Rainbow

If you keep at it she should get past this behavior. I have 5 hens I bred myself, and they have never bitten. But in the nest box, some of them are fearless, some will try to hide in the corner, and others will scream bloody murder when you so much as open the top of the box. I found that their behaviour in the nest box has absolutely no bearing on their personalities once they fledge. A quick way is to introduce her to millet. She is old enough now to begin to learn how to crack the seeds, and millet seems to be easier than most for them to learn on. Good luck!

Congratulations on all the new budgies! They are so cute.

What do you mean by the wrong color to breed???

:fear 2 males for every female??? I need 8 more males??? ***Rainbow faints*** It is best to start out with one pair per cage, so if you have 2 males and one female right now, as soon as the hen shows a preference for one of the males, the other male should be moved. Please do a lot of research before you decide to breed, and make sure the birds are well over a year old before you breed them. There is a lot of information on this site in older threads, so please make liberal use of the search function. If you have any questions you can't find the answer to, please post them and someone should be able to help.

You're welcome. There was an article in this months Parrots Magazine about those grapes. It said the grapes had been washed and peeled, the danger was inside the meat of the grape. There was truly no way to know. So sad.

I'm not sure about the lamp...but if she is not trying to get away from the heat I think I would leave it on for awhile. I'm glad she wasn't as sick as you imagined her to be too. Keep us posted on her progress.

Mine was in the cage with the others and I got him out. He acted fine before and after (but was being sick for about 20 minutes) and has been fine all day today, but he went to the vet anyway. Of course, he wasn't sick there... Has she perked up any yet?

No, it does not look the same at all, does it? It is not controlled like normal regurgitation. I held him on my finger until he stopped because I didn't know what else to do...you know, like you'd sit with a sick child??...it lasted a good while too. Did Freckle make whimpering noises?

Eek! I have some meds to give mine too. One of mine was throwing up seeds yesterday. Have you ever seen a bird vomit before? Not a pleasant sight, and somewhat scary too. He hasn't done it again and is acting fine, of which I am glad. Do you remember what your vet thought it might be?

bhups, dandelion flowers are yellow...at first. When they mature and the seed heads pop out, that is when they look white and fluffy. The white fluffy part is the seeds. Haven't you ever picked one and blown on it to watch all the little seeds blow everywhere? Here's a picture of an immature dandelion. Is that what you were thinking of?

If he is still being fed by the parent birds, I'd leave him in. It's normal for the babies that have come out of the nest box to want to get back in for a few days. Either the hen will let them back in or she won't. The new babies need to be eating on their own for at least 10 days before you remove them from the parents. Congratulations on all the babies!

That must have been very upsetting for you. I'm sorry to hear it. Did you take him to the vets to find the cause of death?

You have certainly had a rough time with this little bird, haven't you? An episode like what your mum described would have really thrown me into a panic. Yellow feces are not normal, falling off the perch is not normal either. I would get her to an avian vet as soon as possible for fecal testing, probably bloodwork too. She could have some low-level toxicosis of some sort, I'd have that checked out. I'm not sure how antiibiotics in the seed will get into the bird since the shells are hulled off and not eaten. Stress may be part of it, but stress shouldn't have anything to do with what color the feces are. Please find a vet that is experienced in dealing with birds, and keep us posted. Has she always been fed a seed-only diet? If so, once she gets a thorough checking out, that is one thing you should try to change as it could be part of her problems.

Let us know what happened. If the eye is just bruised, it may take a while for him to be able to open it properly...it's been two weeks for one of mine and it's still not normal yet. Hopefully no damage was done to the eye itself.

Very nice. I'd like to see the ones that were too large also...can you resize and re-post?

Three weeks is a bit young to stay out of the nest box. How many babies are there? Is the three-week-old one the oldest?

If you only have one pair of birds in your cage, and it has a door for a nest box, it is for all intents and purposes, a breeding cage. You don't need a specific "breeding cage". As long as it is large enough to comfortably house your pair plus temporarily the young, it doesn't matter what you call the cage.

If your birds are healthy, 2 clutches in a row should be no problem. But if you are cage breeding, there should only be one pair per cage. The wayward birds should not be able to get at the pair that are currently on the nest. Especially if you suspect they are females. If at all possible, they need to be moved to a different cage. After this second clutch has fledged, I would give much more than two months before allowing them to breed again...I'd give closer to a year. Two clutches of babies puts your hen in the nest box without much of a break at all for about 5 months straight. She will be exhausted, vitamin and mineral depleted, and quite stir-crazy. It will take her a while to build up her strength and replace what her body has lost.

Heavy metal toxicity is a very real problem, and something to watch for. Thanks for bringing this up for everyone.

There is really no reason to handfeed budgies, unless the hen cannot take care of them all properly and there is a chance they may die unless intervention occurs. Contrary to popular belief, handfeeding budgies does not make them any better companions, and there is so much that can go wrong with the handfeeding process. Formula must be the proper consistency, temperature, and strict sterilization procedures must be followed. You must be vigilant you send it down the correct tube...otherwise you will asphyxiate (sp?) them. When they normally fledge at 5-6 weeks, they are pretty tame already, and very easy to handle. I'd let the parents take of this. :bluebudgie:

A little more in depth answer than mine, thanks graemesmith. :bluebudgie: Although she may like him, just not at that moment. Some bickering is normal, as hens are at the top of the pecking order in budgieworld. But if she begins to chase him to attack him and it is more than just a simple hack, then yes, she may just not like him.

She probably does not want his attentions. Hen budgies are very fickle as to when they will put up with the males. :bluebudgie: If you are worried there will be bloodshed or injuries, the only way to stop it is to seperate them to different cages.

What would be the purpose? I would not.

I'd say she is definitely a hen. I'd wait several more months before breeding her if she were mine. Hen budgies can physically breed as early as 6 months, but that doesn't mean they should. Even at one year, I think they are somewhat immature emotionally and probably don't have enough calcium stored up in their bodies. But that is just my opinion, there are breeders on this forum who begin at one year. I have several hens that are around one year old, and they still sometimes look and act like babies. I can't imagine they would make good parents yet.

Then I would say you have a hen. Either she is too young to safely breed, or she is an older bird that was out of condition and is just going in. How old is this bird?