Dave_McMinn

okay, so I am starting to think of names for them all, and I am no good at working out males and females, so I am thinking of generic names that can go either way. i will get some more photos later and might get everyone, especially Kaz and Daz ((Laughing out loud)) to help with gender guesses. I think there are 3 males in this nest box. The cobalt blue I am thinking of calling one of 2 names. I was going to go with Kamikaze, but that has kind of worn off. So I am thinking of something relating to his Dad's name. Dad is named Zeus, so I am thinking ancient greek god's names. Oldest - he was the first to come out of the nest box, he perches well and move around, trying different foods. he is a big bird as well, so I am thinking I will call him herc, or hercules. Second one is a nibbler. sky blue in colour, loves to nibble on my finger, not bite, just nibble, so I am thinking of going with nibbler as a name. if it is a girl, i will go for nibbles. Youngest has a yellow face like dad and colour wise is more bluish. I am not sure about a name yet, have to think about it. Any ideas? Anyway, these are the only shots I have so far, taken last night after I returned the little ones to the nest box.

i will try again tonight and see how it goes

the nest box is up high, so they do not have access to it. i have tried to pop them back in, but they come out again, so simply made new "accommodation" for them

All three young ones have emerged from the nest box now, and refuse to stay in it if they are placed back there. Dad is hopping down on the floor to feed them, and they have a little container with some wood shavings in it to replicate the nest box. One little one is perching well, two are still mastering the art.

Well, the solo little one has some seed, 2 water sources, a mirror to help her think she is not alone, some millet, some spinach and there is some egg and biscuit on the spinach and on the seed. She does not appear to be hungry and she appears to have a lot of energy. That is good. I will still be keeping a special eye on her.

The youngest little one is a cinnamon wing but she is not an opaline. It is hard to get pics at the moment, as to do that I have to lift the nest box lid, and the eldest ones would simply fly out. When she emerges i will get pics of them all.

They are very cute little ones. They are yellow face blues. Dave

So you seed and assorted veges should be fine? No need to egg and biscuit? When i look at thsoe colour standard, I say she is a golden face mauve. She has dark blue/navy cheek patches. Interesting thing is that that her dad has white/very light grey cheeck patches. I think he is definitely a gey green, with a dark factor gene, where she is mauve. Though i am not sure how you get a mauve bir from a green parent, unless of course he is grey green, split to blue. then i suppose it is possible

thanks Norm. The little one looks alright this morning. I am going to give it a few days inside where it is a little warmer to master some of the finer points of adult life. It has seed, some millet, water of course, and today it will be intriduced to vegetables. It has had all these before, but not sure if it has fed itself. We will see how it goes. I appreciate the feedback and the info. This $ the oldest from this nest, and was born on May 20, so it is a bit over a month old. It flies well, has spent some time out o fnest box previosuly and is amturing up well.

Tonight I had to spereate my golden faced mauve based (?) young one as she was getting atcked by her father. She is at the stage that she can fly well, but she is still working on her landings. I am hoping she can feed herself, but if she cannot, I am not sure what I can do. I will give her some food options tomorrow, and watch her thru the day. Her siblings have not ventured out of the nest box and they do not appear to be in any danger. Should I leave them? If I removed their mother, would dad stop being so over-protective and resume normal fatherly duties? How long do you leave your young before seperating them into fledgling cages? Thoughts? Ideas?

I am thinking of taking the eggs away. Might do it on the weekend. I think I need to get some marbles though. If I take the eggs away i figure I should replace them with Marbles, otherwise she is just going to keep laying. Right?

Angel has laid another egg. Not sure i am too keen on this idea just right now.

Based on our young, it does notappear that they are hiding anything in their genes. Of course, another group of young would help to give us more knowledge, but I think they should all go back in the aviary with their new young until the new breeding cages are set up

okay, so i can build up my breeding journals so i know what each would have. Based on what you are saying, Dad is a sky blue split for cinnamon and slipt for opaline. Mum is a fallow, so we do not know what she adds, but all the babies should be slipt for fallow. Will some males be split for opaline or all?

