jenene283

Oh, thank you for that. Glad to know she'll be okay. She is a very good mum and a beautiful budgie, I didnt want anything happening to her!! I have just been out to check on her and she is up on the perches with the other birds, so while she's not completely better she has improved a lot since I first put her out

Oh, sorry my mistake. Not concentrating properly - NSW is getting beaten by Qld and its not good!!!

I am hoping she will come right soon after some R & R! All I can do is feed her well and cross my fingers! If anyone has any other suggestions I would love to hear from you! Karen my bird could get around the breeding cage okay, I didnt have to put her in the nest or anything so hope your bird improves after she's finished breeding.

I have a hen I was going to put out in the aviary as she has finished breeding for this year and have noticed she cant fly very well. There's nothing wrong with her wings. Could she be lacking some sort of vitamin causing this and is it because she has just finished breeding? She can only fly about 2 feet off the ground.

Oh you were so lucky!! I have always wanted a cocker spaniel since I was about 10! I finally got my wish 4 years ago. Jemma spends an hour or two inside with us every night in the warm lounge room and absolutely hates to go back down to the garage. (poor little thing ) Sorry birdlovers, we have gone off the topic here - now, back to the subject of birds - gradually moving breeding pairs out into the aviary as they have finished rearing their chicks. They deserve a nice long break!!!

That would be fun!! We could swap pups too, you could have a Cocker and I'll have one of your King Charles!!

As usual you have such stunning birds and this is just another example!! I might send a little box over to you and can pop a few of your birds over to me if you like!!!

Very nice setup - you are so lucky!!

I can remember about 10 years ago I had some chicks hatch with the same problem. They were huge!! They werent able to fly and sadly didnt live very long. I dont know what the problem was but I just remember they were unusually big.

Here is a photo of a clutch of eggs -the chick hatched this morning and the eggs are due to hatch every second day,Hope this helps.http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/jenene283/eggs.jpg Sorry they're not very clear, I just took them on dusk and the flash is a bit bright!!

Looks like an albino grass parrot to me!!

Hi and welcome to the forum!! . If you are putting your budgies into an aviary and wish to breed them (called colony breeding) you dont have control over which birds breed together. You shouldnt let them breed continuously (and they will) as the hen becomes weak and the chicks will be very small and weak also. They will be content not to breed if you decide not to place nest boxes in the aviary although on the odd occasion you might an egg or two at the bottom of the aviary!! good luck!

What gorgeous birds! I love the captions you put to them - very funny!!

I have a hen that did the same thing this breeding season. She ate her first 3 shells and then went on to rear 2 clutches of 5 chicks each time.. (she is now out in the big aviary having a well-deserved rest). I dont know why they do it. I thought it might have been from a calcium deficiency but I'm not sure. She had plenty of cuttle fish etc.

It all depends. I have had pairs start breeding within a few weeks. But then I've had some that have taken a few months to show any interest. Make sure you dont breed them more than twice a year as it takes a lot out of the hen to rear her chicks. So you need to give them a break so they can recover and build up her calcium supplies again. Her cere (the brown part above her beak) should be a dark brown colour and the male cere should be a nice deep blue when ready to breed.

I dont use anything in my nest boxes. I clean them out every week or so as the droppings tend to stick to the chicks feet etc and it is more hygenic if cleaned out regularly.

I would strongly advise against putting 2 males and 1 female together. Its only going to cause terrible fights between the two males, and sometimes they will fight to the death!! So choose which male you want to pair up with the female and keep them in a separate breeding cage on their own. If theyare in breeding condition they will pair up eventually. Be patient and feed lots of vegies, cuttlefish,good quality seed and greens. Good luck.

I never thought of that, you could be right! Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this happening??

For the last 3 weeks I have been unable to gain access to this website and it was just when I really needed some expert advice!!! I dont know if anyone remembers but I was handrearing 3 little chicks as their parents had abandoned them. Well all was going great until they developed French Moult. When I couldnt access this website I rang my local vet who put me in touch with an avian vet. He recommended I cull the whole lot as it is very contagious so I was totally devastated. I had never had any of my birds contract this disease ever before so it is a mystery how they got it and lets hope none of my other birds get it. It is great to be back - I have missed the chats with everyone about our birds!!

You may remember me telling you about how I've had to handrear 3 chicks as the parents stopped feeding them. Well they were doing really well, or so I thought, but they dont seem to be growing their feathers as other chicks do. There are several large bald patches on their bodies and they seem rather thin, compared to my other chicks. I have a bad feeling they have French Moult. From what I've read about it, it is caused by the chicks being malnourished. Is this because they didnt receive the milk from their mother when they hatched?? The first chick I fed from when it first hatched, but the other two were fed for about the first 2 weeks by their parents. I'm at my wits end what to do, the books say to cull any birds with French Moult. Please help!!

I am handrearing three chicks from a clutch because the parents had stopped feeding them. One of the chicks has patches of bare skin where the feahers havent grown. They are about 3 weeks old so they should be fully feathered by now shouldnt they?? Is there anything I can add to their feed that will fix this problem such as a multi vitamin??

A lot of my dads just sit in the nestbox with the hen -not necessarily to sit on the eggs but to feed her etc. None of them have sat on the eggs.

Mine normally lay in the afternoon but that doesnt mean that they all do. Good luck!

They are going very well thanks. Will try and post some more pictures this week. They are getting their proper feathers now. I've had to teach my partner how to feed them while I'm at work!! Keep watching for the photoes......

Just curious about the colour and type of my baby budgies. Their father is a yellow face grey and mother is a yellow pied. The babies have a very pale lemony face and was wondering if it will darken as they get older. ? Do you think they are males or females?? They are rather messy eaters (as you can see)!! ? Moderator’s Message to user photos are to large and have been changed http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/jen.../budgies023.jpg http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/jen.../budgies012.jpg maximum size 450 x 450