Dave_McMinn

okay, I am awake - (Laughing out loud). And for the big question - yes, her eyes are red. I always wondered about that. It is not just the flash and on closer inspection, i do stand corrected, her throat spots are grey. I have never understood the whole fallow thing. What is it? okay, she does not have the spangle tail, as in clear, but she has an amzing amount of white on her wings. A grey wing is just the colour that changes, the amount of white versus the amount of grey shount not change should it? Here is another picture for comparison with her sitting next to a skye blue opaline She is a special bird

One thing I forgot to mention was the difference in egg size with the other 2 nesting pairs. Milly has laid a larger egg, so i am thinking that since she and Zeus are larger birds, they will have larger eggs and larger chicks. thanks again Elly for your answers. Fantastic having someone so knowledgable we can go to, and the speed of your posts is amazing.

wow, thanks Elly. when you say all that Dad has to bring to the party, she seems even more special - (Laughing out loud)

3rd and final pair!!! Zeus is a yellow face blue. I think the colour is called seafoam - electric looking blue mixed with the yellow base to give a "not realistic" green" Milly might ba standard blue, but she seems a little diluted. Her colour is not "bright" and her wings look more grey than black, but she is nto a grey wing i do not think. Zeus (at the back, good shot for colour comparison) Milly together Last time I ask - what will this produce? Is the yellow face dominant? can they be dilute? Does dilution get passed on? is dilution a word? Thanks

thanks for that post Kaz, it is always good to have extra info available, and that is wonderful. thanks ellulah and Elly for the info. So the ino's pretty much allow whatever Dad has to shine through - sort of like a blank slate? The suprises in the nest are the things that are always amazing.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. You are all right about one thing - Seby is gorgeous. her cheek patches are mauve/purple. Not really blue or grey. I suppose the dilution will affect these? her spots look pretty much brown. Does that make any difference? I look forward to what may come of these two. if I get another bird that looks like their mum, i will be very happy.

My second breeding pair at the moment are Romeo and Sebby. Much like my other post, I am not sure what will be produced, mainly because I am still not sure what Sebby counts as. Romeo is easily identified as a skye blue, as you can see from the shot below with him and Sebby, but Sebby I am not sure about. She looks more grey in the photos due to the flash, but she is more mauve in real life. Here is Sebby Maybe her colour is diluted as she is a greywing? Possible? Can you have a mauve, greywing spangle? Here they are together. Only one little egg so far, but I am sure more are to follow. Not sure what colours that young may be. Anyone want to help out?

Well my first pair of breeders is away. Eventually I am going to breed larger budgies, but these guys were do determined to start a family, they had actually already laid 2 eggs in the husk catcher in my old aviary, so i thought they needed a real chance. Anyway, they have 4 eggs, and Angel has been doing a wonderful job of keeping them warm. I am not relly sure what to expect out of these 2. Angel is an albino. Ozzie is an olive spangle (sorry, old picture) here they are together i will get some pics as soon as I can, if and when any hatch. It is their first clutch (is it called a clutch?) and I am not sure if any eggs are fertile, so we shall see. (2nd clutch if you count the aviary). Angel has a real squawk if i even attempt to look in the nest box, so we will see how we go with pics. Any thoughts on offspring? Who knows if either parent has any hidden genes. Not I.

Well I finally completed everything with the aviary, and some birds moved in. I will post some new photos tonight, but it is nice to see them with so much space to move around. The ultimate question is why have only some birds moved in? well, there are 5 birds in the aviary, and 6 birds are in breeding cages. there is a new topic about this in the breeders chat. I am looking for some new birds, and I am looking at going to the marcarthur bird show this weekend, and the auction at revesby. Any tips?

Nice new birds Kaz. I particularly like Hawk. When I looked at him, and then read the name, I thought that it really seemed appropriate. Did you buy them from breeders? Any chance we can get a photo of mammoth next to another bird just for a size comparison?

Makes me think the things I whinge about are rather insignificant. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

sorry to hear that your birds are sick Kaz. Not much that can be done. Know your flock is in our thoughts and prayers Might I suggest a lock for the aviary - to keep the well meaning hubby out - (Laughing out loud)

I was thinking cows - (Laughing out loud). I would be concerned that the birds would want to eat the "flappy things" if they hung inside. Something external is definitely the way to go.