As many of you know, I have 3 pairs with young ones and many of them are jumping out of the nest box, only to find themselves stuck on the floor of the cage. I pick them up and put them back in the nest box, but then they just jump out again the next day. My question is this - should I put something on the bottom of the cage, like a small container with nest material in it, so they can just climb in there and huddle up, rather than simply try to squash together in a corner? When I come home I can put them back in the nest box but until then, they have somewhere to sit. One nest box had all 3 out today, and they were all squashed into the corner. Thoughts? What do you other breeders do? Must be a common problem!!

I think Sebby is a Mauve, and as far as I know, the fallow dilutes. I might be wrong, not sure. So we are assuming that because she is an opaline, and has cinnamon wings, she gets the opaline from her mum and the cinnamon form her Dad? Is that it? I am not sure how cinnamon works. Is it sex-linked like opaline? i really hope the little one is a cinnamon. Question for you. See how one little one has gray fluff? that little one is going to be a blue normal. Is there any significance to the fact that the little one has white fluff?

Norm, I looked at my little one today as I chased him/her around the garage. Damn slippery little thing - (Laughing out loud). Anyway, cheek patches are blue and it has a dark tale, so I am guessing it has to be a green with possibly one grey factor from Dad and one mauve factor from Mum. is that possible?

i love them all - they are so cute. I am assuming since the cinnamon wing is an opaline, she is female?

Wow - after all that I am not sure what I have - (Laughing out loud). As they mature up I will keep up with the pics so we can see what they turn out like. So far I know we have 2 spangles and one with normal wing markings, but apart form that, i know less than i thought i knew before - (Laughing out loud).

Mum Angel is an albino, so she could be hiding genes right? Dad could be split to mauve - hard to know.

okay, i took some new photos. they are getting very squirmy, so it is hard to get them together for a photo. I had to change the "dish" they sat in to an ice cream container, to stop them jumping out and running away. Even then one managed to escape. okay, here we go. Group shots first. You lead, we will follow. Get out of my way!!! Notice the littlest one gets pushed over by the rush here? Ohhh, photo opportunity!! Now, which is my good side? If I can just get away, I can take over the world... When am I going to get feathers? (hard to tell, but I think will be a standard blue) there you go. thinking of names - bungee for the jumper might stick yet, but still thinking of other names.

okay, I tried to get some new pics. I had to change the container they sat in whilst I cleaned their nest box out as they kept trying to jump out. I got 2 family pics. I have never seen another mother spend as much time in the nest box as Milly. She lays in there and her chicks climb all over her. She lets them, not annoyed or angry. Quite content. The little one with the yellow face did his/her best to hide but I finally got a shot. I think she is going to colour up like her dad, with the blue turning seafoam, thanks to the yellow. We shall see. Compare her/his tail feathers to the tail feathers of the her siblings who are blue. The flash removes the yellow feathers, but they are definitely there. I love the hiding picture!!

I might be the only one reading thsi thread, but at least I know that I ahve an online update of my little ones' growth. okay, so we determined the colours of them, or so we thought. We know that there is a grey green, with 2 grey factors in there to make him/her so dark. Right? Do we call that a DF grey-green? I think he/she looks stunning with the darkness and the yellow face. The second is a spangle like Dad Ozzy, but darker, so I am thinking it also has 2 dark factors. Do we call this a DF Grey green spangle? The youngest is going to be like the the previous, but the question is this. When does it stop being a pangle and start being a clearwing? Is it to do with tail feathers? The little one seems to have no wing markings, but lines on the head. Interesting.

new photos tomorrow

thanks Kaz. Kamikaze it is then. hard to come up with names that are not already used, especially when you considered the number of budgies that people have. As a school teacher, there are some "human" names I could never use, just makes me shudder when I think of some kids - (Laughing out loud).