Norm

I don’t hand feed young birds so I have no experience with that & I would think that to try handfeeding birds that old, would probably be very difficult. In my experience if you’re sure that they are 4 weeks old, they may struggle for a few days, but should be able to feed themselves. If they were my birds I would place them in a cage by themselves, as if the parents are attacking them that is dangerous to leave them with them. Usually I would put young birds like that in a cage preferably with an older bird, make sure there is plenty of seed on the floor of the cage, as young chicks will start nibbling on the floor if they get hungry. Also place their water on the floor also. If possible I would keep them in a warm place until they are feeding well. Give them small amounts of Green food also. They will nibble a bit at food then usually sleep lots at that age, but in a few days should feed themselves quite well.

Glad to hear that your problems weren’t as bad as feared & only of a minor nature & should soon be fixed.

Water Try water Dear Henry… Dear Henry… try water…in what should I fetch it Dear Lisa…we could go on…(Laughing out loud)…

Thanks Kaz, I like them but will be interesting to see how they moult out.

Some pictures of my four new bubs, that I mentioned the other day. I'm afraid my birds aren't happy to be models on the Internet. These are the best shots I could get. Two Cinnamon Grey Greens. One Cinnamon Grey Normal. One Grey Green Normal A close-up of the feathers.

Good picture Liv, I have had birds with more stain than that, but you say you actually saw Brown mucus coming out of the nostrils? I have never noticed that. I had thought it could have been blood stains coing from some of the small pin feathers. I have Red Factor Canaries & when some of the hens are in real good breeding condition, they get a Red colour near their nostrils not unlike this, so I had thought maybe it was a good sign. Hopefully we can learn a bit from each other, I hope the vet visit is productive.

Excellent chicks Dave…great colours no wonder you want to keep them all & Pale Ale isn’t pale any more looks like the darkest of them all

My pleasure, an excellent buy Misslu & a great price.

I hope everything turns out okay LIV, I don’t think it’s Psittacosis I hate that word, not good to have & hard to remember how to spell but I’m very interested to hear what a vet says…hopefully you get one that knows what he’s talking about. One sore eye is supposed to be one of the symptoms of Psittacosis, some birds only get that, but if you get it proper you will know it, as fluids come out both ends.

Thanks Neat

Nice birds especially the TCB’s & the DF Spangle. I answered you breeding TCB’s questions in your other post. But it looks like you have two TCB’s & they look like a cock & hen, so you could mate them together & get more TCB’s. The only problem is that they came from the same breeder probably & you don’t know how closely related they are. If you did & the Yellow one is split for Blue you could get both colours, if not all Green series birds. They both look good quality, I wouldn’t mind then in my aviary, especially the Blue looks better than mine.

What colour is your Texas Clearbody? If it is Blue & you wish to get more Blue series TCB’s… an Albion would be good. If its Green series [Yellow] & you want more Green series a Lutino is best. If its Green & you pair it to an Albino & the Green is split for Blue you probably will get some of both colours, If it isn’t split for Blue all chicks would be Green split for Blue. If your birds have iris rings, like Elly says they are DF Spangles.

I bought seven show type birds at the local bird sale last year, from a guy from Grafton. The two best cocks have been total failures, never produced a fertile egg yet. Then there was a lesser looking bird that I bought at the end of the sale when the guy came to me & said he only had three birds left would I like them for $5 each, they weren’t that much, but thought for that price I can’t loose & bought them. Thinking they might have some genetic potential, as being bred from show stock. Well one of them a Grey Normal that has a pretty nice type head was mated with one of my pet types mainly to see if he could prove himself & he was fully fertile two batches of about 6 chicks. Then when the second batch was about half reared I found the hen chasing him around the cabinet & it looked bad, so I removed him to another cabinet & gave him half the chicks, they both raised their halves well. Then I had the best hen from this group that had first been mated with one of the cocks I bought with her, which has proven its self-infertile. So I mated her with one of my cocks that had proven him self fertile, they produced four nice chicks, so then I put another better type cock with her that I had bought from the pet shop, all the eggs were infertile. I hate it when you get a cock that’s infertile, as it’s hard to get good hens & then to have them waste batches with infertile eggs is not good. Some will destroy the eggs themselves & then go straight down again, but I have had some go into a sort of depression & not lay again for sometime. I found it’s better to give them at least one chick from someone else for them to raise, then they will go down again. After this second failure with this hen I removed the cock & put the Grey Normal with her, but she went into a sort of depression & took little notice of the cock, but seeing my cabinets are quite large I just left them together for a month or more. Then about a week ago she started to darken up on the cere & began being pally with the cock, then she started going into the nest again. So I was hopeful, as a fellow breeder was visiting me the other week & commented on what a good pair they were & that they complimented each other. Then the day before yesterday, when I went to feed them, I found the hen was in the nest box & there was the cock with blood all over his head near the cere & his right eye. He wasn’t happy but looked like he would be okay, so I took the risk & left him with her, as on inspecting the nest I found her on one egg. Then yesterday I found her chasing him all over the place & him panting like mad, so I removed him to save him. So the questions are, I wonder if the hens can see something wrong with him? This is the only case I have had of a hen savaging a cock & it’s the same cock in both cases. Will the hen produce a complete batch & sit on them? Will the eggs be fertile? If they hatch I can foster the chicks. Has anyone had experience where a cock was removed at such an early stage & the hen produced a successful clutch? I thought I might put the cock back while I’m feeding a couple of times & watch how things go, then remove him again. I know these are difficult questions, but I’m interested in what anyone thinks thanks.

