Dave_McMinn

Good point. If it is a mauve or violet then both are split. Any pics?

It is now Monday as I type this, and they went in Sunday, so 1 day and all is good. You are most welcome. Here are the pics. It was getting dark, so that is why the backdrop looks dark. They have settled in well.

You can buy blue birds to breed blue birds or you can buy one green and one blue and breed them. You will get green birds that are split blue. When this generation is old enough to breed, they have the potential to produce blue birds. As it stands at the moment, with the current breeding pairs you have discussed, like Liv says, no chance to breed blue birds

pleased I can help love the avatar by the way. I know just how Pepe feels!!!!!!!!!

Wow, 10, wow!!!! Imagine they all hatch Kaz. You may be wanting to cull some of those young ones so you do not get too many of the one blood line. hmmm hmmm (I am over here, see me waving)

I am yet to get one single casualty. I say is because they are slowly introduced to each other. For the first 3 weeks of quarantine, the new birds are kept totally isolated from the othr birds, spatially. This means, they are in the house or garage, and although they can hear the other birds, and they can sing out to the new birds, they cannot see them. The weekend before and after the last week of quarantine, the new birds' cage gets moved to about 8-9 metres from the aviary, within sight of each other, but still far enough apart. They call out to each other, but there is still no contact. The next thing I do when i put the new birds in the aviary is to introduce them always at the same time as I put new corn, spinach and broccolli in there, as well as the new seed for that day. This means that the other birds are distracted whilst the new birds get a chance to look around. Most birds squabble and fight due to the lack of room. My aviary is just over 3 metres by just over 2 metres, and over 2 metres tall. There is plenty of branches in there, plenty of places to get food, and plenty of room to fly. There are less likely to be squabbles as even if a bird wants to "claim" or "defend" one bit of branch, there is so much room that it is eay to find another piece. And if there is a squabble, it usually lasts only 1 day. When I introduced Tam and Edmund, Edmund tried to scare all the other birds off "his" new 2 metre branch. The other birds were a little puzzled at first, and the young ones thought it was a great game of chasings. It last all of an hour.

Just thought I would give an update. Punchy and Lego moved into the avairy today, and they seem quite happy about it, fluttering around, annoying others, learning pecking orders, meeting new birds and learning new things. The aviary got its regular vege update today, with borcolli, corn and spinach going into the aviay. My birds do not go without.

Blooper is a light green OPALINE spangle,

If you look at her chest, you can see some blue feathers that the yellow has not changed to green yet. Definitely YF2

Some common ones - I have a clothes hanger/frame/drier stand, so when it is raining, my clothes go on that in the garage and I try not to use the drier. I walk to the shops and do multiple smaller trisp each week. I save the water form each load of washing and use the same load of water for each wash. You know, the basic things.

We all know what the basic grey looks like. We all have seen a yellow face Grey type 1, where we have a grey with a yellow face however the yellow hasn't washed through it's body. I am assuming that you can get a yellowface type 2 grey. Is it possible? What does it look like if the yellow washes through the grey? Anyone got any pics - if it is even possible, or does the dominant grey cancel out the yellow wash through?

So does that mean that Humprhey is an olive bird? he has a blue tail and is not the light green that others are. Look at the green bird behind in the picture below. I always though he might have a dark factor gene, but if what you say about the tail is true, then he must be an olive bird, I am going to have to check his tail tomorrow. I might be wrong.

I never know where this falls, so if a more experienced moderator wants to move it, then by all means, please do so. I went to Missylu's the other day to pick up a DF spangle. He is a nice big bird, bright yellow and seems very friendly. He was originally called Boof, but since there is already a Boof in my aviary, he needed a new name. Now, what would I call a big yellow bird that seemed quite friendly and likes to chat a lot? Hmmmmm... sounds a lot like Big Bird. So that was it. Big Bird did not come home alone however. He came with a lovely YF2 opaline hen who has had a tough life. I am told that she scaley face quite bad, and that has obviously damaged her toes and her cere as well. She seems in good health now but has a few issues in a smaller aviary. She will be fine in a bigger aviary with nice big natural perches to sit on. She looked at me with her lovely eyes and I got that "She's got Bette Davis eyes" line from a song stuck in my head, so Bette it is. Here are some pics. They are both in good health, poos look great ( as good as poos will ever look). They are inside at the moment and will get a dose of ivermectin over the weekend. Before worming and then going out to the aviary in 2 weeks or so. Punchy and Lego are my next 2, who will get a spot of ivermectin on saturday morning then will head into the aviary. They love their brocolli and have just learnt about the beauty of corn on the cob. Tam and edmund have been in the aviary for over a month now and they seem to be going great. Tam, being older is more solitary, but still spends time with edmund. Edmund has also made some younger new friends. Tam on the right Edmund Next oldest in joining my flock was Marco Paulo Brewster was caught by a student I tutored. She was hanging around the outside of a lovebird aviary looking for food. Brewster is in the middle in the picture. He who started it all was indeed a caught bird, king Humphrey My doors, well not the aviary door, are always open. Birds needing a new home are always welcome here. Big Bird was the only one bought in this lot, and his picture is included to show him with Bette.

