**KAZ**

One out of the four chicks is indeed a yellowface grey. She was a bargain price at $170 considering the cocks from that grey line have gone for well over $2,500.

I havent taken any new photos of those birds in show cages etc...auction birds and Livs. Flu has me doing very little apart from trying to breathe without coughing up my lungs. I released most of Livs birds into a quarantine aviary apart from a couple who are currently in breeding cages and a small handful of recessives that went to RIP. The only photo I have at hand of one of the auction birds right now is the Cec Gearing hen Ken bought Here she is from Cec's grey line and will be put to a large grey cock I have Ken calls BLOCKHEAD Other photos will have to wait.

Hi and welcome Look forward to seeing some photos from your part of the world

No, not in itself. BUT a part of their inbuilt instincts are when daylight hours are long and food is plentiful its time to make babies. BUT she is alone and all she has done is play with paper. I think she is fine

Sounds like she is playing with the paper Some females can lay eggs all on their own but generally something triggers them into this behaviour. Having large seed dishes that can be seen as a nest may be a trigger as well as having snugglehuts etc.

Here's some more of the 6 babies Both of these are fosters and both bite me HENS !! The Dad that passed away was YF skyblue. Its didnt look like any of his 4 chicks were YF, but I see possibly one of the babies may be a YF grey ? Its not us that keep them alive exactly.....they have a limited lifespan so at some point we know they will die. Some sooner than others. Some breeders euthanase them knowing whats in store. Pain ? no different to any other budgie. We have some FD topics on this forum.

Greywings are very cute.....but this one is my favourite out of the three ( well 2 GW's and a dilute ) No test that I know of....we just make notes on records and hope we dont pair up two carrying the fd gene

Glad you have had some help working out the water issue. Damp and mould can be harmful to birds as you have found out.

Best way to post WHAT SEX IS MY BUDGIE photos is no flash and daylight conditions....front on cere shots using macro setting on your camera. Tomorrow is another day

Yes she is..........I think 3 out of 9 ? were feather dusters. If her partner carries the FD gene I am sure we would see some in this nest. Hopefully he doesnt carry the FD gene. From what I gather she is NOT a first time mother and has produced no feather dusters yet. Here is the Supermum ....lone mother of the 6 chicks ( excuse her messy feeder face )

You have used a flash on your camera which throws out the cere colours. However your yellowface is a boy. I hold judgement on the other until we get some clear daylight cere photos with no flash. Neither budgie is green.

Dunno about you guys but I am hanging out for photos :D

Yes, and them getting used to a colder climate and smaller aviary spaces. Her cockbird died the day after two fosters were added to the nest. Nowhere else to put them. I try and do at least one whole feed per day, and a top up at night time plus seed and millet in nestbox, soft food by the bucketload. This hen doesnt want the softfood however and does it all on seed and water. I persist with the soft food. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I also have a shared breeding right now between the YF DF spangle hen of Livs ( 12th at the Nationals ) and a skyviolet normal cockbird of Rob Dunstans. Rob bred the father of the YF DF Spangle. Thankyou Liv for the lovely hen and her siblings Here she is as a chick and as she was around the time of the Nationals Her parents and here is her partner He's better than the photo shows...he was amidst racing from perch to perch when I took the photo. They currently are going for their third egg.

It's a nasty flu, this one......came all the way from Victoria with houseguests Anyway the single mother is still doing well feeding 6 babies. just thought I had better mention that she is a daughter of my best hen ( R.I.P ) Omelette......and she is a first time mother too. Here's the 6 chicks....( 2 fosters and four hers ) and the three greywings and one spangle are now flying around a kindie cage. one's a dilute

kaz do you think its a cock bird ill get a better cere shot if you need he is very cute and loves snuggles just wanted to know of any thing i needed to explain to his new home if when he gets one untill then he lives here will he need special perching or should i not assist him like that so he is made to work him self so far hes been made to just deal with the cage floor when he walks he has to try use his foot to get footing should i tell them to put things to make his life easy or just no let him work it out himself ? Hard to say with those photos as he has the black melanin over his/her cere. My one legged budgie use his part leg as a stump to rest on .......he perched and he used ladders. Only thing he couldnt do was mate a hen. Extra platforms and ladders might help. A cage designed for rodents have platforms. Pegleg pete http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=22658&view=findpost&p=267683&hl=pegleg&fromsearch=1

Having had a one legged budgie that not only coped but did amazingly well in the aviary, I have learnt not to place limitations on these crippled guys. The only limitations that have are those they impose on themselves. He may surprise you,

Even though most birds wont lay without a nestbox, some determined ones will ......its breeding season so the cock is definitely in the mood But budgie bonking is definitely a part of normal recreational behaviour for budgies. Your aviary looks fantastic a space for your birds

I find 5 days is pretty good ( thats 5 days per egg ) .............and I dont see the need to handle the eggs or remove them from the nestbox. With a good flexible torch or penlight torch you can use it in the nestbox. Just tap on the box so the hen gets out. Then put the torchlight behind the egg pointing forward to where you can see the results. Earliest signs are tiny spidery red veins. Further along the contents of the egg get darker. so all you may see is a darkening of the egg contents about 2/3 of the egg and one third is light.

are they in the aviary with the nestboxes ? when you say not breeding do you mean not mating ? because breeding and mating are two different things. Most mating occurs well before most people get out of bed. In (99.9% of all nest of chicks I have ever had I would only ever see one mating out of hundreds and hundreds. ) If they are in that aviary with nestboxes and you have observed feeding behaviour then mating is likely to have occurred. Please make sure that you as a bird owner dont have underaged budgies anywhere near where a nestbox is. Underaged means any budgies under 12 months of age. I agree with Dave. However if there are nestboxes then this behaviour goes from normal innocent activities to full on breeding. ( not to be confused with mating. )

LMAO :D

The single mother is feeding her 6 chicks well ...................( four are hers and two are fosters ). I was hoping for some YF like the Dad that passed away but they all look to be normals so far. Consolidated a nest or two yesterday.........tossed out some clear eggs and double up foster eggs in a nest or two to allow some of the parents to start again. Hunting down my other camera as the one I am using seems to have a slow shutter speed issue, ...........not too determined right now though as I have the flu.

All four of the remaining eggs look fertile. Not all budgie mums throw out infertile eggs ....they arent all that smart. BUT in this case the one thrown out seems to have been infertile. A mix of fertile eggs and infertile eggs in a clutch is normal. Thats why we candle them by torchlight to see and remove the infertile ones so the mother doesnt have to cover and warm the dud eggs.

Dont get disheartened Taylor.......there's a whole lot of people out there still confused about yf's and goldenfaces. You arent the only one

Back to study for you my dear Not the same at all

I just want to say...............lucky you have your Dads enthusiasm and help for your first aviary mate