:hap: More work ?? Only if you lot dont behave yourselves :hap: KAZ…US MISBEHAVE …when have you even seen us misbehave?

Congratulations KAZ… I hope it doesn’t mean more work, as I don’t know how you fit everything in already.

The Lacewings are looking great Karen, those feather plucking Mum’s or Dad’s are a pest aren’t they.

Its looking good Karen, just be careful with it if it’s in an aviary with other budgies, when it leaves the nest. Budgies can be so aggressive, I had Cockatiels breeding in an aviary with, just some young Budgies, that had only recently left the nest themselves, but when the young Cockatiels left the nest & were still uncertain, they killed some. Also I once gave two Cockatiel eggs to some African lovebirds, the parents were great & raised the young real well, but the moment they left the nest, the other love birds killed them both. It would have been okay I think if they had been in a cabinet.

I wouldn't think it would be better than Budgie Starter crumbles which are Hopefully designed especially for Budgies, I use it because of easier availability & less cost.

Good luck LIV, hope he's okay.

Norm this may be a very dumb question, I'm tired and I apoligise, but are these the addatives that you put with the chicken starter or are there other additives ?? I mix up a large amount each day, so it’s hard to tell you the exact amounts. This is the basic mixture… one Arrowroot Biscuit, one Shredded Wheat meal biscuit, one hard boiled egg, I use a small Tuna tin to measure the chick starter, it’s medicated chicken starter, it has a Coccidiostat added…the mixture I make is four times this so the same amount would be a quarter of a tin of starter. Then some grated carrot & corn nibblets, the amounts aren’t critical so just judge what you think is a good mixture, I use frozen corn nibblets, as I think it’s cheaper than corn on the cob & less waste. As corn has gotten more expensive. I pour boiling water over the frozen corn to thaw it while I’m making the other ingredients, then drain the excess off…the iodine is just a couple of drops in enough water to moisten the mixture, be careful don’t over do it, as too much iodine will be toxic, I only use it once or twice a week…they don’t like it if it’s too wet just crumbly. I rub it well together to mix it well, you could use a blender. Hi NormWhat percentage crude protein and what percentage crude fat is there in chicken starter. I have Vetafarm Budgie and Finch Crumbles and it has 19% crude protein and 7% crude fat in it.Thanks Sorry Derek, I can’t tell you at the moment as I just through the last label away the other day. Laying pellets are about 16% & this is more, I read on the net that a professor said there was too much Calcium in chicken starter Crumbles for Budgies, but I have been feeding it for years, after someone else told me about it & haven’t seemed to have any problems. You can get it at any produce story Kaz, it's not cheap but nothings cheap these days, but I saw the small packets of Budgie starter & it was certainly cheaper than that. Of course it's not totally mixed with the exact ingredients for Budgies. I buy about five kilos at a time to keep it fresh. It's called Medicated Chicken starter crumbes.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the corn Daz. Best to just give them enough so that they eat it the same day, mine are the same as Kaz’s they jump on it & strip it clean in no time.

Thanks Kaz, I have a pair that I have with their first four young, it’s a Cinnamon Opaline Grey hen I bought at the bird sale here last year, from a guy from Grafton. She is from show stock, but not that big herself. I mated her with a nice Grey Green cock from the Pet shop that looks nice & has bred some better type young, I’m pretty impressed with the young, which are mostly Cinnamons as the cock is also split. They look like the best young I have bred [show wise] so far, really wide heads, big birds & look strongly buff…. just about to leave the nest some photos soon.

You arent the only one Dave.....I think its downright ugly OOOOH!!! I think their CUTE…so Dave...Kaz...if you find one give it to me thanks...forget about the making money thing Dave...(Laughing out loud)... You know I’m a rare mutation JUNKIE…

I’m pairing up this new pair… the Cock I bought last year at the Hunter Valley Budgie show…he looks like a Sky Blue in this photo, with flash, the fact that his colour bled out so much, do you think that means he’s a Violet Sky Blue & not a Cobalt? I already mated him with a Grey Green Normal that I bred & their young are moulting out good-looking birds. The hen is a Yellow Face Violet Normal…I bred myself from a YF2 Opaline Violet Sky Blue hen I bought & a Violet Spangle cock also bought. They bred four or five nice YF Violets like her all what I think are pretty good hens, so I’m hoping for big things with this hen, as I think she is better than the Grey Green he mated with before. I took a picture of her in natural light so that the colour didn’t bleed out, like the picture of her sister that I put on the forum before, as you couldn’t even tell she was a Yellow Face.

As Kaz say he looks pretty healthy to me, he is still young, when he gets his adult moult, which looks like it will be soon, he will build up his body also.