PAdoula

Your babies look very similar to mine. They are all opaline hens from a violet double factor spangle opaline cock and a normal cobalt hen. As you can see, the spangle marking vary. The are beautiful birds, just wish their violet coloring showed better in the photo.

Sorry to be reviving such an old post, but for other people like me, who are always looking for natural cleaners that work well - Please note that this product is "Grapefruit SEED Extract"... Washing up your aviary with Grapefruit Juice Extract would lead to a very sticky bird room!

Gwen suffered a stroke almost 6 months ago. She lost most of the movement on one side. The vet didn't think she was in any pain, but he also didn't expect her to live much longer. I moved her and her mate into a cage with low perches and ladders that she was able to climb and perch on, and made sure she kept warm and well fed. Her mate, Jaleh (the blue budgie in my profile photo), took excellent care of her. She lived longer than anyone expected, and I am greatful for the extra time we were able to have with her.

My dear little creamino Gwen, lovingly known as "Gwen, Gwen - The Big Fat Hen", passed away this morning. She was a sweet bird and a wonderful mama to numerous chicks. Her mate, Jaleh, is at a loss without her... As are we all.

I have a budgie named Ceinwen. It is Welsh(the name, not my bird) and means fair, white, lovely. My Ceinwen is either a "poor" albino or a "poor" fallow. It's hard to tell. She's a beautiful bird no matter what. Right now she has 5 chicks, but some day I'm going to post pictures and see what others think she is. My other birds are: Sun - Named by my daughter Skye - Named by my daughter Phoebe - Means "Bright" or "Radiant" in Greek. From my favorite book growing up, "Eight Cousins" by Lousia May Alcott. Phoebe was the housekeeper's assistant and good friend to Rose, the novel's heroine. Jaleh - A friend's name that I love. Jaleh is Persian and means "Rain" Pretty Bird - He's, well, a pretty bird Aolani - Hawaiian for "Cloud from Heaven" Aleta - Greek, "Small winged one" Ayddenyd - Welsh, "Winged" Bronwyn - Welsh, "White Breasted" Azure - "Sky Blue" Leftover - From a clutch of 6 that I had found loving homes for all but the last sweet bird Orion and Andromeda - Rescued birds I adopted from the local SPCA. The names just fit. Gwenhwyvar - Welsh, "White (holy, fair) and smooth" Liadan - Irish, "Gray Lady" - She's actually mauve, but I couldn't find a name meaning "Mauve Lady" Quetzalcoatl - Aztec god of the sky name meaning "Feathered Serpent" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - All birds from "my" very first clutch Princess Blue Heart - Dominant Pied with a perfect blue heart shape on her breast Eirlys - Welsh, "Snow Drop". A beatiful name for this albino beauty Hazel - Named after my grandmother Wind Dancer - My only Show type budgie. Named for the aviary where he was raised RIP Glynis who passed away just before Christmas. Welsh "Holy, Pure" or "Valley" RIP Ocean - My very first bird who started my love (obsession) with budgies I think that's everyone, except for the new chicks. Nine so far and more to come. PAdoula

Unfortunately, he was already clipped when I picked him up. None of my other budgies are clipped, and I have almost 40. My avian vet knows my feelings on wing clipping, so he was surprised to see the clipped wings, too. I literally had not seen this bird before I picked him up. I was on the waiting list and when my name came up I was given the opportunity to get the next blue/violet male available (which is what I wanted). The breeder discribed the bird to me, but didn't have photo's available and didn't mention that the bird would be clipped (and it never even cross my mind to ask). Fortunately, the clipped wings will be taken care of along with the missing half of his beard after his next molt. Please note that I am not trying to start a debate on the merits of clipping/not clipping. Everyone needs to do what they feel is best for them and their birds Warmly, PAdoula

I am thrilled to introduce my new budgie Wind Dancer. He is my first show type budgie. The larger budgies are extremely difficult to find in rural central Pennsylvania, and I was on a waiting list for a long time. His hatch date is 05/11/07 (or 11/05/07 for those of you who think we write our dates backward in the U.S.). He was hand fed by a breeder who lives about 2 hours away from me. Here is a picture of his parents: They are both cinnamon blues and look much more gray in this picture than they do in real life. And here is Wind Dancer: He is a cinnamon sky blue, with a lot of violet showing through, especially around his neck and rump. He is also my first hand raised/fed baby and such a sweetheart. Unfortunately, when I picked him up he had hand rearing formula on the right side of his beard that had dried hard and the breeder was unable to remove. She had cut off part of his beard in an attempt to remove it. I was unable to remove the part that remained and when I took him in for his "New Bird" check up with my avian vet he was also unable to remove it, so he ended up having a vet tech snip the rest of it off with a pair of surgical scissors. Now the poor thing is almost completely beardless on that side. Luckily, I was able to get some pictures from his "good" side, but in the third picture you can see what it looked like before the food was removed by the vet. Poor thing... Oh well, nothing his next molt shouldn't take care of. Warmly, PAdoula P.S. I love the site updates - The only bad thing about it was having to wait to post about my new boy!

