Boris' Slave

Hi & welcome! Initially judging by the cere I'd say boy, but the head shape is a bit elongated which suggests female. I would really like to wait until after the first moult which I've found happens at about 4-5 months old.

You shouldn't need to hand rear them, just put the killer budgie into a cage on her own.

I have a supply of Megabac-S (Water soluble Amphotericin-B ) and I am going to retreat that aviary - I had finished treating it a week ago, but as my mother said, the last Bourke hen might have been too far gone for the medicine to do any good. I have 1 large aviary (where all the babies are), 1 small aviary (where outbreak is), 1 R&R cage (sick budgie hen had stayed there for 3-4 days) & a six cubicale (cage) breeder set-up. The small aviary & R&R cage is what I'm most worried about as I am reasonable positive the aviary is clean (95%). The carrier male is quarantined in an empty breeder cubical in the breeder set, he finishes medication today. I am going to get faecal tests done on random birds as I am a member of Vetafarm who do the tests, so get 2 free & discount off others. Even though false negatives happen it is better than not bothering. But none of these birds will ever be allowed back into the main aviary, it is not worth the risk.

Another bird (Bourke) has gotten sick and died. I believe it to be isolated to one small aviary, the only problem is it contains my entire population of Bourkes (except 1 pair) & Budgies: my best 2 breeder albino's (Boris' mum is one), a great breeder male & Charlie the super sized budgie. This is the cage the male came from so I hop it is isolated. I don't want to lose my Bourkes as they are so sweet & important to me, it would hurt me more to lose the Bourkes than it would the budgies as I know every one & they all know me. Also my last surviving pair of Turqs are there as well. The budgie hens have eggs due to hatch soon so I will have to throw them away & remove the nest boxes to take the stress off the hens. Direct quote from a major vet supply: Diagnosis of Megabacteria may be difficult. Not all infected birds shed the organism in their droppings, so false negative tests do occur. The most accurate method of diagnosis is the Gram stain of the proventricular mucosa at necropsy. Avian veterinarians and pathology laboratories can perform this test. I just have to be extra vigilant with my examinations of the birds & do a physical exam once a week of each and every bird. Natty: The other birds are safe from the carrier as it is not an airborne disease but transferred through the birds feeding each other or from eating droppings.

Thank you for your kindness Lin. The male cannot be cured as he is not sick and probably won't get sick. He just makes others sick.

1. Olive 2. Grey/green

No need to shoot me daz I liked your site!

First and foremost the male has been isolated from all other budgies in the 'six pack' breeding set. The birds who were next to him have been moved up one cage & are being treated. Their 10 day treatment ends on Wednesday. I do not breed over summer as it is hot enough for them without the added stress of breeding, so after this current lot fledge (about 3 weeks) I will be removing the nest boxes until March. Then I will remove all birds to temporary cages and bleaching the entire thing top to bottom, then giving it a good going over with Avicleans & airing it out for about a week before returning the birds. (don't worry I have enough cages to keep them comfortable for a week + I am buying 2 more cages in the next 2 weeks) The last time I treated all the birds was around June 2004. I have only treated isolated 'suspected' cases since then (about 3 birds) that turned out to be a more minor illness. I also don't treat the whole lot at once as megabac-S is so expensive. I have treated 5 cages this time round as both Mr & Mrs Littlun were in or had access to these cages and I was not taking any chances (I was just too late with this hen). The male I really don't know what to do with him as I cannot breed him again. My mum suggested euthanising him to protect the others. I don't like this suggestion as he is in perfect health and a very happy & beautiful bird, so I might put him in a cage by himself on the back verandah & Boris can talk to him. I couldn't sell him knowing what he contains as what if someone wanted to breed him? He is about 16-18 months old so not really young enough to tame. The last & final thing to permanately eliminate this disease will be an extreme last resort & I would give up birds forever. Destroy my entire flock & demolish all cages & aviaries & digging out all dirt and burying it. If that were to happen I'd refuse to do it myself, I'd tell the vet to come and do it while I went out, then I would plant a garden in it's place as a memorial. Hopefully this would never ever happen.

Good idea sprinkling some on the floor of his cage, if there is no illness he will eat when he gets hungry enough, he won't starve himself to death.

When I got up this morning I found another hen down with Megabacteriosis. This time it was the quick acting strain. I (mum actually) had been treating her & 3 others since last Sunday (2nd lot since other hen died). My mother emailed me at work Thursday saying she way worried about the 2 hens being treated as it was extremely hot Thursday (40C) and Friday (40C) and they looked very stressed. I brought her inside this morning as she was sitting on the side of her food bowl & made very little attempt to get away from me. As soon as my hand closed around her body I knew without a doubt what it was. I believed she would make it as she has been treated for nearly a week. I've got 2 photo's of what she looked like this morning but they are a bit overexposed but you can see how pathetic she looks. I now know who is causing this illness. The littluns father. Let me refresh a little for the ones who don't know any of the history of these particular birds. Mr & Mrs Littlun had 5 beautiful Lutino babies & I witnessed one starting to hatch. Over the course of 3 weeks 4 babies were killed without reason. The fifth I found on the floor of the cage & looked after inside for a couple of days before finding a foster budgie. Baby died of unknown reasons 3 or 4 days later. I put Mrs Littlun in with another male in hopes she might breed once more before summer & I put Mr Littlun in with another hen. Mrs Littlun died of Megabacteriosis 2 weeks ago tomorrow. The hen with Mr Littlun died of Megabacteriosis today. I went out shopping just after 10am this morning and got back around 12.30 this afternoon & I went straight to her cage but she was dead. See the pattern? Mr Littlun is in perfect health & yet the last 2 hens he has been with have both died of the same disease. In this photo you can see an indentation in the middle of her torso? There was no meat there, just bone sticking out. Hard to see anything in this picture put look at her feet, she couldn't grip my hand . . .

