Dave_McMinn

They are so cute Kaz.

It is tough when you are starting out, and wanting to do it all. You do what you think is best, then someone comes on and tells you how you can do it better, and you feel a bit let down. I know, I understand. In saying that, everyone on here only want what is best for you and your budgies, so they are offering you some advice, some very good advice as well. Do not wait until some cat has ripped through your shadecloth, or some rat has dug up underneath your aviary, or your aviary ahs been tipped over, before you do something about it. Think about how you will feel if you lost one bird, or two. Guilt is a terrible thing. try to take the ideas and suggestions on board. You will be happier and so will your birds, ir they all are never needed, but if they are, and you have done nothing, you will feel devastated. Put your birds first.

You are right Libby, not a spangle, not sure what I was thinking

I think your bird is so cute, though I am not sure where to start when categorising it. Things we know: - Blue based bird, due to the white feathers - Yellow faced type 2 - as the bird gets older and goes through its first moult, I think that the yellow will spread more and be less pronounced, so ti will look more like a marked creamino - Cinnamon wing patterns - we know that cinnamon dilutes, so that explains some of the diluting, but not all of it. - Dad is a spanlge, as is this little one. Note Dad's wing patterns, then look at this little one. The eye colour throws me. Is it possible that the bird could be a yellow faced lace wing spangle?

Hey JoEl - maybe you went too far with your critiques?

Children learn about power in many ways. When a baby cries and the parent rushes to it the child learns they have power. Some kids learn how to say things in certain ways to get what they want. everyone of us has heard or seen the cute little kid look at their parents, bat their eyes and says ppplllleeeeeaaaassseeee? and the parents says "okay, just this once" every single time. Any parent who gives in to a tantrum is giving the kid power. Power is learnt in many ways, though i do not necessarily agree with this being one of them

Deb, now you have 2 aviaries, how do you decide which birds go in which aviary? Have you designated them purposes?

What other cultures view as the norm is viewed as tradition in western society. it has always been thus, and always will be it seems. Take ancient greece, where the young women stayed pure as men engaged in sexual activity with pubescent boys. There are many groups/cultures around the world whose beliefs would shock many a western housewife.

Sometimes we as owners, and especially those of us that are new to the whole world of budgerigard breeding, get nervous and want to rush things. We keep "checking" the birds, which would make any prospective pair nervous, we wonder why we never see them mate (but then, why would we, I mean, we are not standing around watchign them 24/7 and if we were, why are we - and then we wonder why things take so long (and for a species that takes 9 months to produce our own young, isn't it funny how we are imaptient for other outcomes?) Patience is one of the keys to breeding I have found. Preparation and patience!

He looks good. You can still see him leaning one way, taken pressure off the leg, but once he adjusts, I am sure he will be fine. Like I said, whenever any animal, us included, permanently injures itself, it has the potential to overcome it given the right circumstances.

I agree with JoEl 100% Libby. You have done a wonderful job. The cock looks magnificent. Beautiful wings and a wonderful colour. I love spangles, and he looks great. I look forward to seeing a picture of the hen as well. You shoudl be very proud of yourself fo the wonderful job you have done with these 2 Libby.

I know we are focussing on the dominant v recessive pied thing here, but the so called grey has bluish looking cheek patches to me. Doesn't that make her muave, not grey?

I am no expert on the sexes, but I think the breeder is right. how big is your cage? It is best to have a balance - 2 boys 2 girls. remember, no matter what you do, quarantine is important. One more thing - I might be wrong, but I think your "light green" is actually a golden face type 2 - which means it is a blue bird but the gold on its head goes throughout its body, thus it looks green.

very impressive neat

Your Dom pied looks to be a double factor dominant pied to me, I may be wrong, as Kaz has so elegantly demonstrated with her pied quiz, but if he/she is a dominant pied, then all the offspring will be single factor pieds, with the boys split lutino.

i am with all the other people - now Norm, now!!! LOL

Have you read the book? I have not read it in many years, probably 20, but from what I remember, it was about " big brother" in this case the government, invading privacya nd controlling us. privacy is still relevant today. many times, we hear of others fighting on our behlf, groups sucha s the council for civil liberties.

I will post other stories later

See now Cara, you are going to stir up a hornet's nest with this one. Personally, I am not a real "arty" person. I look at a lot of art and go - wow, waste of money. See now, some people will argue that what is pornography is actually art, whilst some will argue that what is art is actually pornography. Is the artist the one that makes it "sick" or is it the viewer?

