Janette

I'd be first in line for that Lutino boy if didn't live thousands of miles away. Doh!

Hmm... there are a few issues here that I'm sure other people will pick up on too. Obviously by now, you've figured out that you shouldn't put a nest box with a pair of budgies if you don't want them to breed. Sometimes it's all the trigger they need for instinct to take over and nature to take its course. How old are your budgies if you think they might be too young? The other thing that quite worried me was that you said you have a small parrot in the cage with them. As far as I know, it's generally not a good idea to keep budgies with other species due to aggression and the potential for injury. I especially wouldn't think it was a good idea if chicks might be on the way. Obviously now, you're just going to have to do all the research you possibly can about what you'll need to do now. Also, if your birds are a bit too young, you might have to start thinking about what you'll do if their chicks hatch but they don't look after them properly. Both mum and dad care for the babies once they're hatched - well,mum takes care of the babies and dad takes care of mum, so I wouldn't make a single parent of her in too much of a hurry. In theory, it should be enough to stop them breeding just to take away the nest box once the babies are old enough. I'm sure some of the experienced breeders will be able to help you out a lot. Keep asking questions, lots of them. There are lots of people here who will be able to help you along in this.

They're really beautiful. That Lutino is a stunner.

Seeing as lots of people seem to have lots of moulting budgies at the minute, I thought I'd post some of these pictures I got of mine looking scruffy. Custard has had (just about finished the heaviest moult I've ever known her have. She lost so many feathers on her wings that she had a little bald patch on both wings. I think you can see the pin feathers already coming through. She's much better now, you can't really tell she had a bald patch. "En garde!" You'd never tell moulting put Jimmi in a bad mood, would you? Haha, talk about the evil eye. She should just think herself lucky she wasn't as bad as Custard. Jimmi didn't lose any tail feathers and only one or two flight feathers. Spot the budgie! This is what both of my girls do to relieve the itchiness. They love their oatgrass baths.

That sometimes helps. Sometimes it can work the other way around though, so you have to be careful and really make sure you don't let training slip. I had one of mine partially tamed. If she gets herself stuck somewhere or if she accidentally lands on me, she'll step up and let me take her towards her cage and sometimes she'll step up but not always. But, she used to be a lot better. When I introduced Custard to her, she copied Custard and turned into a real scaredy cat. I couldn't touch either of them for ages. Now though, after a long while of trying, if Jimmi does sit on my finger, Custard will now fly onto my hand. Custard's never stepped up, but she will fly on of her own accord if Jimmi's there. With my birds at least, I'd say it was a bit of both that happened. Maybe you should do an extended quarantine for Passion, say the full 90 days, to really try to build a bond with her and get her really tame. At least that way, if she does lose some of her tameness when she meets your other two, you won't be right back to square one. I think if you can get her to the higher end of the tameness scale (she seems to be doing well so far), then you'll have a much better chance of her showing the other budgies that you're alright. She might be less likely to get swept up in their nervousness.

Or is he cleaning house? My budgies pick off any poo that gets stuck on the cage bars and throw it away.

They're really lovely. Mine are both looking scruffy too at the moment, like little porcupines. I seem to remember reading somewhere about preserved flower arrangements being potentially dangerous. I think it was someone who's budgie ate some dried eucalyptus in a flower display and then died. They discovered afterwards that a lot of things preserved like that have have harmful chemicals on them, it may even have been arsenic. I just wish I could remember where I'd seen it so I could show you a link. Probably worth doing some research. If it's fresh ***** willow, then I'm sure I saw that on a safe wood list somewhere. Again, I can't remember where though. Sorry, I'm being pretty unhelpful today. N.B Hahaa, stupid swearing filter. It won't let me say ***** willow.

It looks like a girl to me because of the whiteness around the nares - I'm 90% convinced. That could be the flash on the camera though. Do you have any pictures without the flash?

Wow, that camera setting makes the pictures so clear and detailed. That's a beautiful mummy and pair of pink blobs you've got there.

The link isn't working for me.

