Dave_McMinn

Glad to hear you are headed down the right track there Richo. I broke my hip whe I was 15 and had a screw inserted. This eventually led to a back injury, that I have managed - sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully - for the last 13 years. I went to a sports physio earlier this year, got some orthotics, and have been great ever since. In the upcoming weeks I will go back and see about a further update, but so far so good. My story relates to yours as my sports physio gave me a range of exercises to do, similar in many ways to yoga, but without the inner peace and tranquility associated with yoga. it really does work. Well done.

New just taken. Dumb and Kestral's Rd 1 clutch 5 eggs - all eggs were infertile. Rd 2 Clutch 5 eggs - 3 young - grey opaline spangle cock, sky blue opaline spangle cock, & DF cock Caesar and his lady Rd1 clutch 5 eggs - 2 young - 1 albino hen, 1 opaline sky blue spangle cock Twitch and Kiwi Round 1 clutch 7 eggs - 4 young - grey green dom pied hen, grey dom pied hen, grey green cinnamon winged dom pied hen, grey green cinnamon winged hen Round 2 clutch 7 eggs - all 7 look fertile - 2 young so far Dumber(RIP) and Cino Rd1 clutch 5 eggs, no survivors Dumber (RIP) and DF hen Rd 1 Clutch 7 eggs - 5 young - 1 cobalt blue spangle hen, 1 cobalt blue spangle cock, 1 coblat blue chick (gender unknown), 1 DF spangle hen, 1 DF spangle cock Earl and Latte Rd1 clutch - 4 eggs - 2 survivors - 2 grey opaline cocks Rd2 Clutch 6 eggs - 5 fertile - 2 survivors - grey opaline chicks (gender unkown) see above pics - the last 2 pics under Dumber(RIP) and DF widow show Earl and Latte's nestbox with the two fostered young ones. The smallest two are chicks of Earl and Latte. Olive Green Cock + Grey Green hen Rd1 clutch 6 eggs - 3 look fertile - no hatchings yet Bruticus and Albino Hen Rd 1 - no eggs laid yet

They look like a nice pair. Any other pics of this pair so we can see fully body shot?

I see some faces I recognise in these pics. Always fun to have new toys isn't it?

Good and bad news in the breeding cabinets. Good - Kiwi and Twitch hatched their second little one today. Good - it seems that of Dumber(RIP) offspring, 3 look to be hens and 2 cocks. Good - the youngsters in the kindy cage will soon join the adults in the aviary. They are realy coming along. Looking impressive, and perching like champions Bad - Latte appears to struggle with big nests, and so another little one has been lost. I would move the others, but DF is on her own, so she cannot take any more. Kiwi's youngsters are too young and the youngest of Latte's is too old to slide in there. I have added some seed and millet to the nestbox so hopefully the little ones will learn to feed on their own - and I have seen them feeding each other, so that is good. I will supplement feedings myself if necessary. This is Latte and Earl's last clutch this season, maybe for good at my place, so fingers crossed for the remaining time.

What do you name the birds you breed? You can go with the George Foreman school of naming. George named all his children Geroge - even the girls. George Andrew and George Melissa, etc. You could do that with Liv -

Do you want them to breed again? If not, remove Mum. If you want them to breed again, get a 2 litre ice cream container and place it, with some nesting material in it, on the floor of the cage. Put the little one in there. Dad will continue to feed it and Mum will have the nestbox - everyone's a winner.

Wow - she really did a number on them didn't she? Scary

That last photo is very cute. The bright blue against the jumpsuit almost looks photoshopped - almost. I say that last one should be entered in the Budgerigar of the Month competition.

How many do you let Omelette raise herself? If she had 7 young, would you foster any? I know all Mum's are different, and Omelette is great, but as a general rule, not just for Omelette, how many is too many?

I agree........its very attractive in a budgie :camera: Look what I found when I checked the nest earlier :hurryup: So I put it outside for safe keeping That is funny. I have never seen anyone do that, but it is funny.

I think that loss actually was more to nest size rather than anything else. The little one was the youngest of 7 and was a newborn. If I had seen it sooner I would have moved it to Kiwi's nestbox.The sloar reflective paint is a good idea.In summer I will put up shadecoth and the like to assist with the heat, but it is only the beginning of spring, yet we are still getting these abnormally hot days. Yes, the vents go all the way in , probably and 50mm in, so not very far. They have a circular hole that goes into the shed, so you simply cut a chol with about a 100mm diameter and push it on. Then i drilled some holes in the shed, through the hole that is in the vent already, and attached it with some nuts and bolts. I then reattached the front panel - it comes off to make it eay to put on.Fitting it was pretty easy. I started off cutting the hole with a jigsaw but in the end, it was easier to do it with tin snips. I simply traced around the circle part to get the size, then it was a little small, so I snipped some more.They are very easy to do and it should make a large difference

We have had a few really hot days here in Sydney, as in 30+ degrees celsius, so I was a bit concerned about the heat in the breeding room. One bird, Icarus, suffered in the heat, and I lost another chick today, only very young, not sure it was the heat. Anyway, in an effort to overcome heating issues, I have removed some plastic that was rain protection, and replaced it with a roll up blind to assist with air circulation. The other thing I did today was install a vent. It will allow warm air at the ceiling to pass out of the breeding room. The vents actually face down, so that should stop rain coming in. Here are some :hurryup:

Good to hear that things are headed down the right path now.

