[Kate]

You will probably hate me. I have them wild and breeding in my back yard and all over the neighbourhood. They come down onto the footpath in front of my place eating the grass seeds. There is regularly about 8 pairs that come down and feed there and across the road. I have even had to shoo them off my driveway to get my car in they have gotten so used to me. There are not as many as there where when I moved here over 20 years ago, then it was not unusual to see 30 or 40 in my backyard. I have kept a few of them over the years but only as breeders never as pets. They also make marvelous fosters. I have even known of one pair that raised a baby Alexandrine up to 2 weeks when it was taken for hand raising. They hatched the egg out and fed the baby beautifully. I know of one Cockatiel breeder who used to put the cockatiel eggs under them to hatch them out when the Albino's first came to Australia and the parents were not that experienced. The Red Rumps always hatched the eggs out and fed them for 3 weeks and they were then taken for handraising to ensure that they got plenty of healthy albino babies.