Birds seem to have an uncanny ability to know if an egg is fertile or not. I'd say the eggs aren't fertile, or else maybe the babies were playing with them and accidentally put them out.

Babies tend to start coming out of their nest at around 5 weeks old but you should put them back into the nest until they are about 6 weeks. You can take them inside when they can feed themselves at around 6+ weeks. Remove the sterile eggs & if you don't want them to breed, remove the nest box or put them into a different cage.

:(Laughing out loud): I was thinking the same thing :(Laughing out loud):

and they sport the green gene :budgiedance:

Lutino's are pure yellow. Lutino's have white cheek patches & what look like white tail feathers & flights but in reality they are just really pale yellow. Sometimes if you're lucky you can breed/buy lutino's with rather dark yellow tail & flight feathers. I have 3 adults with dark yellow tail & light feathers. Dumbass who died recently was a very large hen with bright yellow tail & flight feathers.

Ricky looks like a real sweetheart, I bet he's a smoocher

I know budgies like noise, but I wonder if fireworks might be a bit too much noise? I'll keep watching this post to see if someone has experienced it.

Their bird room is tops. I have never been to a pet store that keeps everything so clean and the staff all seem to know what they are talking about. I'm sick of asking questions of people at pet shops to have them say 'uh, I don't know'. Very frustrating. Their birds are all healthy too, when I wasn't looking to buy budgies they had these gorgeous little ones that came right up to the wire and nibbled your finger! I had to be strong, wasn't after budgies that time.

I bought my very first king quail from Pet City, they were only about $12. I got a nest box from them about 4 years ago for $12 and it's still in superb condition, been used for about 14-15 nests. I will buy some more when I run out of my others as it works out more economical.

Yes Sure Lin! Wouldn't have her any other way!

new birdies! when do we get to see pictures? Please keep them quarantined & covered during the other 2 flight time. It doesn't matter if you got them from the same store. Trust me! I have shocking experience with what can happen when you do not quarantine, I would hate for you to suffer the same fate as diseases can go to your other birds as well.

My 'mates' moved their pet store from Redbank Plains to Logan Rd Underwood next to the Big Gun, I've only been there once since they moved & they looked in dire need of budgies. It's called Prestige Pets & Aquariums (or something like that) their birds are good quality and they only charge $20. I used to sell my excess birds to them for $7 each, but would take seed stock in payment for the birds as they have some nice canary, finch & sunflower seed that my birds love mixed in with their budgie seed.

These are the only Victorian avian vets that I know of. Sorry but I don't know Melbourne so I don't know what is near you. Dr Brendan Carmel BVSc MVS GDipComp MRCVS Warranwood Veterinary Centre 1 Colman Rd Warranwood 3134 Phone: 03 9876 0900 Fax: 03 9876 6938 Dr C B Wood (Avian Health) Phone: 03 9387 6166 Dr D N Madill BVSc MACVSc (Avian Health) 570 Springvale Road Springvale South 3172 Phone: 03 9546 5022 Email: davidm@svc.com.au Dr G J Underwood (Avian Health) Phone: 03 5428 8273 Email: greg.underwood@bioproperties.com.au Dr J K Trinca (Avian Health) Phone: 03 5975 3107 Dr P Macwhirter BVSc Hons FACVSc (Avian Health) 128 Highbury Rd Burwood 3125 Phone: 03 9808 9011 Email: drpat@optushome.com.au Dr R N Collins (Avian Health) Phone: 03 5243 0077 Dr Stacey Gelis BVSc (hons) MACVSc (Avian Health) Kingston Veterinary Clinic 32 Lower Dandenong Road Mentone 3194 Phone: 03 9584 7500 Email: stacevet@tpg.com.au Scolexia Pty Ltd Animal and Avian Health Consultancy Dr Peter C Scott Bsc BVSc PhD Dr Susan Bibby BAnSc BVSc 8/19 Norwood Crescent Moonee Ponds 3039 Phone: 03 9326 0106 Fax: 03 9372 7576 Email: info@scolexia.com.au

Leave everything as it is. Mum & dad budgie will still look after the babies even when mum incubates the eggs. The babies obviously just don't feel ready yet to leave. They will soon enough don't worry. 5-6 weeks is average for babies to learn to feed themselves.

Thanks Pix, I couldn't have put it better myself. These are some links that I have found with information: http://www.budgerigars.co.uk/diseases/megwarn.html http://www.vet.uga.edu/IVCVM/1998/gestier/gestier.htm http://www.vetafarm.com.au/manage/document...0Literature.pdf http://www.vetafarm.com.au/manage/document...20Pennycott.pdf http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/CLERK/Son/