Rainbow

Very well put, Terri. My experience has been slightly different, but what you describe is very much normal behavior as a rule. Just like with people, there is no guarantee the two birds you place together will get along well. It doesn't matter if they are same sex or opposite sex. Budgies are usually very social, so odds are they will get along fine. Usually they sort things out eventually, but not always. I found that when keeping all males together, invariably the frustration level is higher between them when they are in breeding mode than when you have females together in breeding mode. As long as no one gets very randy, and they keep it to mutual feeding and preening, there is not an issue. The problems arise in part when hormones rage out of control, because normal males will not allow themselves to be mounted, and it is the male's job to keep other males away from his chosen partner...nasty fighting can and will break out. Any one here who has watched a bonded pair of budgies (especially in an aviary setting) can attest to having seen the male chase off other birds who may get too close to his chosen mate, whether there is a nest box near or not. Get too close to his partner on the perch, and watch out. Especially if he is feeding, preening, or actively wooing her and another bird's curiosity gets the better of him/her and he passes over the invisible line the male has set up. In same-sex pairings both males naturally wish to be the 'dominant partner', so the one who is the weaker of the two is either chased mercilessly by his boyfriend or starts the fight since what is going on is not in the natural order of things and he gets aggravated. I have taken budgies out for doctoring and to stop the bleeding more times than I care to. I have had males bite ME when attempting to seperate two that do not get along. What a great day, when everyone is squawking, bitten and bleeding. Keeping all hens together in the same cage has never resulted in a fight over breeding rights. They seem to be content with mutual preening. Other than that, they just want their space. As Terri said, little squabbles over territory, a certain spot on a perch, or a specific toy is the worst I have encountered. And they do that whether they are in breeding mode or not. Just a little info from the opposite side of the experience spectrum. I still prefer hens.

OMG - too funny! What a beautiful little baby! She looks so soft and fluffy.... It makes you want to touch the monitor to see if you can feel her! I just love that last picture! Amazing what you get when you least expect it, isn't it? You didn't even know that little egg was in the nest box.

he's not pied, no pied patch(that I can see) on the back of the head nor does he have recessive pied markings, looks like he's going through a molt, thats probly what made you think pied? No - the first line is what I think Max is. I was just referring to Fluffy because you asked if he were mauve. I know Fluffy is not pied. I was not very specific, was I? Plus, Fluffy's cheek patch looks light blue-grey to me, not just blue. On my monitor, it matches with the grey coloring.

How I missed this one, I'll never know! Name: Blueberry Sex: Female Color: Violet Other Mutation: Clearflight Pied Name: Patches Sex: Female Color: Cobalt Other Mutation: Clearflight Dilute Pied Name: Blossom Sex: Female Color: Skyblue Other Mutation: Type 2 yellowface Greywing Name: Mystery Sex: Female Color: Skyblue Other Mutation: Type 2 yellowface Greywing Name: Sky Sex: Female Color: Skyblue Other Mutation: Clearflight Pied Name: Rainbow Sex: Male Color: Mauve Other Mutation: Type 2 Goldenface Clearflight Dilute Pied

I'm with Daz on this one. Skyblue opaline hen. Definitely a hen.

Very pretty girls! I'm not sure the first one is recessive though, I would have guessed dominant. What are their names?

Anna, I've never heard of this before, and I've had budgies off and on for over 30 years. When budgies become sexually mature, I know the cocks can become agressive - just think of all the male budgies with mirrors to defend. Rainbow used to draw blood trying to keep me away from his friend in the mirror. Hens I've never had a problem with, especially tame ones. The 5 hens I have now that I raised from hatch have never been aggressive towards me, they will normally be the ones to seek out my attention. You can get attacked by either sex. I would think those super agressive hens were probably trying to tell someone to leave them alone and the humans just weren't getting the hint.....

