Dave_McMinn

I have some cinnamon pieds from a normal green cock and a grey dom pied hen. Check out my thread HERE

There is nothing you can really do. When eggs are moved, the hen can sometimes abandon them. I know it seems unfair and harsh, but you did the right thing. Do not abandon hope yet, see where she lays the next one.

Except that it was really RIP and Tony who did the hard grunt as I am absolutely useless when it comes to anything practical! I think thou dost undervalue the important role of a drink waiter

Like shannon said, but all the females will be opaline as Dad is. Shannon said you will only get greens, he was half right. As long as there are not splits there, you will get 50% green and 50% grey green.

- two birds that are actually in breeding condition

It is has happened with multiple pairs, then something in the environment has changed. It may be rodent-based, or even insect-based. Look for signs of pest infestation.

Just as a matter of interest, I have a hen (maiden this year) who layed a whole nest full of eggs but did not sit on them until about the 7th egg and initially I did not notice this. I initially thought her nest was infertile as the eggs did not develop as expected. Usually by the 3-4 egg you can see development in the first or second if they are fertile. Hers all started developing together and hatching around the same time. It was as they all started to develop together that I realized that she did not sit until quite a few eggs had been layed. It's normal for the hen to not sit on the first but to wait until the second is layed before incubating - it's not so normal that they wait until the 7th egg!!! My hen was different. She sat early and kept them incubated from the beginning. The infertility was a real shock due to this.

Earl and Latte had 2 little ones - their foster chicks - jump out of the nestbox today, so I put them back in. As I was putting them back in, I noticed something. One of the chicks in the nestbox is a cinnamon wing grey opaline. Dad must be split cinnamon. It never ever occurred to me that he might be, as neither chick in the first clutch was cinnamon - that was because they were both males. So this means I now have a grey opaline and a grey cinnamon wing opaline from these two. No more breeding after these guys. All 3 in the DF nestbox are coming along well. Only 2 chicks so far in Twitch and Kiwi's nestbox. Both are now rung, but it is too early for the little one, but better too early than too late. Still on 1 chick for my green/greygreen combo - but it is a well fed little thing. My albino that is in with Bruticus is enjoying the attention he is granting, and she is spending more and more time in the nestbox. Birds in Kindy cage go into the aviary this weekend. More young go to the Kindy cage, and new pairs get chosen. I will take more soon.

I do not think keeping him in the dark is best. Put him in a seperate cage and put a warm light on him - say a 40W light. This will help him heat out, and he will not have to regulate his own body heat, which he would be struggling to do if he is sick.

Welcome to the forum

Since you are in australia and they are readily available, the natural gum tree branch is your best option, as stated above. Welcome to the forum by the way.

Do not do it yet. The Mum will sit on the eggs and feed the chicks for about the first 2 weeks of their life. After that the Dad's tend to take over and play a greater feeding role. When you decide to remove a parent, I think it should be the hen you remove, not the cock. Removing the hen will not stop the hen abandoning the young to start another clutch. She may see them as a hindrance, something in the road, in case another male comes along. Remove Mum when the chicks are old enough, not Dad. First sign that she wants another clutch, remove her. Put her far enough away so Dad cannot see or hear her. This is often hard to do, especially with the hearing each other, but out of sight is a must.

I have no problem with being corrected Elly when I am wrong, but you have misinterpreted what I typed here. I said there is no way this bird is a clearwing as the cheek patches are light. If you read this correctly, I am saying it is NOT a clearwing as clearwings have violet cheek patches. And vice versa, I apologize for not reading it correctly. Misinterpretation on the www is a lot more common than people think. Easier to misinterpret what a person types, as opposed to waht they say inthe real world.

I have no problem with being corrected Elly when I am wrong, but you have misinterpreted what I typed here. I said there is no way this bird is a clearwing as the cheek patches are light. If you read this correctly, I am saying it is NOT a clearwing as clearwings have violet cheek patches.

I do not think it is a clearwing as the cheek patches are very light. If a clearwing is bred to a silute, you will get clearwing offspring that are split to dilute. I think that is right. So you may have two clearwing parents, both who are split, that breed and produce a dilute youngster. 25% chance of that happening. I think what I said above is right.

All looks good this morning. Finally not windy here in Sydney so I can take the covers of the aviaries and let some natural sunlight in, rather thant eh filtered light that comes in through the plastic. All little ones look good this morning. The SF spangle chicks of Dumber(RIP) and DF look to be visual violet chicks, not sky blue like their cousins. That is very exciting as well. Looking forward to seeing them develop more.

I checked the birds before I went to bed and I am very pleased to say that the new little chick that had hatched has been fed by its grey-green mother. I am very excited about the chicks that this pair will produce. They should be great, if they follow their parents.

hard to tell as the picture is a bit fuzzy - can you take another shot? a bit further back?

I have bred some good looking birds, but not for the show world. I have a lot of spangles, opaline spangles, and these cannot win on a show bench, they will always lose to a normal spangle as their wing markings are not as good -obviously. This guy above has really come along. He was not looking all the special originally but now he is really going well!!!

Can do. The breeding room is well lit, 24hours, so it is nor a problem.

All seems to be going well in the breeding room. Earl and Latte are going great guns, and their 4 young are growing well. DF Widow has done an excellent job with her 3 young. Kiwi and Twitch have 2 young, with more to come. My Dark Green boy and his Grey Green hen have their first little one. It is yet to be fed, but i will give Mum a chance. If it has not been fed by later tonight, I will move it into the nest of Kiwi. Here's hoping mum does the right thing.

I one budgie in the aviary who has the longest claws I have ever seen. If she was a human, she would have to be one of those stereotyped old asian women with those incredibly long finger nails. I am actually going to have to trim them as they look like they are going to be a problem perching. No other bird I have had this problem.

Macka, I will remove the 2 clear eggs but in regard to nesting material, pictures do not always tell the truth. The nestbox has a lot of nesting material in it. The problem is that this particular hen does not appear to be overly fond of nesting material, so she will move it all away. Every second day I move the nesting material back from the edges of the nestbox, trying not to disturb the eggs too much, but once I do it, she moves it away again. Some hens are just.........different!!!

I am very proud. I am very excited about some other pairs as well. I am looking forward to the young from the green and grey green pairing - hopefully all 3 fertile eggs will hatch. I am excited about the young that will come from bruticus and the Albino hen. I have some other pairs i am going to put down, and I am excitedly planning those. The two little lutes I got from Budgie1981 have grown into beutiful birds, so much so that when i look at them, i cannot tell which is the red ringed youngsters, and which $ the lute I got from Cec. All up,it is very exciting. I am like a kid in a candy shop - :offtopic:

good luck with the remaining eggs. One suggestion - give them a better perch on which to mate. A firm sturdy thick perch for mating would be much better than those thin little ones. use a thick bit of dowel. The quality of the perches can affect the successful coupling.