Elly

It is very important to remember that a budgie on an all-seed diet is not getting the nutrition he/she needs in order to live a long, healthy life. Feeding your budgie a large variety of healthy foods can increase its life span and reduce the risks of common health issues such as lipomas (fatty tumors). No seed mix or pellet is a "complete diet" (despite what many will say on the package) so it's vital that you give your bird a good, varied diet. Ideal Diet ? Your budgie's diet should consist of roughly 30% pellets, 30% seeds, and 30% fresh foods like healthy fruits and vegetables. Treats should be given sparingly and make up only about 10% of what your budgie eats. Make sure that the seed mix you buy doesn't contain many sunflower or safflower seeds as these are especially fattening. Pellets should not contain artificial colors/dyes. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before feeding them to your bird as pesticides are harmful to them. Buying organic is ideal. Other Foods - Along with the foods mentioned above, there are cooked foods that you can also offer your budgie such as Beak Appetitand Crazy Corn. Organic wheatgrass is another very healthy food you can offer but should only be given about once a week. Water: Your budgie's water should be changed every day (as often as needed each day) to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. Cuttlefish Bone: Helps keep your budgie's beak in good condition and they also provide your budgie with calcium. Never allow your budgie to have alcohol, avocados, apple seeds, or chocolate as these are toxic to budgies. Birds have trouble digesting dairy products so steer clear of these as well. Read: Unsafe Foods For recipes contributed by our forum members click here AND Visit BBC Food and Nutrition Forum Last update: 2007-04-12 19:30 Author: eterri This in our FAQ along with other information about diets. I have a article all about Vitamin A and keeping the immunine system healthy if you are interested PM me. I pray your little one makes it. The ads that say provides all essentials is just advertising it is not true. The avian vet may give him Baytril that is usually the general treatment. During the visit the vet should do a gram stain, fecal test, exam him and feel his keelbone, and weight him if he feels he can make it through the exam. If he is too weak they may not do all this.

2 recessive pieds would give you 100% recessive pieds unless there is any sex linked genes that the male is split then he would give this to his hens.

They get really pink and deep that is how Pretty's got.

The egg can't be flat posted and certainly can't fly so I believe getting on that treadmill and flight training to Elly's will be perfect

From what I have read I do believe yes they can get jealous. Also my own experience whenever I talked to Merlin, Pretty would run up and come in between us so he could be talked to .

It may have been the cold their respiratory is so sensitive. We live and learn and you know what he could have been sick before you don't know. Pretty went down hill in 1 day and was gone by evening.

Yes that is what I was saying but you are right my head was getting confused they do havea a 25% chance of a white face in the clutch so yes the dad is just a normal (sorry about that).

We he better get more in shape (Laughing out loud) the flight is long to Elly's

I would give him a break and I would pair him up with a lady that has had a successful clutch since he is green around the gills having an experience "nice" hen and she can show him the ropes. It is suggested that you don't put 2 new parents together but have 1 with experience therefore one knows what they are doing and teaches (hopefully) the other one. You said you have given him a lady do you have your budgies all together when they are not breeding? If so you may want to let him chose his lady and see what happens. What does he do when he is will all the budgies together? Does he pick a particular budgie to flirt with?

