Musk Lorikeets

By Kellie Stewart

“A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE PACKAGE”

A general overview on keeping Musk Lorikeets in New Zealand

ORIGIN: Australia, east and south Queensland
WEIGHT: 60g
LENGTH: 22cm
IMMATURES: Duller brick red on forehead and ear coverts
AGE EXPECTANCY: anywhere between 15-25 years
ATTITUDE: I may be small but I’m the boss here OK!!
APTITUDE: Great pets easy to breed.
MUTATIONS: Olive. Pied mutations are not recorded in Aviculture, but at the present time in various aviaries in New Zealand pied variants are appearing or what look to be pied. We are looking into this further.

Breeding and Housing

Sexually mature at 18 months, but have been known to breed earlier. For example I had a young hen pair herself up with a cock bird it was in a mixed flight so everyone could choose whom they wanted to pair with. The hen was 11 months old and the cock was 4 years old. On their 1st season together they produced 2 fertile eggs rearing both chicks bringing them out onto the perch. Musk’s have been known to breed even earlier the youngest was recorded at 6 months old. The breeding season seems to go all year round if you let them, although breeding appears to cease at molting time just before winter in New Zealand. It is quite a common occurrence to have musk babies in the box right in the middle of winter. Nest box size can vary slightly, height between 30cm-50cm. By 20cm x 20cm. Build your nest box out of wood that is not going to fall apart when wet. Drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage and airflow, also add a layer of kitty litter or pumice in the base of the nesting box as this helps with the wetness problem. Fill generously with untreated sawdust or wood shavings. Place the box in a sheltered private part of the aviary. Hopefully it won’t be long before your pair of musk’s will be working the box, making it into home. All lories and lorikeets love their nesting boxes using them all year even when not breeding.

They lay a clutch of 2 incubation is 22-25 days, young are in the nest for 8 weeks. Many deaths have occurred with young birds fledging and drowning by falling into the water dish. Place a rock or brick in the water bowl so they can climb out if this happens. Within 2-3 days the fledglings will be catching on to the flying thing very quickly. They will also learn to eat for themselves sooner than birds that are hand reared. The parents still feed the chicks after fledging. I leave the chicks for a couple of weeks with the parents, then I remove them, once I know the bubs are totally independent. Musk’s normally are good parents, but just like any lorikeet specie you have to keep an eye out for plucking. If you wish to hand rear a baby lory a good time to start is 2-5 weeks. The earlier the better especially if the bird is being reared to be pet. The older the bird is the harder it is to feed when they are over 5-6 weeks old. Taking the baby from the nest at 2 weeks old gives the parents time to pass on some of their immunity and friendly bacteria to the baby, along the same lines has a human mother when breast feeding her new born. If you wish to try hand rearing seek some help and advice from someone experienced, people are quite surprised when they find out what is involved.

With most of the lorikeet and lorie aviaries I’ve seen including my own there are ropes and interesting pieces of wood and toys of all descriptions available for them to play with. Lorikeets love to play there is no age barrier here.

Aviary size can also vary depending on your amount of space you have, but I would not go any smaller than 2 metre x 2 metre x 1 metre wide to house a pair of musks.

When young are in the nest it is good to visit the flight a couple of times a day with food. Sweet corn greens, soaked grained breads wet mix and soaked seed seams to be relished when feeding young. I have noticed apple and oranges are not eaten until the chicks are over 6 weeks of age, I put this down to the acidic levels of this sort of fruit being the reason they leave well alone while the bubs are young.

Diet / Feeding

Most fruits apples, pears, grapes, tangelos, kiwifruit, sultanas, banana, watermelon (no avocado) Fresh veggies (frozen bags of mixed veggies and frozen corn are ideal). Greens such as dandelion and puha. Wet and dry mixes are available from pet shops, or choose the option of making your own. At least with this you know what you are giving them. Other things such as cooked chicken and chop bones, rose hips, grained breads, cooked pumpkin, malt biscuits, cereals and seeding heads are also enjoyed by the musk. Fresh Pollen is also widely used with lorikeet keepers in NZ. Bees pollen has up to 16 different vitamins and also contains enzymes, amino acids and minerals beneficial to your lorikeets. Pollen is also are good source of protein. I also offer sprouted seed and millet sprays. Because of the liquid and fruit diet of lorikeets, aviaries and cages have to be cleaned regularly. Food containers must be changed or washed between feeds each time. In the hot months offer enough food for the morning feed so it is all eaten within the first 3-4 hours, offer some more food later in the day when it is cooler. Have water available at all times. In the hot weather I will go and give the lories are hose down in the early afternoon. People also install showering systems on timers to mist over the lories in the hottest part of the day.

