Dave_McMinn

Daz, How do the BES and the DEC differ?

Thanks Norm, and I do agree with you 100%. I remember the post that you made on here, probably about amonth ago or longer, abotu how you thought that we shoudl let nature take it's course. I read that and I have to say i was relieved. It is one of those things that i was thinking, but did nto have the courage to say, or even admit to myself. I felt a bit like - no one else is saying it, am I not being as responsible as I shoudl be? I do eveything I can for my pets and i will give them every opportunity, but i do agree that if they ae sick and feeble looking, pumping them full of meds to help them at this age is not right. I agree with the theory "we are better off without them". Thank you as always for affirming my thoughts, by simply offering your own.

If you go back and look at cheese, you will notice he is not that dark. it is because he is a goldenface type II. Look how bright his face is to the yellow that is diffused throughout his body. I think that the pieds will remain more creamino than yellow. Compare the colour of Cheese's face to the the colour of hsi washed out body.

do you think the raspberry cordial could be used with my breeding birds Kaz?

what is the story with the pure raspberry cordial?

Oh okay, maybe that is it then. Funny how all 3 were like that in Humphrey's and Milly's. Maybe one of them had a natural gut infection.

I agree with Liv. You should quanrantine your new budgies for at least 30 days. Sometimes new birds get stressed, so they get a dirty butt. I am not sure peroxide is needed though. Surely you could just use a damp cloth with water on it.

Once you clean it all up, and then concrete, it should be fine. You probably want a layer of about 1 inch in terms of concrete. That will be thick enough. As you lay it, it will fill up the gaps naturally. Lay the far end first, do it in gum boots or something like that. Lay all the conrete, then work your way out backwards, smoothing it all over. You will need to be fairly fast with that as you only have about 15 minutes from start to finish once you wet the powder.

let us all know how it goes Mayeb a before and after shot would be good. If you post a before shot, I might even be able to make asuggestion

You need to have some barriers up to stop the concerete escaping. best way to do this is to put some wood around the base of the sleepers so the wet concret cannot just slide off. The concrete comes in bags of different size, depending on the size of the slab and the desired thickness will decide how much you need. You empty the bag of concrete onto the pavers. Spread the powder out. Think of it like flour in a dough mix. the more liquid you add, the runnier the dough/mixture becomes. Same works here. You add water, and turn the water in to the conrete, once more like added liquid to a cake mix. the water turns your powder to concrete. I would make sure that it covers and is pushed into any gaps between slabs and the like. remember not to add too much water at the beginning. You can always add more, but once added, you cannot take it back. remember, you have 15 minutes for it to set. So you do not have to rush or panic. If you want a smooth finish, get a piece of timber and drag it across the top, the will give it a smooth even finish.

I am hoping that this one is the exception Kaz. After having all of Humphrey and Milly's chicks die as verey pale looking chicks, I do not want it anymore. I wonder what causes the infection? Is it genetic? Thanks Maesie.

nice inquisitve look. Any colour pics?

Looking forward to seeing how this journal progresses

You can get concrete that is rapid set, so it is possible to do it very quickly. rapid set concrete can set in 15 minutes, so the birds only need to be out of the aviary for all of 1 hour at most, that gives you time to rough up, put dry concrete down in powder form, you simply hose it in, and this hosed in concrets should go over the gaps, use the back of a metal rake or something to spread it out nice and smooth, then it will dry very fast. One hour, you can put your birds back.

Yes.

I thought that was the case as well Norm. the paler they are, the les likely they are to survive. I got up this morning and looked in and they are all still alive and kciking. With any luck, they will all kick on. I am not sure it is due to being underfed or what it is. We will see. Kaz, there is a great range of colours. When you consider that these guys are all from the one clutch it is amazing. and the eldest here

New photos taken this afternoon. Some are a little blurry, and normally I exclude the blurry ones, but the ones I included I did for a reason. Firstly Sebby and Cheese's lot. Eldest - a recessive pied. Shown plenty of shots of this little one, but todays shot is of his/her stomach. A little blurry but note the brightness of the blue. All 3 pieds should have this. 2nd eldest is a cutie - Yellow/golden face type 1 cinnamon wing. Middle child in this nestbox is a cinnamon wing, golden faced type II, opaline and normally I would say blue here, but when you look at the photos, the cinnamon has diluted the colour to more of a lilac. Very pretty Youngest 2 are pieds. Not the blue feathers coming through on the spot on the tail of the oldest of the two. Few of them together, piling and lining up. I love the yellow on the tail feathers of the cinnamons, especially the middle chick Next - Angel and Hugo's nestbox. It is important to remember that the oldest of the chicks in this nestbox actually is fostered, from Sebby and Cheese. It is a standard blue, with the split to recessive patch on its head. Now with its siblings Also in this nestbox is one little one that may or may not make it. It does look quite pale compared to the others, so we will see. I know the flash had an impact, but we will see how things turn out. Crop appears full, so that is a good sign. Tralia and Nibbler No new photos, but there are now 4 little ones in the nest box. The eldest looks so much bigger than the rest. Damn puberty - (Laughing out loud). okay, so there you have it, another update, sure to be read, all comments appreciated.

