melbournebudgies

I agree with Kaz they can do quite well with one leg. I had a lovebird with only a stump and he used to climb all over his cage including upsode down, never bothered him in the least.

18 days isn't premature though...

He has never seemed particularly keen on his vegies(typical little boy :rofl: ) but as Jimmy discovered he's a sucker for the oats. His cage was next to my little tame girls cage and she's a total sucker for her fruit and veg, especially peas and apple so I had hoped he might get the idea and copy but it seems he'd prefer his oats :mallet: I don't think he'll ever be a huge bird as far as show birds go but I suspect that it is more to do with a rough start and hand raising which tends to result in a smaller bird as well as opposed to genetics. i think in the future he would be expected to throw larger babies when paired.

Sounds like the ones in the other nest may not be fertile, have you candled the eggs?

Thought I'd clear up the health concerns for everyone. The babies have NEVER had any contact with any of the ill birds, they are kept inside the house on their own with my tame hen and the sick birds were only ever in the garage. I of course have practiced safe handling so that nothing is passed on by my handling of ill birds, etc None of the other budgies in the breeding area or any of my other larger birds became ill either, only the ones in my large aviary where the birds from the dodgy breeder ended up. The little grey guy's issues are under checking by the vet at the moment but he believes it is a kidney problem, possibly related to being underfed for a few days before he was brought in for handrearing. He has always had a weak left leg and dropped wing on that side, has been checked for contractable illnesses and cleared. Hope that helps

It was awesome Jimmy, we had that done at about 17 weeks through one of the private mobs so that's about three weeks ago now. I was amazed though when I went for my hospital US on Monday, not only did she do 3D but I also got about 40 minutes of DVD as well and all I paid was $20 for the DVD!!! Didn't get that last time around, if I'd known that was going to happen I wouldn't have paid for the 17 week one. Celeste is due on the 21st of September, I'll be 20 weeks on Monday so we are basically half way which is pretty cool, kind of a milestone. I start to relax as of about 25 weeks, that's the point at whichpremmies have a pretty good survival rate so I feel like we are home safe then. Don't ask me why I worry both my boys were oversue but hey worrying is a mums perogative :question:

Here's our little girl, Celeste

I have an ultrasound picture, I'll put a thread in general

21st of September, I'm almost exactly half way now Pie

I assume you mean beak and not back? A photo would really help.

Thanks Maesie, it's a bit of a blur as to who is lost and who isn't as so many looked similiar but I could always tell the difference by comparing them, however sadly I'm pretty sure Tweet Tweet did pass away, I will know for sure once they are all looking well as other than the very different ones they don't really look themselves at the moment still a bit fluffed and skinny. Once the birds have recovered more I plan to move them into a smaller aviary(still isolated from my other birds) and do a full disinfect of the large aviary and then leave it empty for a while to make sure there is no chance of disease being passed on. I suspect that for the time being I will then use my large flight for some of my other birds and not get any more budgies until after we move house at the end of the year. Anyway, we are getting on with things, it's all you can do really. We did recieve some nice news today that we are having a girl so that has perked me up a little today :sad:

:sad: trust me that helped

Nope MM, my little men are Alex and Max :sad:

Hi all, it's been a while sorry I haven't updated. Been feeling pretty upset about the whole budgie thing and have also had my four year old in for tonsil surgery and he's been a mess ever since so my brain is fried. We also isolated mega dn canker here too, the birds crashed REALLY quickly here, lost huge numbers in the space of a couple of days. Out of an original flock of 70+ I have 14 left :sad: , the ones that are left are still not out of the woods yet but slowly seem to be improving. Interestingly as far as proportions go a larger proportion of the birds from the aforementioned breeder survived than from my pre existing stock, thereby further cementing my belief that it was the birds from this breeder that caused the issue. As with AV I had no real concerns about the birds but still followed full quarantine of course. At this stage I have decided to take a bit of a break from budgies other than to support my small remaining flock, both for the ongoing health of my flock and also for myself, I'm just feeling like I kind of need to grieve the loss of so many birds, many of which were very special to me. I lost two very friendly little guys who would talk to me wheneer I went out there and also lost others close to my heart including gorgeous Ozzie and AVs bird Lucy (sorry AV ) I'm sure I will build my flock again in the future when the time is right but right now it's just too sad.