by Pat and Jim Taylor (2000, Vol. 23 #1)

The first time I saw a Blue-crown was in Holland at the European Lory Symposium. Jos Hubers put together a large display cage with a number of species of hanging parrots. The blue-crowns were strikingly beautiful. As I knew of no hanging parrots in Canada, I never expected to keep them.

Blue-crowned Hanging parrots (Loriculus galgulus) are a small parrot found in Southeast Asia; Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore and Sumatra. They are 12 cm. long and weigh in at 24 grams. A description taken from Forshaw’s Parrots of the World follows: Male: general plumage green, slightly paler on underparts; crown deep blue; triangular patch of golden yellow on mantle; yellow band across lower back; throat, rump and under tail-coverts scarlet; under wing-coverts and undersides of wings and tail greenish-blue; bill black; iris dark brown; legs buff-brown. Female: duller with more yellowish underparts; lacks red throat and yellow band across lower back; blue on crown and yellow on mantle only slightly indicated. Immatures: general plumage dull green, feathers with narrow dusky margins; forehead grey tinged with blue; blue crown and yellow mantle absent; rump green margined with dull red; throat green; bill pale horn-coloured; legs flesh-brown.” The chicks take at least year to develop adult colours.

One day in the spring of 1998 we received a call from a lady living on one of the Gulf Islands. She had two pairs of blue-crowns and was looking for someone to baby sit the birds for three months of the summer while she went to the USA. As an incentive, we could keep any chicks produced. As we are lory breeders we figured that they would be minimal trouble so we said yes.

The bird arrived in two 16” cube wire cages along with one 4”x4”x24” nest box. We were told that we would have the birds till September so we kept the two pairs in the original cages. We immediately encountered two problems with blue-crowns. First their droppings begin to smell very quickly and second, the male feeds the female by leaving a trail of regurgitated food on the perches. This also tends to smell. As we were keeping the birds in our nursery this situation became a big problem. As we have a large number of birds, we were finding it difficult to clean these two cages often enough so we were looking forward to the return of the owner to retrieve her birds. As it turned out we kept on getting phone calls informing us of delays in her return to Canada. The delays continued into February of 1999. One pair went to nest twice during this time though all of the eggs were infertile. The owner finally promised to return in June of 1999 to pick up the birds. As we then had a date to work with, we decided to move both pairs into our aviary.

In one of our buildings we had available a 5’ x 2.5’ x 4’ high plywood cage sitting on a metal tray with a drain in the centre plumbed to the sewer system. We put small perches into the cage and placed two 5” x 5” x 14” tall nestboxes on the front of the cage with entrance holes through the wall of the cage. The entrances were 4” from the top of the cage. This cage had an outside flight attached but we blocked the exit hole because we moved the birds out to the aviary in March and the temperature was too cold to let the birds go outside. This cage is also equipped with a sprinkler system, which comes in handy when cleaning. We moved the birds into the building and turned up the heat to 20 degrees C.

We were told by a breeder in the USA that blue-crowns require plants in order to breed. We placed a hanging basket containing a large fern in the centre of the cage. We also placed four ferns in hangers on the side walls. Within four weeks of the move both pairs were on eggs. We were surprised to find that four of five eggs with the first pair and three of four eggs with the second were fertile. The seven eggs hatched in 20 days and both pairs looked after the chicks very well. We were able to band one clutch with AACC size L bands.

When the birds were in the house we had been feeding Aves Lorinectar, fruits and vegetables. In the larger cages we set up six dishes: one dish with water, two dishes of nectar, a dish of Lory Life Powder (a dry lory diet), a dish of canarygrass seed and a dish of fruits and vegetables. The parents eat a large quantity of the seed when feeding chicks but mostly ignore it other times.

The chicks fledged at five weeks though it takes many more weeks for them to become strong fliers. The parents continued to feed for a number of weeks after fledging. With eleven birds, it was nearly impossible to keep plants in the cage. The oldest pair went back to nest and raised three more chicks. We finally ran out of plants to sacrifice and when the oldest pair went to nest for the third time with no plants in the cage, all of the eggs were infertile. This tends to indicate that plants are necessary for breeding success. A breeder in the USA has told us that only one pair will go to nest in a colony setup. The younger pair has never gone to nest again which seems to substantiate what we were told.

During the summer we opened the hole to the outside and the birds enjoyed some sunlight and fresh air. We allowed the birds to go outside into the fall but one chick stayed outside on a cool night and we found it dead in the morning. We now chase all of the birds inside and lock them in for the night.

The owner has not contacted us since last spring so we assume that she does not want her birds anymore. We are arranging to bring a few pairs from Europe next spring to increase the gene pool. There has been much interest in purchasing pairs but until they develop their adult colours it will be difficult to pair them. We are investigating having the birds DNA sexed but trying to gain a large enough blood sample from a 25g bird is not easy and is potentially life threatening so we have not done this.

If you are able to provide proper housing, warm temperature and plenty of edible plants, blue-crowned hanging parrots would make a beautiful addition to your bird collection.