Dave_McMinn

Sometimes the chick can hatch too early, or attempt to, and this can cause problems. It sounds like you are giving the birds all the right things. Perhaps the mum hears a sound and seeks to help. Not being an experienced mum might be a problem as well.

I see your dilemma, and this is one of the problems with colony breeding. One thing you can do is buy some fake eggs. I would leave the boxes in there, but each time a hen lays an egg you do not want to be there, go in, remove the real egg, bin it, and put in a fake egg. This way the hen is happy she has an egg, she will not squabble over a nestbox if you had removed it, and although she may continue to lay eggs, she ill eventually think she has layed enough, due to the increasing number of eggs, even though most of them are fake. Once all young are hatched, removed nestboxes and fake eggs. The other option you have is to get to the point where the babies are old enough to allow you to remove them and their parents to another cage. Do not move the babies when they are too young, as the parents may abandon them. I would wait until they have their down and their pins are coming through, them move them to another cage. You can put them in a cage in an ice-cream container in the bottom of the cage. Put both mum and dad in there, unless mum is trying to lay again, then just dad. Keep an eye on them though. You might need a lamp to keep their temperature up. Others might have other suggestions, but there are some thoughts of mine. Nice to hear you are enjoying coming on here and that people are providing you encouragement. I do not think I had the opportunity before, so let me issue my own welcome.

Most recent update - I went back!!! I was offered a good deal, so I bought three breeding pairs, a grey cinnamon wing boy I could not leave without, and I got two little youngsters what have just fledged. to come later.

Ah, a very good breeder. he packed up and came east right? Was this hen one of the recent purchases off him?

They look to be good birds that have benefited from both great genes and a great set of rearing parents. Well done natural and foster parents I say.

Who bred the hen? Does the ring say RJO? who $ that?

13 in this lot all up

Cec said that the grey boy has better bloodlines and would produce the better chicks

So if you are a grey spangle, you get fostered out? Wow, racial neglect in the budgie world :rofl: Wonderful as always Kaz!!!

Not that far from me. I am in Wattle Grove.

She came from a breeder from my club. I am not sure what his last name is. As for young, she is a late 07 bird, so no, a little older than you think.I am considering whether she goes to caesar, who might get a rest, or Bruticus. Bruticus is a grey cock bred by Cec Gearing. There is no Ino in his background, but then we said that with Caesar - LOL.One generation with Bruticus, then breeding the best femal offspring to Caesar in the hop of getting that male albino - LOL.Bruticus' parents were:Sire - opaline grey green, C&B 014-04Dam - Cinn Blue C&B 468-06So he would be split opaline and split cinnamon.Bruticus is on the left Maybe - maybe not as good, but some close. He is an 08 bird, though he is slouching in all the photos. Sit up straight young man!!!!!!! Not as far as I am aware Macka

as promised Caesar and his kids Earl and his kids Twitch and Kiwi's kids Dumb and Kestral's kids The new egg in there was layed from the new birds I got from Budgie1981, so who knows what will happen. Have to try I suppose.

As you know, I have bought some new birds from Budgie1981. Here they are The hen had had a bit of a fight and the blood had dried. She is fine in case you are wondering. Nice spangle markings There seemed to be a lot of crouching and timidness going on when I was taking these photos. They do not look their best. I also purchased an albino hen to put to caesar in the hopes of getting some albino cocks She comes from a blue background. You can see the suffision when a picture is taken with a flash Stay tuned to this thread for some more updates!!!!!!!!!!!

I do. Where are you?

I just rung 2 more chicks tonight - one of Dumb and Kestrals and one of Twitch and Kiwi's. I think the latter of the two chicks is a little small, but I cannot afford to wait and miss the boat, so if it comes off, i will simply re-ring it. One of Dumb and Kestrals died as well. No reason I can see for its death. It was one of the middle chicks, not the youngest or eldest, no visible trauma. I suppose not all make it. Tough, but that is nature.

They are very cute. You have to be happy with them

Caesars - both are rung Latte and Earl - their 2 and the foster are all rung (although one was very close to missing out so had to have olive oil applied to ease the ring on) Dumb and Kestral - the eldest (which looks to be a grey spangle and is foster from Dumber and Cino) is rung, but their eldest slipped by me without me realising and now cannot be rung. Their next 2 young ones are to be rung tomorrow night Twitch and Kiwi - their eldest 3 are all rung, and the youngest will be run tomorrow night. I will take some more for you all to see as well Remarkably I am loving the new emoticons. I find myself using them more and more!!!

No pics tonight, but maybe tomorrow night if all goes well.

Beena little while since an update Caesar - his two young ones are growing well and will be progressing to a kindy cage soon. Caesar himself is going through a moult - hsi timing is excellent, so he will get a little time off and come September, he has a new mate - a new Albino hen. Earl and Latte - there three little balls of fluff are three big balls of fluff. All look like they will be opaline normal greys. Funny that. Dumb and Kestral have 4 little bundles of joy. There oldest looks like grey opaline spanlge, their next down looks to be a spangle, and the youngest ones are too young to tell yet. Twitch and Kiwi have 4 little bundles of joy. The eldest looks to be a grey dom pied, the next two look to be either green or greygreen dom pieds and the youngest is too young to tell yet. Dumber and his DF bride are yet to produce any eggs, however they have been feeding each other and the DF has been in the nextbox, checking things out, so that is promising.

Sorry to hear about the loss of this young one. It does seem quite unusual what you have described. Please keep us all informed on the outcome of the autopsy.

Well said Liv!!!

Your breeding room looks great. Well done. It inspires the rest of us.

Part of me agrees with what you say Macka, another part of me disagrees. The agreement part says that maybe it is cruel to keep these birds alive. They should not have to suffer through what will ultimately be a short life where they can not operate as God meant them to be. The part of me that disagrees says that every living creature is precious and they deserve the chance to live. God makes us all, as we are. We just shape and modify things to suit ourselves. Some people find them cute, some people do not. Should we put a dog down that loses a leg in an accident? What if that accident was defending you from something that was going to hurt you? Seems a crappy reward. I remember a debate on here a while ago where some people thought that we should not try to save sick birds, as it simply means that we are breeding that weakness into our next line of birds. People took multiple approaches in that debate as well. Ultimately, they are Liv's birds. It is her choice. She is making them comfortable. If Liv was seeking to breed with them, that would be different. The way I see it, she is simply making their limited time more comfortable.

could you clip them, then spray them with a small hand held sprayer, you know the ones that you can use to mist a bird ona hot day that way, they get wet, but not soaked. Give them a hot lamp to dry under

thanks for the pics. You have some great birds - I agree with most - I love that first bird - your clearflight cock. For a pet shop purchase, you are right, your lacewing is lovely. What was the lacewing hens first mate? Interesting that you have this lacewing hen and this albino cock feeding this blue headed head that pops out of the nestbox - very cute.