Rainbow

I know how heartbroken you are. I am very, very sorry Bea. I found this on the internet on another site, author unknown. Maybe it will help. Lend Me A Bird "I will lend to you for a while, a bird", God said. For you to love him while he lives and to mourn for him when he is dead. Maybe for twelve or fourteen years, or maybe for two or three. But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me? He'll bring his charms to gladden you and should his stay be brief, You'll always have his memories as solace for your grief. I cannot promise that he will stay, since all from earth return, But there are lessons taught below I want this bird to learn. I've looked the whole world over in search of teachers true. And from the folks that crowd life's land, I have chosen you. Now will you give him all your love; nor think the labor vain; Nor hate me when I come to take my lovely bird again? I fancied that I heard them say, "Dear Lord, thy will be done, for all the joys this bird will bring, the risk of grief we'll run." Will you shelter him with tenderness? Will you love him while you may? And for the happiness you'll know forever grateful stay? But should I call him back much sooner than you've planned; Please brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand. If, by your love, you've managed, my wishes to achieve, In memory of him you've loved; be thankful; do not grieve. Cherish every moment of your feathered charge. He filled your home with songs of joy the time he was alive. Let not his passing take from you those memories to enjoy. "I will lend to you, a Bird", God said, and teach you all you have to do. And when I call him back to heaven, you will know he loved you too. (Author Unknown)

LOL, our posts went up at the same time. I'd wait 4-6 months.

If your ages of 12 1/2 and 13 months old are correct, I would still wait another 4-6 months before supplying the nest box.

The first thing I would look at would be their diet. Have they eaten any new foods? Strawberries could turn the feces reddish, grains or pellets will turn them brownish.

The black marks on the beak don't have anything to do with gender. You will find they gradually fade so that by 8 weeks or so they are gone. You might also try taking a good look at the shape of the head. Males will have very round-looking skulls when viewed from the side. Females will have more of a boxy look to them - a little flatter on top and towards the back of the head. Watch them when they beg for food from dad - when they lift the feathers on their heads and start begging the females tend to lift the feathers from the cere all the way to the back of the neck. Males tend to just lift the feathers at the cere. This difference seems to continue into adulthood. Bear in mind that I don't have any scientific evidence to support what I just wrote - but it has been my observation about the head shape for a very long time.

I agree with having all birds vet checked, no matter what breed they are. When I got Rainbow he was sick, so he went to the vet (ER actually). Skittles went to the vet shortly after I got her for a wellness visit in addition to her quarantine, and I took all the babies to the vet myself after they fledged. They also get regular checkups whether they need them or not.

Maybe these will help. These were taken right around the 5 - 6 week old mark, so should be close to the age of yours. The males will have a smooth, even color throughout the cere. The females will gradually show a lightening of the intensity of color (even if the color is the same) from the beak to the nostrils. Even harder to tell sometimes, but the males will have a slightly rounded look at the nostrils, where the females sometimes tend to look flatter. They are still rounded, but not as much as males. Maybe you can tell a little bit what I mean from the pictures. Unfortunately, I have a lot of very blurry pictures when the birds were brand new, but will dig through the archives to see what I can find if you want better pictures. Females: Male:

If she is almost a year old, then she is a he. :fear The cere would have turned at least whitish tan by now. I don't see any whitish rings around the nostrils either, so my guess would be male.

How old is Beau? Was he a baby when you got him? If he is under a year or so, he may not have this mating thing down yet. It sometimes takes awhile for the males to get enough balance to even attempt a successful mating. And the first several times usually end up with the female becoming angry because the male is so clumsy. I remember Rainbow used to fall forward and off over Skittle's head, LOL, until he figured it out. Does he feed her very often? He should be almost running her ragged with his attentions. If she is chewing, she is probably interested, but it is possible she is not quite ready yet. The color of Cloud's cere when she came to you is not a very good indication of whether she is old or not, so it is possible she is too old to breed, but I think with her coloring the pet store would not have had her very long because she is pretty. If they are in fact a young pair, it may just take awhile before they become very bonded and feel like starting a family. And also, another note on the doublefactor dominant pied - when paired with a normal all babies will be pied, as that is the only gene to give.

I keep coming back and looking at these pictures! I really just have to have that baby, Karen. Mars is such a beautiful boy. They all are, mind you, but I think he is something else. I just love his coloring.

If you could find one that is as long as it is tall you will be doing good. It is hard to find those. Good luck.

You might consider a larger cage. It's possible they don't have enough room. The height is fine, but the width and length are short for the height of the cage. Longer cages rather than taller ones are usually best, unless the cage is huge to begin with. If one of your birds is female, she will need more "personal space" LOL than the male will. Plus since they are both under a year old, they will be going through some physical and personality changes as a normal part of maturing. Sometimes they just will not like to be in such close proximity. A wider cage would help that. Or you can temporarily seperate them if the fighting escalates, because I know you don't want either of them to hurt the other.

