Sailorwolf

Hey you make me feel like some evil dictator, lol (Well I try not to be )

It is a tough decision. What you need to think about is what is his quality of life like? Is he enjoying himself at all? Then there is always that thought of, well what if they get better. It is so hard, having been in your situation before I know the feeling. You will know when the time is right. You will know when he doesn't feel like living anymore, you will feel it.

Very good article

That's a good idea

This site is a good one. Lots of funnies at I can has Cheezburger?

Good girl Neat! hehe There are some diseases that Vit A deficiency can cause, but I'm racking my brains to remember. Lol, I think on the contrary too much Vit A makes you go orange.

When an animal is split for something, it means they are carrying the gene, but you can't see it. That gene will always be recessive.

Newly hatched babies need feeding every 1.5 to 2 hours

Also, potential buyers will be less likely to buy birds from someone who has thrown stuff together. If you invest time and effort into improving the husbandry of your budgies, potential buyers will feel more at ease buying from you. Budgies bred too young will not mature properly because they are putting more energy into breeding than growing and developing. This means they will make less babies in total over their life time anyway. Because the reserves they should have been creating while they were growing are not there. They also put less energy into developing their immune system properly and thus will get sick much more faster and much worse than they normally would. This would mean that you will actually lose money becuase you will have to pay for more vet bills. This is all proven. Farmers have to deal with this reality everyday with their livestock. If you want to make money, I would advise you to get a part time job, at least you will earn something in the region of $150-200 a month rather than 8 dollars. I bred my budgies two years ago. I still have all the babies, but I have the room for them and some money saved away to look after them. I have not bred since, because it takes so long and I do not have the time or space to put into breeding them now. It takes about 3-4months from mating until you have budgies that can be sold. You have to have enough room to hold them as well as their parents and any other clutches they have. Parents can sometimes attack their babies too so you need another cage to hold them in once they have left the nest etc etc. You also must realise that all of your budgies may not get sold and what will you do if you have one that is born disabled? With younger parents, the chance of disabled babies is higher. No one will want to buy a disabled budgie when they could have a healthy budgie instead. So what will you do with disabled babies? We are trying to save you from heartache.

It is a bit stink that the few people who have created puppy mills and breed their pets irresponsibly have ruined it for those that breed them responsibly. I don't see anything wrong in breeding an animal if you are committed and care for them well. It is almost like they are demonising breeding animals. Once you buy the animal it is "yours" to do what you want with it. It is sad they see breeding as bad. They should instead discern between responsible breeders and irresponsible breeders.

Tee hee. Vetness!! You're welcome

I would advise you mesh in all the sides, including the bottom, with wire mesh, so that your birds don't chew through the greenstuff (they may take a while to realise what it is, but once they do, they will be out very quickly), so that other animals do not break in and also because that stuff is not very sturdy. Wire up the bottom, so that dogs, do not tip it over, so that the wind does not tip it over, so that rats do not get in. Cover the top of the cage with something solid, so that they will not get wet from the rain, so that wild birds will not poop on them and give them diseases. Raise them off of the soil floor so that they do not get parasites. Cover two sides, so that they have shelter from the elements and feel secure. Provide some natural perches to exercise their feet and prevent them from getting bumblefoot. Save up some more money, you'll need it. Wait for a good 9 months before considering putting a nest box in the cage. Provide some toys Invest in a small cage for vet visits and transport etc. Sorry, I couldn't see, was there a water bowl in there? Also do not keep their food box outside, wild animals will get into it, it will get rained on and go gross.

I was just thinking about you, just then, wondering where you've been lately. It's a real pity to see you go. You are a wealth of information. This forum will miss your advice.

Also by quarantining your new one. If you discover a disease on that bird, you only have to treat that bird. That equals less harm done, less suffering, less money to spend on treatment and less of a chance of you becoming infected. Hey, I'm sorry I haven't written that article . I will get onto it sometime. Life is quite hectic at the moment.

Quadruples it! I'd also like to add, that a budgie under 12 months is still maturing. By getting them to breed you are making them put the energy they were using to grow and mature into breeding. This results in smaller budgies, with less mature bodies. This happens in cows and heifers that are bred too early do not grow as big as other cows that were bred when they were older. This means you end up with a less robust animal, one that could not put as much energy growing up into its immune system, and it's health. These animals will also not produce as well in the future, be it chick raising, numbers of babies made (or *chuckle* milk and meat production in the cows, lol). Also, just because they have chosen to breed does not mean you should let them do it. If you had a 14 year old daughter, she might want to and may even engage in it, but she would be nowhere near mature enough to raise a child both physically and mentally.

Those are stress lines. Take her tail feather and curl the tip over to the base of the feather. If it breaks or bends with out bouncing back to its normal shape, it means your bird has either nutritional deficiencies, has been stressed (nutritional stress most likely) while making the feather or has been ill.

yes

Looks gorgeous

Just because they filter through their food and analyse it before they eat doesn't mean they can't choke. Anything that has a wind pipe can choke! For instance if it was playing with something and got a fright or fell over it could inhale it that easy. That's like saying humans can't choke because they chew their food before swallowing. From what I've heard Bird-paradise sounds like a competent bird owner and she was prepared to take her lorikeet to the vet. She said her dad was calling the vet while her lorikeet was fitting. Get a necropsy done and then you will know. He could have had a heart attack. Parrots get artherosclerosis (plaque in the coronary arteries) like humans do. Especially pet ones as they are not moving as much and eating lots. I think a deficiency in vit A does something in that area too. Strokes work in the same way heart attacks do, build up of plaque causes an infarction to a part of the brain resulting in death. What ever it was it was sudden as it woke him from sleep. He could possibly have had colic, but I think that would have taken much longer for him to die. He may not have been choking, as you described he was breathing at the end. I don't know if birds get them but he could have had a haemagiosarcoma that burst and caused him to bleed to death internally, pushing on his air sacs making it hard to breath. He could have had an aneurysm. All sorts

Just looked Ceftazidime up in my notes. It doesn't say much. Only that it is a 3rd generation Cephalosporin (it's used against gram negative and anaerobic bacteria). Cephalosporin is the name of the family of drugs that ceftazidime comes from. It has moderate action against gram positive bacteria, very good action against Gram negative bacteria and good against Pseudomonas. It says that third and forth generations should not be used in animals and only reserved in people to prevent the chance of resistance developing. Allergic reactions can occur and super-infections of the GI tract have been reported. (I would be expecting diarrhoea though if that was the case). But other than that it says nothing. If you are worried that the antibiotic has killed off intestinal flora, you could probably try giving him some plain yoghurt. to restore some goodies into his intestines. See what the vet says about it.

Is it just me or are they all mainly aimed at men??

I hope she makes it through alright.

Oh no. Sorry to hear that. HUgs

He wouldn't be using up so much energy if he was hypoglycaemic. Sounds like he was in pain to some degree. Get him necropsied, so you can find out what is wrong and if it is something you can fix, to get it fixed for next time.

Haha, very cute