Rainbow

How utterly adorable!

Good point to bring up nyos, if you breed 2 yellowfaces together a larger percentage will probably come out with white faces. These birds will either be normal whitefaces (i.e. not carry the YF gene) or will be DoubleFactor yellowfaces, which are visually white faced birds. The only way to tell which you have is to breed the offspring to a bird which is known to carry only the gene for whiteface. If all babies are whitefaced, the bird is a normal whiteface. If all babies are yellowfaced, the bird is a DF YF.

Will your other bird regurgitate seed to Motor? Does Motor beg for food, either from you or from the other bird?

Rainbow Wrong! :excl: No, Rainbow not wrong. The budgie hen is the most aggressive out of the pair. Or is it something else you don't agree with? What exactly do you find wrong?

At least they are presenting information in a useful and informative way. I detect no bias one way or the other in the information they gave.

I'm sorry. I know how worrisome it is when something is wrong with your birds, especially a lump. If you could post a picture of your bird, it might help. All I can tell you right now is that lumps are fairly common, and not always cancerous. Fatty lumps will tend to cover an area (chest or vent) as opposed to a specific spot (wing, neck, etc) and usually do not cause a bird to act sick. If you can look at the skin over the lump sometimes that can help determine what kind it is. Fatty lumps will make the skin look yellowish underneath, lumps around internal organs that have grown large enough to show may not change the skin color. If it is small, hard, and moves, it could be a cyst instead of a tumor. A bird can have fatty tumors and still be exercising. A diet heavy on the seed can predispose a bird to that type of tumor, although some fatty tumors are the result of a medical problem and not the cause. Does the lump seem tender? Does it move around or is it stable? What color is the skin underneath? What other symptoms (if any) is the bird exhibiting? Does the bird pick at it, or seem to be bothered by it's presence? Like everyone else has suggested, for something of this nature an avian vet should be consulted. If you can't find an avian vet, a regular vet that sees birds with some frequency or who is willing to consult with an avian vet over the phone would be my second choice. You can also ask who they refer their avian patients to when you call to make the appointment. If you explain why you need a vet who has intimate knowledge of birds the receptionist will be better able to give you the information you need, or at least find out from the doctor and call you back. I wouldn't worry about a normal vet "putting her down" - they can't do that without your consent. Usually you have to sign consent forms for euthanasia. If that is the advice you are given and you don't agree then you can and should take your bird home. Keep us posted about what you find out. If you are wondering, I have three birds with lumps.

This is too funny. Unfortunately I don't know who the author is to give credit. I had to share it with you all for a giggle. Pros and Cons of Owning a Human (Parrot’s Point of View) 1. They sleep too late. I mean, honestly, why must they wait for the sun to be ENTIRELY up to get out of bed and feed me? 2. Some learn to talk, but most don't. They have this annoying tendency to repeat the same thing over and over again without any real purpose. I have spent countless hours trying to get mine to learn to scream but to no avail. 3. No matter how many times I fling the kale out of my bowl, my person refuses to get the message and there it is again the next day ruining my breakfast. Why must it be so difficult to get some cheese around here? 4. Humans are all noisy. They yell across the house all the time. Don't get me started on that awful sound they make at night when they are sleeping. Sounds like a buzz saw. 5. They continuously hang their little colored blocks of wood and string in MY bedroom. Like I don't have enough of my own stuff, I need to operate a storage facility too? I destroy the things, and what do they do? They go ahead and hang more. You'd think they'd get the message. I honestly just don't have the room! 6. Did I mention how hard it is to get a piece of cheese around here? 7. Humans are messy. No bones about it - socks on the floor, jacket on the chair, and when was the last time yours made its bed in the morning. 8. Once a year or so they drag you to this awful place where some complete stranger wraps you in a towel and shines a light in your eye. Watch out for the needle - they're after your blood, God only knows what for! You're like, "Uh, a little HELP here??", but your human stands there stupidly and does NOTHING until the strangers have decided they have had enough of you. If you're lucky you'll get to go home then. Be sure and bite your human at least once for this indignation to teach them a lesson and maybe they won't take you there again next year. 9. Humans hardly ever keep to a schedule. I like to think I have mine trained to get home at 6:30pm, but then every so often she surprises me by not showing up until 9pm! The nerve. Also, what is it about Sundays and my not getting breakfast on time because humans like to sleep in? 10. They let strange people in the house without asking my permission. 11. Humans sometimes carry pests like cats and dogs. I have not yet figured out how to rid them of this problem. 12. If you want to keep more than one human, just be prepared that they don't always get along. Other times they get along too well and completely ignore you - a few loud bursts of screaming should solve either issue quickly. 13. Sometimes they place a cover over your bedroom WELL before you have any interest in going to bed. 14. They, not being the brightest creatures, tend to sit in one place for HOURS staring at a box with pictures in it that makes a lot of noise. Either that or they sit in front of a DIFFERENT type of box and tap their fingers on the tabletop in front of IT for hours. Doesn't take much to keep them occupied. Use this time wisely and get into and destroy anything you normally wouldn't be allowed to if they were paying attention! 15. Lastly, in spite of all their unpleasant habits, they are GREAT cuddlers, they skritch that spot you can never quite reach, and they do offer fabulous room service (when it includes cheese), house cleaning, and spa services.