Being politically correct to me means trying not to offend anyone with what you say, but to a stupid degree. Take the story of the 3 little pigs. We all know it. But if it was politically correct, it would go something like this ......... Once there were three little pigs who lived together in mutual respect with their environment. Using materials that were indigenous to their area, they each built a beautiful house. One pig built a house of straw, one a house of sticks, and one a house of dung, clay and creeper vines shaped into bricks and baked in a small kiln. When they finished, the pigs were satisfied with their work and settled back to live in peace and self-determination. But their idyll was soon shattered. One day, along came a big, bad wolf with expansionist ideas. He saw the pigs and grew very hungry, in both a physical and ideological sense. When the pigs saw the wolf, they ran into the house of straw. The wolf ran up to the house and banged on the door, shouting, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!" The pigs shuted back, "Your gunboat tactics hold no fear for pigs defending their homes and culture" Bu the wolf was not to be denied what he thought was his manifest destiny. So he huffed and puffed and blew down the house of straw. The frightened pigs ran to the house of sticks, with the wolf in pursuit. Where the house of straw had stood, other wolves bought up the land and started a banana plantation. At the house of sticks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!" The pigs shouted back "Go to ***, you carnivorous, imperialistic oppressor!" At this the wolf chulcked condescendingly. He thought to himself: "They are so childlike in their ways. It will be a shame to see them go, but progress cannot be stopped." So the wolf huffed and pueffed and blew down the house of sticks. The pigs ran to the house of bricks, with the wolf close at their heels. Where the house of sticks had stood, other wolves built a time-share resort complex for holidaying wolves, with each unit a fibreglass construction of the house of sticks, as well as native curio shops, snorkelling and dolphin shows. At the house of bricks, the wolf again banged on the door and shouted, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!" This time in reponse the pigs sang songs of solidarity and wrote letters of protest to the United Nations. By now the wolf was getting angry at the pigs' refusal to see the situation from the canivores point of view. So he huffed and puffed, and huffed and puffed, then grabbed his chest and fell over dead from a massive heart attack brought on from eating too many fatty foods. The three little pigs rejoiced that justice had triumphed and did a little dance around the corpse of the wolf. Their next step was to liberate their homeland. They gathered together a band of other pigs who has been forced off their lands. This new brigrade of porcinistas attacked the resort complex with machine guns and rocket launchers and slaughtered the cruel wolf oppressors, sending a clear signal to the rest of the hemisphere not to meddle in internal affairs. The the pigs set up a model of socialist democracy with free education, universal health care and affordable housing for everyone. Please note: The wolf in this story was a metaphorical construction. No actual wolves were harmed in the writing of this story. See now, politically correct nursery rhymes are just stupid, as are most "politically correct" things in society. We are so afraid of "stepping on the toes" of another person in society, we speak in riddles, eventually produce noise pollution statements that are at a superficial depth and are essentially meaningless.

I got carrot

Yes, leave her where she is.

Hi Dave, Thanks, I noticed the wider perch advantage too today - the vet placed him on one of the portable wide perches and he actually almost perched normally. I will go and get a wider one tomorrow and see how it goes. I have also noticed now that after the pain meds he is also perching better with his leg and does not hold it off to one side? Well, so we learn and this is a great learning curve for me and my family who is new to having birds HA HA.. I will report back with his progress and I just want to thank all who has supported me in this adventure You have to remember that when the broken leg is in the splint, it is not exactly confortable. Think of it this way. If you splintered a healthy, non broken leg, a bird would not be able to perch normally. if you splintered your own leg, you could not walk normally. You will not be able to fully ascertain the ability to perch until the leg is healed, no matter how it heals, and the splint and bandaging removed. Best not to worry - it achieves nothing.

Estelle, I know what you are going through, as I went through it with Pegasis, one of my favourite birds. Peggy got her leg trapper in some wire somehow and then cut it and broke the bone. I took her to the vet, and she was in a split. The vet told me she might end up being an inside bird and that she would probably not return to the aviary. That was many months ago, and Peggy is going going great. Her now healed leg is very visibly different to her normal leg, and she doesn't sit on it like a normal budgie does, but she gets by. Peggy prefers to sit on the wider branches where she is less affected by her injured lef. In fact, this coming summer she is going to be put down to breed. I will put a wider branches and a platform in her cae to allow her to sit properly during mating. In regard to your little one, yes, it's leg may be different and it may not use it as well as it uses its uninjured leg, but it should be fine. This is Pegasis with her broken leg And now

I am hoping you meant "lived". If you did not, then it is my duty to remind you that comments like that on this board are innapropriate!!!