Dave_McMinn

Well, I went back today and I came home with 3 pieds, but not the little one. i was talking with one of the people who work there, and she was very well informed. She told me that this little one was going to be a runner - she bough it up not me. he would not survive in my aviary - how would he get around? And so I did not get him. When i initially said i wanted him, one girl turned to the other and said "ha ha" I asked what that was about, and she said that she was going to take the little one home and look after him if no one bought him today. he requires extra attention I cannot give, so I let him go. I will post some new pics soon, and everyone can help me out with the classification. I say I have one cock and 2 hens. the cock is a yellow and green pied, and the hens are white, with a llittle bit of a blue rump, and patches of black all over them. they are both yellow faced though. they both bite har, so I say female - (Laughing out loud). Pics soon

No name until i see if he is there tomorrow. As for special attention, he will get inside lodging with a lamp for warmth, wood shavings to sleep on, and a diet of seed, veges and millet to allow him to grow up big and strong. But that all depends on him being there tomorrow.

Ever seen a bird and thought "wow, i want to give that little one a home"? Well, I did today. I was out and dropped into this pet shop. Now, I look in most pet shops but i would never buy from most. This one is different though. they have some great birds, and they only ever stock a few. I have actually bought 5 from there before, and they are all great. That is where I bought Romeo, Juliet, Angel, Sebby and Ozzy. Anyway, today i was there and they had 2 yellow faced dom pieds - they were just about all white, with the yellow faces, a few blacks spots and little blue on the rump, a yellow/green dom pied, and there was this little violet dom pied with the clearflights. He was so cute. he was obviously too little to be out of the nest, in my opinion. He could not perch properly, so he was sitting on the floor. he was not sick, not fluffed so young. You could tell by his stripes on his forehead. he is going to be a big bird as well. Anyway, I might go back tomorrow. If he is still there, he will come home with me. We will see. Damn me and my good heart.

there are so many good names. If I have a troule maker - Icarus. If I have a thinker - Socrates (of course this one would be hard to judge - what does a thinker look like - (Laughing out loud))

I concur. i love the grey pied's colours.

Had my first jumper today. Little yellow face blue - male I think - was the first to try life outside the next. I am thinking that if he is a boy, and I think he is, he will be named Apollo!!! I am sure that the others will follow soon. The sky blue will be named Athena. She is the oldest and I think that she is definitely a she - if her biting ability has anything to do with it. Other names will depend on genders. Any help here appreciated.

is olive the same as green but with one dark factor, or 2?

You know when you take a heap of pics and you look at them and some of them are just really cute? here are a few of mine

okay, some new pics of "Her Hugoness". Still not convinced she is a girl - until she lays an egg - (Laughing out loud). Hanging around Sitting chatting to an imaginary friend

Got pics of the entire family Mum Milly and Dad Zeus Nibbler, Mercury and Hercules in the aviary Young first photos. No assigned names yet, but they will follow the Greek/Roman gods theme, so Athena, Apollo, Jupiter and Vulcan, maybe, depends on genders.

Cleaning out the nest box today, and I took the 4 young ones out. Forgot to take photos - maybe tomorrow, maybe later today, we will see. Anyway, of the 4 young, 2 have yellow faces, and 2 have white faces. All are blue. One yellow face looks like he/she will be a type II like Dad, so he/she will be a seafoam green colour. The other yellow face is really bright, and is a cobalt blue. This is one of my favourite looks, the bright yellow face and the cobalt body. All the babies are big birds, very impressive looking babies I have to say. When you consider that Zeus and Milly came together and produced 7 offspiring, all blue, 3 yellow faced, 2 type II, 1 type I, and they are all big healthy young, I am pretty proud of them, espcially as they are first time parents. Pics to come, i promise.