How often do the pieds win? I know that it is normal for pieds not to carry the full complement of spots. Does anyone ever see any pieds win that are lacking spots? Is it common to breed non-spot pieds from fully spotted parents? Good question, Bea.

I would like to see information about the standards, about what to look for in chicks that may be show winners. I would like to see information about breeding setups, and especially about keeping records. You know, like what information is necessary, and what is just good to have. I would like to know what breeders do to enhance a line, and what they do to decrease defects. There have been many posts thrown out there lately that tell me little is known and a lot is guessed. I would like to find out about the hobby, good aspects and bad. Otherwise, how can I help improve it?

Spirit looks DF dominant. And Kirby, you get dominant pieds and normals from dominant pied parents. :sad: For instance, with 2 dominant pied parents, you have Pn for genes. (very simplified I know, just want you to get an idea.) P stands for pied, it is capitalized because it is dominant over normal. n stands for normal, it is small only because it is recessive to pied in this case. When you combine genes, you can get either Pn, PP, or nn. Pn will be singlefactor pied. PP will be doublefactor pied. nn will be normal, with no pied genes at all. So for that bird to produce pieds and normals makes perfect sense if it is a dominant pied. Does that make sense?

kirbs, dude.... That bird you are giving links to is very much a dominant pied. I've told you a couple of times I also think Lilly is a dominant pied. You cannot tell by looking at the patchiness of color with any certainty that a budgie is recessive. Lilly is marked similarly to how my Rainbow was in the wings, and also in that Lilly's base color is more towards her belly than her head. The biggest difference is that his chest was seafoam green because of the yellow bleedthrough - Lilly doesn't appear to have that. And Rainbow had that line of white around the legs too. Her wings are marked closer to a "typical" dominant pied rather than a recessive. Recessive's tend to be more patchy and sparse. Her markings, while not covering the whole wing, are very uniform in their placement. She has more markings on her wing than some of my dominants. She looks opaline as well as dilute. The line where the yellow of her chest turns to the blue of her belly is very straight, very uniform. There, how was that for an explanation?

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/ Harrison's is a completely organic pelleted diet for parrots. There are several different varieties and sizes for most any parrot. It looks like you can get it on most continents, and you can get them from your veterinarian also. I personally use it as a part of their diet since it does carry a complete compliment of vitamins and minerals, and supplement around it. It probably comprises about 20 - 30% of my birds' diet (but it is hard to tell). The rest is made up (in order from greatest part of diet to least part) of cooked grains/beans/legumes, cooked veggies, sprouts, seeds, fresh veggies, wheatgrass, and eggfood. I find Harrison's to be an extremely high-quality food, but since it contains no preservatives, shelf life is not as long as other brands. Which is fine by me, at least I know my birds are not getting stale or old food. Good idea Bea, about using the rolling pin....that would have been SO much easier than what I was doing....***don't ask***

Hi kirbs. She is very pretty, but not a spangle. I say she is a dilute yellowface type 2 dominant pied. I don't think greywing because the smaller flights I can see in your pics look white. Her tail also looks white, which tells me to think clearflight, not greywing. If greywing, the tail would be of normal color, just diluted.