I went to check on the babies today. I looked at the youngest one, Sunny, yep definitely looks like another girl. Then I just happened to glance at Gabrielle... What's this? Dark head stripes and no "V" of color between the wings??? Gabrielle is a boy! Don't know how I missed that. I would have sworn that I could see blue coming in between the shoulders and that his head stripes looked opaline. Here are pictures of my boy, who has been renamed "Handsome" by my daughter. Thanks for looking! PAdoula

Well enjoying might not be the word that I use for it. It is hot, humid, plus now were are having severe thunderstorms. At least we are getting some rain, which we badly needed. I would be willing to travel quite a distance for the right bird, no question. There is a breeder about an hour and a half away who raises show budgies who has one on hold for me that she is hand feeding. They are very difficult to come by here in rural PA. I would have been willing to travel much farther to get this bird if necessary. I can't wait! PAdoula

Believe me, no apology necessary. Yes, so far all females have been opaline and all males non opaline. I think I mentioned that in my original post, but it was near the end and easy to miss. If you go through the responses you'll see that I just posted a couple pictures of this pairs previous clutches with both non opaline males and opaline females. The last chick may end up not being opaline. It needs to feather up a little bit more before I know for sure. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your (and everybody elses) responses. And I know from other lists that I'm on how difficult it can be to communicate through email/posts - Which is why I so rarely do it Thanks again for your reply! PAdoula

It's my understanding that a hen can't be split to opaline. My lutino hen could be masking opaline, but if she was wouldn't it mean that both sons and daughters should be visually opaline since the male is also opaline? This pair has only had non opaline males and opaline females in their previous clutches so it is my assumption that the hen isn't opaline ~ But hey, I'm fairly new to breeding and still learning, so I could be wrong! Thanks! PAdoula

LOVELY! What state are you in? Are you goignt o sell any babies? If so I'd love the to almost fully feathered here because they look like my bird I've had since I was two and he is 11 now and I love his color/pattern.If your in ohio I'll scream in joy....(Laughing out loud). Hi Clouds - Unfortunately I'm in Pennsylvania, so I'm close but probably not close enough for you to scream If you're ever in central PA look me up and we'll talk budgies. PAdoula

Thanks to everyone for the compliments on my newest babies. The picture of the littlest one does make it look like a lutino, but it's a dominant pied with just a tiny amount of black on its wings. Here are some better photos: If this had been this pairs first time breeding I would have assumed that my lutino hen was also opaline, but she's had two previous clutches with non opaline males: Last year she had two non opaline dominant pied males and a green opaline female: And her first clutch from this year with two non opaline males and three opaline females: So up until this clutch she had been producing 50/50 opaline and non opaline. I love the fact that I never know what I'm going to get from this pair. Thanks again for looking! PAdoula

Here are a few picture of my 3rd breeding pairs chicks. Liaden is a normal either cobalt or mauve (hard to tell depending on the light) hen and Phoebe is a dominant pied cobalt: I had originally had Liaden in with a opaline normal green male (Quetzalcoatl). They had two babies. A few days after the 2nd chick hatched I found Quetzal laying on the bottom of the breeding cage. I took him to my avian vet who couldn't find anything wrong with him. He was treated for exhaustion and was doing much better in a few days. The chicks were very young and I didn't want to put Quetzal back in with them and I didn't have a breeding pair at the right stage to foster them. I decided to move Liaden and the nest box with the chicks into my large aviary cage with several males. None of them had ever been fathers, but Phoebe stepped up and took over Quetzal's roll. Just before the 2nd chick fledged I found an egg in the nest box. Soon there were 10 eggs resulting in 8 babies. I was concerned at first about their being so many babies, but the parents did a great job taking care of their large brood. The oldest two chicks have fledged so they are harder to photograph. Both are cobalt blue with just the tiniest pied spots: All babies are dominant pieds except for one normal. The oldest five are cobalt while the younger three seem to be mauves: I kept the nest box in the large aviary with the other males who have also helped with the feeding. I would never normally colony breed, but this was an unusual circumstance. I have found these babies to be much more nippy (ouch!). Thanks for looking! PAdoula

Here are some pictures of my 2nd breeding pairs four chicks. Gwen is a type II yellowface albino hen either masking recessive pied or split to it. Jaleh is a normal sky blue split to opaline and recessive pied. Jaleh and Gwen: Names in order of individual pictures: Venus, Fairlight, Cinderella (Cindi) and Mystical (Misty): Their first round chicks were a sky blue type II yellowface normal, two sky blue opalines, and a type II yellowface recessive pied. I was surprised by the recessive in the first round (it was the first time breeding for both birds), and I was even more surprised when their second round produced all recessive pieds. I wished the younger two's coloring photographed better because they are gorgeous! Thanks for looking! PAdoula