Eastern & Pennant Rosella
Common Names: The Golden Mantle is often referred to as the Eastern Rosella and the Crimson also called the Pennant's Rosella.
Description: In the normal form of the Golden Mantle red covers the nape of the neck and extends to the upper breast. The cheek patches are white. Black feathers edged with golden yellow cover the back producing a pearling effect while the wing converts and tail are a bright blue. A green suffusion can be seen on the rump, abdomen and tail. Hens are often slightly duller in color. In the normal form of the Crimson Rosella a crimson red covers the the head, abdomen and rump. The back is pearled in black feathers edged with red. The cheek patches, wing converts and tail are bright blue. Juvenile Crimsons will have almost totaly green feathers until they molt into adult plumage which can take up to 15 months.
Size: The average size for the Crimson Rosella is 14 inches (36cm) while the Golden Mantles are smaller at about 12 inches (30cm).
Origin: Both species originate from Southern Australia and have since been introduced in New Zealand and Britain.
Sexing: Sexing young birds can prove difficult and DNA sexing may be the only way to know for sure at a young age. However birds at least 9 months old can be visualy sexed. There is a noticable difference in the Crimsons as the mature male has a much broader head and bigger beak. The Golden Mantles can be a little harder to sex by head and beak size as the male's is only slightly bigger. In mature Golden Mantle hens of the normal form you can see a white striping under the wing feathers but this does not hold true when dealing with all the Golden Mantle mutations.
Mutations/Sub-species: There are a variety of beautiful Golden Mantle Rosella Mutaions including Pastel, Opaline (Firey), Cinnamon and Lutino. These mutations can be combined to produce further mutations such as Cinnamon-Lutino or by far the most striking Rubino which is a combination of Opaline and Lutino. Triple mutations such as Cinnamon-Rubino are also now being established. The Crimsons also have a few mutation color mutation such as Blue, Yellow, Lutino and Silver.
Diet: A good Rosella diet should consist of canary seed, a mixture of millets, sunflower and safflower. Most people will use a Cockatiel seed mix with added Canary seed. They also enjoy fresh fruits & veggies such as apples, blackberries, oranges, cucumbers, sweet potato and mango. Sprouted seeds, kale, boiled egg can also be offered. I find that our Crimson Rosellas tend to totaly devour the fresh foods while the Golden Mantles will take bits and pieces leaving leftovers.
General Care: These birds love to bathe and should be provided fresh water to do so.
Compatibility: Males are very much aggressive towards other males exspecialy in the presence of a hen. Young birds should be seperated from the parents as soon weaned to prevent parental aggression. If you house pairs seperatly in side-by-side flights you may want to place solid dividers between the flights as this will help a great deal with aggression. It is not wise to house this spieces with others.
Housing: Rosellas do best in an aviary setting or long flight cages as they are avid flyers. Single pets can be housed in med. size parrot cages as long as they are allocted time each day out of the cage.
Song: Though they do not have a true song they do have several melodious calls. Similar to a louder Red Rump it is much more pleasent then the shrill & harsh sound of Conures, Cockatoos or Macaws. Rosellas are not known for much talking ability but they can mimic whistles and songs.
Breeding: The Rosella breeding season normaly ranges from October-March. Established pairs can prove prolific producing on average two-three clutches per season. When courting the male will bow forward low on the perch while sounding out the mating calls. If approved the hen will do the same and they can often be seen feeding each other before mating. The hen will lay and incubate 3-7 eggs for 20 days before they begin to hatch if fertile. After hatching chicks will leave the nest at about 6 weeks old. Some breeders prefer to pull babies at 2-3 weeks old to handfeed. This will give the parents more time to begin on another clutch. Handfed Rosellas can still be a bit flighty and care should be taken to insure the wings stay clipped to avoid them harming themselves. They will also need daily attention to remain tame or will quickly revert.
Price List: Add $25.00 per bird for DNA sexing.
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ROSELLA PARAKEETS
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SPECIES/MUTATION
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Price Each Parent Raised
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Price Each Handfed
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$175.00 Each
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$200.00 Each
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$200.00 Each
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$225.00 Each
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$200.00 Each
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$225.00 Each
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$300.00 Each
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$325.00 Each
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$400.00 Each
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$425.00 Each
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$250.00 Each
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$275.00 Each
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$350.00 Each
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$375.00 Each
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