If only some wisdom could be found in there Maesie. I did indeed have Pale Ale, and she did survive and go on to be a healthy young bird who to this day enjoys fluttering aroudn the aviary. In saying that, it was more good luck, and he strength, that got her thru, rather than anything i did. I would love to know which is the best one. I have never heard of the second one before. i think that there has to be some form of infection, passed from the parents to the chicks. I had well fed chicks coming down with this and dying. Anyone ever heard of the second one before?

I used to grate the carrots and spinach, but when I did I found it was easier for the birds to throw on the ground and it would also dry out very fast. These days I rarely given them carrot, and I take the leaves off the spinach stalk and give them those whole. They seem to enjoy the chewing these things up. I give them corn on the cob and brocolli untouched - well washed, but that is it.

Well done, though a few questions, and of course suggestions. You have done well to convert those. i was scetical at first, but I am pleased with what you have come up with. Can you take a side shot to show us the door? How can you check the nestbox? In regard to my last question, what if instead of placing the nestbox in the cage, you drilled a hole and attached it to the side of the cage. If you see the picture I included it is of some wooden cabinets. they did nto come with breeding boxes, so I adpated them. I measured out where the front of the breeding box would go through the wall, I got shelving supports ( a couple of dollars each), attached the shelving brackets with wood glue to the bottom of the breeding box, then attached the shelving bracket to the side of the cage with a wood screw. It meant I could check the breeding box. It is great what you have done, but to check the breeding box morning and night, you would have to lift the breeding box down off the little shelf it sits on. This has the potential to freak out the mother. She may react badly and not return to the nest box. that would be a tragedy. What you have is good now, I just think with a small adaptation you can reduce any possible problems.

I have never seen a single one of mine roll their eggs, and it makes sense. Rolling an egg over is such a delicate operation. I know I stress about pickign up eggs and young chicks, as i do not want to damage them. imagine trying to do it without opposable thumb - LOL My hens seem to stress if i am looking in a nestbox, so they would nto be rolling an egg in that situation. yours may be the same

they look great Do you actually have plans for making them or should I see if I can get plans from daz?

I also agree with Nerwen

So how does this little one get out?

well done. Just on a side note, i both love and hate reading these threads. I am so happy that you have him back, but also so disappointed when i think abotu the 2 I have had fly away. I am happy for you.

The bird looks very young to me, but i cannot tell what it is. You will hae to wait a little longer til it gets to the stage of being old enough to have iris rings

Very unusual to only lay one egg. Is she healthy? In best condition? can you check the egg to see if there is a young one in there? Does she sit on the egg? Might be best to remove the nestbox all together and give her a chance to recover strength, get really healthy for 2 weeks, then reintoruduce the nest box.

It all comes down to what you wish to produce. If you want similar chicks, then you need to put him to a bird that is similar. A female opaline will mean that both the males and females will be opaline. If you put him to a non-opaline female, then all the females will be opaline, but the males will only be split. Do not pair him to a green based bird as you will end up with green birds, unless the green is split to blue, and even then you have a 50% chance of green. Same applies with a grey bird. I think that you should pair him to a sky blue female. If you pair him to a bird with a dark factor, such as a cobalt or a mauve, then the young ones will be darker. If it is a normal blue, then 50% will be normal blues, and 50% will be pieds. If you pair him to a pied blue opaline female, then 50% will be pied, 25 % will be DF pied and 25% will be normals. So ultimately, pairing him with something similar would be the best if you want to produce young that looked like him, and if you do that, then there is a 50% chance of them being her colouring. What do you have available?

Good stuff Dodger. i am looking forward to seeing your pics, mainly so I can be green with envy - LOL