The mosquito net is a brilliant idea. Seems vey simple and easy to set up. I will incoporate something like that, maybe building it on tuesday afternoon/night so it is ready for wednesday for the birds to go in. thanks Kaz - brilliant. You are right, I would be very concerned about inside nets of any description.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, Kaz, Aaron had a safety door on the inside, but I am not sure how he worked it. i figured he just attached it when entering, but I am thinking that is not very safe, as you would have to open the door to attach it. I think the shadecloth with the two poles down each side is a great idea. I might make an attachment that I can remove, kind of like a system where you clip the hanging door on when you are going to enter, then you enter. Do you the door swings outwards, so this might be an issue, not sure. Do you have any photos of the setup you are talking about? Does anyone have any photos or images of safety doors to give me some ideas? thanks

okay, Trying this again. I resized all my photos after forgetting to do it initially, and now I have reposted them on Photobucket, this should all work. This is my old aviary. Note where it is positioned, as the new aviary is in the same space, although it takes up more room. External Old Aviary Internal Old Aviary External New Aviary - Front External New Aviary - Side Internal New Aviary - 2 shots I am going to keep the old avairy and use it to store my breeding cages. Frees up my garage and is less messy. Thanks to Daz and everyone that offered those suggestions. Need a few more things for my aviary, some hanging water feeders and maybe some more seed feeders. Might include a few little toys here and there as well, but not too many, I like tha natural look - can you tell with all thsoe gum trees branches and leaves? Birds will go in on Wednesday - the non-breeders anyway. More photos then. Any thoughts or suggestions?

hey there people, Some of you may remmeber Aaron. Well about 2 months ago I bought his aviary, but it has been sitting in my garage, with me seekign time to assemble it. Well, today I finished the assembling of said aviary, and come Wednesday, the birds will make their dramatic entrance. I need to get some pics up here for you to see, and I will do that as soon as possible. It replaces my old aviary, which will now be used to house the breeding cages for breeding pairs. I am quite please with it all. Photos tomorrow - I promise Dave

Now we all seen the fabulous set up that a person like Daz has, and we are all jealous. For some of us, we have more traditional aviaries and we have cages deidcated to breeding. My question is this, i do not have a designmated room for breeding, so I was going to put my breeding cages outside under shelter. With the cold weather approaching, I am not at all sure that is a good idea, so I have decided to put them in my double garage. They will be warm in their during the winter, so it should not be a problem. What do other people do? Where are your breeding cages if you do not have a designated aviary setup like Daz? Dave

okay, so many times on this boad people have talked about breeding and what is right for budgies and what is not. I want to breed, and I ahve been goign through all the right motions, as far as I know. ***, I bought 1 litre of calcivet the other day, mainly as I think if i don't use it, then i am scared Bubbles will hunt me down - (Laughing out loud). Anyway, I was adding some fresh veges to my aviary today and i noticed that angel, an albino, was missing. I tapped the side of the aviary and she appeared froma hiding spot she and sebby had discovered long ago. Angel was in the husk catcher that sits under the seed feeder. She long ago worked out she could squeeze in there. I was a bit worried, as I knew her and ozzy, an olive spangle, were "close". Anyway, as I changed some water, I removed the husk catcher, and there were 2 little eggs in there. what to do??? I could not keep them. Chicks could nto be raised in a husk feeder. they could not stand or grow properly. I could ahve transferred the whole family to a cage with a nesting box, but I not only might she reject the eggs as a first time mother, I am going away in about 3 weeks, sure, it is only for four days, but I do not want to leave them in a breeding cage for four days on their own. In the aviary, they would be fine, plenty of food and water sources, but not in a breeding cage. So I removed the husk catcher, disposed of the eggs, and did not replace the husk catcher. I watched as angel and aussie looked for their missing nest, and eggs. i felt really bad, but i think i did the right thing? Did I? Dave

