Dave_McMinn

Thanks for all the positive comments. Rung 2 of the moved birds (checked the ring number on the bird that is not fostered to avoid future confusion). All chicks are good, fed, warm and active this morning. I am thinking that for names for the birds involved. I am thinking the foster mum will be named Jude as St Jude is the patron saint of lost causes As for the 2 who looked dead and survived maybe Lazarus and somethign else, depending on gender

Shame - even the down seems longer in those pics

Well I have been doing HSC marking so I usually leave at 7am and get home close to 10pm, so there is little chance to check on the birds. Luckily the solar garden shed light is wonderful so it gives me more "daylight" to check in on the little ones. After the drama last night, I am pleased to say it is all good tonight. Everyone of the little ones are fed and doing great, wriggling around and chirping away. The largest one was definitely my biggest concern, but he/she is doing better than ever. They actually look healthier in their foster nest than they did in their birth nest. I know the eldest is going to be a yellow based bird and the white down indicates opaline, but DF spangle is still a big chance, so I am hoping for the best. I am going to try to put rings on in the morning before I scoot off to school, although I plan to leave at about 6:30 tomorrow so it will be hard, but I feel rejuvenated now more than ever. I am really hoping for some little ones out of the other eggs. Thank you for the kind comments, especially your comment GB about the way I wrote my long post. I really wanted to try to get the emotion of what I was feeling across in the post, along with the questions I was asking myself and the thoughts I was having. I hope I did that, if even in a limited way. I will be able to get pics soon, I promise.

I am just happy that there is the chance of a happy ending.

Is this hen split to blue, by any chance? And what dark factor? I'm thinking this pair can produce quite a variety, can't wait to see these 4 chicks feather up! I am not sure if the hen is split blue, I am unable to ascertain any information on this hen. There are no dark factors involved which is always good - no dark factors and no grey factors. A tragedy occurred in this nestbox last night. At about 11:30pm i was in bed and my dogs barked. I listened to what they were barking at. There was a banging sound coming from inside the breeding room. I got out of bed, grabbed a torch and went downstairs. I opened the breeding room door very carefully , shoen in the torch and I could see the problem. It seems that a nestbox seems to have expanded and the doors that slide up and down had fallen off. The cock bird was free in the breeding room, flying around in the dark into walls, thus the banging. I grabbed him and returned him into the cage. It was then that I realised that the cheeping coming from the remainder of the nestbox only beloonged to one chick, not the four that should have been there. I looked around on the ground and all I could see was one chick. I picked it up and it was ice cold. I remember reading on here that breathing on the chick with a hot breath can revive it if it is not too far gone, so I cupped it in my hands and blew my hot breath on it. I looked after 20 seconds, and there was a wiggle. I repeated the process for another 30 seconds, and the wiggle was greater. I repeated the process and this resulted in the smallest of chirps. Repeating the process multiple more times meant that I now had a chick that was chirping and wriggling in my hands. I placed it back in the new nestbox I had hung up with the one chick that did not fall out. I wanted to see if the hen was going to claim the new nestbox. I put some wood shavings and feathers from the old nestbox in the new nestbox to try to encourage her. I then found the third chick who was not looking good. It's crop was empty and it was ice cold. No breathing was bringing this one back. This chick had obviously died in the nest box well before it broke apart. There was nothing I could do for this one. I could not see the fourth and oldest chick anywhere. I felt that it must have been taken by something, that somehow a mouse had gotten in and stolen the chick away. With the hen and cock refusing to go near the new nestbox, and one chick needing a lot of body heat from a hen, I put the chick that was alive on the gound in nestbox of another hen who only had one chick, hoping this mum would be a great foster mum as well. I closed everything up and went to bed. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep and felt bad about the missing chick. How could I have seen nothing? It must be there somewhere. I procrastinated for 20 minutes then my curiousity made me get up and go look again. This time I got the torch and layed down on my stomach in the bird room, looking under the breeding cages. There is was at the back, lying in the dropped seed, not moving. I reached in and picked it up carefully. It was stone cold, there was a little blood coming from its mouth on one side, and it was covered in seed. There was no movement. I brushed the seed off the chick, and there was still no signs of life. I was too late. I took the ring off its leg and had one last look. It was gone. I lifted the lid of the bin to put the little on in, and I thought i saw the faintest movement. I stopped and brought my hand closer to my face. Again was that a movement or just wishful thinking. Nothing to lose, I cupped my hands and breathed out into my hands. I looked, there was more movement. I cupped my hands again and repeated the blowing. Now a wiggle. I kept repeating the process, and then there was chirping. Life. I was still worried about the hen not returning to the new nestbox, so I moved all the chicks to the hen that previously only had 1 chick, so overnight she had 4. There was nothing more I could. I went to bed. At 6:30 this morning I went down and looked in the breeding room. The dommie pied hen had still not entered the new nestbox, although she was thinking about it. I can understand her reluctance, but her young would have died if they had not been moved. Hopefully they survived in their new nestbox. I looked in their new home, to see if the hen had taken to her new 3 young, givign her a total of 4 young, with gusto. I was prepared for the worst. Luckily for me, everyone looked like they had not only warmed up, but had been fed. Most were wiggling and writhing around like mad things. I still have some concerns for the eldest who was bleeding from the mouth. This one is touch and go, but there is nothing that can be done. It is a matter of wait and see. So I now stand at the stage of some hens on egg, some empty nestboxes, and 1 hen with 4 bubs, three which are fosters. Only 1 is rung - the non-fostered bub. I will check again tonight and then in the morhing, however it definitely has been a time where there has been great adventure, not all good, in the wattle flights breeding house.