I found this on a website somewhere a little while ago. Noise Level: Cockatoos are LOUD. In fact, they are arguably the loudest of the parrots. Cockatoos WILL scream - don't think you can train them out of it. Cockatoos love screaming and will scream for the sheer joy of screaming, usually in periods once or twice a day (usually morning and evening). The smaller cockatoos are quieter simply due to reduced size, but even a Goffin's is loud. And a Mollucan?!?! Watch out! I also read somewhere else that a mollucan cockatoo holds the record for the loudest bird in the world. Its decibels were compared to a small aeroplane taking off!!! No wonder your neighbour has had complaints when they've got a cockatoo in an apartment block. I've got two budgies as well, and while they do 'ack ack' at each other, they are nothing like as loud as that. They live in my bedroom, as that's where I spend most of my time. My sister's room is directly above mine and she doesn't hear them very much at all.

this white bird is a girl..i bought it from a pet shop.and i dont think it was clipped at all.it just cant fly..the pet shop doesnt clip the birds wings.i bought it when it was very young. :redalbino: Ah sorry, thought you were talking about the white one that can't fly when you said 'he's a male english type', my mistake.

I'm sure Kirby will think of some names for you when he sees this. He's the chief namer for this forum I think.

Did you have the white male from very young? Was he clipped when you got him? I was thinking maybe he was taken out of the nest and clipped too young, before he learned to fly.

They're gorgeous Rejysmum! That little boy is such a cutie-pie! The hen is beautiful too. I think that browny colour on her wings makes her a cinnamon rather than a grey-wing. That could just be my monitor though, (Laughing out loud). You should do a 'what am I?' in the genetics and mutations section and see what the experts say.

Welcome to the forum! Your budgies sound lovely and playful. I'm sure everyone would love to see some pictures of them.

Yeah, that just sounds like a normal moult to me.

When you say 'without all her feathers', do you mean she has bald patches? Or is she just shedding feathers? Is there any particular reason why she can't stay inside all of the time?

He should be fine. A lot of budgies actually seem to quite like travelling. My Jimmi has been on a couple of 8 hour car rides and she sang and tweeted all the way. Just keep the cage covered and he should be fine. You said about putting some of his favourite toys in with him; bear in mind that you don't want to put toys in that'll swing around too much when the train's moving. They might hit Biggles and hurt him. Maybe give him something attached to his perch or a floor toy. My birds spend most of the time on the floor in their carry cage anyway (it's exactly the same as yours), I guess they feel a bit more stable that way.

If you love Apple, Mavi Kus, you really should do a trawl through the old posts to find some of the apple and munchy videos. Apple is a comedy genius.

That is the most random comment ever! Ha ha. Your birdies are really lovely. Mig is a gorgeous colour. :budgiedance:

The first one looks just like Apple! How sweet! I can see why you've fallen in love with the middle one. What a beautiful colour. :budgiedance:

Mine had a spot-on treatment as well. It is actually systemic, perhaps not quite as instantaneous as the iinjection but still fast and effective. I don't know if you have dogs or cats, but it works the same as the spot-on treatment you get for fleas. Just a dab between shoulder blades/wings and it gets round the whole system. It gets in the blood somehow i think. I'm not sure how but it does work.

Just thought I'd let you all know that Jimmi's recovered from her fright. You wouldn't even know it had happened. Oh, and Millie isn't sulking too much either.

One of our cats nearly got Jimmi! I didn't even realise the cat was in the room, she must have sneaked in behind me and settled down on the bed. I didn't see her as I've been messy today and not made the bed, and she was curled up in the folds of the duvet. I managed to make Jimmi and Custard jump when they were on the shelf above the computer and they flew off in a panic. Custard was fine, she just flew up high onto the cd shelves on the wall, but Jimmi isn't always a good flyer and she lost altitude and went in for a landing on the bed. The next thing I saw was a ginger paw reach out and bat Jimmi on the back. The cat made Jimmi crashland and winded her a bit. Luckily, Millie didn't have her claws out when she hit Jimmi and Jimmi didn't go anywhere near Millie's mouth. I must have looked like a mad woman; I roared at poor Millie and got her by the scruff of her neck and flung her off the bed and then shoved her out the door. I know it's not the cat's fault, she's only doing what comes naturally, but I just had to get her away from Jimmi before she got hold of her properly. I'll have a sulking cat for a few days, that's for sure. I got Jimmi up on my finger afterwards and she seems okay. She was a little bit ruffled, but otherwise uninjured and she doesn't seem too stressed out, considering what just happened. I'm keeping my eye on her, but I'm pretty sure she'll be okay. She's a toughy.