**KAZ**

I agree with Amy. Split them all up again ( no nestboxes ) and start posting closer photos for us of all of them showing cere and eyes. You definitely have some very underaged budgies there that should NOT be breeding. PS your female albino is definitely a male.

You wait till they are over 12 months not 6 months for breeding. Being sure of their ages is real important if you have put them down to breed.

AAh true But most show breeders I know have a greater knowledge of the parentage of their birds...going back a few generations and a fuller knowledge of the possible faults. They will not breed with birds showing faults.

Mine wont eat broccoli either

I didnt mean inbreeding. Just possible poor selection of parents with a similar fault.....it could have been a hidden fault and therefore the breeder would not have known when he paired them up.

Hi Cat The red above the beak ( called the cere ) goes brownish red when a female is in "breeding condition" ( not to be confused with old enough to breed ). However your female has white iris rings in her eyes and I would say from that she may well be 10-11 months or older.

ages ??

Can you do a diagram for us of what space you have and dimensions of each ?

Rarely do parents eat babies. Check the nest fully ....the chick may still be there. A dead chick ends up flattened when they die. Mice shoudnt be anywhere you are breeding or keeping birds so you absolutely must stop mice. Give us some more details of your breeding setup so we can advise re the mice.....photos will help. another W.A. budgie person eh

Petshops rarely know the actual age of the birds they are selling and often tell you what you want to hear. Have you got a clear photo of her especially her eyes ?

They seem to love sweetcorn....so a few kernels of that ( can be thawed frozen kernels ) and some finesliced dark greens like silver beet or bok choy...some grated carrot. Sprinkle a small amount of seed over the top and he may investigate. In trying to eat the seed he will get the odd bit of vegie and that leads to eating vegies.

Hi Cat and welcome Unfortunately, I am afraid you have ventured into breeding your birds too soon. You must wait till they have finished growing and thats till they are 12 months or so. Breeding at 7-8 months is too young. She still needs calcium for her growing bones and not rob her body of it for forming eggs. Best thing you can do is remove the nestbox and allow her to mature. He may have died for a variety of reasons. He may have fed her and not fed himself enough. This can happen to budgie fathers too young to know what to do. It may be the cold. But as you said they were out on the verandah it may also be that mice have entered the cage and contaminated the food and or water supply as well and that will kill birds in a very short space of time. Mice can enter anything thats half inch or 10-12mm holes and that includes the cage bars of most cages. They can also run up bricks very easily if a cage is against a wall. As far as babies and egglaying goes, she shouldnt be egglaying as you have started her off too young as stated. Even if she now lays an egg it may not be fertile. She is also in danger of becoming eggbound. Budgie pairs mate all the time egglaying goes on, in between each egg as well to be sure eggs are fertile. Its not like s stud service where one mating enables all eggs to be fertile. Best advice I can give you is to remove the nestbox and wait at least 4 months. Do not add another male to continue breeding, and if you are tempted to buy another budgie you dont add it straight to the cage unless its quarantined away in another cage in another room in another airspace for at least 30 days. If the two you had were from different places and he was put with her recently he may have died due to a contracted illness. Budgies can be carriers of illness and not show symptoms and any other budgie put with them can contract an illness that can kill them or at very least make them quite sick. Like all of us when we start out, you have a few gaps in your knowledge to fill, so take the time to read, ask questions and just stick to the one budgie for now.,.....with no nestbox, no matter what

I believe your thoughts on the sexes to be correct

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I think Whizzbang is GF cobalt so the outcome is not as for skyblue

Except he can't be olive because his mother is sky blue. So he does look like a greywing to you? Yes...looks greywing to me

If you have read the faq section and still have questions...........ask them

Thanks We love the house. It has 7 bedrooms and three sitting rooms or living rooms, so we can afford to sacrifice a room for the breeding room for a little while. After all there's only two of us plus 5 cats 3 dogs 230 budgies 35 parrots various canaries and finches PS here is the whole house

You will need to fix that before you proceed with the door.

That particular greywing is also an olive greywing it looks like so that would account for the tail colour I expect.

Finnie has given you some great info. I am concerned that he really doesnt have access to seed daily. Its all about moderation in all things not complete replacement. Maybe if you read this article http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=18890 it will help. Yes a change in diet will cause moulting. Lacking certain vitamins and nutrients may well be a reason for the scaly feet. I, like Finnie see no issues with scalyface. I am sorry, I am not a believer in the pellet diet at all. My birds get a quality seed blend, vegies like sweetcorn, bok choy, spinach, carrots, fruit like apples, lemons, oranges, grapefruit. We give softfoods made up daily. With a varied diet you dont have to resort to pellets. Your budgie is real cute

Hi Nathan please dont use language shortcuts ( like plz or u ) or you will make work for us chasing your posts and editing you. How about you post some photos of your breeding set up so we can advise you better. and when you post please write more than you do so we have more to go on when we advise you.

190 by 110 by 180 h I would say about 15 but no nestboxes.

If the bird is over 6-8 months and female the cere will be brownish like any other female in breeding condition. If its well over that age and the cere has never gone brown then its a male.

Re frame for the wire door. If its a stock standard size door you may find a real cheap flyscreen door at a salvage yard or recycle at the tip and then all you do is take off the flyscreen stuff and add aviary mesh and put it on as a second door. I did it for my old first ever birdroom.