Tal

In my search to understand parrot genetics I was given this link Genetics Calculator I thought that it may be useful for people here as well. Its certainly helped me to get a better understanding.

http://featherz.proboards33.com/index.cgi It may not be solely about 'tiels but it does have a lot of useful info.

Nope no roaches either. My partner loathes them and she makes me kill them on site. :ausb: hehe I gather you dislike roaches Elly? When I lived in New South Wales I had a large (About 2 inches) bush roach climb up my leg while I was in the shower. My partner pointed out to me this morning that I have 7 birds in various locations around the house and they are probably setting each other of at different times. For example ,Casper my 8 week old cockatiel, was not used to perching as he was left to sleep on the bottom of a cage and fell off his perch last night. This set off my other cockatiel which in turn set off the budgies. Guess I'm stuck with them having night frights now

I've had the budgie for about a month with no problems. I have a night light on for them but it doesn't help. No rodents running around and no possum. Funnily enough its the budgies setting of the cockatiels. The budgies start flapping about and set the cockatiels off.

One of my budgies has a serious issue with night frights. All my birds are indoors. The dog sleeps in his cage at night in a different room. I don't have any cats. I've tried covering them, uncovering them, partially covering them, leaving a lamp on all night and leaving it dark. Still no luck. Any other suggestions as to what to try?

Well I have since learnt not to visit breeders when you have money on you Still I got a pair of lovely birds. I was told both are clearwing spangles. The pictures aren't too fabulous though. Anyway this is the cock that I got (Blue for obvious reasons ) The picture doesn't really do him justice. The tail feathers that were cut off in picture are grey. This is the hen (Whispy because she only has a whisp of colour) She is grey and white. Its kind of hard to make out from that picture and she is a bit scruffy anyway. They would both be 9 - 10 months old.

I know the large pet store you are speaking of Angelic Vampyre. If the condition of the animals at that place were any condition to go by the vets would be out of business. Last time I was there, which was only a few weeks ago, it was disgraceful. I would go with Daz's suggestion. Word of mouth is a pretty powerful tool. Same thing with finding a good breeder I guess. If they are shonky in any way it gets around.

Hi welcome to the forum. I too am fairly new here and have found this forum and its FAQ's to be an invaluble source of information. Lovely birds that you have too I too used to do that until a couple of weeks agountil I read this http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...=136&artlang=en in the FAQ's. Hopefully the FAQ's will help you as much as they have me

Unfortunately she is not going to co-operate and pose for pictures with out giving her some valium or something to make her a little more mellow She is one of the 3 that I got from a free to good home ad. I was told 4 years but she isn't rung. One of the cocks is rung and he was an 02 bird but again thats no guarantee. She is a pet type. After trying to get pictures of her I did notice that she seems to be a little erm . . . portly. The person I got them from didn't let them out and most likely gave them an all seed diet. Hopefully things will improve over time now that she gets time out of the cage and a varied diet.

I'll see what I can do. She's not the friendliest bird though so it may take a while. (She likes to leap from her perch onto the back of my hand and bite the meaty part of my hand between thumb and forefinger. Unless she's not in the cage and then I have little chance to take pics.)

Not sure if this is health related but this seemed the most likely place to ask. One of my hens seems loathe to fly, has trouble keeping her balance when perching but shows all the signs of being in good health. Grooms regulary, eats well (Even feeds herself now instead of demanding the cocks do it). She is tame enough to perch on your hand but only if you give her the flat of your hand. If you give her just a finger she wobbles terribly. I have noticed that her tail in proportion to her body length is quite short. The two males tail is approximately 1/3 of total body length whereas hers is less. Would this cause the balance issues ?

The water pistols are a great idea but fill with a mix of water and either lemon juice or vinegar. Cats hate the smell of those and will get the message quick. It worked beautifully on my cat.

Sure thing I figure I have asked enough questions and got loads of info so it was the least I could do.

Well I took the plunge and gave them some branches. They loved it. Chewed the leaves and the seed pods to bits so I put thicker branches in for perches. What a mess they made. I thought they enjoyed stripping the bark off of Eucalypt :ausb: I'd recommend putting a couple of branches in if you can get your hands on it. Mine sure seemed to enjoy it

(Laughing out loud) Short and to the point Well nice to know they are just "practicing". Nope no nest boxes so the chances are pretty slim. Just wanted to know if she was likely to so I could adjust diet if needed. Thanks for the help