I LOVE hen budgies. They can talk, and in my experience are so much more lovable. My girls will frequently seek out my attention, whereas the boys will too, but not nearly as much. I have one hen that loves head scritches, another one that loves to give kisses and preen my entire face, another one that loves to style my hair, and two more that are content to just sit on my arm, nibble on my watch, and keep the others away. :ausb: Like eterri said, even if you get one that is older you can still befriend them. My oldest bird is a hen, I got her when she was over 7 months old. She is not finger tame at all, but will fly to me for treats, march up and down my arm, play in my hair, preen me, investigate any jewelry I have, and go back into the cage when prompted. In some ways she is tamer than the rest, and the rest were born in my living room. To me that is worth more than a "step up". None of my hens are biters, in fact the males will bite much harder and draw blood. The females are easier to catch too, they are more steady and not as flighty. They are not nearly as noisy (read always making noise like the males do) but are more likely to give that oh-so-annyoing angry dolphin noise when something doesn't suit them. My females are the first to investigate toys and new foods. They have more attitude than males, and if you have more than one bird females will give you a reason to add more food and water cups to the cage as they do not like to share, and have been known to keep other birds away from the food. If I were you, I would relish the chance to bond with your female budgie, as she has the potential to be a very "hands on" type of bird.

Type 2 yellowface grey pied. I don't think mauve, mauve is more of a greyish-purple and won't have the greenish feathers. budgiebird, I think fluffy is a grey.

Wow! An expert clarified what I thought! That is so good to know. :ausb: It is good to know when you are on the right track. Thank you Luso for taking the time to get clarification for karen. That was way above and beyond. karen, a continental clearflight is a type of pied.

In order to be pied, the bird will have the patch of feathers on the top of the head that are head color only, minus the bars, even the recessives. Recessives are just usually minus more bars. :ausb: Some blue pied birds will have a white stripe across the tummy, not all. As stated before, they are sometimes also called banded pieds. Some of them are identified only by the patch on the head - other than that they have no other pied characteristics. A pied can be any color. Whatever color their head is, is the color that the band will be. As far as yellowfaced blues, some will have the yellow blending in with the feathers so that they look greenish (type 2 yellowface), some will not (type one yellowface). Don't feel lost, at one time or another every person on here did not know what pied was. The longer you have these birds, the more you want to learn. If this helps, all these birds are pied EXCEPT the two outside that have yellow faces and greenish bodies. They are your type 2 yellowface blues where the yellow bleeds into the the blue feathers, making the bird look green. They are not pied, they are normal greywings. But pieds can be that same color.

Gotta love that yellow bird that was hanging upside down at the food dish most of the time.. even with all the commotion he never got displaced!!!! He was able to get at the food the whole time. How smart is that? :bluebudgie:

LOL @ karen.... :hap: :fear :fear Thank you for the link, Luso. Mr. Ghalib Al-Nasser writes very interesting and informative articles - I've read him before. I hadn't seen that article though, so thanks again. I guess in my case the greywing gene was a hidden one, as those two hens were the only normals (non-pieds) I got from crossing two pieds! The male was a type 2 goldenface opaline dilute clearflight mauve/slate? pied (what a mouthful-just unsure of his actual base color) and the hen a type 2 goldenface/yellowface skyblue varigated pied with some normal black flights and some white ones! Does that make her a poor clearwing or simply varigated?? (Mom is the hen in back in the picture I posted). Genetics is such a fascinating thing! karen, any thoughts?

Is Daffy just a couple of months old? Like less than 10? If so, the kicking out of the seed is a normal behavior of growing up. :budgiedance: Mine used to do it also, eventually they stop. I have a lot of birds too, and just keep as many seed cups as there are birds in the cage, plus one. The smaller cups they usually left alone, just the big ones they can easily sit in are the ones they kicked seed out of. It is very annoying, but thankfully they won't starve in the time you are at work.

The greywing twins are in front, normal black hen in back. The body color is almost full intensity, but the wings are about 50% of normal color. Luso, I agree with you that Karen's adult male is probably a dark green. But I didn't think that clearflight and dilute were greywing attributes. Clearflight I associate with pieds, dilutes with any type. I thought they were carried in different places on the gene.

