Norm

So the secrets out now...Melville area eh!...I have a brother living over there... will get on the phone & get him to clean out the area. :(Laughing out loud):

Personally I would think that the egg was all that needed cooking & that the rest would be best fed raw.

He's looking good, it's good to see the before & after pictures, after they moult out.

Nice looking birds, thanks for showing them to us...good luck with your breeding.

Throwback, I have always though that birds like that are probably Greens carrying the YF2 Blue mutation...but that's just my thoughts [not a proven fact].

I hope you enjoy these images, as I was hurrying late yesterday to get them posted, as I said I would & running out of time. I cropped the pictures made them to the correct size for the site, then when I went to Photobucket I couldn't find any trace of them, not one of them, they had faded into the ether. So this morning I have done it all again. I'm having trouble with my PC of late, may have to reinstall. First a couple of pictures of my first Blue Dusk. A picture of one of the father Dusks for reference. One of my Fallows that I bought, I thought it was a female in the aviary, but from this picture it looks like a male don’t you think? And then some pictures of some unusual birds I have bred, I think they are all related maybe brothers, as haven't caught them up to check their rings yet. I think they have Opaline in them & may be they are split. There is always discussion about whether birds with a little Blue in the wing bars are split Opaline, but these birds seem to have more than usual. What do you think, has anyone got similar birds? I have no hens with this colouring, which may prove that it's just split Opaline, but would like to be able to breed some birds with this as a regular Mutation. Oh Norm, I really didn't mean it that way... it was VERY tongue in cheek. I know what it is like trying to get in and out of those small doors... thankfully I only have one of them. Everytime I am at a bird store I look longingly at the big doors and vow I am going to get around to putting one in one day.The dusks are certainly interesting, Norm. I really must visit one day and check out all these rares you have collected.Feathers.ps: my texas clearbody was being very seriously chatted up by a big grey today after the rain, I am seriously thinking of putting them into a breeding cabinet! As alway your more than welcome. I have been trying to find some articles on what's best other than Lutino, to mate with TCB's, I'm sure I had an article from a breeder, but so far haven't been able to find it as yet. I was wondering if a Grey or Grey Green were good crosses, as they often say that Grey leaves a Grey infusion through birds...but if not worrying about showing go for it.

You have much more faith in humanity Birdluv…letting her make you believe that it’s all very innocent…”The Great Peppermint heist” I believe that girl will do anything for her feathered friends…in fact I’m really surprised that there still is a Peppermint tree growing that luxuriant in WA from the reports that I get on this web site. The only thing I can understand is why she does it…look at how good those birds look, how happy they are…I wish there was some Peppermint growing here, but those selfish WA types seem to be keeping it all to themselves. I've heard they have a collective name for them "Sand Groupers" sand because there's nothing much but sand there [& a few mutilated Peppermint trees] & groupers is a kind of fish, but fish need water & I wouldn't think there's much of that left over there with the temperatures they have been having this year...okay after that I'm off to hide before I'm violently attacked.

I had the same thought about him with that first picture the other day, but didn't say anything...but Elly is right I always think that if they are standing on one foot it's a good sign. Of course we have to realise it's winter over there & it could be pretty cold.

Lots of vets wont sell Ivermectin, as it’s not registered for use on birds, but like Kaz said I have used it for my mite problems & accidentally overdosed it with no ill effect that could be seen at least. It’s difficult I’ve found to find a vet that will supply it in small amounts for us to use on birds, I bought the smallest bottle I could get, it cost over $80 here but I have lots of birds & now have some sheep so I will use it.

At last I got time to take a few pics of my young Dusks...here are the best pictures that I got of two Green Dusks, note the variation in feather colours on the breast, which seems to be a trait of this mutation. Photos of my one & only [so far] Blue Dusk, hopefully later today. I'm not sure this mutation is spectacular, but certainly of interest, I will get around to trying it with different colours to see its effect.

I often do what you have done Dave, if I get too many young in one nest & the real little ones look like they might not get fed, I will put them in the nest of one that’s close to getting young to hatch & if it is too big when their eggs begin hatching you can foster it to another batch or even back to it’s own nest when its bigger & can survive okay. Also I wouldn't feel too bad about loosing some of those chicks, as I have often said, if they don't survive themselves, either something is wrong with the chicks or the parents & if they survive by artificle means they could mean breeding problems later when they get to breed.