I have two dogs, Mac and Tess. They are Cairn Terriers. Scottish Terriers that have very good hunting instincts. Even though this is a domesticated breed, and these dogs have never hunted in their life, they will try to catch and eat birds and chance they get, and I have seen them successfully do it in the backyard with a pigeon - i was too late to stop it. Once when i had the breeding cages in the garage, i was looking in a nest box, after tapping it of course. I thought the parents had left, but sebby was still in there. As I opened the lid, she flew out. She flew all around the garage, as I tried to catch her with a bet. She flew above the dogs sleeping area, where the dogs looked on anxiously, hit a wall and plummeted to the ground. Tess, going on instinct, saw her, picked her up in her mouth, and headed for the door. Luckily i was within reach, and not only did I shout at Tess, but i hit her with the net. Sebby jumped out of her net, jumped through the fence, humped up on a wheelbarrow which was full of assorted rubbish, and tried to burrow in for safety. I was able to catch her with my hands at this stage. I checked her for injury and then put her back in her cage. Teriffying experience, and I thought that Sebby was going to be killed. I cannot blame the bird, as she was scared, nor can i blame Tess, it was in her makeup, but the dogs and the birds will never, ever, ever, ever, ever mix.

Does that mean that any bird that looks normal but has the spot ont he back of the head is going to be split to pied?

Love the pics. I always love the budgie looking out the backyard pics, the yearning for a freedom that they can never have, nor could they ever survive. Alas, always to be looking longingly from behind the wire mesh that both traps them, and yet allows them the freedom to live a life that they otherwise could not enjoy ..... I really should go write some poetry or something. Ah, that's right, the point. great pics!!!

any pics for us to see? Some of us less educated like to look at the pics of the birds and go "ooohhhh" and then agree with everything that Kaz, Daz, Macka, Elly and Nerwen say.

Her hugoness, i am finally admitting that she is a girl, is back in the aviary. Her flight feathers have all regrown, and her sweeling has all gone down. She is much healthier. it is funny as she really bonded with one bird, and now she is back in the aviary, she is probably annoyign the *** out of her. She looks much healthier and i am very pleased with ehr recovery. Pics will cme later.

Nibbler, Mercury and Hercules have all moved into the aviary. All seems well with them. 4 of the 5 eggs have hatched, and the babies are all coming along well. hard to tell colours so far, but it is always exciting. This thread will continue until the new ones are ready to go into the aviary. I am thinking i will continue the greek gods theme names.. hmmm. Pics still to come on here.

Well, everyone has now movied to the aviary and everything seems good. In trying to catch Romeo, he ended up losing his tail feathers. they are growing back, but they now seem to be growing back iwht an unusual amoutn of white on them. I suppose it could be stress. Maybe.....

Well, everyone is now in the aviary, and everything seems to be going well. This is pretty much the last post on this topic, so anymore pics will appear in my aviary update

not sure what happened to my latest update, but anyway.... Hugo, or her Hugoness as I am now calling her, seems ont he improve. She is eating more, today she even had a nibble of some spinach, she is eating millet, and I have put some vitamisn in ehr water to help her. She is definitely more active when she hears or sees other birds, but her fathers around her eyes are nto back up tos crath yet. Some more time in isolation of her own cage, eating nd buidling her health will benefit her i think.

I kept my old avairy and converted it to an external breeding area. i put my breeding cages that were once int he garage inside the aviary. I covered 2 of the 3 sides of the aviary with a clea plastic that will let sun in but will stop the rain and the wind. the open side will let plenty of air in, it also has the door, and there are six cages in there with breeding boxes so multiple pairs can breed at one time. Also works as a good quarantine if I get new birds and have none breeding at the time. the lattice will be removed when the rain stops. once the grass grows back there it will be less muddy i have also got a really good security system in place. they do shift work - off duty below

All 4 are in the one cage now, building up their strength

Milly is back on her eggs, and has layed a new egg as well, the little ones are growing up, eating indpendently now, pretty much most of the time, but dad Zeus will still feed them. Today I put some fresh spinach in their cage in a dish on the fllor, and they decided they wanted to lay in it, so i put a bird bath in there for them to swim in. Zeus taught them all how to swim in the bath, and they all got very wet.

Well, they all got move into an outside aviary the other day, and today they went from tower 1's basement to tower 2's penthouse. big effort catching them all.

all my branches are tree branches in my aviary. I just go for a walk with my dogs every so often and gather branches. that sound wrong, i walk my dogs often, but i only bring home branches on the odd occassion. (Laughing out loud)