I believe he also has the clearflight gene, as not only does he have some white flights, but his tail is white also. If he were not clearflight, his tail would be either of normal color or diluted normal color. It is possible for the clearflights to not have every flight feather white. Obviously your green male is split for blue. I would guess that the baby's color is a somewhat diluted mauve. I don't quite agree with Luso in that a greywing will have 50% dilution in body color, but most of the greywings are quite diluted. Ideally they are close to normal coloration. I have two greywing hens that have almost normal body color intensity, and they are striking birds. I do think he is a most lovely bird!

If he is that noisey, I'd say you were right in thinking him male all along. :hap: Please keep us updated, and good luck on your finals!

It sounds to me like they probably have vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies due to poor diet and stress. I wonder about them being kept in a dark room...was this to keep them quiet? Unhappy and stressed budgies will make a lot of noise to let you know they are unhappy about something. Lack of sunshine, UV light bulbs, or even regular indoor light will make a big difference in how long they keep their feathers, and what condition their feathers are in. If they didn't get much attention, it is no wonder they are terrified of you and anything you put in their cage. Since they are at least two years old, you will need a lot of patience to convert them to a better diet and to gain their trust. Pellets will be a challenge, but eventually as they settle into a routine after their quarantine is over, they may be more willing to try them when they see your male budgie eat them. I found females are more likely to try new foods, toys, etc. first because they always want what another bird has. :hap: (Whoo-hoo - Make that jealous streak work foryou!) I'd start out by clipping baby spinach to the side of the cage near a favorite perch. Keep the stems on. You can use baby carrots too, but initially cut them in half because the new budgies are probably more afraid of the size of the food than anything. Smaller pieces are better in the beginning. Red leaf lettuce is good too, so is kale. Make sure they have plenty of water droplets on them. The birds may begin to investigate the water and then begin to nibble the food. Keep us posted on your progress, and thank you for taking these birds and offering them a better home.

Hi again Charlotte. If he tucks his tail between his legs when he rubs, I'd guess male. I've never seen a female...um, do that... before so I don't know what THAT looks like. I can't see your picture, the link gives an error message, but here is one of my male's cere. Was it ever that dark? There are some differences in the way the sexes behave, most notably I've found is the noise level. Males will chirp, warble, and make up interesting whistles and do it almost constantly, while females will sing some, but usually not as long. They tend to make more one or two syllable noises while males may go on and on and on..... Hens are much quieter. Males also have little trouble sharing with another bird, while females think everything belongs to them, and if another bird looks remotely interested in a toy, food, whatever, they will give the angry dolphin noise and chase them away. Whether they want it or not. I've found males to be more standoffish, while females are more loving. I don't think the strength of the bite has much to do with it, as most people will tell you females bite harder, but my experience is that males bite just as hard as females do. The head of a female tends to be more "boxy" looking, and the head of a male is more rounded. Your bird almost sounds to be female to me. It's good you have an avian vet so close. If you can, I'd start adding baby carrots, broccoli, baby spinach, and kale to the diet. Also, nice picture! I like your hair color.

Actually I think the thin look is probably what they are supposed to look like. They should be a very streamlined bird, as in the wild any excess weight would be the difference between life and lunch.

Normal depends in good part upon diet. Birds fed a mainly pelleted diet will have more brownish colored stools, while birds fed mostly on seed will have dark green feces. Feeding vegetables will for the short term change the color too - carrots will turn the feces an orangish-brown color, broccoli or spinach will turn them very dark green to almost black. Blueberries will turn them blueish-purple.

Nerwen, would that include 3 and 7 ?

He is pied, dilute, clearflight, and yellowface type 2. Pied, because of the spot on the back of the head, and band of head color running across the chest. Dilute, because the color intensity of the body, stripes, and wings is not that of a normal blue. Clearflight, because he also has a white tail. If he were clearwing/whitewing, the tail would be of normal color. Type 2 yellowface, because the yellow of the head appears as if it has "spread" throughout the body making the blue look greenish. Does that help?

Daz, some of my answers aren't in your answer list.....

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