Sailorwolf

Yes to both All animals bicker even humans as I'm sure we've all noticed About the pecking order, you will notice that one bird gets first access to food and such and in a pair this is usually the female who is the top bird

Hmm yes, or both!

This is my theory. Males carrying opaline have a small amount of opalescense over the head, neck and proposed V area of an opaline. So far all my males that have had this have produced opalines. Although I haven't bred enough to sufficiently prove it. Not all males have the opalescense either, my Robbie doesn't and I would assume he is not carrying it. I also notice that none of my unopaline girls have any opalescense at all

I'm sorry to hear about this Daz. That is not a nice situation to go through and you should be commended for looking at the positive side of it and learning from it.

I said 6 was carrying opaline

That's horrible Dave. I'm sorry to hear about it, Things can only get better. I think that Sebby needs separating.

I'm so sorry. Hopefully she'll hear her mum and come back looking for a feed

Yes I would agree that he is going through a moult. Double factor yellow face type 2 budgies have a mottled green and blue belly. So if that stays mottled then that is what he is. However I think he is currently moulting.

So very cute. I'm so jealous of your Milly

I'm sure that with the YF2 variety you could select your birds wisely enough to reduce the bleeding a certain amount, because some birds bleed more than others

Oooh I don't think you can keep them as pets in Aus as they are a protected species and if you can (like you can with kakarikis) I will be extremely annoyed as they would have been smuggled out.

3 looks like a normal albino ( sometimes wing markings appear through) 6. the greywing, looks like he could be carrying opaline. I agree that 16 and 17 are violets or at least carrying it. because they look very violet in those pictures

I got my cage off of an online auction and it came with no instructions not even a box!! And you guys know how big its is! (for those who don't, i can stand in it comfortably) So that was fun ( it actually was. Figuring things out is fun!) Phoebe what do you need an electric screwdriver for!? :hap:

There will always be family. I just caught a second mouse. So look out for more!

I had an awesome lecture about bird handling and flock management and care, by one of the top avian vets in the country and an interesting point came up that I thought would benefit those here. Ivermectin is not soluble in water, thus if you manage your flock by giving them ivermectin in their water, it is not very effective, as it precipitates into crystals and gathers on the bottom of the water bowl and is not dissolved. Meaning that when your birds have a drink of the water they are not actually getting any of the drug. He also made another point that I immediately thought of the topic that is currently being discussed here about detecting psittacosis carriers. If you have a carrier they may not be affected by the disease but they are still shedding it. Thus the only way you can detect it is to introduce a sacrifical bird after the quarantine period and see if it is affected. Carriers apparently have had the disease in the past ( i'm not too sure on that though). It was a very exciting lecture and I'm impatiently looking forward to our bird handling prac where we get to handle budgies through to cockatoos and maybe a Kea!!! We are also going to be taught how to do crop washes. Much excitement!

Look up a picture of that type on the internet.

instant budgie pie

. Heading toward us

FGM I have to say that is an absolutely gorgeous shot of Chippy

The chance of becoming immune/resistant to treatment is not infinitesimally small, it happens all the time. It may be unlikely to happen, but it is not uncommon and you will always run that risk with any antibiotic or anthelmintic (worming drugs), that's why farmers have to change their drenches every year to prevent resistance occurring. Believe me, we have just been learning about it.Again birds can carry the disease with out showing any symptoms, these will usually come through with quarantine though. Any suspected birds can then be tested. If you want to run the risk of resistance then you can use antibiotics as you like, but use them as instructed. Just remember that if resistance does develop, it won't just develop in your flock, the resistant bugs can be transferred to wild birds, pets and humans. Resistance develops if antibiotics are used irresponsibly or willy nilly, or ignorantly. They can also develop even when prescribed (although rarely) Vaccinations are different to antibiotics. With vaccinations you are injected with (or given) a weak virus or bacteria, a dead virus or bacteria or parts of the virus or bacteria. This is done when you have no infection. This allows your immune system to be able to develop an immunity to the particular virus or bacteria and be able to fend it off later when a real infection occurs. Vaccinations do not cause resistance to develop. Antibiotics are given when the animal is already infected and are used to kill or halt bacteria already present. Antibiotics do not allow you to build an immunity as they are not a part of bacteria. They destroy the bacteria instead of your immune system. Giving anual doses of antibiotic will not give your flock immunity, it will just kill bacteria and if those bacteria are still in the environment your flock will be reinfected. If you wanted to vaccinate your flock against psittacosis you would give small amounts of the bacteria, not antibiotics

I currently have 11 budgies in my room and have always had budgies in my room and have never gotten sick. Just keep it clean and you should be okay. I'm trying to reduce my numbers at the moment more because they are noisy rather than unclean

Fair enough, but you also run the risk of a super resistant bug, which can do just as much harm if not more.

I agree with you Liv. Many of you know my views on antibiotics: Only use them if you KNOW they have a bacterial infection. Never because they "look sick" or as a "precaution".

You say he is out all the time. Is there something that he may have access to, that he shouldn't? Like a plant or something? E.coli lives in our gut and normally it doesn't affect us, but when an animal is sick or has a low immunity, it takes advantage of this and colonises the gut. It is an opportunistic bacteria. You should be okay as long as you wash your hands after handling him. Infection can occur if the host is immunocompromised or there is a large pathogen load. So just keep it clean to keep the load down. A healthy adult should be okay.

There are posts about different mutations on this board with pictures of members' birds withthose mutations. i can't remember the link though