Elly is right I used to feed a small amount in my mixture before the drought made the price prohibitive. The striped Sunflower is the best, I don’t think birds like the black one.

As Pie explained after my explanation [i had forgotten] that to get a White Faced Blue that is carrying the YF gene it has to be from two Yellow Faced Type 1 birds [which has a pure Blue breast, no bleed of Green] which as she explains isn’t a very common mutation. In this case the Double factor produces White Faced birds, which still carry the gene. Even though the YF gene is Dominant, it is complicated by these two different types. If you mate two Yellow Faced Type 2 [the ones that have a bleed of Green in their Blue breast] you will get YF2 & white Faced Blues, only the YF2 will carry the gene. Some time you could be lucky & pick a Normal Green [yellow faced] bird & look for some Blue bleed in the feathers especially near the legs or tail, you may be lucky that this bird is carrying the gene, but its not positive that this is the case. Otherwise as I said before the only positive way is to look for an YF bird & purchase it to start with, as the only other way is through mutation, which is very rare.

Things seem to be going well Dave apart from the air in crop thing...yes I agree I like Spangles also, especially Opaline Spangles.

That new hair do has gotta hurt…I guess the ear piecing too…happy hols Ken. I’m having similar situations with my Budgies when I go in the aviary, you can easily see why they are such good hand pets, as mine without any training land on me & my head or come up to me & try the bite test…(Laughing out loud)…

Point taken Aly…I guess I can’t begin to understand what you have to put up with, after once being completely mobile…but I guess you have no choice & just have to make the best of it & get on with life. I’m not sure but mine might only be coffee withdrawal…bought some Arabic & was having about two a day, then it ran out…I’ve had some pains before after stopping drinking it…been try for about 30 years…(Laughing out loud)…got some aviaries with small doors a couple of times got in there could hardly get out…almost found out what it was like to be a bird in a cage…grin… Appreciate the good vibes thanks.

Your bird seems to have characteristics similar to the birds that they are calling Dusks here. What I have noticed on the adults is that the breast feathers have feather variations, some feathers are darker & some lighter, whereas most other colours have a constant colour.

I think why your Budgie was sitting on the eggs was because it was already ill, as often sick Budgies will go to the floor & usually they don’t last that long after that. The quails could have attacked it, but I notice that if a Budgie dies it’s often attacked by other Budgies, so its best removed as soon as possible. Has you quail just sat on the eggs & are they fairly fresh eggs, as often King quails will lay massive amounts of eggs & maybe later sit, but usually in this case the eggs fail to hatch because of being old. If your birds have been sitting for more than the normal time, this may be the case.

I think the fact that the chick is undeveloped for it’s age is because when it was young it didn’t get enough warmth, probably especially at nights, as others have said mostly cocks won sit with the chick at night. I think it’s amazing that it survived as it has; if the weather had been colder I think you would have had no chance. It may be affected by its conditions & may never be completely normal, but at this stage it should be able to survive if it’s made it this far…good luck.

Nice birds Throwback. Kaz the Lacewing cock that I bought some months ago, that looks a nice bird, but I thought could be old [not rung] at last has eggs with a hen, the first didn’t go down, but already the eggs don’t look fertile.

Great birds Libby, you should be able to do something with that lot…sorry he had to get rid of them but, that's the problem with living in suburbia…you scored lots of other treasure too…lucky girl…I got an email last night, from a show breeder friend wants to give me some fertile eggs, as he has to go away & can't have more chicks hatching. The Sky is a fantastic bird, but you will have to be lucky in my experience to get young out of him, but you could be lucky certainly worth a try.

Sory I should have had some pictures up by now, but I've been a cripple the last week or so, my left knee has gone on me for some reason & it's all I can do to get around to feed all my animals & birds…but coming soon.

Norm has only his first Blue Dusk, that has just left the nest, so sorry he’s not an expert, but it looks a little like them & like I said before Zeus looks similar, you never know Ravengypsy, you may have similar genetic material there. Maybe with time we will get more knowledge, I have more Dusks in the nest so will know more later, the Greens as I’ve stated before when young don’t look much different to Grey Greens, but they have the Blue cheek patches instead of Grey.

I agree a boy.

Neat, I think it’s just a dyed Budgie, I have seen a few pranks like that on the net before.