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

Well first of all I need to rant a little bit. I had 3 budgies in a flight cage and my new budgie in a round dome cage. Yep I now know round cages suck for birds. Over the weekend I took my new budgie out for a fly around while I went to clean the cage. Disaster :rip: I sprayed the cage with water to clean it and the bottom of the cage came off. Apparently it was glued on with water soluble glue. @%$@&^%*^ stores who sell junk. Well as you can guess that has totally blown ANY chances of continuing quarantine. Still introductions have gone well. Maybe a little too well. Sooty turns out was in breeding condition and Phil was more than happy to change his attentions from his long time love to the new bit of young fluff. (I am getting to the question) I noticed this morning that Phil was hopping onto Sooty's back but that was as far as he was getting. He seemed to have no clue what to do from there. (Yay the question) Will Sooty think she has been mated anyway and lay ?

Was reading through this topic and noticed that people are giving their budgies white rice. I would suggest a change to brown rice. Its not a huge difference but I believe it is a little better for them

Thanks everyone I was pretty sure that it wasn't toxic as the local birds nest in the tree or use the smallest twigs to make nests. However Tea tree oil is apparently toxic so I thought best to double check. I did find some tips here http://solwayparrotclub.co.uk/tips.htm with one in particular on red mites using tea tree oil which seems to contradict the toxicity of tea tree oil somewhat. It seems to me that a lot of contradictory information is online. It sure is nice to be able to ask people who have hands on experience and get several views.

I have a large tea tree (Leptospermum Petersonii - Lemon-scented Tea Tree) growing in my back yard and was wondering if anyone knows if it is safe ? I've been searching but I can't seem to find the information.

Well if I'm right about what the concave is made from then then these aren't a good idea

Well hopefully next month I will have the cash to get my new cage. It will be 178cm(70")h x 100cm(40")w x 60cm(24")d. It will have 4 budgies(Maybe 6.My local breeder has some beaut clearwing spangles ) in it for sure. I gather this would be too small to add 1 or 2 tiels to ? Anyway thanks for all the tips. Now I just have to let the family know that we need a second cage if we want any 'tiels

Ah well such is life. Thanks for the FAQ excerpt. I found that after I posted. Bea what size is "a nice large cage for a tiel" ? Yep I was already aware of the charming nature of lovebirds. I kept a pair a while back, but thanks for the reminder.

Hehe Well this certainly became a confusing topic . Initially all I wanted was a picture of a hen with a cere that showed the crusty look of breeding condition as opposed to scaly face. It seems to now have become a debate? on when to introduce hens and cocks. Is that not a separate topic ? (Laughing out loud) You guys have so much information to pass on it seems to pour forth of its own accord

I was wondering what other birds can be safely housed with budgies aside from more budgies. I was thinking cockatiels as I have seen in members sigs that they have them together yet I saw this from the Australian National Cockatiel Society so now I have no idea. I was thinking of cockatiels as I thought hand tamed ones would be nice for my 5 yr old as my budgies are totaly antisocial, and they are much smaller than a Cocky which is what he wants. (He thinks the crests are great ) Any advice would be appreciated. (Sorry if this is in the wrong area )

Errm Excuse my ignorance but isn't the concave made from MDF ? Isn't that toxic ?