Sure Pair 1 - Grey Cock to YF Grey Hen Pair 2 - GreyGreen Cock to DF Yellow Spangle Hen Pair 3 - Cinnamon GreyGreen Cock to Opaline GreyGreen Dominant Pied Hen - nestbox returned today Pair 4 - GreyGreen Spangle Cock to DF Yellow Spangle Hen Pair 5 - Opaline Violet Cock to Green Hen Pair 6 - Green Cock to Green Spangle Hen - lovely young baby with lovely new leg ring. Pair 7 - Opaline Violet Sky Spangle Cock to Cinnamon GreyGreen Hen - hen is an internal egg layer and is in trouble physically. Hen was removed and put in a hospital cage with survival as her issue. Cock was returned to the aviary. No feeding of chicks in this case so he was still in good condition - no need for recovering time. Pair 8 - Opaline Violet Sky Spangle Cock (Dumb - bird in my signature picture) to Opaline Green Dominant Pied Spangle Hen - 4 bubs all going great, 2 sporting lovely new leg rings. Hope this helps jog some memories

I was a bit disappointed with the ways things were going so I closed this thread, however hope springs eternal, thus the thread was reopened. Pair 1 - 6 new eggs Pair 2 - 5 new eggs Pair 3 - no nestbox Pair 4 - 5 eggs Pair 5 - 1 egg layed from perch - cracked, and one egg layed in nestbox and eaten. fake eggs will be used Pair 6 - 5 eggs but only 1 fertile, 1 lovely chick :camera: to come Pair 7 - no eggs, pair to be returned to the aviary next weekend Pair 8 - 6 eggs, 4 lovely chicks, first one is an opaline bird with yellow pins coming through :camera: to come

Just the facts please ma'am, just the facts - :rofl:

Me too - Sorry, got carried away. I also use newspaper

I am not a an of colony breeding, nor breeding budgies young. I know this sounds harsh, but it is something that I was forced to do oh so long ago. I think you need to remove all nestboxes and potential breeding opportune places immediately. If that means throwing out eggs, so be it. Do what it right for the birds now. They can breed again later. Right now, do what is right for the birds. Obviously coming on here shows that you care and want to do what is right, so please, follow the advice offered. I am willing to be the tough one and say please remove the nestbox and throw the eggs out.

Adorable little fellow. Give him plenty of things he can rip or chew on - chewing toys, etc. You might think them expensive now, but they will be cheaper in the long run.

I am with Sunnie - I love the dommie pieds

I am very surprised that your vet said he had not seen canker in years as it is pretty common. IS your vet an avian vet? I think most experienced breeders would treat their birds for canker at least once a year. It is commonly carried in wild birds so it is easily passed on to an aviary bird. The treatment for canker is RoniVet and you cimply add this to the birds water supply for a set period of time once or twice a year. You only need to take all your birds to the vet if they are ill, otherwise simply ask for some RoniVet and use as directed on the side of the container.

good work making the breeding cages. Your breeding boxes look huge.

She sounds unwell if she is throwing up all her seed and and is all fluffed up. Do you ahve any calcivet? Add it to her water suppluy. It will not hurt her but it will aid in helping her rebuild her strength. If she is constantly fluffed up and throwing up, she may need meds. Take her to an Avian vet. It is very hard for us to diagnose illness over the net.

I like the new colour scheme.

First time breeders, humidity and poor timing have all influenced my lack of success with my birds breeding. I am closing this thread witha heavy heart.

I am not good on determing gender usually however: Bird 1 - Female young sky blue greywing dominant pied Bird 2 - Male YF2 mauve greywing spangle

I cannot find vetafarm S76 in shops anywhere. Does anyone know a website where I can buy it online? I cannot even find it on the vetafarm website. Does it use another name?

Th strip of concrete is a very good idea and not one I had initially considered. There is a fair bit of merit in that. I will consider that greatly. Thank you Macka.

Kaz, Is that light green spangle a foster or was dad a green split blue?

Wow, you are putting in an offer. Good Luck!!!!!

You seem to have had a bad run of luck lately. Things have to improve soon.

20 minutes of ice, 20 minutes no ice, repetition. Important to keep it up. I know about things slowing me down. I injured my arm playing gridiron against year 9 - I pulled out of putting on a big hit (i was about to smash a kid and came to my senses about a second beforehand) and ended up with the worst corked arm ever - Teach me to get soft!!!

I agree with Kaz -