LOL, Bea, I haven't heard those type of chirps in awhile. Poor Cookie. I think you have the right idea about what poor Blinks had in mind - his singing got Skittle's attention on this side of the world!

Do they fight outside of the cage?

Why would you put cellophane up? If I were you, I would save up for a cage with a little different design if this happens frequently. If this is a one-time incident, I would keep an eye out for it happening again. How exactly did he get caught? What kind of doors does the cage have? Are his nails too long?

That second picture is male. As long as the other bird allows him to feed her, they are forming a bond. I don't think a female will accept food from a bird they don't like. What type of behavior is normal for them when out of the cage? Do they follow each other around and stick like glue, or do they go their own way?

Did you try looking online for one? You may have to drive an hour or more when you find one, so don't just look in your immediate neighborhood. Unfortunately, this is part of responsible bird ownership that pet stores don't tell you when you purchase your bird. You owe it to your bird to find a vet that will either treat your bird, can refer you to an avian vet, or will treat your bird while consulting with an avian vet if there really are none within a hundred miles or so. And I know in parts of Canada that is the case. If you haven't already, if there are none near you when you search online, call the vets in your phone book and ask for a referral to an avian vet. Lots of people have birds, so the local vets will know where to refer you to. Please try, and let us know what you find out. In the meanwhile, do not feed anything but seed and millet in case the unusual stools are caused by something else in the diet. If you recently opened a new bag of seed and then this started, the seed could be old or off. Take that one back and get a new bag if you think this could be the cause. Keep your bird warm, either by aiming a heat lamp into one side of the cage (cover the other sides) or use a heating bad underneath the cage. If you need more help in setting up a hospital cage we will be glad to help. You want him in an area where he will be warm, but not overheated. If you use a heat lamp, make sure there is a place in the cage where he can go to escape the heat if it gets too hot.

Lovely setup, Daz. They look very happy with it.

I agree. That picture is just precious.

I really like your setup, hath. I am glad you decided to perservere. What kind of branches do you have in there?

How old are they? If one of them is getting a brown cere, then it would be female, but in the last group of pictures the head looks so male. And going by the shape of the cere I would have said male too...but brown means girl. Is she under 6 months old?

I don't see any grey...I'm not sure what you mean.

I'm wondering if you have the genders mixed up for your birds. The female will not normally do the feeding or preening. The male will do all the feeding, and only occassionally will the female participate in allopreening. The usual times a female will do the regurgitating is if 1-she is feeding babies, 2-she is introduced to a very young budgie that still begs for food. I have heard she will feed a sick male, but don't have any experience in that area. When Rainbow was sick none of the hens ever fed him. Usually they will try to "off" any really sick birds in the flock and keep them away from food because sick birds are an open invitation to predators. I have 4 females right now. They will only occassionally preen each other's pin feathers and I have never seen them regurgitate to each other. If you can get some more pictures that would help us determine the sex of your birds.

Oh yes! Physics was one of my favorite classes. Thanks for the physics discussion.

I loved college physics!! I rarely find anyone who voluntarily takes it, LOL. I agree with what you are saying for the most part. I think it is more a matter of syntax now. The airplane analogy I used was just the first thing I thought about. I know they are not the same thing as a moveable wing. But I think the primaries carry more curvature than secondaries. As you watch a bird fly, the outer feathers are the ones that move and bend to a greater extent than secondaries. Secondaries provide stability. Like so: The outer feathers are the ones that move and bend, more so than the inner ones. You said Primaries do not have the curvature of the wing to the same extent as the secondaries so do not create much lift, however they do extend the gliding surface. I think primaries have much more curvature than secondaries. Otherwise, the outer feathers would remain straight, just like the wing. It is the inner feathers that retain the curvature of the wing. As far as the term lift, my original definition is the ability to move UP. From the ground, a fully flighted bird can flap his wings and fly up to a tree, the curtain rod, wherever. A bird with a few clipped primaries is lucky to make it up to the sofa. He cannot gain lift. If he starts out from a few feet up, he can still turn, steer, and brake if necessary, but will not fly any higher because he cannot gain more lift. He will gradually glide to the ground, and no matter how hard he flaps while in the air, will not fly up. You said that To produce the main lift on the outer part of the wing (primaries) would mean that the muscles in the wing would have to do more work to keep the wing stable. Only if the primaries are gone, is there difficulty producing lift. The wing muscles do have to work harder if some of the primaries are missing. The also have to work harder if the inner primaries/outer secondaries are missing, but for a different reason. I think we are on the same page, just using slightly different definitions. It is so cool someone else took physics. :bluebudgie: