**KAZ**

A great post Dave

Please post the clear photos of iris rings.....no comment re breeding until you do.

Close up iris rings photos needed. Use macro setting on camera to get a good clear close up.

You can get in the habit of saying HIM.....might be a girl baby budgie There's a person on facebook who handraises baby budgies and she keeps putting piks up and offering them for sale....every single one according to her is a male. I tell her when they are females and she doesnt like me telling her .....I guess because everyone wants males.....and when I say they are females she says ...."oh well, you cant really tell yet " but I can and I know she is saying boys just to get sales of them when most of them are females anyway LMAO

How is it going ?

I would extend it like you thought and the clear sheet is also a good idea. Only thing with extending the roof sheets is you will most likely have to duck under it to access depending on height ?

Thats fine then Look forward to your photos

you said so thats four budgies.

Yes we do, but if you listen to those who know a shade more than you do, and be prepared to follow good advice..............your birds dont end up paying the price for you learning on them.

You say you wont colony breed but you have bought two pairs and you are saying .........thats what colony breeding IS and you cant move a nestbox once breeding has begun. Fights can occur is selecting nestboxes and possession of them. Fights and bloodshed and smashed eggs and later on killed and maimed babies and parents. PLEASE read the colony breeding link I gave you. You seem to be misunderstanding what its all about

You could put about ten birds in there but I wouldnt if you did the colony breeding and nestbox thing. You can get breeding cages ( flight cages for as cheap as $30 measuring 60 by 40 by 40cms ) for breeding. PS birds dont hide from rain..........if it rains they will be on the wire trying to get wet. If your aviary gets wets they can get coccidiosis which is an illness so you need to think over the access for rain to your aviary and think through possible winds and draughts. I hope you removed that nestbox.

divided into paragraphs but I may not have done it quite right

I agree with Dave especially about cere colour. Also, as advised in your other topic..........colony breeding is not a good way to go. Two pairs makes a colony breeding situation. Please read the topic I posted a link to for you. AND, you should not put a pair straight down to breed when you get them home as they have been under stress and they need a settling in period. this can be a few weeks or a couple of months. Budgies under stress can get ill very fast. Stress is being caught being transported being sold to a pet store new food new "friends" being caught again being transported again New home New food New "friends" New environment All of these things can make a bird ill. Add to that the additional stress of expecting to breed them the minute they get them home. Yes Wait till they have settled in and you know the birds and can be comfortable about their state of health. You say you bought breeding age budgies but how are you to know they havent been near on bred to death before they arrived at your home ? Do not add a nestbox at this stage. Post piks so we can be sure of their ages as pet shop staff lie about stuff like that. Start feeding them up on a varied diet including vegies and fruits. Breeding is not something to jump into with birds you dont know the history of............

Petshops will tell you anything you want to hear..............please post pictures of the birds, in particular the iris rings of their eyes so we can assess their actual age for you you cage will also get rain in it so the paper will get wet. Any plans for weather proofing the suspended aviary ?

Good idea coming on here to ask. Hope you get some help

I agree with GB. You will lose birds out of that door. Secondly..colony breeding is not the way to go. Use the flight aviary for their fun place to be and remove breeding pairs to a separate cage for breeding. Make sure any birds in there where nestboxes are are OVER 12 months of age or ytou will force breed them too young. If you arent sure of their ages dont breed them until you can be positive they are over 12 months. Re the floor of the aviary some white sandpit sand would be okay. Read this http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=28294&hl=

