Breeding hummingbirds in captivity is possible, but it can be quite challenging. Hummingbirds have very specialized needs when it comes to their environment, diet, and breeding behaviors. With careful planning and preparation, some hobbyists have had success with captive hummingbird breeding, but it requires a lot of time, dedication, and expertise.
What are the challenges of breeding hummingbirds in captivity?
There are several key challenges faced when trying to breed hummingbirds in captivity:
- Creating a suitable environment – Hummingbirds need an environment that closely mimics their natural habitat. This means providing appropriate lighting, humidity, plants for perching/nesting, and sufficient space for flying and territorial displays.
- Meeting their nutritional needs – Hummingbirds have very high metabolisms and need constant access to energy-rich nectar and small insects. Replicating their diverse wild diet is difficult.
- Encouraging natural courtship behaviors – Hummingbirds engage in elaborate courtship rituals that involve aerial displays by the male. Captive settings often lack the space and environmental cues to stimulate breeding behavior.
- Nesting requirements – Hummingbirds are particular about nest materials and placement. Meeting these nesting needs and protecting the tiny eggs/chicks is tricky in captivity.
- Preventing imprinting – Young hummingbirds imprint on their caregivers, which can prevent them from learning natural behaviors. Extra care must be taken to minimize imprinting.
- Susceptibility to stress – Hummingbirds are highly sensitive creatures and can easily become stressed by improper care, which can lead to health issues and breeding difficulties.
Overcoming these obstacles takes extensive experience, knowledge, time, and resources. Even seasoned aviculturists report low success rates and high mortality when attempting to breed hummingbirds.
What is needed to breed hummingbirds in captivity?
Here are some of the main things required for a suitable captive breeding setup for hummingbirds:
- Enclosure – A large, customized aviary or greenhouse at least 6 feet in height and preferably with outdoor access. Excellent ventilation and easy cleaning are essential.
- Feeders – Multiple specialized hummingbird feeders providing fresh, high-energy nectar (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) changed several times daily.
- Food – A varied diet including nectar substitutes, edible flowers, pollen, sprouts, insects, spiders, etc. A nutritional powder supplement is also recommended.
- Water – A clean water source for drinking and bathing, preferably using a misting system.
- Perches – An abundance of flowering plants and secured twigs/branches for perching and territorial display sites.
- Nesting – Natural woven nesting materials like plant down and feathers or specialty pre-made nests.
- Climate – Careful climate control to maintain appropriate temperatures, humidity, rainfall, and daylight hours.
- Permits – Any required state and federal permits for keeping and breeding native bird species.
Even with exhaustive efforts to provide perfect captive conditions, hummingbirds may simply refuse to breed. Some species also have specialized requirements that make breeding them particularly difficult.
What is the breeding process like for hummingbirds?
In the wild, the breeding process for hummingbirds involves the following stages:
- Courtship – Males perform elaborate aerial displays and mating rituals to attract females.
- Nest building – Using spider silk and downy plant materials, the female constructs a tiny cup-shaped nest to house the eggs.
- Eggs – The female lays 1-3 pea-sized white eggs over 2-3 days, often camouflaging the nest after.
- Incubation – The female incubates the eggs for about 2 weeks before they hatch.
- Hatching – The helpless, almost featherless chicks hatch over 1-2 days.
- Care – The female alone feeds and cares for the chicks as they grow and fledge in 2-4 weeks.
- Fledging – The rapidly developing chicks leave the nest and learn to fly at around 3 weeks old.
This entire breeding process must be carefully replicated in captivity while minimizing any disruptions to natural hummingbird behavior. Parent birds may abandon nests or chicks if they feel stressed or disturbed during the sensitive breeding period.
What are the stages of raising hummingbird chicks?
If hummingbird eggs successfully hatch in captivity, hand-raising the chicks is extremely challenging. Here are the main stages of hummingbird chick development:
Stage | Age | Characteristics & Care Needs |
---|---|---|
Hatching | 0-2 days | – Eyes closed, sparse gray down – Constant brooding & feeding needed |
Pin feathers | 3-7 days | – Pins begin emerging from skin – Rapid growth requires high nutrition |
Quills | 1-2 weeks | – Sheathed feathers appear – Begins alertness & activity |
Plumage | 2-3 weeks | – Feathers unsheathe & lengthen – Greater food intake needed |
Fledging | 3-4 weeks | – Full adult plumage develops – Starts flying short distances |
During this rapid one month growth period, hummingbird chicks are extremely vulnerable. Their survival depends on an expert caregiver providing meticulous care and meeting their changing dietary and developmental needs.
What are best practices for hand-raising hummingbird chicks?
Successfully hand-raising newborn hummingbirds to fledging is an immense undertaking. Here are some essential best practices:
- House chicks in a heated brooder kept at 80-90°F with good air flow.