Pets

Musk’s make great little pets. Personality plus. They can talk and whistle, but are normally better at imitating sounds like telephones and microwaves. They love company and to the audience from a distance. In general you will find lorikeets bond with one person giving them their complete and utter devotion, other humans in the family might be offered some attention, or on the other hand be told quite clearly I don’t like you stay away!!! Since the musks are small it is a lot easier to accommodate the squirts, ask your pet shop owner the cage best suited for a lorikeet. A design that can hold sawdust that the bird can’t scratch in and flick to China. (this was learnt by personnel experience, we nearly wore the vacuum cleaner out.) Like all lorikeets musk’s love toys. Be sure it is bird safe just as you would check a new toy out to be kiddy safe. Lorikeets love to bath and your pet will be no exception. Provide a good size container to bath and drink from but not to drown in. A cage must be escape proof lorikeets are escape artists and can squeeze through very tiny gaps ( another thing learnt by personnel experience.)

The squirt factor ( Ideas to help out housing your lorikeet inside )

• Pick a cage that suits a lorikeet
• Sawdust or wood shaving aid in absorbing the dropping
• Pin a towel around 3 sides of the cage and put plastic matting in front of the cage
• General clean everyday big clean once a week
• Put a shower curtain over the table the lorikeets cage is placed
• Wall protection around cage preferably something wipeable
• Have old carpet and furniture

Health

If you feed and house your lorikeets in the correct manner sickness will be minimal. REMEMBER: to quarantine new stock COMING ONTO YOUR PROPERTY. I can’t stress this enough.

Here are some of the following ailments lorikeets are susceptible too and why:

• Fungal crop infections – poor housing – contaminated food – poor hand rearing methods
• Bacterial Septicemia – poor housing – contaminated food – poor hand rearing methods
• Nutritional diseases – incorrect or inadequate diet
• PBFD – ( Cirovirus ) – contracted from an infected bird being bought onto your section ( PBFD can also be carried on clothing and footwear from one place to another). PBFD can sustain itself in the environment for long periods of time. Thus making it difficult to eradicate once birds and aviaries are infected. Young birds under 3 year of age highly susceptible.
• Polymavirus – an opportunist infection taking hold when the bird immune system is low. The virus has to present on the property or carried and shed by another bird for this to occur.
• Paralysis – diet deficiency – poisoning from lead and zinc. (lead and zinc have a sweet taste to the lories, making it even more of an attractive nibble or lick)
• Feather Plucking – stress -- boredom – inadequate diet
• Worms – Some people say lorikeets don’t suffer from worm problems, I advise to worm your lorikeets especially aviary birds and birds with grass dirt floors. Worming can be done with a very lorikeet friendly wormer purchased from your chemist. Combantrin. administered in the wet mix once a year. (after their moult and just before the breeding season) then repeat again in 10 days to 2 weeks after first dose.
• Chills – inadequate shelter / housing - being left in a direct draft.
• Cooking fumes – Teflon fumes – cigarette smoke – chocolate - coffee – alcohol -burning candles/incense – fly spray - Avocado to name a few can be highly detrimental to your pet some times fatal if consumed or inhaled.
• Iron storage disease ( Hemochromatosis ) This is a metabolic disorder when large amount of iron accumulates in the body tissue of the bird, eventually ending in death. ( this occurs when feeding a diet to high in iron )

Lorikeets generally keep good health if you notice anything out of the ordinary with your bird contact your vet or seek advice ASAP. Affordable to the average lory lover, easy to breed normally good parents, and as for pets they are a delightful little package to behold.

They are becoming increasingly popular with lorikeet lovers in New Zealand. The personality of these little guys gives the owner hours of endless enjoyment. A mutual lorikeet lover said to me the other day “ when ever I am feeling down or blue I go and stand outside my flight of juvenile musk’s and watch them play and cavort like there is no tomorrow, I go back inside after having a good laugh and with a smile left on my dial. That about sums it up doesn’t it!!!

Kellie Stewart
Lory-Link

Last modified by D Dix on 20 December 2001.