Cobalt spangle hen. Very dark markings, which is desired in showing spangles

The problem with the lotto dream is I am going to need it all - I cannot afford to share, so the more people dream, the more people buy tickets, the greater the cnace of me winning only a fraction of what I require -

Add some seed, like Kaz said, to give her some extra food, maybe some millet as well as it has a higher fat content for her. Make sure you keep her calcivet up in her water, she would need it. Hens will lose some weight in breeding as they look after the young, not themselves, but this is more likely to occur when she has chicks to feed, not eggs to sit on. Keep a close eye on her, you might need to foster the eggs and remove her if it becomes life threatening.

I love your birds, and aesthetically, I love the log, but when they come into breeding condition, that log is going to be seen as a prime breeding position, and fights are going to break out over it. If you want to keep the log in there, can I suggest you take it out, cut it in half lengthways, then return it. That way the birds still have their half to sit on and chew on, but there is no where for them to seek to nest in. Having them breed is not a problem, but the fighting that would be associated with this could result in deaths, and i would hate to see you lose any of your beautiful birds.

The cinnamon coloured wings on a blue body are a very good look.

I am not expereincing that. Nest 1 - 1 hen, 1 cock - so 1:1 Nest 2 - 0 hens, 2 cocks - so 1:3 Nest 3 - 0 hens, 3 cocks - so 1:6 Nest 4 - 4 hens, 0 cocks - so 5:6 Pretty balanced for me. What determines gender of birds? If it is simply passing on genes, or do environmental conditions also affect it. Birds and reptiles share a common history. With some reptiles, temperature plays a large role. Does it also play a role with birds?

As always, amazing looking birds

Love the covers Dave! The covers look a bit dodgy, and they do add a certain colourful element to the breeding cabinets, but they should work. Love that hen ..................as for what are you going to do with four pied hens....................SEND THEM TO ME !!!!! Kiwi is an amazing bird. Amazing in the sense that she once broke a leg and had it in a cast at the beginning of the year. She stayed at my mum's, injured, in a small cage whilst i went to Perth. Amazing recovery and a wonderful mother. As for sending some to Perth, it has not been ruled out as an option Kaz. Chances of you getting Bruticus are absolutely none!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I promised a update and here it is. One thing we all wonder is how we can keep the floor clean. I am trialling some new covers for the bottom of the cages. Since they eat in dishes off the floor, this should help eliminate a lot of the seed that falls through the cage walls onto the floor. You can see the different coloured ones in these photos. In the next picture, you can also see the nestbox looking like it is open at the back. The doors I have taken off the cages to attach the nestboxes also serve as wire to stop birds flying out the nestbox at the back, but they do allow better air circulation on a hot day. At night, i take them off and close the nestbox properly. Kiwi and Twitch are on their second clutch and their first little one hatched yesterday. It has been fed, but Mum is protecting it well. Last clutch was all girls, so we will see what we get here. Eldest are still in a kindy cage - all 4 are hens - remarkably. What am i going to do with 4 pied hens? At the back of this photo - Dumb's son is at the front Dumb and Kestral - one son can be seen on the corn in the above picture and their DF son is below My green pair have 5 eggs, and Mum is very devoted, sitting all the time. DF - widow has 5 offspring - 3 in her nestbox and 2 in another. Her nestbox Earl and Latte have 2 fosters (1 DF spangle and 1 opaline SF Cobalt spangle) and 2 of there own. I am still not sure honestly if they have 2 fosters and 3 of their own, or 3 fosters, and 2 of their own. I will have to wait until more feathering occurs. Caesar's son is beginning to fill out - wider head, bigger blow. Pics are not the best, but you get my idea. New pair were put down - Albino hen with Cec Gearing Bred Grey named Bruticus So all systems go around here.

1 greywing spangle, 1 greywing normal? Is that right?

Lost a little one today. Maybe it was getting too much for DF widow on her own. The youngest did not make it. All the others look fine. Looks like we have 1 SF opaline violet sky spangle, 1 DF spangle, and the third could very well be a DF spangle as well. In Earl and Latte's nestbox, 1 opaline violet sky spangle, 1 DF spangle, 1 SF opaline spangle (not sure of colour yet), 2 opaline greys (too young to tell, but both parents are opaline greys, so unless there is a miracle....) No movement in other nestboxes yet. I have dishes on the floor of the cage with their seed in it. There is always a lot of mess where seed gets kicked out and flies out of the cage onto the floor. Today I began putting some elasticised covers around the bottom of the cages. It will help keep things a lot cleaner. I will take some :budgiedance: tomorrow. I also put 6 birds in show cages, with table tennis balls in the bottom, for the first time today, just to give them a go. It made cleaning their cage a lot easier, and I they get their first experience in show cages. Hopefully more pics tomorrow, including new breeding pairs.