renee

I like her very much Dave, I hope you breed something like her again Time for update photos?

Well hello nice little grey! I am really looking forward to seeing how your little ones moult out. Please do updates.

I am going to get real excited when I see one with my own eyes Who is getting all the glory for "discovering" it? or is it more than one person ... I couldn't work that one out.

No worries, I am happy if she didn't Maybe I'll get some chicks out of her yet ... or else she will be a valuable foster mum.

Yes I did! The Grey hen that was Red rung. She prolapsed when she was in with my Super Albino ... well I believe she did - there was blood all over the perch. She went into a hospital cage and made a remarkable recovery. The egg she popped out was very coarse and pitted and obviously scraped her innards on the way out. I then put her in with Magic and she laid just one egg in the nest box so she ended up raising 3 foster chicks. Then she moved into the Baby aviary with Magic and a week or so afterwards I noted an egg under the perches ... I assume it was hers 'cause th eldest chick was only about 6 weeks old.

Thanks Gina I really enjoy the way you judge with the write up for each bird.

Matt that is a very good result, congratulations. I have heard of this Turbobooster product. I was wondering if you could tell me more. For example do you mix it into the seed? and can you do a big batch and feed to outside aviary birds or not?

Technically today is the last day of my Breeding Journal. Yes I have been a bit slack lately ... you know how it is, when everything is going well there is little to say except "touch wood" and fingers crossed" things stay that way! But any way I am going to endeavor to provide an overview of sorts and this may take a few days as I go reviewing things. So this year I increased the number of Breeding Cabinets to 37 and used Fussy Cat Litter aka Attapulgite in the bottoms and also in the nest boxes although half way through I started adding Flakey Bran to soften the laying surface and hopefully reduce the number of addled eggs. I have decided that from now on I will use both again and the addition of Flakey Bran is a good idea. In August I judged all my birds in Classes and then popped them in-together in Holding Cabinets for almost 2 weeks where they bonded. I still like this way of doing things and will do it again. Although next year I am going to pay more attention to whether they are properly in condition. If there is anything I will take away from this year's failed season is to remember to vent pluck the cocks and hens before putting into the Holding Cabinets and then again before they go into the Breeder Cabinets. I still like using Muscle XL Protein Powder in the Soft Food for breeding pairs, Breeding Aid, Iodine, Calcium Supplements, Murphy's Minerals, Vitamin B12 and a good quality seed and fresh veggies. This year I bred 55 chicks of which 53 have fledged which is a simply dreadful outcome, bearing in mind that from 37 cabinets there were 18 fertile nests - barely 50% I discovered that in spite of my distaste for Opalines a number of my cock birds are split for it as well as most of my Recessive Pieds being actually Cinnamon And while some may mature into nice show budgies most of them will just be okay ...

Another day and all is good in BudgieLand! i have decided not to move the newly fledged chicks from the Cobalt Dommie Pied and Sky hen and just leave the 2 of them in the Breeder Cabinet for now, as the hot weather returns I will put them into the Kindie Cage but for now I am going to leave them there. Same as with all the chickies in the Kindie Cage, I know there are some that are ready for outside but I am going to hold off till I absolutely have to, ie a few days before the next heat wave. In the meantime I managed to get some half decent photos of a few of my Adult birds .... as most of them didn't breed for me this year it is just a sad reminder of what could have been ... No trick photography, they actually look even better most of the time. My Double Factor White Spangle boy ... 5 chicks last year, this year zilch The best of my Armstrong line .... filled a couple of eggs and then addled them Well I can't speak for her but this boy did give me 1 chick to Medusa I reckon this guy has Mega ... moping over the perch NOT a happy Chappy I know it's not a good photo but here is my Violet split Opaline guy ... note he has flights just not much of a tail These are the guys that bother me .... the ones that sit on the aviary floor!!!

Well no photos today I'm afraid and more to the point no real news at all ... Everyone except the Sky hen has had a 2 week break since the last round of meds and we are set to have relatively mild conditions for the next bit so I have decided to give everyone a treatment of Fungilin to combat Megabacteria. This is prompted 'cause I am specifically concerned about a number of Adult birds who are underweight and still hanging around the seeder dish.... which are signs for Mega, at least as I see it. I am skeptical about being able to completely eradicate Mega but I do think you can significantly reduce it with a well timed course of Fungilin and then manage it with apple cider or Megamix/KD Powder in the water. Any way I can't even remember when I last treated my flock for it so now is as good a time as ever.

Oh hmm well that's a tricky one, how about my Albino line, oh yes and Lutes didn't so too well and come to think of it neither did my Double Factor Spangles - White and Yellow nor did the Recessive Pieds either or my Normal Green line .... In fact NONE of my top birds did the business for me this year AT ALL. ps it is a bit young to be developing a cyst don't you think?!

Are you serious! How many have you had that with? Mind you non-layers is totally different to "nest bound hens", the ones who camp out in the nest box .... Gerald Binks has a lot to say about how to fix that in "The Challenge".

Yes it is very unusual to have so many not lay but in my opinion a hen will always lay unless something is stopping her, ie. she is an internal egglayer or has a tumor inside obstructing the egglaying process or alternatively she is an egg eater. I have never heard of any other nutritional reasons or environmental ones either. What does the person you bought these eggless wonders off say? And exactly how old were they when you bought them? I have become highly suspicious of "untried" hens .... I perfer to buy "maidens", ie. no older than 18 months, as I always wonder exactly why someone would not try to breed with a nice looking hen .... or maybe they have and after a little bit put them into the cull cage for someone else to have a go at

Well I haven't really checked on the Breeding Room birds yet today 'cause I have been busy taking more "better" photos of the Young Ones. This is what they get every day - A dish of Budgie Breeder seed, a dish of Hulled Oats, Soft Food and Greens and fresh gum leaves on the week end The broccoli is popular so too the Soft Food they don't really go for the Hulled Oats much ... and I think they just walk around in the Budgie seed but far and away the most sort after item on the menu are MY SHOES

Yes I bred the parents and grandparents and in fact they come out of Dominant Pieds. I understand the Recessive gene and more to the point this is the first year I have bred splits in the Recessive Pied line so there is absolutely NO CHANCE that either parents are carrying the Recessive Pied gene. However, I did consult with a friend of mine who does breed a lot of Dommie Pieds and she has seen this before, ie. the Dommie Pied mark on the back of the head (approximating a 20 cent coin) on a Normal bird. She says it disappears with the first moult so WE SHALL SEE!!!