Dave_McMinn

very cute. No grey greens, so no way to confirm that Dad is a grey green. remember the grey spangle is a foster.

Why is the DF grey green and how do you figure that out ? I agree with Kaz's question. Are you confusing the young? If the grey was his offspring, i would say yes... he is a grey green and the hen is split blue, but the grey spangle is the offspring of the grey green spangle and the light green opaline, not the DF spangle. There is no way to tell if the DF spangle is a grey green or a normal green from any of these offspring. The only way to tell is is you paired him to a green hen and they produced a grey green chick. As it stands, he was paired to a light green cinnamon spangle, and they have produced 2 (yes, I am now saying two) green opaline spangles. Dad may be opaline or simply split, we do not know until we see the gender of the young ones. If they are opaline males, Dad is an opaline. If they are female, Dad is split. Unless one of the young turn out to be a grey green, there is no way to say he is a grey green. he may be, and just not passed on the grey gene this time. Until he sires a grey green chick with a green hen, no way to say he is grey green for sure.

This is an awesome looking pair. Perhaps the best birds I have seen you with so far. I am very jealous of these ones. Just one thing, you spoke about how long they should have inbetween clutches, and you talked about putting birds down once out of quarantine. We had a talk at my budgie club on friday night abotu Artificial Insemination. One point that came up in the talk was about timing and when to put a bird down. Now, the head of the Budgie Society of NSW is a member of my club, and he was making an excellent point about birds cycling and putting them down at the right time. It is not just enough to put them in a cage when you want and everything will be fine. You need to put them in a cage at the right time so that the hen and the cock are in the right stage of their cycle. If you have to ask about when they should start again, then they were not in the right cycle to bgein with. I know that more experienced breeders will explain this more correctly than I can do, but i am told that once the cere is looking brown, you have missed that opportunity. That the birds should be put in before their cere looks ready to allow them to cycle through in the breeding cages. Does that make sense/ If you have to ask if they are ready ro how long, then do not put them in.

I think it is a fair conclusion. If the normal cinnamon is from the normal opaline and greygrenn spangle pairing, then the chick that died may well have been the offspring of the greygreen spangle and normal opaline pairing I think you can say that the two green spangles in here are related.

theoretically all things might be possible as we are talking about mutations,but i think it would be practically impossible the grey face head bit would be hard

Macka, Whilst I do appreciate the advice, it is not jsut something I made up. I came home with 20 birds from 7 different locations. 2 had already been exposed to a sick bird so it was necessary to have them all go through treatment. Two birds who died of similar ailments were all from the same breeder, so I was worried about the others. To suggest putting each individual bird with another one of mine, no meds, coudl have meant that whoel flock was wiped out. Before I decided in meds, I consulted with my avian vet, then breeders, both in person and on here. To suggest they are over-medicated is not the most sensible suggestion I have ever heard. Well, I have spoken with the vet this afternoon and I am told that he is better than he was. Feacal swabs revealed no cocci, no mega. He has responded well to antibiotics, so we will see how he goes again overnight there and i will call again tomorrow. I hope that he is the only one unwell. Tests show that there is no illness running through my birds, so it is environment, not a bug or virus. I thought it might be a draught I had not noticed before, so I increased cage coverage and covered the small door opening. They are all doing a canker treatment for 7 days, as recommended by the vet, and Caesar, my Cec Gearing blue boy should be home Tuesday (would have been Monday but I have a school function tomorrow night so i cannot pick him up until Tuesday) New pics below. The covered door The new cage, I bought it as a nursery cage for later, but it provides more room for flight for birds in holding cages Other cages, now with new covers/backings If any birds look a little fluffed, it is because I woke them to get something from the garage, and took some pics then and there. They are all probably still half asleep.

Funny how you talk about judges. I was at my club meeting the other day and they were talking about a very respected breeder, and how he was at a show once, where his bird was judged, put in first place, and they were just in the middle of recording the places, when his bird dropped its tail feather. It went from 1st to last in an instant. Warren went from calm to mad in an instant. He argued it had already been judged and that previous standings should count. Judges hey? LOL.

Him? Are you sure? I think he looks like a she in that photo. White rings around the nostrils.

Yet again, without flash would be better, but I say cock for this one. There appears to be one consisten colour in the cere - no visible white rings to me.

