**KAZ**

Successful as in great chicks, but the little madam plucks off all their down every time

Another egg is imminent The egg was in the cage this morning

thats wonderful news really great

Great job Neville !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mostly hens.............maybe around 75% hens

Various random pictures of Omelettes babies Slideshow.............click on picture

I would suggest it is done with a drill and drillbit of a certain size.........................so lealotta what size is the hole ??

:doh:

Another egg is imminent :doh:

I noticed that too Dave...not a good sign (

Hi Kaz, I think it was on Auto, is it best to have flash on or off ? I will get a picture of the parents if I can, mum is rarely out of the box these days. Richie Yeah Ritchie...having the flash on makes the cere colour not show as normal so harder for us to accurately sex the babies for you. If its automatic then cover the flash with some tape while you take the picture :doh:

Too hard to trace them all without chasing and catching them up. BUT I will post some pictures of various chicks of theirs as soon as I can. Eggbum ? Yes I think so too. :doh: Her eggs are only in with Spice until other birds lay a few and then they will be transferred again.

Did you use a flash on your camera ? and are you going to show the parents ?

great drinker. Aside from the rust on the spring which you noticed...the budgies can get claws trapped in the gaps of springs.

Omelette came to me one day after an auction. She wasnt chosen by me, in that she wasnt on my list of birds to bid for. She was an "afterthought" . I noticed her once she was held up in her show cage to be auctioned off. She didnt look anything special at the time she was being shown in her cage. She was a grey green cinnamon opaline hen bred by Jan Mac Mahon from Mac Mahon, Gearing and Chidel bloodlines. Maybe back then i wasnt overly impressed with the cinnamon grey greens. "Something" told me to bid for her. An inner voice. I had never up till then paid more than $50 for a bird. I bid for and won her at $235......the MOST I had ever paid for a bird. I took her home, and wondered why I paid so much for her when she wasnt on my list. The more I looked at her the more I liked her. Later on she was paired to this Gary Armstrong boy She didnt take to him at first so, I started putting him in her cage for a few hours and removing him, putting him back in and removing him. After three days she welcomed him with open wings :doh: She shocked me by producing ten eggs on her first ever round of breeding. I subsequently named her OMELETTE as she laid enough eggs for one Her cock bird ( STUD) used to go in and incubate the eggs while she stepped out for a bite to eat, stretch her legs and poop Then he would sit alongside her and incubate the eggs as well. They produced some nice chicks together. She proved consistent in that her clutches were around 10 to 13 eggs nearly every time. She always plucked the down from her chicks and stopped at the pin feather stage. She always began her next clutch when chicks were halfway through developing and was happy to sit amongst the babies laying her eggs and caring for the babies at the same time. Their story.... Omelette and Stud Omelette and Studs babies growing up http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....amp;hl=omelette and out and about in the aviary http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....amp;hl=omelette After her having 15 babies with Stud, I decided I wanted to put some length into Omelette's babies so I paired her up to a grey green spangle of Gary Armstrongs Here............http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r145/kazzart/budgies2009/035.jpg Their story http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....amp;hl=omelette I have some OUTSTANDING babies through my OMELETTE line. The better ones seem to have been produce through the spangle pairing. I truly believe OMELETTE was the best $235 I ever spent. What is Omelette doing now ? Well, she keeps laying eggs....we couldnt stop her mid clutch when she laid again with chicks aged 10-12 days in her nest and tried for a THIRD clutch. We fostered those out so we have chicks from a third clutch also. We gave her a chick to raise, At chick age 2 weeks she laid again...............started a fourth clutch while ken and I was away dealing with the death of both our parents. We, in our haste and worry had forgotten about her habit of laying another clutch amidst any babies at age 2 weeks. When I returned from dealing with my fathers funeral and Dads house I came back to find she had a clutch of eggs again. She raised one of those chicks and another was fostered. We lost the others due to the door of her nestbox falling off and she spent the night out in the birdroom and off her eggs I took away her nestbox as soon as Daves chick went into the kindie cage. As she hadnt tried to lay a 5th clutch while this chick QUICHE was in the nest I thought she had finally chosen to have a rest from baby making. As soon as I took her nestbox away and she was in a rest cage with her spangle boy she started dropping eggs from the perch. She has laid three eggs so far ( I hope she has stopped ) and those have gone in the nest of Big Blue and Spice. Her spangle boy was removed to the aviary. I am hoping to rest Omelette and put her in the aviary soon. HOWEVER Omelette has shown in the past that she doesn not like the stresses of the aviary. She goes into a major sulk and decline to the point I have to crop feed her to bring her back. She is happiest in a smaller cage with her chosen partner. Time will tell if she takes to aviary life this time. I will watch her closely. I will do an assembly later today of photos of Omelettes babies over time. I am so glad I bought her when I did. She is what I would call my FOUNDATION HEN. Here she is in her resting cage she has that.."I'm about to lay another egg look to me photo taken today.

Here is QUICHE and brother EGGNOG QUICHE EGGNOG

Hi Vanessa,timing as far as removing nestboxes is key to stop a third clutch. When an aviary is used for the birds playground and no breeding, you dont have so many worries. You just choose pairs from the aviary that are of age and put them in breeder cabinets elsewhere to breed with. If you are already worried about removing a nestbox once eggs have been laid then you may well face that hard decision again. What would you do if you have to remove a nestbox because of one pair going for a third round and then that female fights for possession of a nestbox that already has chicks and eggs in it. It happens a lot. Many times on here members have said they have NO PROBLEMS with colony breeding and a few weeks later are back on upset due to slaughter going on in the aviary. A female will throw out eggs and kill babies in a nestbox she wishes to claim for herself. You have chosen the hardest way to breed budgies. been there, done that and wont do it again. This can change OVERNIGHT

There were four fertile eggs when I candled last.....but she has three foster eggs also of Omelette's I would candle again but she has decided biting is a good plan for me when I look in

Those babies are split blue so more blue ones will come eventually

Maesie named her a long time ago, but I forgot to add that to this topic.

Babies today

8 days is young for a dad to be taking over. Good that he is feeding, but is he also keeping the baby warm at night ? No other nestboxes to foster the baby to ?

Since I have seen your location of the aviary..................why have the security door inside the main section ? You have the right sized gap at the right of the aviary between it and the Shed ? Garage? carport ? Why not make an external security door section on the right hand side ? Even the full length of it back of that area could be used for storage. Just a thought