**KAZ**

Sorry to blow your theory Liv.......This fella hasnt been near any other birds. He was inside in a show cage with no other budgies around him and he is kept alone and this feather is attached to a feather follicle. Did the tugging test and its fixed into a feather follicle. Surely you must know I wouldnt just look at it and assume. I looked very close and tested the feather growth. Note also its the same length as the feathers near it. See also how it is wet looking ? Thats because I fully washed the budgies butt area after it walked through its egg and biscuit mix and got all stodgy food all over its butt and feet. Scrubbed and rubbed and the feather didnt come off........cos it couldnt RIP says not a halfsider but from a feather follicle with damaged genetic something nor other

Just updating. He hasnt got any worse and hasnt got better, but he can still climb ladders and still perch.

Bonding ? You know.........you can put a cock and hen into a breeding cage that have never met before in their life, and five seconds later the hen can be assuming a mating position and the cock mating her. Too much is often made of BONDING information as is the old wives tale about budgies mating for life ( which they dont ). Harry.........try not to overthink the processes............ its easier than you think

I wouldnt. There"s no real reason to keep them seperate. Some hens get fat and lazy if they are with same sexes. If in with cocks they are more active.

The eldest amongst these four is stubborn and wont take food off the spoon as readily as the other three. He does it one drop at a time with reluctance and shakes his head to throw formula all around the place. I am nearly at the point of feeding him by crop needle but that wont teach him to eat. So he takes about 30 minutes to get half a crop full of food where they others take 5 mins for a full crop. I will be patient. Handraising isnt something I do because I choose to, its something I do because I have to

We already have this covered in a topic all of its own on the forum.

Well done Dean

There isnt a cure for french moult. If you have it going through most people stop breeding for 6-7 months and dont move birds in and out in that time. Some birds are visibly affected, others arent, some carry it and others dont. We have lots of info on it here on our forum. Use the search function top right of page and see what pops up for some good reading.

French moult.

I prefer parent raised to hand raised myself...........a whole lot less trouble. If the babies are young I begin by crop feeding and move onto a spoon later. The ones I have to feed right now are taking their dinner off a bent spoon.

The yellow feather

The baby canary died......it was doing real well but as its toes had been bitten badly it succumbed to infection Have three Princess babies out flying now. Fledged yesterday. One still learning how to fly and crashing into things. I am calling that one CRASH CRADDOCK Dad is watching them all closely. Mum is laying a second clutch. I am also handraising four baby princess parrots ( three blues and one white ). The mother ( Blutack) decided to pluck them all so they were removed from her nest. They were put in another nest for awhile but arent being fed in there as that hen is laying an early second clutch with a baby still in the nest. So I am back to being mama of princess parrot babies.

Your friend is wrong

I was just cleaning Dusty ( as he stepped in his dish of soft food ) and noticed he has growing a yellow feather down by his left leg. One single yellow feather on a skyblue dom pied bird. Weird Does one yellow feather make him a halfsider ?? I have also just put him in a cage of his own not the smaller showcage he was coping well in. Why ? Because he has decided he wants to perch and has been desperately trying to get up onto the perch, flapping and jumping vertically up in the air like a shocked quail. I have given him a cage inside the junior flight of the aviary and he has perches and a ladder now.

Nothing to do with egglaying or a need to see the vet. This is normal budgie masturbation and occurs with females just as much as males.

Healthy so far. Eating, not thin. No poopy bottom. They often live just a few weeks........8-12 maximum. Some live longer. I am so stuck in sexing this budgie as the cere is so different everytime you look at it MALE FEMALE ? Baby photos seem to indicate male

No trimming Rachel. I have heard trimming makes it worse. Under normal circumstances a cut feather dies and drops out and then needs replacing. That would create an extra toll on a duster. Even a blind budgie can find its food and water, so a duster will be able to as well. I think trimming feathers is something people do to feel better about the bird and may not be whats best for them.

DUSTY is managing to feed enough to keep in front of the toll the feather growth takes. Getting to be quite a QUACKER too Slideshow of photos

Dont be in too much of a hurry to blame a cock for infertile eggs. Some hens think they can go to nest and lay eggs without budgie bonking. Half the time its the hens at fault.

As Robyn says.......dont give it a mirror. Does their head in.....affects their mental state.

I agree with Dean

I agree. its not the same as buying from petshops.

Did you use a flash on the camera ?

True in a way. But as some members have dialup and each photo on a page takes time to load up, we have to have a size limit.

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