Jaleh is split to opaline: Yes Gwen's albinism is masking dominant pied (and possibly opaline)? Opaline...is the opaline you have male if so the answer would be yes if not then you can't be quite sure because the male gave the opaline to his girl. (make sense) You don't have a dominant pied you have a recessive pied and gorgeous looks like my Pretty but with the yellow face gene. This means that both your parents are carrying the recessive pied gene. If Jaleh is split to opaline: females are opaline and males are split to opaline (50% Male split for opaline (XXo) and 50% Female opaline (XoY) Ino Geno: 50% Male split for ino (XXi) 50% Female normal (XY) If Gwen's albinism is also masking opaline, then both males and females can be opaline - Yes non opaline males being split to opaline and ino, and opaline males just being split to ino: They are both sex linked genes but I don't believe they are on the same allele so my thoughts is that one could be split to opaline and not get the ino gene and vs versa. So you could have a non opaline split to ino also. Just writing this paragraph made my head hurt! Is my thinking correct or am I totally off base? Thanks for any help! ** (Laughing out loud) I know what you mean, lets see what others say too. Yellowface Gene is dominant so all the babies would have yellow faces but I think your opaline is a whiteface? If so that means he is a double factor yellow face which makes his face a visual white he is not a true white face which is a recessive gene. Make sense? Does the dad have a white face I can't tell if so that means he must be a double factor yellowface too that is the only way you would get a white faced out of the clutch.

Gorgeous flock

He looks boy to me and a cute one at that (Laughing out loud), sounds like maybe he just hasn't found the right girl for him. You know I read that budgies are attracted more to green budgies then blue...what color have the females you given been? Just curious

awe hugs my heart breaks for you Kaz it really does

When i make mine i get a hard boiled egg, bread crumbs, bird seed, and my birds favourite veggies. You microwaves the egg shell for about 2 mins and smash that into a fine powder. You add that to mashed hard boiled egg. Sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top just enough to spread right through the mix. Add a tablespoon or two of the budgies seed mix and then mix some finely chopped veggies in as well and stir it all together. from Bea -- there are many receipes out there you can do a search on the forums. Nuts yes have protein again it depends if they are eating it along with the pellets.

added to FAQ great question

You are in our thoughts Shawna, Lucas I hope you are feeling better today ...kisses from Elly and Merlin

Ino is when a bird has red eyes and they are all white, lutino is when they have red eyes and their bodies are all yellow. You can not tell if a male bird is carrying the ino gene. Females must express the gene because they can not mask any sex linked genes. He is simply a sky blue recessive pied just like my Pretty in my siggy. The pied gene is responsible for deciding how many splotches here and there he will have it has nothing to do with any other genes .

This is literally what happened to Pretty in one day. I am not here to alarm. You are have more advanced noticed and the things you are doing are all right. Keep him very warm this is the key, let him rest, put a spray of millet by him and see if he will nibble. If he can't perch put him on the cage floor with a towel and keep the cage covered to keep it quiet. He probably (not diagnosising) has a upper respiratory infection which can be bacterial or virus. I am not sure if your bird eats a lot of food rich in Vitamin A but this is one of the most common deficiency with birds on all seed diets and not enough Vitamin A in a bird can cause the lining in the respiratory tract to break down. I did a lot of reading since Pretty's passing to teach myself to better take care of Merlin. Diets need to be rich in Vitamin A and this is what the regular vet told me when I took Pretty in that late afternoon (the avian vet was closed). Birds can not pick up your virus but you can pick up certain types from them. So you didn't get your bird sick. One way we can is through our salvia if we are kissing them on the beak all the time or feeding them with our mouths (like if you put a piece of bread there and they eat it) or if you bit an apple and then offered to them. I have no idea what time zone you are in but if you can't be seen today by the avian vet ask whom he can refer to see your bird ASAP because when they are like this they go down very quick and you may not have 24 hours to wait.

they are super sweet and look wonderful

oh hugs Kaz (((sending good thoughts)))

Oh cute Bobby what a sweetie, feathers what a wonderful picture

Welcome to our forum .

I have the same cage with 1 door and got it on e-bay for 100 US

((hugs))) keep us updated.

Armchair I going to lean toward the fact that she is older and when we all get older our hair, nails tend to dry out and get brittle. Our body metabolism changes, keep an eye on the pellets. Vitamin A is brocolli, kale, carrots, (dark greens is what carries it the most). Do a google called foods with vitamin A and I can locate that article for you about V. A. if you like. You know I forgot to ask has it been dry in your house or is there enough humidity I know that can lead to dry skin too .