parrotlets wont breed

Question
female was 16 months when intro. to 8 month male. Been together over a year and no breeding. He was removed from sister in store because he was trying to breed with her. Large cage,nest with shavings and have tried everything I read on the parrotlet sites. Sleep together and eat together.  

Answer
Hi, Janet.  Thanks for posting your question.  In my experience, parrotlets are not the easiest parrots to breed compared to other species.  They must feel secure in their environment or they won't breed.  Are you sure you have a male/female pair?  I had to move my pairs around in different locations in my breeding rooms until they finally went to nest in their current location (corner of the room where they can see all directions around them and a distance away from other birds).  This took over 2 years.  It's good that you introduced an older female to a younger male.  A pair of birds have to have a good pair bond before they will breed.  Sleeping and eating together doesn't necessarily mean they have bonded (means they get along), although this is a good start.  Some additional signs of good bonding is when they preen and feed each other.  Are they going in and out of the nestbox at all?  It could be that the male was bonded to his sister and, if this is the case, it may take longer for him to bond to the female.  In addition, just because we put 2 birds together, doesn't necessarily mean they will like each other enough to bond/breed (you may have to try a different male or female or put a group together and let them choose their own mates).  Also, I don't recommend putting anything in the nestbox...sometimes birds won't breed/enter the nestbox for this reason.  Leave the inside of the nest empty of shavings or anything else (use pine shavings only, not cedar shavings).  Once eggs are laid and babies hatch, you can add substrate or put some in bottom of cage in a container and let them put shavings in nest if they want.  Substrate in a nest can create problems for the tiny babies when they hatch.  I only use shavings to help keep the babies dry of feces after hatching.  You might also try offering peat moss instead of shavings.  My pairs always moved the substrate to the opposite end of the nestbox when they laid their eggs, so I quit using it until babies hatched.  Too large a cage can also be a problem, as well as keeping toys, etc., in a breeding cage...you want a pair of birds to focus/concentrate on breeding only, not playing or having too much room to defend.  A parrotlet breeding cage should be no larger than necessary for the parents and about 6 babies (until babies are old enough to pull for handfeeding if you plan on taming/selling the babies).  Diet must also be correct.  You must simulate breeding time of year, i.e., amount of daylight available (time lights are on) should be slowly increased to 16 hours per day, room temperature should be approximately 78 degrees F, etc...basically simulate outdoor spring/summer time indoors.  Tame birds sometimes don't make good breeding pairs in case your pair are/have been pets.  If you're using a nestbox, make sure it isn't too large (a parakeet sized nestbox is good).  You might even try offering them 2 kinds of nests (a nestbox and an enclosed basket-type nest) and let them choose which they prefer (parrotlets in the wild use hollow trees or hollow tree branches, holes in the ground, or nests of other birds).  Something else my parrotlet pairs didn't like was me checking out/messing with the cage/nestbox all the time checking to see what was happening inside!  They seem to enjoy their privacy very much.  Keeping them near a window where they can see other birds outside can also create problems (they don't know that the window glass will keep the outside birds outside)!  

Without knowing all the details of your particular situation, I've offered as much information as I can think of.  I hope some of this information will be helpful to you.

Chrys