Norm

I keep a couple of empty 20 litre plastic buckets in my bird room, I set them up where I think they run, as often they fall in & it’s a plus, I don’t keep water in it as it would be dangerous if a bird got free & fell in. Sometimes you don’t catch anything for ages, but if the numbers start to increase you have more chance & it’s easy. They can't jump out of a 20 litre bucket whereas they can a normal one.

Thanks Sunnie & Kozzie for sharing your flock with us…nice that you have each other to share your interest & his wallet with....LOL.

Look pretty good parings to me Sunnie, lets hope you have lots of success. Sounds like you have the same problem as me waiting on cabinets to put pairs down. Even though I have something like 30 & wish I had more, I just built another 6 but still have pairs I would love to try out, but must wait, don’t think I should build any more.

Even though the bird in question seems to have come from a DF Spangle Mum & a SF Spangles Dad, it seems highly likely that it is a DF Spangles, but to me the Blue looks more than just suffusion, it is confined to a definite area & quite strong, whereas suffusions would also show in the wing feathers. I think that the Orange beak is only because the bird is of a light colour. If you mated it with a Recessive Pied & got no Pied chicks I would mate it to a Normal that had as far as possible no splits & see what you get.

Seeing that you only have one bird I would go with the oil treatment, as it will be cheaper, I would use a thin oil, I think that is safer than Vaseline, as there is more chance that it could block the nostrils. Just use any oil maybe a cooking oil or olive oil rub it into the cere area trying to not get much in the nostrils & also rub some into the legs & feet, as they can occur in that area also. Do a couple of times a few days apart, if it isn’t scaly face it won’t do any harm as long as you’re careful.

Congratulations Jenene, you are so lucky I have a nice show type TCB which I did the same to, it was the first time I ever clipped a bird also, but sadly in my case it did no good, still infertile…sob…

Like Elly says, the Father is Light Green Grey wing split Opaline, as you can’t get Opaline chicks from that pair if he isn’t. Mother Opaline Golden Face type 2 [Green bleed in body] Sky Blue Violet. Young bird Female Opaline Golden Face type 2 Violet. In second & third picture are they the same bird? In the bottom picture the bird behind is a Female Opaline Sky-blue.

Nice looking birds Sunnie, I especially like Griffin he has really nice colour…pity your so far away we could have done some TCB trading when you get some chicks. Good luck with them. Yellow TCB’s are my favourite colour.

I like Hugo & Hilda best…Fatso will loose a bit of weight if he has a big batch of chicks to feed.

They are looking great Libby.

Ooops changed pages this is meant for Kaz of course... Yeah...it's good to know some have got it worse than even me...LOL...looking forward to some pixies when you can get around to it...on a new post of course.

Sorry I just thought, Mum could be a DF Spangle I wasn't thinking of that at the time. But if she was DF Spangle most of the chicks would be DF wouldn't you think & few SF Spangles? I bought a White bird before that looked like a BES but it turned out a DF Spangle, unless you knew the breeding I would think it almost impossible to pick the difference.

I agree with MB… we should try to keep to a persons topic as far as possible, but life isn’t that clear cut & one thing develops into another & some of the most interesting topics develop from one particular topic which soon brings up even more interesting things, so it’s good to follow up. . As maybe the case if Melbourne Budgies bird if in fact it turns out a DF Spangle as she thought. I heard from a top show breeder that they breed Cinnamon into their DF Spangles to improve the feather. I don’t think there’s a class for Cinnamon Spangle only Normals so you would have to keep two different lines.

The Mum looks a lot like a White Black Eyed Self, has she Black Eyes? If she is a BES unless the Spangle cock is split for BES or some Dilute you would only expect to get Blues about 50% Spangles. But with Mum being White it is hard to know what she could be masking, maybe even Spangle. We better wait & see what others may think….interesting Deb.

That's excellent Deb, that you kept a photo of when he was young, nobody can say you were just imagining it. Now we just need a picture of him showing his wings & breast & a picture of Mum & Dad would be good also. He certainly seems something different in that he had the plum eyes & now looks something like a Clearwing Sky-Blue. Maybe it means he has some Cinnamon in there somewhere & maybe the wing pattern has removed any trace of it. As maybe the case if Melbourne Budgies bird if in fact it turns out a DF Spangle as she thought. I heard from a top show breeder that they breed Cinnamon into their DF Spangles to improve the feather. I don't think there's a class for Cinnamon Spangle only Normals so you would have to keep two different lines. Ooops… there was only one picture downloaded, now after I posted two others downloaded, for some reason sometimes the pictures don’t download at first for me. From that second picture it looks very much like those DF Melanistic Spangles that Daz showed us before. The wing is completely clear of pattern, like a Clear Wing, but the body Blue seems Diluted. I have some Black Eyed Selfs that have Cinnamon in them, but I haven’t noticed if any have Plum eyes when first born. But even in those Dilutes [bES] they still have wing pattern, it will be good to see what others think & if we knew what Mum & Dad looked like might help.

The first one looks like a hen Spangle, the second looks like a male, I guess that is the one you were explaining Deb, but it’s hard to see enough of it in that picture to make any comment on it. Thanks for the pictures Jenene.

Deb a picture of that bird would be interesting, if it started out with Plum eyes & then turned out the colour you say, I think it would be worth us having a look at it. Sounds a bit like one of Daz’s DF Melanistic Spangles.

I know we always say that you can’t have “TOO MANY BUDGIES” but I think that the pressure of working so hard on that new complex & trying to fit in Lead Light as well has got to Kaz…50 Budgies in one purchase, sadly Kaz I fear there’s not much hope for you now your completely gone…!!! AV you knew when you stated that MB shouldn’t read this that it would ensure that she did & she not only read it she posted too…I think a Violet Spangle is a nice looking bird if that helps.

If it was a DF Spangle that was also carrying Cinnamon it could have Plum eyes. What are the parents MB both Spangles?

They turned out nice chicks Sunnie you should be happy with them. I agree that the Blue chick looks like a Cinnamon Violet from that small amount of Blue on the tail, but seeing both parents seem to be Light Green maybe it’s Sky Blue time will tell, this means that both parents are split for Blue & I agree chick four is a Normal Light Green.

Good luck Kaz, they should produce something good.

Yes you could be right. Just that it is a badly marked one. The chest isn’t fully clear with Yellow but has blotches of Green through it. Often to get a rarer mutation you have to start with an imperfect one, as even they could later breed better type birds.

Congratulations both Kaz & Elly, thanks for all the hard work.

I had some birds I bought bring scaly mite into my aviary & lots of the birds were getting it, I just gave them the once spot on treatment & that was more than a year ago & still no sign of it coming back. The Ivermectin stays in their system for something like 21 days, which kills any hatching from eggs. Ivermectin is designed; as a pour-on for sheep goats etc & it is for treating anything that sucks their blood, worms, lice or mites. I have never had a case so far of bad effects from over treatment [excess] even when I had a few accidents & they got more than I planned, but I wouldn’t think treating in the 21 period again would be good. I’m thinking like you to give the spot on treatment when putting birds into cabinets to breed, when you have to catch them anyway, as just catching all your birds is such a big job & also stressful for them [& yourself…LOL].

I had the exact same thing with one of my first times hens, she laid the first few eggs on the floor & I placed them in the nest & she smashed them. But after a few eggs she settled down & hatched a couple of chicks, which she is looking after well. So it might be just temporary.