The eldest skyblue spangle cock is moulting

 

 

the grey spangle

 

and the plucked sky spangle

 

My soft food recipe is

 

2 parts Instant dry porridge oats ( like rolled oats but finer )

1 part Polenta ( corn powder )

1 part Budgie starter

1 part egg and biscuit

1/4 wheatgerm

1/4 part whole egg powder

1/8th part whey protein isolate ( Muscle XL by Kohnke's http://www.horsesuppliesdirect.com.au/prod2776.htm )

a squirt of calcivet

a dash of soluvite D breeder

water to mix.

 

thats my soft food for all............usually I mix the dry ingredients and store it in large plastic cannisters ready to wet it down or add wet ingredients

 

and in the breeder cages they get finger drawers also of dry whole egg powder which they eat before going into the chicks to feed them.

 

Since I have used the whole egg powder and the whey protein the chicks coming through have been larger and more powerful looking.

 

Mine get vegies and fruit too...........all the time. I just posted about softfood as it was about food for the parents so they could feed babies I thought.

Be extremely careful of broccoli. There is evidence lately that any broccoli bought in supermarkets and no0t grown yourself carries additive chemicals that cause serious health issues with birds.

Red capsicum is great especially for vit A ...good for feathers.

Owning an indoors budgie means no scented candles or incense at all.

Best bathing is a fine mist from a spray bottle although many a budgie loves to roll through a large wet lettuce leaf or silver beet leaf.

Messy poop is a sign of not being well. You need to figure out the causes for that. Stress, diet, illness. More info and we can help

I will check the instructions on my soluvite D and let you know as I use it in my soft food.

she is lovely..........a nice shade of green

I still say female, nostrils have clear white rings for me. Time will tell

 

 

Theres a lot of people talk white nostril rings. Its about overall white not just nostrils. I say boy or there would be more white on the cere..........not just around nostrils.

I was talking about normal aviary mesh.............mice can get through normal diameter mesh especially if it goes all the way to the ground like most aviaries do.

I suggest you stop the cold wind by covering the sides of the aviary for shelter and warmth.

Cats around at night would stress the birds and interfere with their sleep. That could make them unwell too.

Grit you dont need for budgies.

You talked before about breeding cages once...........you didnt end up making any ?

 

Fact is you are having no success now anyway, so why not try and make a couple of breeding cabinets. You can make them out of almost anything that doesnt cost money. I know someone who made his out of that metal shelving for workshops and he meshed it in. Another who made breeding cabinets out of an old pantry cupboard.

This is the kind of hobby that needs you to put something into it ( whether it is money or effort ) to gain the rewards.

It isnt just about add nestboxes and you have babies to sell. Nothing is that easy.

Well....you are colony breeding and have nestboxes real close on a shelf.......

too close is one problem. Some birds stop others using their chosen boxes.

 

Birds look hunched up and not all that healthy and vital................

 

draughts............you have mesh on three sides of the aviary so looks like you would have draughts from side to side as well.

Mesh goes all the way to ground does it ?? If so mice can just get through the mesh ( they can get through 10-12mm dimaeter ).

Where is the food source ? Ground ? If so mice will go through it and contaminate the food. Wire ? if feeders hang off the wire mice can go through it as well.

Whats the floor of the aviary consist of and whats down there ?

You need soluvite D breeder for this as suggested above.

These two out in the aviary....

As much as I like the Blue series Greywings, this one is a ripper!

This hen won best greywing at a show the other day.............

 

Not a fan of colony breeding due to past experiences with fighting birds, killed chicks. Its the hardest and most stressful and hazardous way to breed budgies.

But I wrote an article that might help http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/faqs/i...&artlang=en

Also you have no safety door on your aviary so escapes as you enter will be a high risk. Try getting a net ........the kind that hangs from a hoop over a bed.......hook it up over the door and step through it into the aviary and reverse the procedure as you leave so you have a safer way not to lose birds. They see daylight and an escape route and will fly like the wind through a ********* in the doorway to escape the aviary.

Agree with Dave. You need another place for the under 12 month olds to be......nowhere near a nestbox. Another aviary needed for your juveniles.

I am looking forward to putting pictures here after eventually breeding these new birds I got

 

 

There's nothing more enriching than seeing before and after photos I think

 

Look forward to yours.

Pure guesswork at this stage Joel...as you didnt get any autopsied.

Chances are higher for cocci or psittacosis based on you not doing quarantine.

Boy

 

 

Budgies are social. They preen and kiss each other even if same sex

It has a panel at the front to let extra light in, as well as a skylight on one side.

 

 

 

 

Hey, Dave, having a sky light on the roof like that means that on hot days, the direct sun will really heat up the shed. Do you have a plan for some kind of shade cover to pull over that?

On the flip side, it should help keep them toasty on sunny days in the winter. :sadsorry:

Yes he has a plan for shade cover during summer. Dave and I discussed this before he ordered his new shed

Greywing hen

 

Before

 

and after

 

 

Dave These are the cages I have and are getting more soon

http://www.lentradirect.com.au/contents/en-us/d5.html.

 

 

same cages as rachelm listed a link to and they are cheaper where rachel gets them mate

 

I just ordered another 6.

Moving her alone was only advised if you wanted to stop her breeding....but you dont......so as I said persevere.

Someone told us to just move the eggs into nesting box and all will be fine, I however have my doubts having experience birds in the wild rejecting eggs that were touched. This is an old wives tales....rejection due to touching eggs is untrue She goes into the nesting box and is in and out, I know this for all the feathers all over the floor that she threw out, that my wife had placed in it. We love all of our budgies dearly and do not want anything to happen. We do the vitamin thing about twice a week and have plenty of food on hand. One other question before I close, will her laying eggs trigger our other pairs of budgies, we have six pairs all together with two single ones. Thanks Kaz, and will keep in touch. Will try the changing the cage thing. dont worry about changing cages if you want them to breed...............that was about stopping her and you dont want to do that

 

 

and you dont move the eggs into a new box as she will " clean them out" in preparing the box. If you ever have eggs not in a box, you store them till she lays the next egg in the box and then you add the others.

If she is old enough ( over 12 months ) and you want to breed her...persevere. But a good distraction therapy is to change her into a new or different cage and set up differently so she can explore and investigate. If you move her alone she will stop egg laying...maybe after another egg thats already in the pipeline so to speak but she will stop.

What do you want as regards breeding her, and is she old enough ?

PAIR FIVE

yf skyblue cock to cinnamon grey opaline hen

 

:sadsorry::rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

three eggs so far

looks male in that photo to me. try for a clearer cere shot ....no flash used on camera.....natural light.

Is this still the same breeding setup you had before ? has anything changed ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

your previous setup http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....c=28462&hl=

My cages are the same size as Kaz's. Just bought mine. $495 for 18 ($27.50 each).

http://www.petmania.net.au/BreedingFlightCages.htm

I did look at Lentra site they have 30 for $690 ($23 each)

Good price