Elly

(Laughing out loud) they are beautiful, nice to see pics of them I felt like I had withdrawl hehe

Good to hear everything is going well. Boy it is either sometimes they don't feed them or they get so excited RIP little one On Nerwen's comments. Merlin is a show budgie (probably 1/2 and 1/2) and he is an awesome pet. I found him to be more layed back then Pretty my pet budgie.

Amen to that Kaz!! What I do for the bottom of the cage is on top of the grate I put the newspaper on it instead of it falling through the metal to the tray. It is such an easy clean-up. I used to hate cleaning the metal grate because you can never seem to get all the poop off and just went you did there was another spot. So I put the newspaper on top (here in the US they use non-toxic ink, not sure about where you are) then I just roll it up and throw it away and replace it. . So you know to have one of Kazzy's baby is such a privilege. Wonderful member of this community.

:rip: little one, I am sorry Nerwen

Glad to have you aboard

stunning bird he is gorgeous

I agree with Nerwen about the age around 5 months and his first molt is just finishing up.

wonderful pictures they are all so cute and animated in their ways.

welcome to our forum, you have a beautiful flock of budgies

The major difference is the pattern of the dominant to the recessive pieds. The ones you can get confused are the double factor pieds and the recessive pieds. Usually the key to the double factors is that they are are not as heavy pied as your recessive pieds and the coloring is up by the shoulders more. Check out the pictures of our forum members pieds to get a better look http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....mp;#entry170711 this will take you to the post and then just click on Dominant Pied and then also Recessive Pied.

I have seen a dominant pied with a half and half cere but not a totally pink cere as this bird above. He looks like he may have been just finishing with a molt as I see a splay of pin feathers way on the back of his head. If this is the case he could be around the 4-5 month mark and his cere "may" have not changed yet as some do take awhile. I remember Bea's Oz who is also a pied like this bird took a while to change but it is now blue. I still believe this bird is younger and has gone through 1 molt but whom am I (Laughing out loud) (I am not around birds like some are on the board). Either way he is a nice looking bird and I hope that his age doesn't deter you from enjoying his company. Adding, this may be why the pet shop put him down as a younger bird too. Not all pet shops are bad I have seen a few posts this week bashing. We must remember that there are good and bad everywhere including breeders too. We have a wonderful document called Evaluation a Pet Shop and a Breeder (2 different documents) in the FAQ section that are very educational and where put together by our members here.

I have to agree with this statement Merlin didn't have much in bar lines and he is an English. Are those the pics of your bird right? From what I see he has a pink cere if he was over the age of 4 months his cere would be blue or at least turning blue? You do have a baby budgie and it is a male from what I see. Jason I think many people over looked that and I responded to that because I saw that in the picture before I even posted. Your budgie is a baby around 2-3 months old. Some Englishs' don't have the baby bar lines as heavy as the pet budgie. This is what my Merlin looked like when he was young too and he is a show.

Wonderful time progression Libby that is awesome. What a beauty!!

Norm they are beautiful. Your green one's tail reminds me of Merlin's always unkept.

It is a difference of opinion among different people who have budgies as pets, show, breed them etc.... First you need to find an avian vet in your area there is an avian vet look-up tool in our FAQ under the General Budgie Section or the Health Section. Then you call them and ask them what they consider is a check-up. Here is what they should be doing. 1. They will pick up your bird and feel him for any lumps & his keel bone to make sure he is not underweight or weights too much. 2. They will take a piece of poo and do a gram stain to look for any diseases. 3. They will look down their throat to make sure everything looks good down there too. 4. They will also weigh your bird and find out what the weight is. If you have a few budgie you should be weighing them 1x a week at least 2 x a month to make sure there is no weight influcation this is where you can detect any illness first because if a budgie is sick he will not look sick until he is ready to go Budgie's hide their illness very well that is why it is not always the best thing to wait until they look completely sick. I learned this first hand with my budgie Pretty. He was fine in the morning and sick by late afternoon and he passed aways in my hands by evening. I took him to the only vet around and they gave me a general antibiotic. Merlin the next day took to him to an avian vet for a general check-up to make sure he was okay and he was. My avian vet suggests a physical 1x a year (like the information I described above) they also recommend an x-ray because that is usually the only way they can see if anything is enlarged because the keel bone protects from the front to the back they can't feel tumors like they can in cats and dogs. There is more they can do like blood tests etc to ensure in your bird is healthy. I believe a lot of the bigger $$$ things are geared to your bigger birds. When you pay 3000.00 for a bird you don't think a thought about spending 200.00 on an exam but when you pay 20.00 for a budgie 200.00 for an exam seems senseless. This is why I say it is everyone's personal opinion on how they chose to care for their pet budgie but there are different ways to ensure your budgie is healthy too by providing a good diet such as veggies/fruits, good quality seed, pellets and more. We have a wonderful section on nutrition here on our boards in the FAQ section. Also providing them with the Vitamins they like Vitamin A is very important for their respiratory systems this is one thing that lacks in many seed diets. In ending, you can do everything and your feathered friend can still be carrying a bug that is not detected or they can be completely healthy. I hope this helps I know it is long but I can tell you where looking for answers . I have seen a lot of people take their birds to an avian vet here on these boards and have saved their lives and they have recovered so it is always worth taking an avian vet trip if you feel it is necessary. They couldn't help Pretty but they have helped a lot of birds on this message board and I have been a member here now for almost 3 yrs.

I was replying to this post lonebudgie Posted Today, 01:12 Correct me if im wrong but can you have an opaline clearwing , I thought if it has opaline markings then it is opaline only , if it has no markings on the wing just body colour then its a clearwing . not anything about clearFLIGHT

Opaline is the reverse marking on the head and the V on the back Clearwing is when their are hardly any marking on the head and on the wings Clearwing could mask Opaline but they are on 2 different genus' so yes you can have an opaline clearwing

Welcome to BBC, we have a wonderful community here, awesome FAQ section and love to see pictures of your flock and everything else too (Laughing out loud).

Very cool, congratulations!! I am excited to start hearing about all your experiences working at the clinic.

Good observation I overlooked the lutino part but either way a hen will still be the same it is the boys as mentioned that will stay a deep pink cere and don't change.

Do you have a picture of Billy? It sounds like you may have a hen. A crusty brown cere will indicate that the hen is in breeding condition (this doesn't mean you have to breed) then when the cere is a light blue this will indicate a hen out of breeding condition. It is when you have a very deep blue cere is when it is a boy, hens can have light blue ceres. In the FAQ section under General Information I believe there is a picture of this shown. As for vets always make sure they are avian registered as most dog/cat and even exotic vets do not know much about birds, it is just not their major.

I like the last one in particular his shade of blue is beautiful

Yes kids see things so different then adults and as we get older we get more skeptical. There is great knowledge here and I understand what you are saying

Nope just recessive chicks A breeder I got birds from a while ago explained it to me, showed me her birds and years of records- thats when I brought it up on the forum and got bagged, but a lot of breeders seem to be using it to identify splits and successfully breed pieds from it. That is cool - I think people who don't believe just want to know those who have done it and proved it...seeing is believing (as it has been said)...but then Polar Express the movie proves that theory to be wrong too (Laughing out loud) . Very neat!

Did they produce any dominant pieds? :hap: