The Musk lorikeet is one of three species belonging to the unpronounceable  genus Glossopsita, which means tongue and parrot.  The other two species sharing this genus are the little lorikeet and the purple crowned lorikeet.  There is an unwritten rule amongst those describing a new species or genus that the name given must be the most unpronounceable in the human language.

Housing:    

Four years ago we were offered a breeding pair of Musk lorikeets.  We purchased them not having an aviary ready for them.

Most literature suggested aviary sizes for these birds are a minimum of 2.4 long .9 wide and 1.8 high, or if it is suspended 1.2 high.  These birds had been breeding successfully in smaller suspended aviaries.  Matthew Vriends in his book, Lories and Lorikeets, suggested breeding most species of Trichoglosus in an aviary with a minimum length of 1.5, this species is not in the genus Trichoglosus but it is a smaller bird with the same energy levels.  We built a suspended aviary 1.7 long by .6 deep and 1.7 high with a closed shelter at one end, this measured .5 long, .6 from the top and the depth of the aviary (.6).

This may not be ideal in some cases but it worked well with this pair of birds.

I know of another breeder that has taken lorikeets out of large aviaries, because of the lack of breeding success and put them all into smaller aviaries with much better success.

Paignton Zoo in England successfully breed Eos species in a cage measuring 1.7 long, 1.5 high and .9 deep.  Another example is a pair of Red lories that were kept in a canary breeding cage measuring 1m long, .55 deep and .55 high inside a bird room simply because he didn’t have an aviary available at the time.  When the female started acting strangely a nest box was placed inside the cage.  Two eggs were laid and one chick was successfully hatched and raised, the next two eggs were infertile.  The following two eggs were fertile and the parents raised the chicks.  Fifteen young were successfully reared from that pair over a four-year period.

I am not suggesting that all of these conditions are ideal for breeding lories and lorikeets but there are no hard and fast rules as to the size an aviary must be to maintain and breed a specific species.

In our experience if a pair of Musk lorikeets are fed a healthy diet, are kept in clean conditions, have sufficient exercise and are happy with there surroundings they will readily breed.

Sexual differences:

Although sexual dimorphism is not marked and most authors describe sexes as being similar, it has become obvious during several years of keeping Musk lorikeets that there can be some colour variations between sexes.  The blue on the crown of the male is bluer than the female and it often extends further back.  This can be quite marked on some birds and is sometimes obvious in newly feathered chicks.  Red areas on the forehead and behind the eyes is often brighter in adult males than it is in the females.  This is not always the case; we have seen pairs that have no discerning colour variations.  It has been suggested that the red areas can be broader in the male. This is sometimes obvious on the forehead; in our experience both sexes vary considerably on the red side flashes and we have not been able to sex birds by this method.  The female will often have a smaller head than the male.  The cranium of the male is higher and broader above the eyes than the female.

Whether or not you can distinguish pairs from colouration or size, the most reliable method other than D.N.A. or surgical sexing is to spend some time closely observing the birds.  It will soon become obvious which birds are pairs, as they will spend a lot of time sitting together and preening each other.  The male is almost always dominant over the female.  We have however heard of birds displaying these traits and have turned out to be the same sex.

 During breeding season the males will display to the female.  He will sit higher than the female placing his neck      across the back of her neck while she will sit forward across the perch.  During courtship the male will bob up and down next to the female and will get to the stage were he will hop up and down in one spot with his pupils dilating and a lot of head bobbing.  This will often precede mating. 

 Breeding:

We use an 'L' shaped nest box measuring, 300mm high by 300mm long and 180mm deep, this is hung inside or outside of the aviary.  The 60mm entry hole is at the top of the nest box and a mesh ladder attached to the inside extends from the hole to the bottom.  This provides easy access for the parents and more importantly for the young to have easy access when it is time for them to leave the nest.  50mm of dry untreated wood chips are placed on the bottom of the nest box.

Musk lorikeets are sexually mature at 18 months of age, there have been some records of them breeding much earlier (see Kellie Stewarts article on Musk lorikeets, May/June 2001).  The breeding period starts in July and extends through until the end of January.  This is a very defined season for the Wellington area.  The Musk lorikeets will generally have three parent raised clutches per season.   The earliest that we have had eggs laid is the end of July (although this period varies in different parts of the country).

