Norm

Yes we can only advise...you have to make the hard decisions...(Laughing out loud)... life is hard.

This is a picture of some of the type cabinets I use, mostly I put the nest box inside, but I have some with the nest as a draw, which is good as with the external ones there is easier access to the young. Definitely have your cabinets in some enclosed area to avoid escapes, as sometime birds learn how to get out & it will also prevent attacks from things like rats, hawks & cats etc. It should in the Australian climate have good ventilation, as outside is healthiest & a completey closed room isn't that healthy for them. Also as others have said elsewhere if you put them in an aviary don’t have other birds flying in the aviary outside the boxes, as that will interfere with the breeders & you wont have much success.

Definitely pulling feathers will cause some pain that can’t be avoided & like someone said it may cause him to trust you less, but I’m like you I feel it’s sad for a bird to have it’s wing cut, as they still try to fly & that can hurt too. If it was my bird I would go for the short discomfort, if you hold the wing it’s self with one hand & pull the feather with the other it will be minium pain & some feathers come out quite easy & then as I said before the feather will be replaced straight away. But the choice is yours.

I posted some pictures in a new post Jimmy can't remember what I called it. Found it I hope this works...you have already looked at it though. http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....18310&st=20

Yes I agree it is a wonderful world…pity us collectively as humans don’t look after it that well…there is a good chance we will stuff it up. I often think that there couldn’t be a more beautiful & wonderful place than what we had in the natural world, but for a lot of us it doesn’t seem enough & through greed we may loose a lot of it…sorry to bring in such a mournful thought into something beautiful, but it’s true I think. I often think that if we were so intellegent [as we often think] we would have been smart enough to realise what we had...but in our ignorance we thought we could make it better.

I hope you have some luck with some of those double yolkers hatching, Lonebudgie, but it’s supposed to be rare that they succeed, as the chicks get tangled up. Re Kaz’s HOW MANY BUDGIE EGGS MAKE AN OMLLETE…then there’s four & twenty black birds baked in a pie…then when I put those chicks of mine in a stock pot [that doesn’t work any more] to take their picture I wondered HOW MANY BUDGIES DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A CASSEROLE…being silly now… :fear

Hi welcome to the forum I hope you enjoy your time here.

Thanks Denise, Elly, Feathers & Birdluv… Yes Aly I'm pretty happy with their colour, was surprised they looked so good at that age, but maybe some suffusion may come in with the adult moult, remains to be seen. I was also surprised that some weren't Darkwings [had wing markings] as it's supposed to be a colour adding gene & sort of dominant so expected some like Dad, but maybe next batch, as always a matter of percentages. I don't like the White series that much , but at least I have some offspring from my purchased birds to work with, which hasn't always been the case & I will mate the Blue one to a Green later. I have some first cross chicks in another nest also with a Cinnamon Opaline Green hen, which I can mate with these later to get some more BES & also hopefully improve the type. The BES cock in this batch has a massive long tail & body. I hope I get some Darkwings next batch as Dad is my only one & want some chicks before anything happens to him. One thing about this pair of BES hen & Darkwing cock. Don’t know what the chicks are going to be like when they grow up. It’s pretty common to get aggressive hens that scream at you in the nest, but with this pair the cock goes into the nest on inspection & they both scream their heads off at me…(Laughing out loud)… Then now that they have chicks both parents started attaching me when I tried to get chicks out of the nest & now Dad has a go at me even when I put feed into the cage [tries to bite my hand]. Maybe breeding a generation of little monsters.

I’m not sure of the exact time it takes for the large wing & tail feathers to moult, but they are usually the last ones, a young bird goes through a body moult by something like 4 months. Usually the wing feathers are only moulted once a year, but in young birds it may be quicker. As you said you could remove some of the cut feathers, then they will be replaced in about two weeks, but of course this will cause the bird some pain. If you were going to do it I would suggest one at a time, so it’s not too stressful for him. You are right about Fallows being harder to sex, but from you picture he looks like a male to me.

Thanks Neat…Throwback, it isn’t as good as it looks, as also it has a Pied spot on it’s head…sorry the picture is not clearer, will try for some better ones later. Maybe my camera is not such a good one & I was a little too close & on the closer setting it comes out even more blurred.

Yeah Dave I like the ones with plenty of white down, there’s a lot of variation some young birds have very little down at all, I think the show types seem to have more especially the buffer ones. Maesie, Jimmy, Nicknack…thanks for your comments…I’m surprised you didn’t ask for cake Nicknack as well as some birds, that must really be a compliment.

