Dave_McMinn

he may no be long for this world. His cere indicates he is hen for all intents and purposes. Good on you for trying different things

The nestbox is to pique interest in breeding?

It is strange to watch a thread take place and have people talk about you in that thred, but not be part of the conversation, as in a contributor. Kind of like an out of body experience -

Shannon, no one was ever annoyed at you. You asked our opinions, we offered some advice, and you disliked our advice. I do hope that everything that occurred is forgotten. I can only speak for myself, but I hold no grudge. I do think you should follow Kaz's advice with the breeding box though

budgies will nibble on things. It does not mean they are eating. They will shed paper like nothing else. Most do not eat it, jsut shred it. I would be more concerned with the whole in the wall. Budgies are allergic to a lot of things we eat, so do not feed her any of your food.

Don Bourke many of us know as a brilliant Horticulturalist - plant grower to us Luddites - but i am not sure how many of us know him as a breeder of great budgerigars. This month in the Budgerigar Society of NSW Magazine Don Bourke wrote an interesting article. In it, he spoke about how we are moving birds away from their most important ingredient to ensure well being - natural sunlight. Don Bourke wrote about how many experienced, and even novice breeders are creating these indoor flights with artificial lighting, and how many birds are developing signs of illness. He stated that he himself was doing this, and even though he fed his birds a healthy diet and kept a clean environment, his birds had regular bouts of illness. Meds were used to treat the illness and these had their own harmful effects. Don Bourke then stumbled upon the solution, and it was as plain as day. SUNLIGHT!!! He found that by giving the birds exposure to sunlight, not through a sky light or artifical lights, but rather sunlight through the wire, that his birds were much better much happier and much healthier. He even said that letting them get exposed to the weather, as in some rain, it was better for them. When you think about it, it makes sense. We have sanitised our birds so much, perhaps we need to take a few steps backwards. Now, in keeping with his ideas, I have moved my birds. Caesar and Wilde were both inside in seperate cages. Caesar has been through a bout of illness, whilst Wilde was just a little off colour. I thought "how can I help these birds recover to the best of their ability, but still keep them inside", and so I did this - I moved them so they would get more natural lighting, be closer to hear and talk to the other birds, but still be protected from any extreme elements. At night time, they move to another room where they get a light on to keep them warm, but during the day, they sit at the window, get natural light and seem a whole lot happier. I am not sure what the copyright restrictions are on the article by Don Bourke, but I think that everyone should read it. I will see what I can do in that regard.

Kaz, just read this now, so sorry to read it. Any luck with any returning? I do nto a safety door fitted yet, and I worry all the time. i need to get to mine. What birds are gone?

Good luck Renee

Animal cruelty sentences are always too light, as is human cruelty. Judges are out of touch with society.

I cannot see why people are so into rats. I am sorry if this causes offence, but to me they are terrible creatures. I suppose all the rats I deal with are vermin that I am trying to kill, so there is no good feelings there. An analogy would be if the only dog you ever see bites you, it is hard to like dogs. Just cannot get excited, even for you. Each to their own I suppose.

Dad looks like a Grey Green Cinnamon wing, Mum looks like a sky blue grey wing. Your young look to be grey wings

Playing - sometimes the things we do not give them to play with make the best play things

Great photos. I know we are all thinking it Deb..how is Jadon going with school?

I introduced 8 of my 9 hens to the aviary today. Some acted like they were catching up with old freinds, some boys tried to jump them, and some hooked up like they had ben planning this rendezvous for weeks. Pics below Everyone squeeze in now for the group shot. Hey, guys get in...too late Twitch with Macaroni - compare the size difference between the show birds and the pet birds - well illustrated here. Twitch is a gret looking bird. He has some Henry George bloodlines (I know, we are not meant to talk about bloddlines - LOL) Boys chatting Who said on here they loved Dom Pied Spangles? A Cec Gearing bred hen - heavily flecked, but good spots A very good Lutino, at first refusing to smile for the camera, checking out my original Clearwing, and considering potential mates in the 2nd picture An opaline sky blue hen who looks like she could be split to viloet - thanks Libby - and here she is, ready to pounce A lutino I got from Lib, and can you believe that Jester is giving lessons on correct posture and stance? LOL An opaline spangle grey green from Fran One clearwing sitting next to Cino - thanks Deb The other clearwing next to a friend she made in the last 5 minutes - did not get too good a look, but I hope it is the grey boy who is split clearwing The cutest pair though is the Cec Gearing bred grey green spangle who I got as 3 month old, and she has paired up with a Hand Sibum grey boy. Look at her head in the pics where she is getting a scratch - she has filled out so well. One Hen, a light green Cinnamon Wing was a bit sickly looking so she is getting a check up, Casear is on the road to recovery but will sleep inside for a few more weeks, and Wilde is a bit under the weather. i am down to only 3 more inside birds. Soon my garage will belong to my car again - LOL.