Hard to tell withe the flash.. Any guesses made could be right or wrong, the flash makes it very hard. If I had to guess, I would say - no...too hard

i have 8 females and 4 males in the aviary so should you have the same number of each sex to stop the fighting. The problem is that it is the hens that have partners that are doing the fighting. balance is important. They need to defend their man - lol

it is funny as she has never been an aggressive bird, well, she was not aggressive when she was younger anyway. Maybe it is hormonal?!?!?!?!?!?!

it is laverne right? I am sorry it is. What has she done? Extent of injuries? Hard to say on a reason. Your set up looks big enough. there is nothing that they may think is a breeding space? They are not fighting for ownership of anything are they? I am not sure what you can do.

I was hoping for that as well Liv, but it seems that destiny is a cruel mistress. I came home from camp and one hen was a bit off colour. I put her in a heat cage and she has perked up incredibly. Her pooey bum is gone, she is eating and biting well, and she will be good to go in a day or two. Unfortunately, Caesr, my blue Cec Gearing bird, has come down with some illness. He has not been exposed to anything, he has been dry the whole time, he has gone through 28 days of treatments and was fine. Yesterday i noticed he had a pooey bum so he went into a hospital cage. Then when i came him from school, he was not even perching, so I took him straight to the vet. The vet is keeping him in for observation, they will get and run some poo samples, he has a few injections, but I need to know what he has, so I can treat the rest of them. It is very strange that he has gone 28 days with no illness then he has come down like this on day 29. I just hope that he is alright, and there is something that I can do for the rest of the birds. Looks like another week in holding cages, which I am not overly keen on.

Well, I survived camp, but I think the birds missed me. One was a little unwell when I got back, but she is doing okay non. They ahve done the doxy treatment, probiotics, they have been wormed and they are back on sparks to give thema little lift, before going into the aviary come Saturday or Sunday. All looks good so far.

We are fast approaching the end of the quarantine period for my birds from the Perth trip, so hopefully this weekend, they will be joining the others in the aviary. With so much rain, none has blown in , but there has been some nautral run off into the aviary, so ione corner is a little wet. We finally have sunshine and 28 degrees in Sydney today, so the blinds are up, the shadecloth has been removed, and general drying will occur. To let you know how wet it is, every day when I come home, before I let my dogs in, they have to be towel dried. Now, one hates water, hates getting wet, so for her to get wet, it means that she has had to go out in the rain to go to the toilet and has got wet like that. It has poured here - with a lot of localised flooding. I am impressed with how dry the aviary has been. Thanks to all those people who suggested ways of keeping things cool when it was really hot, and everyone who in the past has suggested ways of keeping things dry when it is wet. The shadecloth for the heat, along with the water on the roof, and the blinds on the side, have made a tremdous difference to the aviary.

I have made a few modifications in the aviary. I have replaced some of the "play gym" with dowel perches. This will provide more perching spaces for the birds, and better exercise as they fly down to the seed and back up. I have kept the play gym at one end, so the birds have something to fly to and to climb on, and I will keep some branches lower, so those that prefer the lower positions can be accomodated. It is still a bit messy, but if it is sunny tomorrow, i will finally be able to clean the aviary up.

The shed is a great option is favialble. It will give you so many more options. I agree - remove the nestboxes. Colony breeding = squabbles and death!!!

Welcome to the forum, well to the world of posting anyway. Thanks for sharing pics of your birds with us... some lovely little ones there.

now as I remember, Gingin was a deathly trip for you then Kaz. Well done on the award!!!!

You need to relax, and walk away. No wonder she is juping around. You are making her nervous. Give her a chance.

4 years old is not too old to breed a hen. So kaz, any chance?

Shannon, As Kaz said, i had that problem of the rain coming in, but I bought some plastic blinds for the front to prevent the rain. On wet days they are down, preventing rain, on hot days, up. here is the aviary with the blinds on it One up and one down - might have beena chance of rain that day - LOL

Great birds Liv.

Great pics as always Kaz, though I am wondering why the size is so small on the first few. I remember you saying you needed more blue and split blues. Has big blue bred? Coudl you put him with that blue opaline clearflight in that last picture? with ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I cannot see her ring colour clearly, so I do nto know how old she is.