Hyacinth Macaw

Hyacinth macaw is one of the most popular among the 17 species of macaws. However Hyacinth macaw is a seriously endangered species. The biological name of Hyacinth macaw is Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus and they originally belong to Central and Eastern South America.

Hyacinth macaw is the largest of all parrots and has a wing span of more than 4 feet, 15.3 inches to 16.7 inches to be precise. Average size of this bird varies from 11.8 to 39.5 inches (3.3 ft) and the weight varies between 129 grams to 1.695 kilograms. Average life span in the wild is found to be up to 60 years.

Hyacinth macaw is fully blue in color with dark blue shaded wings. They have very strong black color curved beaks. They have bright yellow bare skin on the face adjacent to the lower end of their lower beak. Their eyes are also encircled with yellow color bare skin.

Male and female Hyacinth macaws are both similar in external appearance and can be distinguished by a professional DNA test. The younger Hyacinth macaws are also similar except that their tails are shorter and the yellow on their face looks paler.  

Hyacinth macaws feed on fruits, nectar, nuts and variety of seeds. Their very strong beaks can even crack coconuts, Brazil nut pods and macadamia nuts. Hyacinth macaw has a scaly tongue that has a bone inside which helps them in tapping fruits and later cracking the seeds using their strong beaks. Chewed leaf or pieces of wood are found to be used by Hyacinth macaw while cracking nuts and seeds in order to avoid them from slipping. Despite the unknown fact that whether this behavior is an innate trait or a learned social behavior, both wild and hand trained macaws seem to exhibit the same behavior.

About 10 to 30 Hyacinth macaws are normally found to be flying as a flock in the wild. They are always found as pairs and nesting takes place between July and December. Hyacinth macaw becomes matured and ready for breeding after 7 years of age. Nests in the wild are constructed in the cavities of very old trees where the cavities are deep. The natural cavity is enlarged and chippings of wood are filled to safeguard the eggs from cracking. In captivity, this process indeed needs to be done by the person who owns the bird. Normally the clutch each time is found to be one and two, however, only the eldest of the two survives as the second fledgling is hatched after several days and cannot compete with the first born for food. In captivity, there are more chances for saving the whole clutch by removing the older fledglings from the nests and hand raising them. The female incubates the eggs for 30 days and the male fetches food for the female when she is incubating. After 110 days, the chicks start leaving the nest, however, they are found to be dependant on the parents for about 6 months. 

Breeding Senegal Parrots In India

There are many people breeding Macaws and African Grey Parrots but there aren't many people that breed Senegal Parrots in India. Senegal Parrots continue to elude even the most avid breeders in India and they continue to be a mysterious breed. There is very little information available on breeding Senegal parrot and this discourages breeders further from attempting to breed these parrots.

One of the factors that kept emerging in my online research for information on breeding Senegal Parrots is that the male takes much longer to mature whereas female matures in two years. The male takes almost four years to mature. So finding the right breeding pair in the first place is going to be a highly challenging task. You should be prepared to wait for a considerable time before your Senegal pair can show signs of breeding. Moreover, Senegal parrots are very shy birds unlike your Sun Conures.

If you are keen on building Senegal parrots in India, you should be ready to wait for several months or even years. You should not consider your investment locked in in these birds but be determined to breed them how much ever time it may take. However, it is worth waiting because Senegal Parrot Chicks get you a good price. So do not be discouraged, go ahead and try breeding Senegals and you could be one of those few people in India that breed this variety of parrot.

How To Start An Exotic Birds Breeding Farm In India?

How To Start An Exotic Birds Breeding Farm In India?

Today, everyone out there is looking for additional sources of income. One of the areas that you can make money in a legitimate way is by setting up an exotic birds breeding farm. The first question that you should ask is whether there is scope for exotic bird breeding centers in India.

The Scope For Exotic Birds Breeding Farms In India

Having researched the field, I have observed few interesting facts. There is a great demand for exotic birds in India. However, the percentage of people that buy them as pets is relatively less when compared to the breeders that want to make quick money from exotic birds breeding. The demand created is actually a virtual demand. Those who like to buy these exotic birds just get one or two to satisfy themselves, breeders on the other hand like to amass as many pairs as possible. So the demand is coming from a different quarters. This has pushed even the genuine hobbyists that simply love birds for what they are and not for the money it can bring them into this vicious cycle. If you want to jump into exotic birds breeding you will have to be aware of all these underlying currents so that you know clearly your target customers and whom you are likely to supply. Taking this thought few steps further, the inevitable has to happen and that inevitable is that the price of these exotic birds is likely to come down sooner or later. Exotic birds will no more be exotic and rare; they will become as common and cheap as budgerigars or love birds. This however may not happen in just one or two years, this cycle will take its own time to reach such a stage. You will therefore not have to worry about investing in exotic birds breeding market. One of the factors that is encouraging for the exotic bird breeders is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to import exotic birds. This simply means that all the local requirements for exotic birds in India has to be met by Indian breeders. It is not easy to breed some of the exotic birds in captivity for example, African Grey Parrots and such factors will help in keeping the prices more stable preventing from sudden drops in the prices. The market for exotic birds in India is unlikely to crash suddenly unlike the IT boom, which was very much dependent on the US economy and the global economic trends. It is your responsibility however to decide how much you can put at stake and how much you can invest without causing a huge dent in your finances.

Space Required for Setting Up Exotic Birds Breeding Farm In India

At the mention of the word ‘farm’ the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is lots of space or a huge piece of land. Well, while it may be true that the term ‘farm’ in general could mean a huge piece of land, today some of the exotic birds breeding farms that I have visited are nothing but small shed in one’s terrace either rented or owned by the individual that runs it. In other words, the word farm in ‘exotic bird breeding farm’ is used too loosely today. You just need few hundred square feet of space that is ventilated well and that is secure.

Investment Required for Setting Up Exotic Birds Breeding Farm In India

The second factor that comes to our mind is huge investment. Yes, this could be very well true. However, this again depends on how big you want set it up. There are people that started with just one or two pairs of sun conures today grown to own hundreds of pairs of sun conures and other exotic birds in India.

In other words, space and money are not things that will stop you from setting up an exotic birds breeding farm in Chennai or exotic birds breeding farm in Bangalore or other cities of India. One thing that you will need is time. Yes, you can start your exotic birds breeding farm with just two pairs of sun conures or just a pair of African grey parrots in your balcony or terrace. If you have the time, dedication, patience and above all love for birds, you will certainly reap the benefits soon.

Factors To Consider

Let us look at the actualities when it comes to setting up your exotic birds breeding farm in India. First, make sure that you have the required space; here you will have to remember that it is going to be noisy and it cannot disturb your neighbors. I know people that live in flats and still have their breeding setup.

Secondly, you will need to decide what type of birds that you are going to breed. Exotic birds are for sure expensive; you should therefore start with birds that are easy to breed. Conure varieties are the most popular exotic birds in India today. This will again depend on how much money you have to spare. If you are running under limited budget then sun conures will be the best bet. You will be able to get a Sun Conure breeding from anywhere between Rs.26,000 to Rs.30,000 (at the time of posting this article). If you are planning something bigger or higher range then you can go for Cockatoos, Macaws, etc. However, for beginners Conure varieties are the best as far as exotic birds are concerned. You can gradually build your farm one step at a time.

Thirdly, you need to find the right sources to find good quality birds. As you are searching her for birds for breeding, you will have to look for healthy adult birds. Buy your exotic birds only from trusted breeders, resellers or traders.

Before you set up your farm try to visit a couple of exotic bird farms so that you get an idea of what you are getting into.

This post is not really an exhaustive post, more information on setting up an exotic birds farm in India will be shared in one of the subsequent posts.

Popular Macaw For Sale In India

There are totally nineteen species of Macaws identified and of which some of them are already extinct while others are at the verge of extinction. However not all varieties of Macaws are popular or available in India. If you are looking for a Macaw for sale in India, you will come across only few types which are listed below:

• Hyacinth Macaw
• Blue and Yellow Macaw or Blue and Gold Macaw
• Green-winged Macaw which is also commonly referred as Red and Green Macaw
• Blue-throated Macaw
• Scarlet Macaw

Among these Hyacinth Macaw and Blue and Gold Macaw top the list. There are number of Macaw breeders in India that have already started breeding Blue Gold Macaw and Hyacinth Macaw in their farms.

Breeding Macaw is a very challenging task. Not only it is expensive to own your breeding pair of macaw but you will also need a lot of space to house them if you are planning to breed macaw.

You will find tamed macaw for sale in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and other popular cities. However macaw is not something that you will be able to purchase from a regular pet store. You will have to buy your exotic birds in India like Macaw from an exotic pets store. You will find exotic birds and pets store in India only in few limited cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, etc. There are also many exotic birds breeders and traders in Kerala and other states. 

Hand Feeding Exotic Bird Chicks

Hand feeding exotic birds chicks certainly requires a lot of experience. If you try to attempt this task without prior experience you are likely to kill your expencive exotic bird chicks. If you want to attempt feeding your exotic bird chicks then better watch someone experienced do it and try a couple of times in their presence so that you can make sure that you are doing things correctly.

Why do people hand feed exotic bird chicks?

Hand feeding is required if you want your exotic birds to be tamed. Hand fed chicks will be friendly and they will not be afraid of human interaction because the baby chicks happen to be handled by the person feeding it during the imprinting stage whereby, it starts considering that person in particular and human beings in general as part of its flock.

Secondly, if you happen to hatch the eggs using an incubator then you will have to handfeed the hatched chicks from day one which is an even more challenging task.

Thirdly, breeders remove the chicks from their parents after few days in order to encourage the breeding pair to go for another set of clutches in the same season.

Regardless of tge reason why you hand feed the chicks, this simply means a lot of responsibility.

Exotic Birds As Pets In India

Having pets is not something new in India. The history of pets goes back to thousands of years in India. People used to have variety of animals and birds as pets including parrots, pigeons, mynas, squirrels, sparrows, dogs, cats, goats, monkeys and even snakes. Lately however, there is a new craze that is spreading among Indians and that is owning exotic birds as pets.

What are exotic birds? Exotic bird means a bird that does not have its origin in India. Originally, these are from other countries imported into India for the sake of owning them as pets or for breeding them within India. We used to see exotic birds like macaw and cockatoos only in the zoos and circuses. Today that is not the case, macaws, cockatoos, grey parrots and sun conures have become too common in India.

There are many farms that are breeding these exotic birds in India. You can buy these exotic birds directly from the breeders if you have any breeders. There are traders that buy these exotic birds from these breeders for wholesale price and sell them to exotic birds lovers in India. Traders also import these birds from other countries based on their availability and distribute them throughout the country.

Having exotic birds has become more than just a hobby for many; yes, it becomes a craze for hundreds of people in India. You cannot find these exotic birds so easily in the pet shops because of their expensive nature. Very few shops have the potential of having exotic birds in their shops. It can prove to be very risky to have exotic birds in display in the pet shops. Many pet shops therefore do not prefer to have these expensive birds. They rather have their contacts through which they procure exotic birds for their customers on the basis of pre-paid orders.

If you want to own exotic birds be prepared to shell out anywhere between thousands of rupees to several lakhs depending on the type of exotic birds you would like to own.