**KAZ**

I agree with Nerwen. Baby 2 & 3 dont look recessive to me either

Hi Cheeky so when do you take up modelling ? You have the face for it

Be very sure you have male and female as it can be real hard to tell with Javas. I cannot advise you any further than that as we dont support other birds here on this forum with advice...we are just budgies

You have quarantined them seperately from the others right ? and do you know the ages of the new birds ? a brown cere on the albino females doesnt necessarily mean old enough for safe breeding.

I have had both javas and budgies. I wouldnt put them together. Javas will annoy the budgies and there will be aggression on both sides.

Jess is only 9 and that age they rarely keep the enthusiasm or responsibility going for pets. Sometimes takes till mid 20's for that to kick in. How about you keep doing what you are doing as if the bird is yours....tame it and train it. .....after all.....most of us on here started being into budgies as adults. Maybe somewhere along the way when you are succeeding more with Saphire, Jess will start being more interested. Even still maybe Saphire is yours rather than Jess's

PM me and I will give you a couple of good contacts

I agree on quantity

I would wait till your bird moults in its new flight feathers

Try remembering this golden rule when choosing budgies................... Young males have pink ceres. Young females have a lot of white on their ceres. Slightly older males have pinky purple ceres tending towards blue when past 5 months only IF they are a mutation thats cere will turn blue. A recessive pied male or albino males cere will never turn blue.....so assuming a pink cere in a bird of this mutation is a wrong diagnosis. A female over 6 months will have a cere tending toward brownish. You will get far more accurate sexing of birds here than any pet store in perth no matter what they class their experience. If you want good birds and correct sexing go along to the Metropolitan Budgerigar Club at their meetings in Bassendean Community Centre, Old Perth Rd Bassendean.................next meeting is 23rd April.......come at around 10am. Members bring in birds for sale. Show bred birds but you will get correct advice on what sexes they are from people who do know.

use snap traps then or hit the @#$$!@'s with a brick once you catch them alive. You do get to the point where you want them dead not caught alive when you get mad enough about the mice

Very inventive...........great idea Cant wait to see it finished. Well done

Some recipes you may find interesting http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=29023

Mix with water on its own or add grated carrot and some greens.

So we need to let these birds suffer to show them that it is wrong to treat them like that? Complain, report, talk and soon their business wont have customers and then they will have to do something. Figure it out.......if a pet store always has people/customers who buy the cr*p birds, the sick injured and infirm ones.........doesnt that send a message to the petstore that they dont have to buy in the best stock. they can pay $3-5 a budgie and get cr*ppy stock and the public then get these dregs.....anything will sell no matter what they look like or how healthy they are or arent. Supply and demand. If the pity buyers buy them anyway then petstores staff will continue to buy them in and stock then regardless of condition. I offered this guy free treatment of his birds...........his arrogance and lies about the birds tells me he wont be helped. I guess I will be reporting him next.

Quite frankly..........buying them isnt helping them. It isnt rescue. It teaches these places that no matter whats wrong with them they will sell them so it gives them a basis for taking any standard of budgie from a seller because there are the PITY BUYERS. Buying them creates a market for them.

Based on the strength of colour he has I would say he is NOT cinnamon.

In this photo he doesnt look cinnamon...his markings look grey AND if he was cinnamon his colour wouldnt be that strong either is Mum definitely skyblue or could she be sky violet or carrying violet ?

Has he a mirror in the cage ?

He's at that age Expect moulting soon

The great grit debate has been had many many times. There's no need to get personal here.... and whether or not someone who has an opinion is a staff member or not still entitles them to an opinion. I deliberately kept out of this topic as there is so much for and against in this grit topic. Many times in the past in this forum it has been debated and discussed. Whilst some may feel it goes without saying that grit is essential, some also feel quite the reverse. In my experience its the "old school" breeders who seem to advocate grit on the whole and then those they teach, mentor and assist also follow the grit ideals. Maybe they are right and others wrong but its a real "grey area ". I have been taught ...right or wrong....that grit isnt needed due to the fact budgies shell/husk their seeds. My budgies havent had grit as such due to this and they are healthy happy budgies. Sometimes they get Murphys minerals but I see that as an additive not grit. Correct me if I am wrong and please present your cases one way or the other with educated knowledge and evidence so we can all learn. I have also heard of autopsied budgies having sharp crystalline quartz like grains in the proventriculus that seem to have caused their demise. Whose to say who is right or wrong here, but if you have something to say, try less of the emotive personal attacks and more of the factual stuff that helps us learn and discuss. I, personally would not advocate someone buying their first budgie to buy it grit either.

In my previous experience with reporting this kind of thing to the RSPCA.........they are a toothless tiger and nothing is ever done. Bad news travels faster than good so you make sure you never buy from them and you make sure you advise others not to as well.

I have found one store local to where I now live that I wont be buying anything from after a visit today. Its not in the same town but a bigger town nearby......Bunbury. They have budgies for sale at this produce store. At least four of them had severe scalyface....to this degree and worse. These arent photos of the actual birds but similar to the two that werent quite as bad as the other two. Two had beaks grown all out of shape and size to the point they would struggle to be able to eat. I brought it to the attention of the guy in charge. He said he knew about it and was treating it. I asked him what he was using as it was extremely advanced. He said lotion every now and then. I said what about ivermectin..............he reacted in horror...."Oh no....he wouldnt be using that" I told him I was a show budgie breeder and had the ivermectin treatment at home and would be happy to bring some in and treat his birds for him for free. His response....he said he was a show budgie breeder too and he knew what he was doing and didnt want any help. I believe that to be a lie about being a show breeder. My impression was he was lying about treatment, the lotion doesnt work when its that advanced and the birds all needed beak trims after treatment with ivermectin. They were in a for sale cage with other budgies, the others not looking all that crash hot either. What does this teach me ?? I wont be using that store for any pet products based on the attitude of the manager and the birds he had there suffering.

Wish I could help but my birds get seed in bulk...............100 kilos per month of premium budgie breeder mix. Plus extras. I think the dyes come into play when there those extra little random unknown things in a budgie seed pack like dried vegies and such. You are far better off selecting a good quality seed blend and giving them the extra vegies than relying on the "integrity" or not of those coloured bits n bobs in a budgie seed pack.

Its weird. There's something about seeing a red eyed chick in a nest that puts a smile on one's face. Maybe its the element of surprise in most cases