Jenday Conure ~ Janday Conure
Jandaya Conure ~ Yellow-headed Conure
Family: Psittacidae

Scientific Name: Aratinga jandaya

Distribution:

These birds are native to northeastern Brazil.

Description:

The Jenday Conure is a small member of the parrot family, and is very colorful. The head and upper breast are a golden yellow that blends into a reddish gold on the lower abdomen. Sometimes they will have an olive yellow breast. The wings, upper tail, and upper back are green moving into an orangish red on the lower back. The underside of the tail is black and the under side of the wings are an orangish red. The tip of the tail and the outer wing feathers are blue. The beak and the feet are black.

A mature Jenday Conure reaches its full coloration at about two years of age. A younger bird will have duller coloration; a paler yellow head and neck with some greens, and a paler red on the breast.

Size - Weight:

The Jenday Conure will get up to 11 4/5" (30 cm), 4.4 ozs for the male and

5 ozs for the female (125g -142 g).

Care and feeding:

A roomy cage is required unless the bird is to be let out for extended periods. Many birds can spend most of their time on a play pen or parrot perch. We have housed our jendays in 4x2x2 cages, but i personally feel that the ideal cage size would be 6x3x3 with the nest box on the outside.They eat a variety of sprouts, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and commercial pellets, as well as the same nutritional foods humans eat I have seen through personel experience they are not very prolific eaters like other parrots.

Social Behaviors:

They live in pairs or small groups of 10 to 15 birds. They love to play, and can be fairly destructive if not watched. They can also be rather noisy. Despite all this, they make a real fun pet and are very popular.

Breeding/Reproduction:

They breed readily if they have the right size aviary. Though these birds will need to be either DNA or surgically sexed for a certain determination, the iris of the female is light brown and they have a grayish white eye ring while the male's iris is darker and his eye ring is pure white.

The hen lays three to four eggs which are incubated for about 26 days. Both parents will feed the young. The young fledge (leave the nest) after about two months. The ideal nest box size should be 21 1/2" x 10" x 11" (55x25x28 cm), with a 2 3/4" opening (7 cm) which the parents will chew on and alter it to their liking.In some cases the first few clutches can be infertile.

There has been a hybrid conure produced by crossing a Jenday Conure with a Nanday Conure.

Potential Problems:

As with most Aratinga species, this bird can be noisy.

See About Conures: Potential Problems for information on illnesses.

Availability:

This bird is generally available. They can usually be found at pet stores and reputable breeders.