Norm

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us, yes your right resizing pics always looses some of the sharpness, but guess we have to put up with that. Yes they call them Weiros in the west. I think that’s the Aboriginals name for them, also called Cockatiels & Quarrions.

I think they probably do get a little quieter in the cooler time of year, but I think if they are quite at the moment you wouldn't blame them, like you say two weeks rain every day & the last two days here have even been wetter, pouring rain, hardly a sign of sun, cold, it's getting me down, don't know about the Budgies, but I'm worried about disease with everything so soggy. Really thinking back it's almost three weeks here, we were getting our solar hot water put on, on the 7th, they almost didn't come because it was raining at Port Macquarie, [bit less than an hours drive from here] but we told them it was fine here, so they came, but before they finished it was raining heavy showers here too. Since then it hasn't stopped, I mean some days we only had showers, but every day since then. After two days we turned on the electric booster as the water was still cold, we left it on for one day then switched it off & up till yesterday we were still getting hot water, hot enough for a shower, so I'm pretty impressed with that, shouldn't have any need for the booster in normal times, as they are saying on the TV that the eleven days they have had straight rain in Sydney is the first time in fifteen years. Glug!…Glug!!…Glug!!! as we sink into the ooz… As Dorothy Mackellar says "A Land Of Droughts & Flooding Rains"

Congratulations Zebra…I noticed you had been very quite of late so thought something must have happened…guess your going to be busy now.

So Amira, must be masking Spangle…had to go all the way back to the start to see what they were. At least one is still going… does it look like possible show material Kaz? Good luck better use if for stud if you show it you’ll be fighting about who owns it…LOL…

Welcome to the forum...I would agree it's a hen.

It would be possible to get a Fallow if both parents were split for it, but it’s probably more likely to be an Albion as Fallows are no such a common mutation.

I don’t think what your bird has is contagious, if it’s French Moult [polyoma virus] it only damages birds in the nest, when they are young. You said that it had normal feathers when you first got it, so maybe it’s nor French Moult, but if it’s picking itself or some deficiency it wouldn’t affect another bird.

Sorry to hear the news Dave, maybe you could be lucky & the antibotics may do the trick. I think I would be like you thinking an operation would be too much.

I thought you were taking about Bourke’s Parakeet Liv, even before looking, they are such nice little birds, don’t think a hybrid between them & Budgie would be fertile, but I have often thought they must be the next bird that will become one of the worlds favourite pets, they are so beautifully quite, when I bred them before you didn’t need any training they would fly onto your head or shoulders as soon as you entered the aviary. I had one cock that was real smart as soon as I open the aviary door he was out into the bird room, I would let him have his fly around & when I finished I would open his door & wave my hand up in the air & he new that was his signal & flew back into his aviary.

You dont need fixing Norm. You are perfect just the way you are oooH Kaz you are so nice... Not sure that was a good idea of Dave's naming his TCB after me.

:hap: what needs fixing all at the one time, Norm ?? I thought you would want a permanent fix Kaz...no more problems at all. Sorry Dave hope the vet can fix it, it will be intereesting to see what he thinks is the problem anyway.

Spangles are easier to produce as it’s a Dominant colour so if you pair a Spangle of either sex with any other bird you will get something like 50% Spangles. Improved Normals is a matter of selection of your better Normal when pairing. With Fallow, seeing the mutation is Recessive both birds must have the gene to produce Fallow chicks. At the moment you only seem to have one Fallow hen, she will produce split Fallow chicks, if these are mated with another either split Fallow or Fallow bird then you will get more Fallow chicks. It’s probably not a good idea to mate her with her own chicks or mate some of the chicks together, as if your birds have any faults of any kind this will concentrate them, better to buy an unrelated bird [Fallow]to either mate to your Fallow hen or some of her chicks that you produce.

Very interesting article thanks for your time. DrNat.

Just a warning about putting a drain in your aviary, be careful I thought I was being smart & put a complete drainage system to all my aviaries with a drain hole in each cage, but because of costs I used plastic drain covers. Soon mice ate through the covers & the drains became a mighty city for them. Use metal drain covers with small gapes that mice wont fit through otherwise your inviting problems.