Bump

http://sa.gumtree.com.au/c-Pets-birds-for-sale-W0QQAdIdZ296440362

This article was written by Steve Holland of the Holland Stud and is used by his permission. FOSTERING Fostering Not until a long distance telephone conversation over the Christmas holidays did I realise how little information there is regarding fostering exhibition budgerigars. It seems to be a subject that most make up as they go along. We in The Holland Stud have as a matter of cause fostered for as long as I can remember, the fact is that our father has a few sayings when it comes to our birds and one is “Never put all your eggs in one basket”. What he means by this is that we should spread the risk of loosing eggs and chicks over as many nests as possible and not hope that the paternal parents will raise all their chicks. We look at this as a percentage game. It is common practise for us to split a number of pair’s eggs or chicks between several pairs. The reason is simple, it is rare that all the pairs will fail to sit the eggs and raise the chick where as it can be the case that one pair (and its normally your best pair) will do this. By spreading the eggs and chick across the aviary we should get some return off all of the pairs. So the question has to be what, and when to foster! There are a few simple rules to start with that must be followed to start with. First you should date mark all your eggs as they are laid, second when you move eggs mark the egg with the cage number they have come from. Good record keeping is an ecclesial when fostering eggs or chicks around the aviary so that you can ensure your following years pairing are not too close. If you are to foster eggs, always foster into a nest where the eggs in that nest match the date of the eggs being fostered into it. (Hence the need for date marking eggs) I have know breeders foster eggs into a nest that are much younger than those in the nest, only to see the hen clear the nest because nothing has hatched and she is preparing for her next round. Remember hens have a natural cycle when they are laying and failure to see chicks in the nest box at the appropriate time seems to trigger the cycle to kick in early. If you foster several pairs eggs in to different nest try to keep the eggs in batches, for example two eggs of pair one that have been laid on the 1st and 3rd of the month, the next pairs eggs ideally would have been laid on the 5th and 7th and the third pairs eggs would have been laid on the 9th and 11th. By following this pattern it’s easy to identify the chick as the hatch simply on a size basis and it allows you to mix 3 pairs into 3 nests. I have no problems fostering eggs at any stage of development as long as the pair you are fostering to have matching dated eggs and that they are sitting their clutch well. When it comes to fostering chicks. Again if a few simple rule are employed you should not have a great deal of problems. Never foster into a nest without chicks. I have attempted this but without a great deal of success. If the pair is not feeding they seem unwilling to start without having heard the chick chipping. The better option is to foster the egg as it’s chipping. Move chicks into nests that match the clutches age. Younger chicks will struggle and older chicks may overwhelm the nest. Ideally move chicks that have been rung so that you can identify them late. When you move a chick rub some of the nest material over its body, I know people will tell you that bird cant smell, but I have seem my own birds react to some foods as I open a jar and it is a reaction to smell. By rubbing the chick with nest material it smells the same as the rest of the nest. The maximum age for fostering should be about 3 weeks old. I have fostered, out of necessity, at a greater age, but the risk of rejection is increased the older the chick being fostered. Using fostering to maximise the output from pairs As I said above we have a few saying that we use around the aviary and one of them is “breeding is a percentage game” and we will do most thing to try and increase the percentage return off a pair. I have this year get hens that lay large clutches. Once a hen has reached 4 eggs in a clutch, start fostering out the oldest eggs. With the right hen limiting the size of the clutch seems to induce the hen to continue to lay eggs. As long as the eggs are fertile you are increasing your potential percentage return from the pair. This is where I have no problems with having a couple of pairs with clear eggs, they give you the opportunity to take large clutches off hens as described above. Keep feeding/raising records as part of you breeding records When I collect my breeding team every year from our main aviary my brother Michael will have put notes on any of the pairs that need to have an eye kept on them. As a matter of cause we will record on all breeding card if a cock or hen has given us problems in the breeding cage the previous year. This year one of the notes was “remove all chicks from nest… Cock kills as chicks leave the nest” Another was “ hen feather plucks” These simple notes can then be used to prevent re-occurrences of the previous years events and again increase the percentage returns on a pairing I now use coloured stickers on the nest boxes so that I can at a glance see what has happened in a nest box. All the problem pairs have a black star on the edge of the nest box as a reminder over the season that I need to take some action with the pair as they lay. By using these simple steps I have been able to move eggs and chick to foster parents and ensure a return off some excellent pairs. By: ‎(BAA) Budgerigar Association of America

Dont worry about the air bubble at this stage...usually happens when consistency of the food formula doesnt coincide with the baby sucking it into its crop.....Should get better with time. PS CONGRATS !!!!

It needs food in its crop before nightfall. Check closely...sometimes its hard to see such a tiny feed in their crop. If you have to feed yourself it will only need a couple of drops....hardest thing about making up an amount that small is making sure is warm enough as the smaller the amount the colder it gets faster than usual. Keep us updated.

Tonight eh ? Hope its well attended

You will see it occasionally. Just watch her to be sure the bleeding doesnt continue past the egg laying. I dont know if there's anything you can do really. Check the eggs for signs of rough shells to look for a cause. If none its just one of those things.

I posted in your wanted to buy cage topic, but we also have an article on cages in our cages forum. Welome

Just because you have a single budgie does not mean you need a SMALL cage. There are flight cages best suited to budgies that measure 60 cms wide by 41cm by 41 cms and they are perfect for budgies. You can usually get them for $30 Here http://www.cheapaschips.com.au/showproduct.asp?sk=BA049