A shallow cavity is scratched in the wood chips, furtherest away from any light, that being from the entry hole. In several instances the cavity will disappear, the birds flattening the nesting material.  When the female is ready to lay she will once again excavate a small cavity and the first egg will appear within the next two to three days and the second generally two days later.  The first chick hatches between 23 to 26 days. This variation is probably due to fluctuations in ambient temperature.  To keep accurate breeding records regular nest box inspections must be made to determine when the eggs are laid and to make sure that they are being incubated. This also helps in deciding to pull chicks if the parents are not feeding them.  Some parents do not take too kindly to nest box inspection.  We have one male that will bite whether or not there are eggs or chicks in the nest.  Others will dive into the nest protecting their eggs.  Care must be taken that eggs are not broken when birds act in this way.  The best time to inspect the nest is when the parents are off feeding, and particularly if the parents can be isolated during this time.  In our experience birds always return to the nest and eggs or chicks have never been deserted because of an inspection.   The chicks remain in the nest for around 46 to 50 days after hatching.  Nest boxes should be cleaned at least 3 times during this period as the nest becomes quickly fowled by faeces.  Nest boxes can be taken from the aviary, the chicks put into a plastic container for a short time while the nest is being cleaned.  New wood chips replace the old nesting material.  This is best done on a warm day so that the chicks don't chill.  Although the parents may resent this intrusion they will immediately return to the nest when it is placed back into the aviary.  We have recently started to experiment with drilling five rows of 3mm diameter holes in the bottom of the nest box.  We have yet to discover how effective this will be in keeping the nesting material dry.

Most young Musk lorikeets are extremely capable flyers when they leave the nest and some care should be taken when approaching the aviary so that the nervous young don’t harm themselves by flying into the wire.  Young Musk lorikeets can be taken from their parents two weeks after fledging.  If the chicks are left with their parents they will still demand to be fed by them for quite some time.

Young birds soon learn from their parents to forage for themselves.  They also learn what to eat, we have a male that will take mealworms from the hand, hold it with one foot and by running his beak from the bottom of the grub to the top squeezing out the insides which are readily devoured.  The female soon learned to do the same and it wasn’t long before the chicks were also eating mealworms.  We also have musk lorikeets that will pick up a mealworm and drop it on the floor and others that wont touch them at all.  It is the same with different foods; none of ours will eat carrots.

 Fostering:

Up until this breeding season we have let Musk lorikeets raise there own young.  We recently had a pair of Musk lorikeets lay the first and second eggs as normal but none of the parents would incubate them. On the fifth day of the second egg being laid we decided to pull them, the only birds we had sitting on eggs at the time were Fischer’s lovebirds.  We put one egg under a pair of Fischer’s that already had four eggs of their own and were proven to be excellent parents.  The second egg was put under an unproven pair that had only one egg.  We checked the eggs after ten days, the second egg with the unproven Fischer’s proved to be clear but the first egg was fertile.  After 21 days the Fischer’s eggs started to hatch and on the 23rd day we had the Musk egg placed in an incubator.  It hatched three days later and is being hand reared at present.

We now take young from the first three nests at 11 to 15 days and have young handbrake.  We leave the fourth nest to be raised by the parents until fledging.

 Feeding:

When we received our first pair of Musk lorikeets they were being fed a diet of wet mix, nectar and fruit.  We carried on feeding the same diet for some time before it became painfully obvious that mixing this diet and refrigerating it was time consuming and messy.  The length of time that this mix could be kept, particularly in hot weather was very short lived.  We decided to go to a dry mix, one that we formulated and we have been keeping and breeding lories and lorikeets on for the last three and a half years.  The obvious advantages of feeding a dry mix is that the mixture doesn't ferment or grow bacteria during the hotter days, therefore several days supply can be kept in the aviary.  Faeces from the birds that have been fed on the dry mix are not as liquid as birds fed on wet mix.  Water is always available and fruit is fed regularly, mainly apples and pears. They are also occasionally fed peaches, grapes, sultanas, mangoes and oranges.  Feeding apples is particularly important when the young are in the nest.  Apple contains an enzyme called pectin; this has a constricting effect on the muscle of the crop forcing food into the digestive tract quicker.  Chicks with a faster emptying crop will have a more rapid growth rate.  We never feed citrus while they have newly hatched young because of the acidic content.  Corn and broccoli are their preferred vegetables.  Scientific research has proven avocados to be poisoness to parakeets.  It would be safe to assume this would also apply to lories and lorikeets.  Chick weed, silver beat, weed seeds and raraki are readily taken. 

There is some evidence that lorikeets are to some extent omnivorous in the wild eating insects and carrion.  Cooked chicken on the bone is readily taken by all of our lories and lorikeets.  Chicken, red meat and fish are all a good source of high quality protein.

Every two to three days they are given a simple nectar mix of honey and water.