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Hi Noddy your green bird is an opaline light green hen. Personally I wouldn't put a nest box in yet and if you do you should remove the other hen as she will try to breed too. I would give them another couple months to mature fully then there is less likelyhood of problems. Cheers Jenny

Hi Kathryn don't panic just take out the nest box and rest them for six months to give them all a chance to develope an immunity. Let all of your others finish their round, they may or may not be affected then rest them all together. It happens often when you get together birds from different collections and it seems to be more common in the hotter months. Your babies should grow their feathers back and be able to fly fine. Hopefully by next spring they should be all ready to breed again. Cheers Jenny

It will depend on what genetics Sonic may be hiding but all of your babies will be opaline and all of them will be blue. Tilly looks skyblue so you should get both skyblues and cobalts. Cheers Jenny

Hi Kathryn they usually take about a week to wean but it can vary. It does look like you have a double factor spangle there but you can't tell what the other one is going to be yet except that it is not a double factor spangle. You can see dark pin feathers coming through, as it get older if it's two central tail feathers are clear that indicates spangles. Cheers Jenny

Hi L_J if Sonic is the blue bird in the middle of the photo he is an opaline cobalt or maybe violet sometimes the photos don't show the colour properly. Cheers Jenny

Hi Flip, so long as it is still not bleeding there should be no problem. He may have damaged a growing or blood feather if it was still bleeding you would be best to pull it out. Just keep on watching them like you are. Cheers Jenny

Hi Gaby, sounds like he is on the improve. I have had cockatiels and budgies seize after being netted and held obviously from the stress this causes and those birds have been fine but I am extra careful when handle them the next time. Cheers Jenny

Hi Coffeegirl, Vetafarm make a product for scaleyface now so if you know of someone locally who supplies their product you should be able to get it, not sure it's name though. If you do a search on scaley face I'm sure it Is mentioned somewhere. As for the pigeon fly the lice and mite spray should kill it. It does sound like the bird may be unwell and it wouldn't hurt to separate it from the others to somewhere warm , while you catch it you can feel it's breast muscle to see if it is underweight. Cheers Jenny

Hi he looks like he could be a double factor spangle as the colour on him is subtle. Cheers Jenny

Hi Karen, looks like a male to me also, he definitely isn't a dark eyed clear he has to much body colour. He looks opaline spangle of some kind either dilute or cinnamon or he may even be a double factor spangle with very heavy suffusion, he is lovely. Cheers Jenny

Oops my bad sorry I'll fix it. That's the problem with answering on my phone LOL. Cheers Jenny Well I tried to edit the other posts but it will only let me edit this last one sorry.

Hi m.tiba and welcome, hope you enjoy the site there is plenty of info to sift through. We all love to see photos on here too. Cheers Jenny

Hi Noddy your first male has classic dominant pied pattern and also has blue in his cere by the look of it and I think I can see a hint of an iris ring around his eye but it's very faint. Recessive pieds have solid coloured eyes. Your second male is a bit harder because he looks to have solid coloured eyes and has a pink cere, but some dominant pieds can have this and also a combination of both pieds will too. When you look at the pied baby from pair two it is definitely a dominant pied so dad must at least be dominant pied for him to be one. Hope this makes sense. Cheers Jenny

Hi Noddy, You have some beautiful babies there. Both of your males are actually dominant pieds though the second one may be a combo of both. The pied baby in the first clutch though looks like it could be a recessive pied so both parents may be split. The hen of your second pair is a spangle as well and looks cobalt in the photo. All of your ino babies will be hens. You have done a great job and have some lovely babies to show for it. Cheers Jenny

Hi Coffeegirl, Sounds like what you had was a pigeon fly, they are a black flat fly that crawl in and out of the feathers. Your mite spray should do the job there, you don't often see them on budgies but I have on occasions. Your mite spray won't stop the crustiness on the ceres though. You will need ivermectin for that which sounds like what the vet gave you last time. Cheers Jenny

Hi Noddy, You might get the odd hen that will lay wherever they can find a corner but that is when you know they are ready to be put into a cage. Your hens may be fertile to any male in the aviary for the first round though. Cheers Jenny

Thanks Robyn and Jimmy. I do have lots of birds about 40 species of parrots plus some finches, canaries and doves. They tend to keep me very busy lol. I had my nephew pull the back off my computer to clean any dust out but he couldn't get to the fan so it will have to see a pro one day I suppose. Cheers Jenny

It is hard to say what they will do, they may just trash the eggs and start again it will depend on how well they except their new surroundings. I would stick a male with your lone female as she may not have mated with anyone. Hopefully some might choose to sit for you if they stop sitting or show no interest for a week make sure you remove any old eggs so they can start again. Good luck. Cheers Jenny

Hi Kathryn, I think chick one is also an opaline due to the lack of barring on it's head and some body colour through it's wings. It seems to be similar to mum but not violet. Chicks 2 and 4 do look like greywings on my monitor as well maybe they are both cinnamon greywings??? Cheers Jenny

Congratulations the credit is all yours and your birds as well lol. You took the time to get the information and gained a new family in the process well done. Cheers Jenny

Thanks guys i've been meaning to post it for a while but my computer heats up and shuts down on me and it particularly doesn't like photobucket. As it is I had to put it to sleep halfway through to let it cool down or I would of lost it all lol. Cheers Jenny

That's a good start anyway. Cheers Jenny

Hi it's a hard one he looks like maybe he is a lightly marked recessive pied, if he was a dutch pied I think he would have a blue cere. Has he got solid eye colour? Cheers Jenny

Hi CasB, That size cage should be fine for 2 budgies and you would be better to buy them from the same place then they won't have to be quarantined from each other and two boys will get along fine. Cheers Jenny

Hi Everyone just thought i'd share in my food preparation for all of my birds. I breed a variety of different parrots and finches and they all get a share of soft food particularly when breeding. I start off by soaking a mix of pigeon seed with extra oats, plain canary,sunflower,white millet and mung beens in a bucket along with a cup of rice. I just cover well with water and let soak for 24 hours. Then I boil some eggs for about half an hour to kill any bugs they may have. I mix the eggs with egg and biscuit crumble, shells and all plus some extra calcium powder in a food processor. Then I rinse the seed mix thoroughly under tap water, I use a sink strainer with mine but a fine strainer will do the job for small lots. After the seed has drained well I add some pellets like south american or paradise pellets from vetafarm and more calcium powder the one I use is D Nutrical. Then I mix it all through. Next I soak some sultanas and add some peas, corn and carrots frozen vegetables with extra peas and corn. Then I chop up whatever fresh fruit and vegetables I can get a hold of cheaply and mix all together with the drained thawed vegies. Then I mix it all together and it is ready to serve along with the egg and biscuit mix I then put the mix into containers of either 2 or 4 kilos and top with the egg and biscuit and freeze for using daily. I make up enough for between 1 and 4 weeks worth depending on how much mixture i've made. When I need it I either take it out for thawing in the morning or I thaw it in the microwave. Most of my birds polish off all but husks and crumbs and since i've been feeding like this I get large clutches and well fed babies so it is worth the effort. Cheers Jenny