**KAZ**

Rats love to live in peoples firewood piles too.

Pity you arent closer. My Cavaliers would have your rat problem sourced, killed and eaten within seconds. You will have to catch up any birds with wounds ands treat the wounds. The bacteria from bites could kill them within days if not sorted out. I have had rats dig in when I used to have my aviaries on soil floors and have experienced what you just have. I, however, found the rats were still in the aviaries hiding behind some internal layers of brushwood the previous owner had fitted so it looked "pretty". Took my oldest Cavalier into the aviary on a lead and she showed me where they were and she killed and ate two of them. Had to take her in on a lead or she would have eaten my birds too Best ratter in the world our cavaliers and the oldest one has trained the other two. We dont need poisons. The dogs can source, kill and eat a rat within 6 seconds...we have seen it with our own eyes. My eldest cavalier ( 11 yrs old ) has now taught herself to climb the conifer trees out the side as the rats try to nest in those to have their babies. She climbs 6 ft up the tree to find and kill the rats and their babies. The mother rats go into the conifers, bite off branches and make little "hammocks" and have their babies there. Cricket and Maggie and Harley find them. They tell me the baby ones are juicy and tasty

I dont disturb my birds at all on the hot days. I make sure they have plenty of cool water, including water with iceblock so the water doesnt get hot during the day and I leave them alone. They go to ground and get more lively once the day cools.

http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=20528

There are red budgies...........I see them on the internet all the time and some on here swear that pink budgies exist, so why not red ones PS just ÿolking"

I use the budgerigar program but I also make notes in a birdroom diary ( the diary is especially helpful as a back up )

Thats good to hear about the not needing 4 metres, cos my new temporary aviaries where we are moving to wont be that long

You just get in touch with a ring steward for the Budgie Council of Vic and ask

Suggestions for length of flights for show budgies is 4 metres with perches up high one end and food the other. Idea so they can build up shoulder and neck muscles in flight I believe My current flights are two of 6 metres by 2 metres. Where we are moving they will have a little less than that

Cinnamon chick is also a skyviolet. Other chick is skyblue yf normal

Dave is right. What happens is the begging for food that chicks do is similar to what the hens do to be fed so he sees the begging response as the same thing. Also the stepping onto the backs of chicks, al;though it can look sexual is also often a dominance thing too. Sometimes sexual but more often due to his confusion about another budgie in the breeder cage and the budgie asking to be fed like his hen does.

So ....the upshot of all this is.... My bird is a halfsider also known as a chimera ?

The horse you speak of Catch a Bird http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/roan-thoroughbred-353087-3.html Now deceased http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/horribly-sad-news-catch-bird-has-passed-142042.html

I dunno GB. But any feathers that are blue or white and where they shouldnt be are all on the birds left side. He is just coming through a moult so some of the blue feathers arent fully grown back in yet. Right side Left side

The tail doesnt look green to me in those photos

My budgies get wheatgerm in their soft food mix and they also get baby spinach.................so its all good

Caught this budgie up today and all blue feathers are on its left side of its body, mask and head. Will take more photos tomorrow

Hi Michelle and welcome. Sometimes they hang off the wire on the front of the aviary if you have lights on at night near them

Hey ratzy I caught some skyblue budgies up today and none of them had a tail the colours yours has...mine were a lot darker and brighter. Your hen seems split for recessive and I wonder if that has anything to do with her tail colour ? I also have some darkly marked ( on wings ) skyblue greywings so I will take a closer look at them too tomorrow and see what their tails look like.

No you dont. I just erected a welded aviary down at the new house. It was box tube steel and I cut it with an angle grinder, loaded it onto a trailer and rejoined the steel with small sections of slightly smaller diameter box tube and metal tec screws.........easy as There are also joiners for box tube, both plastic ones and steel. If you can use a drill and metal screws is so easy. You can also buy very cheap little shaped brackets at Bunnings for around $1 each to join as well. TOO EASY. Think outside the box SPLAT

If I was you Maddy, you could use either wood or box tube steel. Steel is better as budgies chew all the wood. The way your aviary is if you divided it front to back along the middle upright steel.....going to the back.....you would still have a decent sized flight as well as a breeding room. A length of box tube along the floor front to back, another length along the ceiling front to back, an upright length at the back floor to ceiling, another length floor to ceiling for a door. I have made access doors from security screens for windows found at salvage yards and the box tube is also found at salvage yard or even recycle sections at the rubbish tip. Wouldnt cost a lot .........around $5-$10 per piece of steel ( recycled ) and about the same for a window security screen to be used as a door. Some metres of mesh and you are done

Terrific !!

I agree with Maesie. I also know that pulling chicks from parents affects how the parents raise chicks in the future. Some mothers who have to raise their own chicks in the future stop caring for and feeding them at the age where previously their chicks were removed from the nest. Its learnt behaviour. They think their job is done too early if previous batches of chicks were pulled out of the nest at around 2 wks. I have experienced this.

Hens odd egglaying may also be a result of being in the aviary and the distractions of other birds.