Looks perfect & should be ready to breed at about the same time.

Maybe you just needs some drops of ivermectin on the back of your neck Norm How many drops do you think ?? Nasty...Nasty...Nasty!!! I suppose you want to give me a stong dose, fix everything at the one time.

I hope you had luck Kaz…defiantly you need raw meat on a trap once they start killing things & rats aren’t that easy to trick into a trap & poison is a worry when you have so many pets, as rats tend to carry things around & it could end up anywhere. Nick it’s a very low fat red meat, nothing like chicken…but us Aussies don’t usually eat that much Kangaroo meat…at least nothing like you, into cake & donuts [even though you tell me you have given up]…

Hope he responds Dave doesn’t look that well…gotta get my namesake of the net... all this talk about various parts of “Norm’s” anatomy on line is not good. Good luck. Kaz…which Norm are you talking about…what are you trying to say? That there’s something wrong & I need the help of a vet…mmm…you know I want to keep well away from those avian vets…

You only have to hope Libby that your neighbours are so used to hearing Budgie noises during the day that they didn't even hear them…did you rig up a shade cloth blind or something like that? How was last night? Or maybe something like a canvas blind would be better for full moon time.

If it sound like Stone Henge…maybe the people of the time of Stone Henge were smarter than we are now… The natural world still responds to the increasing hours of daylight, I keep bees & already you find in July they have already started to lay up their brood nests & are increasing…chooks are starting to lay their spring flush of eggs, the early deciduous fruit trees are in bloom. But I don't think Budgies are so in tune with this rhythm because of the irregularity of seasons in the Australian bush, the more arid areas that are the Budgies natural environment, so they are pretty much ready to breed whenever there is plenty of food. If we're doing the right thing by them & supplying them a good varied diet that means any time. Experts have done work on the wild Budgerigar & found the males gonads are stimulated by certain conditions [the rainy seasons, food etc] but I think the bird we now keep is basically domesticated & it seems to me that males are almost ready at any time. I live in an area where the temperature rarely goes below 2c even at night & the days are mild even in winter [mostly 17c to 23c] I started breeding seriously in February 2007 & still have some pairs mated, not the same pairs of course. I mainly give each pair two batches then remove them & have other pairs ready to go down, I have found very little difference in the number of young bred, but also here we don't get the severe heat in summer, which would be good to avoid in some areas. During this time it was rare that when a pair was put down they wouldn't breed successfully. But of late whether it's because I have what are considered more "improved" [show types now] I am having a much bigger percentage of birds that don't go down in the 10 to 14 days that is considered normal. I would suggest that you decide on your local conditions, I don't think that most areas of Australia are too cold to breed, but if you think they are just avoid that time of year, then if you start something like July/August then breed till you think it's too hot, then rest & if you wish to breed again start some time like February until it gets cold. If not & you only want one breeding season per year decided which is best & stick to that.

Yes better try to get it as soon as possible, when I was young & lived in the city, neighbours used to complain that my birds attracted rats. NO chance of a rat moving away, once they move in all they do is breed more rats…good luck Kaz. Even if it's not your fault that attracted the rat if neighbours blame you & then bring in the council you have problems. I moved out of my parents place earlier than I was going to as I had lots of birds & pigeons & some neighbour got the council in & they said I had too many birds for a suburban backyard & gave me notice to quit by a certain day…get rid of my birds…but I moved out with them to my farm I had bought in the country. Not where I am now.

I have some shade cloth up, but my aviaries face north so get the light in lots, it’s very prevalent in the warmer weather when the birds are stimulated to breed. My African Lovebirds like to chatter at night also.

My pleasure…lets hope your bird keeps on keeping on for a long time yet.

Yeah it’s normal Libby…when it’s moonlight my 300 or so Budgies have a picnic…just as well I don’t live in suburbia.

I was going to say dogs too, as I thought you had them also...they must have been slack of late...trouble is rats like the night & often dogs are fast asleep then.