Dave_McMinn

I could not see any iris rings, thus the recessive guesses. I am thinking they are both very young

well they are both pieds, and although difficult to tell, I would say that they are recessive pieds, unless theya re both too young to have developed the tell tale iris rings. One on the left looks like a yellow face type 2 sky blue recessive pied hen One on the right looks dilute mauve recessive pied cock. Any shots of their wings?

Ikon, I might join this club as well. I once went to a show at Macarthur and it was like I was gate crashing a party. If St George is good, I might join this club.

tap water is fine

Hey Geoff, Kaz was right, I live in Wattle Grove, down near the shops. You? I am at the same situation as you. Not sure what club to join. let me know what you decided on

can you get a closer shot of above her cere?

Hate to say it people, but it is an debate you are all having, but there is nothing that can be done here. I saw an interview with a Seaworld specialist who said that it is not possible to reprduce the mothers milk so that cannot be done. They tried moving it out to sea, but it just returned, so that plan was not working. In the end, they will have to euthanise. All those who say no to euthanising it, then you are choosing the opetion of watching it slowly starve to death. Not really that humane. I am all for the green approach to the world, but trying to do that which cannot be done is not smart. We are not talking about a small bird here we can keep alive and crop feed a formula that we know will help it. Do we know why it got seperated from its mother? maybe it was not well and mother knew. For all who say that is not possible, any breeder will tell you that they have seen a mother budgie not feed or "dispose" of a young bird that was not well. Maybe mother whale knows best? We, as a species, pin a lot of emotional baggage onto things. It is both our greatest gift, and our greatest curse.

Come on people, the guy could be going through a rough breeding patch. He has had so many sterile birds !!!!

sometimes the so called experts are the worst

Four chicks - good to hear Kaz. I thought you would only get cinnamons if Dad was split. Mum has no bairing on it I thought.

He might have been preening himself, and for some reason, cut himself. If he is missing a toenail, then yes, that would have started bleeding. he has probably then brushed that against his head. If the bleeding from his toe, where the nail was, has stopped, then keep him in that cage where he is and keep an eye on him. Is there any chance that your bird could have caught its foot somewhere? Sorry, forgot to press add reply.

I am a High school computing teacher who marks the HSC - the NSW fnal exam for students - so nto only can I type fast, but I am also used to reading really bad handwriting. Need any help Kaz?

I normally end up removing hens to prevent them breeding again. This means that Dad's finish off raising the young. last time, I put the dad's and the young in the small aviary, to let them learn to fly around, but still have their Dad's there. I do have to say that this may have a side effect I had not anticipated. The are all in the large aviary, and it is very obvious, that the young ones bonded with their Dad's a lot more than they did with their Mum's. This is the way it is for all the young, except Milly, who bred last year. Her young are close to her, but then, she was not really removed from teh nestbox like the other mums.

I know that show standard birds need to sit on a perch Elly, I do appreciate that, but i figure in their natural environment, they get all types of branches. In my aviary there are the really thick branches you see there, plus i cut some native aussie plants and put them in the aviary. The budgies strip all the leaves off the plants, chew on the wood, but usually they leave some of the braches. Callistemons have flexible droopy branches, and some birds, especially the younger ones, love landing on these branches, chewing on them, hanging upside down, and generally playing. I will see if I can get some new photos of these natural "play gyms". Lego is telling one bird off in one shot - good on her. I never worry that the birds going in will be too aggressive, but rather, that they will be picked on. I was pleased that Lego was not going to let herself be pushed around

Looking at those pics, i would say there is no need to foster them.

Well done to both Renee and Libby for yoru results. Also a big well done to Kaz, for helping them out in so many ways.

The father should be fine feeing them. Yes, teh head bobbing is part of the process of him regurgitating food for them to eat. Keep an extra special eye on the little one. That is the one that is going to suffer the most if any suffer.

I asked Kaz about this yesterday and she was going to a show today, so she was goign to ask show breeders and see if they had an opinion.

I know exactly what you are talking about falki. With blue series we have sky blue, cobalt blue and mauve. Differing shades of blue based on dark factors. in greens we have light green, drak green and ?..... We look at greys and see they can have a differing bumber of dark factors. the anthracite being the darkest here. With grey greens, can we then have differing levels of darkness based on their dark factors they carry? I think I get the question. It seems others have misinterpreted what you are asking. Unfortunately, I have no answers - LOL

Why 3? I always think that odd numbers are not a good idea. Get him a friend, sure, but do not buy 2 other budgies, or one will be left out.

i heard that ken has a way fo lowering their prices - LOL. how is that all going?

Yeah. I have reached apoint in life where I would love to be semi retired but my bank account wont let me :hap: Maybe if you stopped buying hearses....... LOL

"Shining star" by Earth, Wind and Fire. Always wondered why they left the other element of water out of their name. Hmmmmm..........

Grey and Green are both dominant so if you breed a blue bird to a grey bird that is no split blue, then all the young will be grey, but split blue. You will only get blue birds from visually grey or visually green birds when they grey or green birds are split to blue. If you get 2 green birds that are both split blue, you will only have a 25% chance of getting a blue bird. Yellow Faced birds are a different story all together. Yes, you can get a dominant pied in blue or grey with a yellow face. Yes, you can introudce crested varieties to dominant pieds. You should not breed a crested bird to a crested bird. You should breed a crested bird to a normal.

This bird is of high show quality, yet to me, it is not attractive. I know that I am not a show breeder or a show judge, but to me, it does not look right. This is what happens when personal preference collides with show standards. It can happen with all pets. Personally I hate those hairless dogs. There are versions that come with hair, and some without hair. In the show dog worls, the ones with hair are the ones with the fault. To me, I would choose the hairy ones to the hairless ones everday.