Hi everyone - great topic. All my perches in my aviary are made from branches from gum trees. I have used the grey gum trees and the red gum trees. The birds prefer the grey i have found, but mainly as it is a soft wood, and the red seems to be a harder type of wood that when it dies goes very hard - but they love stripping the bark, and I would imagine it is good for their beaks as well. You can see from the picture below the reserve i back onto. http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p125/dm...es/P1010093.jpg You can see at the top of this picture some gum trees. i go out scavenging every once in a while, and get all the fallen branches and put them into my aviary. My birds love them, they love the fresh leaves, and when you look at the branch a week later, you can see all the little nibble marks. http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p125/dm...dgies/group.jpg The other thing that i put in this week was some branches from some natives i trimmed. In the first picture above you can see some callistemans (they are similar to grevillias but callistemans are less "woody"). these flower alot, and a lot of native birds always come in an eat them like rainbow lorikeets. As can be seen in the picture below. http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p125/dm...es/P1010110.jpg Anyway, i trimmed some of these back, just to tidy things up. I was about to throw them out when i thought i bet my bugies would love them. i put them in a few big heaps, tied them together, and hung them in my aviary. My birds loved them. they have been nibbling at them for a week, and it is only now that i need to remove them, not because they do not like them or they are toxic, but they are getting woody as they are dead branches and leaves. I give my birds seed, they get veges such as spinach, grated carrot, brocolli (although they did not like this), corn and I am going to try bok choy next weekend. they also get native branches to perch on, chew and dismantle. I believe that my budgies should get access to a range of treats and flavours. Food should be for nutrition, but also for fun. We eat for pleasure, and I am no expert, but I would say they do to. I mean, any breeder we tell you that budgies do things not just as they have to, but for pleasure as well. I say give them gum (eucalypt) branches if you have them, if not, give them fruits and veges. A happy pet has variety, simple as that. Dave **Edit** Oversized Photos changed to links. Photo guide - Information

Bubbles, What doe sa peppermint tree look like? Bark wise? leaf wise? I am thinking it smells like peppermint? Dave

Thanks Bubbles, yes, they really do love the natural branches. i have never thought of putting anything else in really. I tried a rope swing once, but they preferred the gum tree branches. everyday i walk my dogs, and there is a reserve at theback of my house - you can see it in the photos. Gum trees regularly lose branches, so on my walks I always look for fresh branches. People often see me dragging fresh branches home, with my dogs following. People must think i am crazy, but the dogs know full well where i am going. The birds love the eucalypt leaves as well as the branches themsleves. When you see the fresh branches, there are always little chew marks all over them. My birds have also begun to nibble at the callistemans and grevilleas that are growing into the aviary. Fresh is best of course. Dave

Thanks for all the kinds words everyone. dave

Well, the pics were finally uploaded. Seems it is the fault of IPRIMUS, but anyway, here are a few, too many , pics Aviary Group shot Humphrey - Dark green cock (1 dark factor gene?) Juliet - Skye blue opaline hen Romeo - Skye Blue cock no photo - oops Zeus - Yellowface Blue Type II cock Milly - skye blue full body colour greywing - her wings appear darker in this photo han they are in real life. trust me, she is difinitely a greywing. I will get some more shots later for proof. Sherbert - Green full body colour clearwing hen Angel - albino hen Sunshine - lutino hen Ozzy - olive spangle cock Sebby - Dilute violet spangle????? Need some help here. there you go quite a mix there. Any thoughts if i got colourings right or wrong? This is also some pics of what my budgies get to look at every day. neighbourhood visitors The guard dogs keep the cats away Dave

Hi, I have been coming to this forum for weeks now, but I thought i should finally stop lurking and say hi. I suppose I should also say thank you to all those people who offer such useful advice. I have not bred budgies for over 20 years, scary as I am only 31, so it is good to read up. A bit about my aviary. I have a hexagonal aviary that is about 1.8m in diameter. At the moment there are 10 budiges in there, and they are spoilt by me - (Laughing out loud). I plan to get a flight soon to give them even more room. I have a few that I really want to get you opinions on in terms of classification of colours and mutations, but for some reason, I cannot upload to photobucket. Any other ideas? Anyway, this is what I think I have: Humphrey - a green cock (english), but then I was following that thread about Radar, and his blue tail. I had a closer look at humphrey and he also has a blue tail, and towards the bottom of his belly there are quite a few blue feathers that are only seen when he ruffles up a bit, so there is a bit of a surprise in store there. Sunshine is a Lutino hen (english) Angel is an Albino hen (american) Milly is a sky blue greywing hen (english) Romeo is a standard sky blue (american) Juliet is a blue opaline (american) Ozzy is a green/olive spangle (american) Zeus is an yellow faced blue cock , but it is not a standard blue. It is like a flourecent, or electric blue. (english) Sherbert is a standard green opaline/clearwing? Not sure there. She is a very pretty bird. Sebby is the hardest one to classify. Originally named sebastian, he turned out to be a she, so sebby it is. Sebby is white based, but has a lavender/purple chest. She has light gray on her wings, and nearly no head markings. Her eyes are red, not black, though there is an iris ring. Sebby is the one I need the msot help with, but alas, photobucket. Anyway, I look forward to reading more on here over time. Dave