:hap: :hap: That's funny. My girls are just the opposite. The Fine remains untouched, and the Mash is what gets eaten. Sometimes before the seeds, LOL. They can be such finicky eaters! Bea, I think at first you will just have to experiment until you find what they like. If they will eat cooked food like Beak Appetit or beans, try sprinkling some pellets on top so they have to pick through them to get to the cooked stuff. As they absorb some of the liquid and soften a bit they might unknowingly (ahem) get eaten that way.... :feedbirds:

Steinbock, if at a year old your budgie still has a pinkish cere, you have a male and not a female. **EDIT** Steinbock, I just noticed that was your first post. Welcome to the forum! It's usually best to start your own thread for questions, that way you know the responses will be about your topic. If you want, tell us a little about your bird in the My Flock section, and post some pictures of your budgie!

My birds prefer the Mash, but will eat the SuperFine too. The last time I bought it they were out of the SuperFine so I had to get the Fine, and I agree it is a little big for budgies. If your birds don't really go for it in the size you have, just crush it some. The Fine is probably the perfect size for Cookie. If you ever get the chance to try the Mash, I would suggest it. It is like a powder, even finer than eggfood. The instructions say you can mix it with fruit juice, but my birds like it just as it comes and I've never mixed it with anything. My birds will eat that before any other size. The high potency is good until your birds are converted, then if you want you can switch to the regular potency.

If you hold a bird properly it doesn't hurt them. You really don't even need to hold them very tight if you use both hands and cup them around your bird. If you can get them used to it, they probably won't put up much of a fuss. I can pick 3 of mine up with no problems, they just look at me like "oh brother, this again???" It sounds like you have both of your birds in the same cage. Have you had them very long? Using food as a motivator is a good idea, until your birds are familiar with step ups. I would practice them inside the cage at first, until they are both used to them. Always end your training sessions with compliance on the part of the bird, and keep sessions positive. At first if you only do a few step ups, give them a treat, and are done with it, that is okay. Just practice them several times per day. It may take some time, depending upon how old they are, but once they will both step up reliably in the cage, then you can practice them out of it. By that time I think you will find it much easier though. Just perservere, and use a treat that they only get during training sessions. If you use something that is a regular part of their diet (at least at first) it defeats the purpose.

It sounds like it really was fortunate you got him to the vet's. Do you know what the name of the fungus is? How is it transmitted? It is a shame you can't get some pictures, that would help quite a bit. What did the vet suggest for treatment?

My other half thinks my birds all look the same ("I don't know which bird, it was the blue one", LOL). If yours is like mine, you could bring that little one in and pass her off as one of the ones already in, and he may never know.......LOL. No, honey, she's always looked like that..... :devil: I'm inclined to go with olive as the color too, but something about that mustard-yellow color on the rump has me not 100% with that. Olive should be more green...shouldn't it?

I think it happens more frequently if there are still young babies in the nest. I think Skittles quit most feeding at around the three week mark too, but still fed the youngest ones. So if the youngest was three weeks, (thinks out loud) the oldest was close to 2 weeks older than that. She would feed the littler ones, just not the older ones. Rainbow fed Sky until she was 16 weeks (little beggar)! Then things got odd. I won't go there, LOL.

Such pretty dresses.... I seem to have missed Karen's pictures too...... looks around but still can't seem to locate them.... Everyone looks so pretty and happy. Congratulations from me too!

Usually the best thing is to move them once they have been eating on their own for about a week to 10 days. I think if you continue to handle them while dad is still doing some feeding, they should remain pretty tame. Even if you think they are taking after the parents (being a little flighty or jumpy) if you have them all in another cage by 5 1/2 or 6 weeks of age and can move the cage to a different location, they will tame down again very quickly. If you can manage it, I would wait. I don't remember so well as it has been a very long time since mine were babies, but I think I moved mine to a different cage somewhere about 5 1/2 weeks, and they stopped eating (but had been eating on their own some) so I had to move them back in with dad so he could feed some more. Plus the screaming between babies and dad was SO annoying. I don't remember all the details, just that I had to put them back in for a little longer because they quit eating. I'd hate for you to have that happen too.

Welcome to the forum! Your birds are so pretty. And thanks for the list, Anna! Very helpful.

Bea, I know that last line applies to you.

Then wait closer to 6 months. I think the closer they are to 18 months is a safer bet that they will be mature enough to successfully breed and raise young.