Rainbow

Your male looks like one of mine - Sky. She's in my signature and has dark cheek patches too. Oh, and she is also an opaline. I'm currently trying to work out if the color of her cheek patches mean anything. I'll let you know what I find out, if anything.

So far there are no white-faced greens of any mutation.

I use this as a general rule of thumb: When your bird is standing on a flat surface, the nail should be long enough that the tip of the toe pretty much rests on the surface. If the nail is so long that the toes lift up to the first joint or further, a trim is probably in order. Yours look fine to me.

Bea, mine make noise without opening their beaks too. It's normal. The sound is produced in the syrinx, which is further down the throat than our larynx is. Anatomy lesson for the day. :budgiedance:

...I think my head just exploded.... I don't know, nerwen. It is confusing. What I know for certain is that Sky is a skyblue dominant pied, has very dark cheek flashes, and very dark black markings on her wings. She's my pudgy budgie with half a necklace and a jealous streak a mile long. I don't think I'll ever breed her because of her weight, so I suppose it's a moot point. But it's going to bother me until I figure it out. :budgiedance: Because I'm just that way!

YUCK! It sounds like seed moths. Disgusting though it is, I've heard you can put the seed in the freezer which will kill off the moths and you can still feed it. Who would want to, I know. (where is that barfing smiley when you need it????) At least the seed was fresh - I don't think those moths will inhabit old seed. I think I would take the seed back even without a receipt and demand a bug-free box. Ugh. I'd give you my supplier but being in the states, shipping would probably be prohibitive. :budgiedance:

I'm joining the waiting train...... Hear any funny budgie noises today? :budgiedance:

I was just sick when I read your first post. That is appalling. Good for you for contacting the proper authorities. I do feel sorry for the person that bought 200 (probably) diseased birds as a "business venture". Or not.

My vote is for a hen as well. The cere is much to rough looking in some of those pictures to be male. And the last two especially look female to me. :budgiedance: She is a pretty budgie.

You can always order pellets online. Mine will eat them, but through trial and error I found the smaller the pellet, the more likely your bird will eat it. Currently mine eat a mixture of Harrison's Superfine and Harrison's Mash with some Quiko eggfood thrown in that they have access to 24/7. Yes, it is expensive, but once they begin to eat it it's not so bad (not as much wasted). They also get soaked and sprouted seeds and beans, a cooked diet (Beak Appetit), and fresh veggies every day. The veggies include baby spinach, baby carrots, parsley, green and red pepper, redleaf lettuce, and broccoli. They do not get dry seeds every day, but usually at least 4 days a week they get them and some millet sprays to nibble on. The only reason I do not give them seeds every day is that mine tend towards obesity - even though they are fully flighted my indoor birds don't care much for regular flight. A few trips around the room is good for them, so given their lack of regular activity this keeps their weight down. Occasionally they get fruit. They seem to thrive on this, so I keep to it. I think the more you can vary their diet, the better, no matter what you decide on. I would check with your vet.

*eyes boggle* Just teasing. It's news to me and I'm still trying to remember if both patches have to be white to mean df or not. Good question, nerwen. I'd guess no, because both Sunny and Cloud have both colors in theirs, and I noticed Blueberry has a white feather or two in one of her cheek patches too. She is not DF but the other two are.

Very nice! I went shopping for birds ( ) supplies - gotcha! and found a great cage...I've wanted it for a while and think I will have to break down and buy it. So coming soon...new cage pictures from me.

I could tell by their stance that they were the "show" budgies, but they didn't have the huge spots I'm used to seeing. It was sort of refreshing for me, actually, to see them looking more like...well...budgies. I don't mean that in a bad way, but you know what I mean?

My birds have given me wet sneezes before. Unless it happens frequently and your bird is showing signs of illness, or what he sneezes out makes the feathers above the cere wet, it is probably fine. You can call your vet if you are worried. Mine usually do it when the heat is on in the winter. I think it has something to do with low humidity. But if you think there is something wrong, best get it checked out with your vet.

They are beautiful babies, Daz. Do you think it's unusual you only got one green? Wow.

Oh, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I thought you wanted one as a pet instead of being in the aviary. He will be fine in the same room as the others if you need to seperate them. Is this the one that has the missing wing tips? I wouldn't seperate him unless he is picked on. Also, I'll bet even if he never gets the longer flights to grow in if he has most of them he will still be able to fly, he just won't gain altitude. You might have to rescue him if he lands on the floor since he will have trouble flying up without the long flights, but he might be able to fly horizontally for a bit. We can hope.

Thanks Docca. I had wondered about the white. It's good to get confirmation that my two with the mixed color cheek patches are, in fact, doublefactor dominant.

Docca, what do you mean about the white cheek patches? I have a few birds with both, and they are doublefactor dominant pieds. Is that what you mean?

:ausb: That is too funny!

Thanks for the link, lovey. From that it seems Arctic would be a double factor, but that would mean Rainbow and Skittles both would have to have the gene, right? Arctic I'm pretty sure is skyblue as a base color (same color as Sky-the first picture I posted) because you can see individual skyblue-looking feathers but they are around his vent. The other feathers have a purple tinge, and his tail is purple. The other weird thing about Arctic is that most of the shell feathers on his wings are fringed in purple instead of white...and he is not opaline. Nerwen, Daz, any ideas about why that is? So would that make Sky a single factor violet, with no visible violet characteristics other than the dark cheek flashes? How confusing is that? (Posts Merged) Continued........ Hello? Any ideas? I've done some searches, but am coming up with nothing. Does anyone have a book on violets?

LOL lovey, I just moved from Kentucky. :ausb: I probably sound southern. At least the people up here think I talk funny....that is think "ah" talk funny..... Nasally is a good description, and there is no mistaking the northern accent. Una, I think Apple makes cute noises too.

Hi Zebra. I think you are doing fine with the babies. :ausb: If you handle them a little bit every time you clean out the nest box, they will be fairly tame once they fledge. At that point, you can remove one to "hand tame" and you should not even have to clip his wings if you are keeping him by himself. He probably will get a little attitude at about 4 months of age, but they outgrow that phase if you are patient. They are just beautiful, and the one that has the wing tips gone probably won't even notice it. Is the actual wingtip missing or are just the feathers missing? I don't think I would trim his flights as for him, his condition is normal and all he's ever known. He will manage fine. I don't have any good names to offer.

Looks like very dry skin to me. How often does he preen his feet?

The pink color of baby bird ceres doesn't last very long. It's very probable she had a blue cere when you got her. I go with female too.

You two might be right. Mine make noise all the time, but the pitch (tone, not volume) is much lower. They just don't sound the same. I've heard Blinky's noises, and I think I said something to you about how different he sounded then. He makes really cute noises. Lovey, I think they do pick up different accents. Chirpy's budgie Teapot definitely sounds British. :sad: Maybe I have budgies with a southern drawl... :fear