**KAZ**

Perfect size. Agree with the extra care to clean up. Some people use a flame to clean 2nd hand nestboxes and breeding cages as well as other means.

The constant moving she is doing is what we call Jailbreak behaviour. It has more to do with going from a large space ( aviary ) into a small space ( cage ). She will settle down. And YES its more often than not the male who inspects the nestbox first and does the old nudge, nudgie, wink, wink moves on the hen Breeding budgies are fine if they just hear the aviary birds, and dont have to see them. Seeing others in a breeding room helps too of course.

You would have to be really happy with them mate

I would be taking her to the vet and check for respiratory issues. That sound can also be associated with a lack of iodine. iodine deficiency

The only thing that stopped cats coming into our yard and getting at the birds was having dogs in the yard Can you post a photo so we can advise better solutions ?

Terrific Results at the auction.....I was so excited for you. You also wrote about your time at the auction, so well, it felt like I was there and the excitement was building up Great job :bliss:

hi kaz ..thanks for your response ..its fully feathered...could it be older ?Fully feathered with no gaps missing feathers means it was ready to leave the nestbox. Make sure there is food easy to get to...babies search the floor for food...scatter seed and try some green vegies, grated carrot, sweetcorn and seed sprinkled through. Sounds like the baby is older matt.

If not fully feathered it should have been put back in its nestbox. They often come out too soon by accident. Too late now. You have removed them all. If you try and put all back chances are the baby wont be cared for as the whole nesting situation hasd been compromised....insecure now. Now you have removed them all you must make sure thye baby is fed.

It is based on seasonal rainfall, the knowledge they have of food sources and how long they will have food and water to sustain babies.

People prefer to keep their bush budgies pure and not have them breed with others. Or whats the point of having bushies

They rarely make it to hatching. I have had a pair make it to hatching and I still have the cock from that pair. Most twins die much earlier in the shell, often well before these two did.

You would need to know what your grass has been treated with at some point recently. Even dog droppings if a minute part is still attached to the grass will kill a budgie. I have seen it happen within seconds.

Many species will only produce young when conditions support the raising of babies. Kangaroos also are the same.

You havent got nestboxes in the aviary ?

I know a few show breeders who use kitty litter in the flights :emoticon112:

I have the sterilised white sand used for childrens playgrounds and sandpits in my flights and have had no issues. But it doesnt get wet either.

Curious....has tests been done on the wood shavings too for bacteria ?

Yes it was a tight fit. They were very intertwined.

I live by the saying....if in doubt do nowt :sad: in other words if unsure...dont.

You have developed a good eye for birds now Dave :sad:

Sad but a fact of life. Posted for those who wonder about twins.

I checked a nest today as there were two more eggs due to hatch and nothing had happened. Both eggs were discoloured indicating dead in shell chicks. I rarely get dead in shell chicks. Some new hens which get off the eggs the second chicks arive sometimes cause this issue and they stop warming the remaining eggs. As I do, when I throw the eggs out I break them open and check the contents so i know whats going on. In egg number one was a cold chick that looks like it would have hatched yesterday, but it didnt make it. Seemed to be the3 wrong way around in the egg and a larger than normal chick. In the next egg, which seemed slightly larger, I realised at first the egg felt heavier as well as being larger, so I broke it open carefully to find......dead chicks...TWINS. As is the way with twins they very rarely make it to hatching. I have had twins hatch and live before but it is very rare. Recently I also had twins dead in shell in another nestbox. This time it was different parents on round two, two chicks already hatched and going well. Here are the photos next to a normal sized egg seen upon opening the egg

Ken feels very very sad. He suffers depression and this has brought it to the fore. I cannot push him to do what has to be done. He needs to arrive at that decision himself. I have suggested we go and talk to the vet again as ken was not with me when I got the diagnosis and our vet will be able to make things clearer to him.

A friend of mine fairly new to budgies and she is breeding.....doesnt know a scrap about genetics yet.......she went out one day and brought home some new budgies. When I asked why she bought the ones she did when she had baby budgies in nests soon to come out she said..........I dont have those colours yet...... at this point I told her she did ....because the babies in one of her nests were feathering up to be exactly the colour and type of the ones she just bought.

Only solution to this is to cull all birds in the aviary and we also have to pull down the aviary and destroy anything that was in there, any boxes, perches etc. Aviary wire cannot be reused. Even though remaining parrots appear fine at the moment symptoms will worsen with every moult ( if they get that far ) they are carriers...cannot be sold. Must be culled. Culling in most cases is a term that usually means removal from the flock or onsold. in this case it means the birds must be killed....euthenased. Pity the breeder who sold us the infected parrot did not have a conscience when he sent us the infected bird. The breeder had over 35 years experience so he would have known the birds were infected. The hardest thing about all this is realising how contagious it is to the birds and all their equipment including breeding cages etc. Its also hard to know you have to euthenase your whole flock. My husband is struggling with this. His solution is to take them all to his Dads place and convert a shed to keep them in. No solution really, as moving them will cause stress and the illness will come out in them and they will be in a quarter of the space and have less supervision. Too dangerous and too highly contagious to put them on a plane with other peoples birds. Who knows what happened to the other peoples birds this female travelled with on her way over to us in the first place