R we all still waiting for pics?

I am an idiot - i will take on your challenge and provide many wrong answers so you Daz can show people what the real answers should be. 1) Can a recessive pied be bred from a pair of dominant pieds? Yes, 2 single factor dominant pieds that are both split to recessive pieds have a 25 % chance of producing a recessive pied. 2) Can a dominant pied be bred from a pair of recessive pieds? No. The recessive pied gene cannot maks the dominant pied gene, so if a pair of receesive pieds bred, they would only produce recessive pieds. 3) There are no known dominant varieties with red eyes. Is this statement true or false? I am going to say this statement is true. Everything I can think of that has a red eye is recessive. The -ino gene, fallows, lacewings (I think), is that it? I am sure I left something out. 4) Is it possible for a bird to be visually carrying the color gray, violet, dark factor, sex-linked, dominant and recessive traits all at the same time? I suppose it is possible. I actually changed my answer after i gave my example. For example, you may have a hen that is a dominant pied, opaline, grey with a dark factor, cinnamomn wing. technically this is possible. I am not sure if it could have both a dark factor and a violet factor. 5) The yellow face on a yellow face blue is considered to be a dominant trait. What is the white face on a green considered to be? A. also a dominant trait B. does not exist C. a recessive trait D. a sex-linked trait B - as far as I know, there has never been a white faced green. You could never get one as to get green, one parent would always have to have a yellow face, and since the yellow face is dominant, it would not be possible. 6) Name four varieties for each of the following. Dominant Recessive Sex-linked Green Blue Opaline Grey recessive pied Cinnamon Wing Dominant Pied Fallow Clearwing Yellow faced Albino Lacewing 7) What are the only ways to breed a sex-linked cock? Mark all that apply. A. hen has to be normal, cock has to be normal B. hen has to be normal, cock has to be split C. hen has to be normal, cock had to be sex-linked D. hen has to be split, cock has to be normal E. hen has to be split, cock has to be split F. hen has to be split, cock has to be sex-linked G. hen has to be sex-linked, cock has to be normal H. hen has to be sex-linked, cock has to be split I. hen has to be sex-linked, cock has to be sex-linked maybe I misunderstand what you are typing, but the hen cannot be split to a sex linked trait. She either is, or isn't. For example, a hen cannot be split to opaline. She is either opaline or not. therefore, working on that theory, the answers can be H and I. I am assuimng that is the cock is split, using the opaline example again, that means he is not opaline, but he carries the gene. If he is sex-linked, then he visually appears to be opaline. If this is not right, then my answer changes. 8) When a bird is said to be masking something, what does that mean? Also, give an example. A. split for another color or variety B. preventing the true visual color or variety to be seen C. dominant for large spots on a deep mask I am not entirely sure on this, so when it is marked, I look forward to the answer. I thought masking something was hiding it. there is a difference in split to something is there not? I am going for B. 9) What dominant varieties change appearance when they have two genes for the trait? DF spangle is a clear bird with dark eyes DF dominant pied has less dark markings and colour, more the base colour, so yellow or white. what about base colour? Green and grey are both dominant. A bird that has these both changes colour to become a grey-green. I have heard someone say that DF yellow face would produce a white faced bird, but I do not see how that is possible, or a white faced green would be possible. therefore I am going with only those 3. 10) What does it mean when a bird is said to be split? A. two colors present as in a pied B. not visible on the bird but carrying one gene for another color or variety C. two colors/varieties present, dividing the bird down the middle; halfsider B - a green bird might be split to blue. breed it with a blue bird and you could get 50% blue and 50% green/split to blue. okay Daz, how did I do? JimmyBanks wrote "when will we know if we got all the answers wrong?" Who cares? Daz will tell us later. Have a go I say!!!

well this list is long

not really bigger, just modified. Since 2 sides are enclosed now the birds have more protection. The plastic lets in the light, so there is no issue there, but we are yet to have rain or wind, so I can not really tell how effective it is there. It should be fine. I am going to try to make the safety door over easter, so that should solve another problem. Otherwise, it is all looking good.

oops, miscount Sebby and Cheese have 5 Angel and hugo - 4 including the journeyman nibbler and Tralia - 3. Colours to be advised for most

2nd year of breeding birds after a 20 year gap or so. Started when I was young. I am not that knowledgeable - these characteristics are all visual - Golden face, opaline, cinnamon wing. Dad is a recessive pied, so they have to be plit to recessive pied. They cannot NOT be. So ultimately, a bit is due to knowledge and a bit is due to visual idenification.

I love cinnamon wings, and the yellow or golden faces make them look even better. Cinnamon wing opaline, golden face blue, split to recessive pied - quite a mouthful. I am amazed that the journeyman looks to be a nromal blue at this stage. After having such colourful siblings, the blue sems a little .... bland.

first clutch are beautiful, but that mauve dom pied is the cutest. That is what I am hoping for from Angel and Hugo