- Feed an expertly formulated diet using a specialized hand-feeding syringe every 15-20 minutes from sunrise to sunset.
- Gently stimulate after feeding to encourage proper digestion and elimination.
- Monitor weight and development closely; make careful diet adjustments.
- Provide nesting material once feathers emerge to avoid splay leg.
- Introduce natural flowers and feeders around 2-3 weeks old.
- Allow short supervised flying periods once feathers fully develop.
- Gradually reduce human interaction to prevent imprinting.
- Get guidance from avian experts with hummingbird breeding experience.
Meeting the intense feeding schedule is often the biggest challenge during the first two weeks when chicks require feedings every 20 minutes from dawn to dusk. Care must become a round-the-clock commitment.
What should you feed baby hummingbirds?
Baby hummingbirds have very specialized dietary needs that change as they develop. Here are some recommended diet components:
- Nectar – Diluted nectar is the basis of the diet. A homemade 20% sugar solution can work initially. Later on, a commercial powdered nectar mix (Nekton-Nek or Lorikeet mix) is better since it adds key vitamins, minerals, and protein.
- Insects – Once pin feathers emerge, adding soft-bodied insects (like mealworms, bees, spiders) provides essential protein for growth. These can be chopped, crushed, or pureed based on age.
- Fruit – Thinly diluted fruit purees like banana, melon, and berries provide nutrients and variety.
- Calcium – Powdered calcium supplements support bone health and growth. This is especially key right before fledging.
- Supplements – Special supplements with additional vitamins, amino acids, and minerals help fill any nutritional gaps.
The exact diet proportions and feeding techniques need to be carefully researched before attempting to hand-raise hummingbird chicks. Work closely with an avian nutrition expert to formulate the proper diet plan.
What are the chances of survival for hand-raised hummingbirds?
Even with painstaking efforts by experienced caregivers, mortality rates are extremely high for hand-raised hummingbirds. Some reasons for the low survival include:
- Difficulty meeting the nearly constant intense feeding schedule
- Challenges providing the specialized high-protein diet
- Developmental issues like splay leg and feather problems
- High susceptibility to stresses and health problems
- Improper environment leading to respiratory infections or other illness
- Lack of guidance from the parent birds
- Imprinting on humans that hinders survival in the wild
One analysis showed that only 5% of hand-raised hummingbirds survived more than 2 months after fledging. Even experts report only 20-40% success rates despite using advanced avicultural techniques. The high mortality reflects how extremely difficult hummingbirds are to raise by hand compared to other common aviary species.
Can hand-raised hummingbirds survive in the wild?
Hummingbirds that manage to fledge successfully from hand-rearing can potentially be released into the wild. However, their chances of long-term survival are lower compared to parent-raised birds. Some considerations include:
- Care must be taken to avoid imprinting and ensure they do not associate humans with food and care.
- They may lack survival skills obtained from parent instruction after fledging.
- Release should occur before migration with ample time to acclimate and gain strength.
- Only birds raised from local wild parents should be released to ensure adaptation to that climate and ecosystem.
- They may not integrate with wild populations or properly migrate on their own.
- Tagging birds can help track post-release success, though many will not survive initial weeks.
- Working with wildlife experts provides the best guidance on minimizing risks and supporting adjustment to the wild.
While release can be attempted, the low odds of long-term survival make this an unreliable method for rebuilding wild hummingbird populations. Avoiding imprinting is key, but very difficult to fully prevent.
Can you keep hummingbirds as pets?
There are a few key considerations regarding keeping hummingbirds as pets:
- In the United States, it is illegal to keep any native hummingbird species as a pet under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act without special permits for educational or scientific purposes.
- In some countries, non-native species like hummingbirds may be kept as pets with proper housing. However, their specialized care makes them unsuitable pets for most owners.
- Breeding hummingbirds in captivity has very low success rates and high mortality even for experts. Hand-raising babies is extremely challenging.
- Hummingbirds are solitary, territorial wild animals that fare poorly in captive settings without meticulous care. They tend to be very sensitive and high-stress.
- Providing a natural diet, environment, space for flying, and social structure is nearly impossible in household settings.
- Imprinting on humans is likely and will prevent a pet hummingbird from ever being released to the wild.
Overall, hummingbirds do not make good pets for casual owners. And in many countries, it is illegal to keep native species. Backyard feeders are a much better way to attract and enjoy hummingbirds.
Conclusion
Breeding hummingbirds in captivity can be done, but presents immense challenges. Replicating their special environmental, social, dietary, and behavioral needs is extremely difficult. Even experts report low reproductive success and survival rates for hand-raised chicks. While a few hobbyists have managed to breed certain hummingbird species, it requires years of dedication, resources, and avicultural expertise. For casual owners, providing natural feeders and gardens to attract wild hummingbirds is recommended over attempting to keep them as pets or captive breeding.