then. I never saw any birds with green facial feathers...

From my understanding B&G's don't really reproduce well until they are 5-6 years old, if not older.

Other than using some flax seed oil or palm oil, I'm not really sure of anything that could help increase their fertility.

hi duch... nice to hear from you. its also good to see you enjoyed your time out here. and if i do say its a great place to live.
thankyou for your time, the birds i was worried about, their fertility was the parents of the young. and they are at least 15 years old. not 12 months. that is their babies. (the ones with the green facial fethers) im no further advanced with them than i was before. they are still green and noone knows why???? thats ok i have them sold so i will never know, about them......
thankyou for your kind words about their weight. they are big birds and yes i feed them heaps of fresh and good food. i will send you a diet to your personal e-mail if you want it. mine is eungella1@bigpond.com
my most pressing problem is fertillity.
ive had 8 eggs sofar this season and none are fertile. id love to know how to increase their fertility. any suggestions would be greatful.
thankyou all for listening..... max.

PurpleHeart wrote:Hi Max,

Your link worked for me this time, and what a nice spread you have in Canberra. The birds should be happy and healthy for sure! I studied your picture (close up) and struggle to find any differences between the facial feathers of your flock and mine here in Michigan (USA) They all appear to be normal color. I bet they eat good! My best guess would be that they are at least 2 pound birds! Your doing a good job.

I noticed one of your babies (with a full crop) and was just wondering how much (max) are you feeding? Rule of thumb here is 10% of body weight at four feedings, to the max of 140cc at two feedings. Streching the crop slowly all the way.

Increasing fertile eggs: Was there a misprint in their ages, cause I thought you said 12 months? There's not alot of help I can give you at that age. All my pairs either came to me somewhat older, or started being interested after "several years!" But after maturity I found some easy tips to help. First of all increase nuts (higher fat content and calcium helps egg conditioning) like almonds, filberts, walnuts, etc.. Giving more warm moist foods as compared to cold fruits etc.. Proper perch alignment where perches cross at right angles in order to give many chances of the cock cornering the hen (none of my macaws like to mate on the bottom of the cage.) Pulling eggs increases the production but that isn't any good if activity to fertilize the eggs was not successful, so watching their activity by remote camera or telescope proved invaluable. Actually you will be able to see that the male will fill the egg cavity of the female and there will be some spillage if he is successful.

Well mate I'm off to work this am, good luck and I'll be sure to keep an eye on your blogspot.

Dutch

P.S.- I traveled downunder many times in the late 70's and early 80's to participate in the "Kangaroo Military Missions" and always enjoyed the wonderful weather, good food and great people. In fact I was lucky to see wild flocks of Eclectus in a few of the islands we "play" invaded on. To this day I have several pairs of Eclectus which I enjoy and think back of the nice times "on the other side of the equator."

hi mfids thankyou for your reply....
u have not read my letter well.
the parents of the babies are 12 to 15 years old....
their babies are now 12 months old. the babies are the ones with green facial feathers. their parents are normal b/gold.
if you go to my blog site you will see the baby with green facial feathers. re letter to purpleheart.
thankyou for your reply reguarding fertillity im still at a loss.
ive had 8 eggs sofar this breeding season and still no fertile eggs. id love to know how to increase their fertillity.. i even sprinckle brewers yeast on their food. that is a 1st for me and them..
thankyou.....

MFids wrote:B&G's must have come down in price then. I never saw any birds with green facial feathers...

From my understanding B&G's don't really reproduce well until they are 5-6 years old, if not older.

Other than using some flax seed oil or palm oil, I'm not really sure of anything that could help increase their fertility.

Macaw100, no I did not misread your post... I had replied to both your post and Purplehearts, which is where the confusion came in...

And, I did look through the blog but I still didn't see any chicks with green facial feathers... unless you mean a picture where the chicks are still partly featherless??? And it's just one picture?

MFids wrote:Macaw100, no I did not misread your post... I had replied to both your post and Purplehearts, which is where the confusion came in...

And, I did look through the blog but I still didn't see any chicks with green facial feathers... unless you mean a picture where the chicks are still partly featherless??? And it's just one picture?

hi mfids.. thankyou for your reply.
the bird in question is the first bird on blog. if you click on pic it will increase in size. the green is easier to see then.
dutch ive written to you via you personal mail some weeks ago. do you have me in your delete box.
thankyou all for your help..
max.

G'Day Mate!

No I have not forgotten about you, just busy here in Michigan fledging my last clutch and ready them for delivery in time for the Holidays. Like I mentioned in my last post did you have any chance luck when you provided more "right angle" perches? How about the added nuts in their diet? Or the warm food?

Try this, go to www.prettybird.com and order this supplement called "Ultimate" is comes in a powder and can be mixed with almost anything. I use it as a sause for pasta and give it warm. Sometimes I use left over formula that I have when feeding babies, mix in some Ultimate, pour over the pasta, and feed the mating pairs. They go crazy for it and the results are obvious.

How are things down in the capital? It should be getting perfect weather downunder for you now! Oh mate how I do miss it! Up here in Michigan USA we have these people called "snowbirds" who live here until the first snow flyies and then they move down south. I wish I could do the same but change continents.

Let me know how things are doing, and I do not have you on my delete list, I look forward to your replies on here or anywhere.

Good Luck with your flock!
Dutch

[quote="PurpleHeart"]G'Day Mate!

hi dutch..... nice to hear from you.
ive changed their perch's and both pairs have laid 4 more eggs each, and still clear. awwww well there is always next year.
yes you are right we are now into summer and the weather is getting hot. although rain would be great. we are in the middle of a drought. having said that all my tanks are full, and im not short of water, for me or birds.
if ever you get to aus in the future look me up happy to put you up. be happ to show you around the capital. (canberra).
thankyou again for your help.... max.