**KAZ**

I totally agree with Dean.

They look great

You need a miners helmet with a lamp attached

I also enjoyed your narrative Dave. You have a great way with your writing. Its like we were there with you

The first thing I noticed........well before I knew it was a feather duster......was the unusual down. It seemed long and twisted, like Yarn is twisted when spun.

!. heredity plays a part in size not colour. 2. everyone will have a different answer. I wont breed mother to son, father to daughter, brother to sister.

I think you maybe need to find a bird rescue for this bird. As much as you want to be helping it, a bird rescuer would know more about caring for this "not well" bird and wouldnt treat it for everything under the sun and bath it the second it arrived in your house Try and remember a sick or attacked bird needs warmth, food and quiet......not treating with more chemicals and bathing when it would have trouble already regulating its body temperature. How it looks should be secondary to how it feels

Not just about diet buddy...........also they have to be showing they are in proper condition by cere colour too.

Progression of the feather duster Baby is now out of the nestbox.

If you buy another hen she will need to be quarantined away from the others in a seperate cage and seperate airspace at least 5 metres away for minimum 30 days. You cant put her straight down to breed. Please read up in our faq section on quarantine. NO.......you dont need to put food on the floor of the cage.

Well done for rescuing the bird BUT when you find a sick bird again in the future Do not be so quick to hit it with lice spray and worming meds. Its sick as its dirty bum indicates and this is no time to add to it by using lice and worm treatments. Is there any lost and found notices in newspaper of internet that may be describing a bird of this type. You have to do all you can to find its owner before claiming it as your own. Might need a warm lamp by the cage for awhile

Split this topic out of the show breeder interviews as this discussion has its own merits unrelated to the show breeder interviews

Our clubs ( I am in two of them ) try to have a lecture or demonstration at every meeting. This can be anything put forward by open breeders to share with other members. One meeting we had a demo on spotting........cutting spots and pulling spots, washing and preparing budgies for shows. We have lectures on mutations, care and breeding etc. Ask the members to list what they would like to hear and see. A very good feature of our clubs is that they have an accessories table where all manner of budgie keeping items including meds etc are up for sale at well below petshop prices. A well stocked accessories table run by a member who is the accessories officer will give the club profit as well as get members along to buy. We have a library where books and cds can be borrowed. We run a kitchen where meals are brought along and are purchased. We have a club BBQ and have a sausage sizzle.One of our clubs purchases seed by the pallet load and this is onsold to the members at a small profit. Every meeting is a bench show. Raffle every month is usually a 20kg bag of seed at one club and raffle at the other club is usually a very nice prize with good dollar value. All of this is club revenue and a reason for members to come as well as because of the birds.

He fledged the nestbox today but I put him back

There are a great many friendships formed in places like this with likeminded people. The nerd category only applies if you take it onboard. I was pretty stoked to meet some very good friends ( from friendships formed here on BBC ) when I went to melbourne. We are family of sorts here

You did great Dave Well done your name is dave isnt it.........or is it Dean

NOPE !!

I expect once I have experienced several of these poor unfortunate budgies I will see things differently and euthenase earlier BUT as this little fella is my first I will do all I can to keep him going. Be very aware that if he begins to suffer I will euthenase to save him further torment. SPANG off our forum had one that lasted a very long time as I recall. Here it is

They start at 9:30 but I believe I can also find out the contact details for the person who makes them. I will let you know

Doesnt look like scaly to me but I agree with Dean

There's something very BEAUTIFUL about a feather duster. Its a pity they dont live long

I already told you where go there this sunday. I already told you where go there this sunday. do you mean nestboxes ?

If her keelbone feels sharp as well as the runny poop then she is losing weight and taking her for a well bird checkup at an avian vet would be a good idea. Its the weightloss that concerns me.

I suggested our club run a pet budgie show and invite anyone to bring in their pet budgies......have it at the same time as our budgie show but the other side of the room. It would encourage the pet budgie owners to look at ours and think maybe of trying it out. Hoping to get new members. We could throw in some ribbons and certificates. Advertise the show in petshops and vets and the paper. Heck even get the local newspaper to run an article or cover the show. My idea was shot down in flames more than once. I keep trying.

I always thought the dads had killed the babies that didnt survive too but this time around its was the dads sitting on the eggs and when the hcicks hatched and ran around after the dads.........everytime the dad stopped the babies jumped into the Dads feathers !! It looks real funny seeing dad quail with baby feet sticking out from his feathers. Off he walks again and the babies jump out and run after dad. he stops and they jump back in his feathers again. The birds will be the last thing we move, so we have time to plan ahead