Rainbow

Cheeta, I think you're right about the yellow feathers in the chest. I didn't notice it before. But even if she were a type 1, her wing feathers would still be yellow. They are the same color as the head no matter which type. What an adorable baby!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure on that one, maybe they are in the fish tank as a temporary measure while the nest box gets cleaned out?? I used to leave the babies in the box for cleanings, but I think most people don't.

Then she is at the perfect age to breed. If you already have a male of about the same age to pair her with, he will bring her into condition so you will not need to worry about that. What color male do you plan on breeding her to?

Must....have....all.....babies....from....that....pairing!!! I just love Bubblegum, and the hen is an absolutely stunning type 1 !!! And the DF pied next to her in the 1st picture looks remarkably like one of the babies I bred (Cloud). I really like the sponge idea for the splayleg baby. It seems like it would also be more comfortable than splinting. I'm glad that baby is still being fed and accepted in the nest box with it on.

It's hard to tell you which hen to pair up with your male...you should have a fair idea of their ages first of all. Do you want pieds or normals? If you think Fran is well over a year she will give you blue pieds. Skye will give you blue normals. Either hen should give you all yellowfaced babies unless (the hens) are doublefactor yellowfaces themselves. You can't tell until you breed them. Don't worry about mistaking Fran's sex - it happens frequently. And it is very possible you can have a hen that doesn't bite hard - 3 of my hens don't bite at all. :fear That is, unless they are REALLY peeved at me... ...even then they only give me a halfhearted nibble. Just enough beaking to let me know "...alright already! I've had enough!..."

Do you know how old she is? If less than 14-16 months, then wait until she is at least that old before you breed her.

If the yellow one has a pale blue cere, then you are probably right in guessing female. It looked pink to me in the picture. I'm looking forward to more pictures - they are pretty budgies! Also, if you can turn off the flash you can still get pictures that aren't dark.

I'm glad you were able to get the pictures up. :ausb: I think you are correct in that your blue is a yellowface type 2, but he looks normal to me (no dark factor). Your new green one also looks male to me in that picture, and from your description could be recessive pied, but it's hard to tell without seeing his whole body. If you get a chance, you know we would like to see more pictures. :dbb1:

Those are cute! I love Meyer's parrots. Buster seems very taken with her. :dbb1:

Bea, I found this if it helps... http://theaviary.com/s1295-68.shtml I would think it could be easily transmitted to birds in outdoor aviaries from outdoor birds flying overhead and leaving "presents". Good thing you caught it, Bea, and are able to have it treated. I'm sorry poor Jelly had to be dosed with a crop needle...poor baby. Give her a friendly scritch and let her know someone overseas is pulling for her swift recovery. :dbb1: **EDIT** Bea, maybe your vet would do housecalls if it were necessary to treat other birds in your aviary? He may have a reduced pricing structure for aviary visits, or a multiple bird discount of sorts. Hopefully it is not something you will need, but would be nice to know about just in case.

They are lovely. I would guess they are yellowface type 2's, and it is normal for the babies to be a normal skyblue or cobalt blue. Do most of the babies have white faces?

My birds will grip the perch and flap like mad too, and they are flighted and out of the cage a good deal of the time. I think they just like it.

Oh yes, Bea, that looks like vomit. And quite a lot of it, so she would have been throwing up for awhile. She's really covered. Not sure if you'd want to, but when it happens to my birds I try to clean off as much as possible with a damp (hot water-cools off real fast) Q-tip or edge of a washcloth. It will become slimey when it gets wet, but she does not have any other birds to preen it off, and as it dries it is very itchy. It will take some time to clean her, so if she stresses easily you might wait. Plus it will make her smell. If it seems to bother her and she keeps rubbing her head against stuff in an attempt to clean herself, you might want to help her if she will let you by trying to scritch some off between your fingernails if you don't want to get her wet. That might be less stressful, depending upon how much handling she will allow. Poor, poor baby. How is she today?

I would suggest either calling your vet and asking about it, or just making an appointment to take her in. A phone call won't hurt anything, and in case there is a problem you won't have the guilt later of "...what if I had only called?...." A healthy bird will rest in an upright position on one foot. If she is laying down, my guess would be somewhere her insides don't feel right and she lays that way possibly to relieve pressure. At least, that has been my experience. Is she overweight at all?

I agree he is a male, and also a dilute. That baby blue color is not a normal skyblue shade, and the wings look equally diluted so I am not leaning towards him being a greywing. He does look type 1 yellowface now, but the picture is still a little dark, so I'm not sure if the slight yellow wash I see is from the darkness of the photo, or the possiblity of him being a type 2 yellowface. Has he had his first molt yet?

Daz, I think Blueberry likes Apollo. She perked up and began talking to him when I scrolled down and got him on the screen. Normally they don't pay much attention to the computer monitor. Tell him he has a girlfriend...

Hello and Welcome! I think I must have lurked around for about 6 months before I joined... I'm glad to hear about you and Nharvi (how is that pronounced?) and look forward to reading all about you both. The search function on the boards is very good, so if you need more ideas about converting her to a better diet I'd start in the nutrition forum and do searches if necessary. Good Luck! Budgies can be very finicky, as I'm sure you've noticed.

If it were me, I would soak the cage in a mild (10 parts water : 1 part bleach) bleach solution, rinse extremely well, then use a toothbrush and regular dish soap to scrub all the corners and places where the little buggers could have crawled. Let it air dry until you can't smell bleach anymore. I would buy all new perches, seed/water cups, and toys. That may be overkill after two months, but better safe than sorry.

Bea, that is too cute!

She should stop laying then. Slightly different scenario here, but I know from my own experience, when Skittles laid an egg after I took her away from babies and Rainbow she laid one on the floor of the cage, then didn't lay anymore. Had I left her in the cage with Rainbow and a nest box, I'm certain she would have continued to lay eggs (fertile I'm sure-they were worse than rabbits, LOL). She had already raised 2 clutches and this would have been the start of the third. :ausb: I believe at that point she would have done everything she could have to raise even more babies. Nothing bad happened to her by stopping the egg-laying in the midst of her fertility, their bodies can stop egg production if necessary. (I thought I'd throw that in just in case you were worried that something awful might happen if you stopped the process. It won't. )

If you don't have anything in her cage that she views as a nest, she should just stop laying. If by chance another egg does appear on the floor of the cage and is intact, you can leave it if you'd like. She will probably lose interest in it after a day or so. Obviously if it is broken or cracked, take it out. Is she still in a cage with Max, or is she by herself?

Some do, some don't. I don't think you can generalize that English budgies always have more spots. Unfortunately it is considered a fault to have more than 3 per side, and I do see a lot of birds with loads of spots.

If they are all in the same cage I would strongly suggest removing all birds except the breeding hen and her chosen mate to another cage until they are finished breeding. Otherwise you are just asking for trouble, unfortunately.

Well, technically they are called the necklace, but if you mean the three black spots on each side of the throat then yes, lots of people just call them spots. Or are you talking about something else?

Oops, forgot about Cookie...don't tell him okay? He can eat the same size pellets as the budgies, although he might like the larger size of the Fine. Your aviculture club should be able to order any size and variety Harrison's since you can get it there. Maybe you can get samples?