In front of the aviaries are espaliered stone and pome fruit
trees, citrus and almonds that are interplanted with three different
varieties of lilly pilly (Genus Syzygium, varieties smithii, austral
and austral orange twist) which gives the birds something
appealing to look out on. The fruit and green branches when
pruned can also be used by the birds.
Inside the aviaries, we only provide front and back perches
made from 5cm square Red Gum, cut especially for our
requirements and held in place by special perch brackets. These
are made to ensure the perches remain on the angle, so the
birds are not sitting on a fl at surface. However, the fl oors of the
aviaries are usually littered with numerous types and sizes of
wood, ranging from old perches to large Eucalypt branches that
have been left to dry (making them extra hard to chew), smaller
fresh Eucalypt branches (including leaves, fl owers and nuts) or
fresh fruit tree and lilly pilly prunings. You may have gathered
from this and, as mentioned previously, Illiger’s Macaws are
extremely good at, and love chewing wood, so the more you can
provide them with, the happier they will be. If you need mulch for
your garden, Illiger’s Macaws are more than capable of providing
enough if you clean under their aviaries every couple of weeks.DIET
All feed is provided in three stainless steel bowls, measuring
12cm in diameter and 4.5cm deep. These are suspended
under the fl oor in specially designed sliders that allow us to
change bowls and provide food without entering the aviary or
opening any doors. One bowl is used for soaked seed, fruit and
vegetables, the second for dry seed, and the third for pellets.
Each morning a fruit, vegetable and soaked seed mix is fed.
Frozen mixed vegetables (carrot, potato, broccoli, peas, corn,
etc), are thawed with hot water and fed together with diced
apple, celery, capsicum and a soaked seed mix. The soaked
seed mix consists of equal parts of pigeon mix, large parrot mix,
lupins, whole maize, grey sunfl ower seed and mung beans.The amount required is put into a container at least twice the size
of the amount to be soaked, and boiling water is poured over the
mix to the top of the container and left to stand overnight. After
rinsing thoroughly the next morning, the thawed frozen vegetables
are added, then the diced apple, celery, and capsicum, and all
mixed together. The quantity fed is adjusted according to how
much can be consumed before the warmer part of the day. Corn on
the cob—cut into slices then quarters— is also fed daily. Other fruit
and vegetables, fed occasionally depending on seasonal availability,
consists of pear, orange, kiwi fruit, passionfruit, rockmelon, grapes,
broccoli, caulifl ower, silverbeet and pomegranate.
Our dry seed mixes are specially made to our own formula in
the proportions of 3 parts grey sunfl ower, 1 part saffl ower and
1/8 part small parrot mix. This is fed only twice a week at 3–4 day
intervals in small portions, using a small plastic detergent scoop
for a measure (1¼ scoops).IN CAPTIVITY
Over the years we have kept all four species of mini macaws
available in Australia, and have bred three of those, initially by
incubating and handrearing and, in recent times, allowing the
birds to parent-rear. During this time, and from the experience
gained while keeping each species, we have established a
single word description for each. These are: Hahn’s—loud,
Yellow-collared—annoying, Severe’s—boring and Illiger’s—
intriguing. Some may question these, but while we are sharing
our experiences of the Illiger’s Macaw here, we’ll leave our
interpretation of the others for another time.
HOUSING
Our fi rst Illiger’s Macaws were
two young, unrelated pairs
acquired around 2005, with
a third mature pair added to
the collection a few years
later. All were housed in
our purpose-built breeding
complex in suspended aviaries
that measured 3m long x 1.2m
wide x 1.2m high. They are
steel-framed aviaries with
solid sides, but with a viewing
window between each. The
mesh is the heavy gauge 25mm
square weld mesh.
We’ve found Illiger’s Macaws
love to chew, and they don’t
have a preference for only
wood. They also make short work of the lighter gauge 25mm x
12mm mesh, so care should be taken to ensure they are housed
correctly, otherwise you may fi nd a bird unwell with heavy metal
poisoning or, at worst, one that has ingested wire it has chewed.
The viewing window between each aviary is double-wired
to allow interaction between the various neighbouring species
during the off-breeding season, and a piece of fl at Colorbond™
iron can be inserted as the breeding season begins to ramp up to
provide the privacy required.
The aviaries are housed securely in a shed with solid sides and
a partially open roof, covered with nylon bird netting, to allow
ample sunlight and rainwater through for the birds to enjoy.
Suspended from the roof, with no legs underneath, the aviaries
are located 1.2m above the concrete fl oor around the outer, and
over a 60cm-deep concrete pit that allows us to easily clean
underneath every few weeks.
Daily food consist of fruit, vegetable and soaked seeds mix, a dry
seed mix, a pellet mix and fresh fi ltered water—together with a
plentiful supply of branchesView from below the suspended
aviaries—note the planning ease
of maintenance that has been
implemented into the aviary
design—top qualityTwo young Illiger’s Macaws with parents