Yes I made some comment on that post too Dave. The DEC comes from two Recessive Pied genes & a Clearflight gene. It’s a completely White or Yellow bird with no markings & it’s eyes stay Black [Plum coloured] for it’s whole life. The DF is completely Yellow or White without markings when adult gets Iris rings. The BES is a Dilute they have faint wing markings & Iris rings when adult. I fiddled with the pictures to try and improve them on the Opalines so the colour may not be totally true to colour, but they are pretty bright.

With that eldest chick it looks like you could be right Dave, look to see if it’s two main feathers in the tail are white or Yellow that’s a pretty good sign. That pale chick is hanging in there, at this stage it might survive, it certainly looks a lot different to the healthy ones, if it survives if I were you I wouldn’t be breeding with it, maybe give it to someone for a pet. You never know it might be some new mutation. In that case keep it…(Laughing out loud)…

My first BES [black Eyed Self’s] chicks two Yellow, One white…I tried to get some better close-ups but they didn’t work out. Some Green Opaline chicks from a TCB [Texas Clearbody] cock Yellow & a Sky Blue Opaline hen, both split for Recessive Pied so some have some Pied markings, especially flight feathers.

I also treat all my new birds with Ivermectin & have had no ill effects from it; it will remove all internal worms & external mites. But then you have bacterial problems, yeasts & viruses, so there isn't any one treatment treats all.

Your birds look like they eat better than me Aly. They certainly didn’t waste much.

Chickweed is a winter growing weed, won’t be ready for feeding till close to spring. It’s a small soft low growing weed, with runners & sort of heart shaped leaves & small white flowers & round white to brown seeds. Needs plenty of winter rain. Best of luck next batch & if that fails mate with other birds…too good to miss out on chicks Kaz.

The BES [black Eyed Self] is a Dilute & I was told by the guy I bought mine from, that most of the ones in Australia have Cinnamon bred into them, as this gives a better colour. And probably helps loose some of the wing pattern. I have my first young in the nest at the moment, two Yellows & one White. Bred from a BES Yellow hen & a Darkwing Yellow cock.

It can take some time for visible symptoms to appear, even after infection. From your picture I can't see any symptoms.

WELCOME DEREK…glad to hear your going back into Budgies…look forward to seeing your aviary & future birds.

It’s hard for us to tell without seeing a picture, maybe he is a Yellow faced Blue or may be masking that mutation or maybe it’s like you say just that they are new feathers, as the colour does fade some after time.

Those are good pictures for him Chrysocome, I looked for some for him yesterday, but couldn’t find any. Breeders here use quite a lot of Canary seed & the various millets in their mixture, with a smaller amount of hulled oats & smaller still of the very oily seeds [safron, Rape, [Canola] Niger & Linseed. As too much oil can cause problems. Whether he can obtain the seeds remains a problem, but at lease he knows what they look like now.

Sorry to hear your sad news Aly, I’m afraid when they go to ground like that it’s not a good sign, I find not many recover from that state, best of luck for him all the same. Sadly we have to get used to some losses & often it’s birds we have high hopes for.

Yes I agree with you, in some ways you have to be brave to say you let nature take it’s corse in some cases, as sometimes it appears in this age that death must be prevented at all costs. If your pale young chick survives on it’s own it must be meant to survive, as it would in NATURE. Natures rule as we have been taught since childhood is “survival of the fittest”. Once on a Koala hospital documentary they said yes we know this guy we have had him in for recovery 6 times. Sometime I think we are preventing nature doing it’s job & possibly our intervention is preventing stock of evolving to a state of survival on their own terms, by constantly “preventing” individuals from dieing. In nature if something can’t make it, it is gone from the gene pool & the gene pool is stronger for it, whereas if we keep keeping the sick alive we are destroying the strength of the gene pool. Maybe that seems hard or uncaring to some, but that is only a human thought, not realistic.

My thoughts are that those pale chicks have some genetic fault, of course in some it may be some infection, but in the couple that I had they looked pale small & different from the moment they hatched & didn’t even last one day. As always my thoughts on these different [sick looking chicks] is that we are better off without them anyway, as if they survive they may weaken the stock [genetic pool]. If you had one batch where they all failed, it could be as Kaz has said an infection, but it would point to genetic weakness also in my opinion. Dave if I were you I wouldn’t get too upset with loosing some chicks as it’s pretty impossible to remove all losses if your going to breed, it’s just part of the process.