the pie

Hen from earlier in the year- she really surprised me at how she turned out, bit of flecking but parents are both clean head birds. Older brother pulling a strange face- had him inside for a bit and lurves a scratch Doing his best Hunchback of NotreDame impression youngsters fledged in the last few days Not sure where the lute came from!! I must have picked an egg up in the aviary I dont remember. oops Little grey, photo doesnt really show him but he is quite nice and should grow into a nice bird.

Yep and dopey me forgot to order them early :bluebudgie: ahh December is a busy month!! Going to be too hot anyways for the next few months I guess

Little spunk too, well worth saving.

I too have a blue pied who's cere hasnt gone blue yet- although his siblings has. Its still the odd translucent purple colour like a Rec pieds would be. Definatley a Dom pied and a boy!!

Those babies are absolute crackers Kaz, well done. Better get that aviary done you gonna have a few keepers to find room for!! Got my first lot of rings on a couple of youngsters the last few weeks, missed the oldest as we had a litter of pups and I forgot about ringing...oops Sorry to hear about the big fella, its hard when they go before you are ready.

Young opalines seem to have a white down on them, while normals are more of a grey. Once the pin feathers start to come through normals have the black pins show while spangles or greywings etc pins are a lot lighter. Pieds tend to have irregular black patches on the skin (feathers coming thorugh) of the wings at a certain age but before they feather. Cinnamons or Recessive pieds eyes are a dark purple colour instead of black, Ino's are red but they are obvious!!. You can see this from time of hatching. Cant think of much else at this point

cant wait to see these masterpieces- I'm having to think of a design for our new house next year as well. Knowing it will be there for a while you try to get these things right!!

Gorgeous birds- pieds are my favourite- with the breeding of those 2 birds you should only get pied babies no normals. Single and double factor babies. (for next time!!)

YEp I would say Lychee was a Yf2 double factor spangle.

hey I remember that little one!!

not 100% yellow face. You can still get normals with that mating (no YF)

Not aure at all but I'll start with the mites which you have seen- try a drop of ivermectin on the birds to rid them of mites off themselves, try the vet for this it seems to work better than most petshop sprays. Spray all cages and boxes with a decent insecticide- Daz uses good ones and will know the name of them- from vetafarm I think, make sure it gets into all the joins. I have also used a paste of salt and water lathered all over the nestboxes it will sweep out once dry, Are the birds showing no signs whatsoever? Losing a bit of weight (needs to be felt as feathers dont give you an accurate assessment by looking). Mice- I leave poison laying in an empty powerade bottle on the floor as it has a bigger lid opening for the mice to get it out. ALot of people wont use poison but I havent had any problems so far. ARe the chicks being fed as mites will stop them eating properly?

11 looks opaline to me- yf2 opaline spangle I reckon 10 is greywing spangle as the markings look really light to me But you have picked them well. Nice birds too.

We have huge ant problems where I live, I have to (ant)dust around the base of the aviary with ant powder frequently, they like to come in for the seed on the ground- especially if it gets wet. Getting wet is unadvoidable as I need to hose the aviaries once it gets over 40C.

Lookin good Norm, bit of bad luck re the rings but at least the results are starting to happen hey?

I like her, looks like she'll moult out with a nice mask

YF1 opaline spangle? Can show up quite blue on the wings, yellow face

Are you trying to recreate Custard!! (Laughing out loud) Very cute, I do like that colour

Awww he looks so soft. I used to have a major thief, he would get his own plate at breakfast and dinner to keep him off ours!!

Very Nice. ( I do like Dunstans little greygreen Would like to see it in a few months. The Danish looks good, there is a bird under all that feather?? (Laughing out loud) And Big Vinnie is doing well as first time dad chicks are very cute

I cabinet breed although I have a couple of nutcase hens that wont settle in a cabinet- these I will let lay in a seperate aviary with only a couple of pairs then they get moved into a cabinet to finish raising their clutch. I have colony bred in the past and had sucesses and failures, but these days I want certain pairs together so seperating them is the best option.

She looks like a light green Dominant Pied

Did you manage to save the 2 eggs she had laid already? Fingers crossed they're fertile

Yoshe is a violet opaline!! Years ago I would sell to friends that (after seeing my crazy little house bird) wanted one as well- try the local newspaper, there is usually an animal section or put up notices at your local store.

yay- you've been gone so long I forgot about you!!!! But I really really remember now and am very happy you are back. (I'm like a goldfish- things need to happen every week!!) Would love to see the MM babies