okay, that makes complete sense to me now.

okay, forgive me if I was wrong. I was under the impression that for him to be a displaying Albino, he would need to get an Ino gene from his mother and an Ino gene from his father. I do not see how if they passed on the Ino gene, they could also pass on the dominant pied gene. Maybe I am confused on this. I understand how it would work with the hen with the gene being sex-linked, but I am not sure how it would work for the boys.

Sorry to hear about your loss. I know it is upsetting, but at times i think it is better that they pass away then they suffer on for years.

If the cock is an Albino, then the young cannot be a Double Factor dominant pied, as the father has to have two ino genes to show as an Ino, he cannot have one Ino gene and one dom pied gene, as he would appear as a Dom Pied split Ino. Dad woud pass on an Ino gene, where Mum would pass on either a dom pied gene, or a gene taht is hidden in this case. The young are definitely pieds, either dom or recessive, they cannot be DF if Dad is an Albino, and if Dad is an Albino and they are not, then they must all be male. I look forward to them feathering up

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing the pics

I would think AntRid would be good. It is in powdered form. You lay it down on the patht he ants walk on and they walk it back to theri nest and the nest is destroyed.

Hard to tell from these pics, but i am guessing early that, yes, he is a boy, and I say he might be a yellow face type 2 recessive pied. That is because the yellow looks a litte washed out. Can you get a picture a bit further back from him so we can see his whole body clearly?

I was there that day when Kaz went thru that process. It was about 43 degrees that day. Ken went to work, Kaz went to the airport to get the birds, and I stayed at Kaz's place and was putting new water in for all the birds, and adding ice cubes to the existing drinkers. I remember hearing this story at the time and being amazed. Still amazed 1 1/2 months later!!

I agree with Elly.

You should put the cage in another room for proper quarantine, then see the threads on quarantine. You should begin training him whilst he is in quarantine. You will lose some of the training when he mixes with other birds, that is guaranteed to happen. He will retain some, but a bird that is part of a flock will generally be less tame than a bird that is on its own, if both have the same training and the flock is not tamed.

But the thing is Liv, we have all looked at your Greygreen Gearing and Armstrong birds and recommended you NOT pair them together because they won't compliment each other as well as other options you have available. But still you are tempted because you like the idea of having progeny from 2 top WA studs. Now I will garentee you that if either Gary Armstrong or Cec Gearing looked at that pair they wouldn't put them together either. So this is a prime example of "bloodlines" gone askew. You are tempted to prioritize the bloodlines ahead of visual compatibility. And this is the big danger of paying homage to the holy bloodlines when you are a beginner Novice, and believe me Liv I made the same mistakes in my first year breeding, you think nothing can go wrong 'cause you've got top birds. This is why so many top breeders do NOT want their name used at auction under description of Background BECAUSE people come along and mess things up with dreadful pairings and then try to pass the bird off as coming from their stud. I am not sure Liv thinks that Renee. I know that Liv is well aware that any bird or pairing can have an issue. I think it is a little bit presumptuos to assume that any of us knows the way that other people think. I think that as Novice breeders of showbirds we all are unsure of what to pair to what. Yes, we think of bloodlines, but that is because we are told that these breeders have good birds. I remember those 2 birds that I bought off the Gearings. You automatically looked at the better looking bird and went "the blue is the nicest" and to a judge, many would agree, but if you ask Cec on which one is the best to put down to stud, he will tell you the grey, as he has "better bloodlines" Now, Cec Gearing uses these terms and he is an experienced breeder who has achieved more than I could ever dream of achieving. Shoudl we discount his thoughts?