Norm

I think your main problem is that a pile of bricks is a perfect home for ants. I would do as Kaz & others have suggested & provide your feed on something either hanging from the roof or a pedestal. Remove the bricks & the ants.

Hi Birdbrain, welcome to the site, I hope you enjoy yourselves. It’s hard to be positive from the picture of your Recessive Pied but I think you are probably right about them being both females, Budgies are very gregarious & any two Budgies kept together will feed each other, but males will do it more. Your Blue bird looks like an Opaline Sky Blue & maybe Greywing, but it’s hard to see much of the wing pattern to be sure.

Some hens can cause the infertile egg thing too, as I have mated hens with tried & tested cocks [that produced young before] & got infertile eggs still. But mostly I have found it to be the cocks fault.

No Deb, Spangle is a Dominant so it can’t be carried unless it shows.

Now he's won the best in show [make sure you show her the card] then she cant' refuse can she…girls love winners [don't they] …(Laughing out loud)…is the Grey split for Ino? Or are we going for Greys or Blues as long as they win shows…best of luck to you both & the loving couple…like Elly said make sure they get the marriage ceremony it always helps if the girl wants be seen, to be doing the right thing… : :hap:: :hap::

Yellow Faced Blue is what is called a Dominant gene, in the normal situation if a Blue bird doesn’t show this gene [mutation] it wont be capable of having a YF Blue chick. With YF Blue being Dominant only Green birds [which are Dominant over it] can carry it unknown. As Kaz said if YF Blues are not common in your area the chances that some of the Green birds may be carrying it could be rare. So it would be best to try & buy a YF Blue bird & then mate it with another Blue bird to get YF Blue chicks.

What have you got in your nest boxes do they have a concave in the bottom or have you just got nesting material in them like sawdust etc? Are you sure your nest box is set level so that the eggs don’t roll to one side? Even if your hen has removed most of any nest material you have placed in her box, after she has started laying it’s a good idea to place more material in it then, as then most hens wont remove it once there are eggs in place. A good layer of material is good as then the eggs wont tend to roll around, the hen will move the eggs, but if the box is level & has material they will stay where she puts them, some hens will sit to one side or the other but as long as they don’t roll out of the way, this is okay.

Normally if you pair a YF2 Blue Normal with a Recessive Pied you would get all Normal chicks some YF2 Blues & Normal White Faced Blues & all chicks would be split for the Recessive Pied like you say. But you could be lucky as I think these days’ lots of birds are already carrying the Recessive Pied gene so you may be lucky enough to get some Recessives.

Do you have any other Spangles in the cage Liv, if not there’s a good chance you will get some Spangles if he’s the Dad or Greys & that would prove he’s viable …then later you could mate him to a nice hen In a cabinet, as he looks a good type…good luck anyway…

Thanks Birdluv...but sadly it's something you have to get used to, when breeding, it all doesn't work out right.

Hi Derricka, welcome to the forum, nice to see your pictures of your flock.

Too late Feathers they had a southerly change go through Sydney yesterday...

My latest update is not good news, I found my only pure Saddle Back dead in her cabinet this morning, as I said I didn’t have that much hope for her as something always seemed wrong with her, but still I was hopeful of getting something. But alas too late. I will mate my two split cocks with hens & hope for a small number of splits & attempt to get a better hen in the future.

Neat I don’t think there is any practical way of checking if a cock is infertile, if as you have done tried him with a couple of hens & had the same results I would start to think he is…if he is a specially good cock you could let him fly in the aviary for some time & then try again, but after that if I were you I would give up on him, as you waste so much time & hens.

My pleasure Elly. Dave I haven't got any as yet so we will have to wait for Feathers picture. In a good one the breast is almost white, with dark wing markings.

As Dave said the Normal White Face Blue, could be a double factor Yellow Faced bird that is produced by mating a YF Blue to another YF Blue. Also any Green bird can be masking YF Blue, so you have the possibility of getting it from both…only by pairing each with other birds could you find out which one is carrying the YF.

Good luck you may be surprised with what the chicks look like. And think of the extra vigour.

Yes Libby, once they bite I’m afraid their beak is so sharp that it goes right into the brain I think, so not much chance of saving them. I don’t really like those aggressive hens that screech at you & stand to protect their eggs or young, I really like them to leave the nest so you can inspect without trouble as often they do more damage than protect. I have never had one latch onto one of their chicks though, sorry to hear that…win some, loose some… I’m afraid that’s the name of the game with breeding…we can only hope mostly we win.

After having a few quite months where new pairs I paired up just didn't do anything, even though some of the hens were from some of my better breeding lines. I got around to reorganising things, in some cases I just put a sister of a hen that wasn't doing anything & within a couple of weeks I had eggs. LACEWINGS: My hen Lacewing I bred wouldn't do anything, so she is flying in the aviary again. Her father split Lacewing was mated with a Cinnamon Opaline Grey Green…nothing…I put in one of her sisters [same mutation] first chick hatched this week. I'm hoping mating him to a Cinnamon will increase the chances of Lacewing daughters. FALLOW: Mated my purchased Fallow hen Green Normal Dominant Pied [looks like Cinnamon Yellow] with my Blue Normal Fallow cock…on eggs. BLACK EYED SELFS: BES cock [purchased] was with Cinnamon Opaline Grey Green hen…did nothing…changed to her sister same mutation…now on eggs. BES hen mated to Dark Wing Yellow cock…first batch all eggs clear…so I used them to foster some young. Then I didn't know whether to let them go again & risk another batch of infertile eggs or change him, but one day I noticed them trying to mate & I had a perch in their cabinet at an angle where it went very close to the roof & when he tried to mate with her she kept moving into that area & there was no room for him to get on top. So I removed that perch…this week their eggs began hatching. SADDLEBACK: Sad news there my only hen is paired with a split SB cock, nothing doing & sadly I think she is going to be a failure…something weird about her & one of my most expensive purchases. TEXAS CLEARBODY: I put a Sky Blue Opaline hen with one of my Yellow TCB cocks, which I know is split Blue to try for some Blue series TCB's, as I have none. They are on eggs. DUSKS: Some Dusks just removed to aviary, promised pictures soon…most just look like Grey Greens [green series] but maybe they will get that darker colour on their first moult. Have one Blue series bird so far, lost a couple other Blues as reported earlier. The Blue series looks more interesting, hard to explain colour somewhere between Violet & Mauve. More feathering up at the moment. PROBLEM: I had a nice Grey Green cock that I bought from a bird dealer [nice looking bird, bit old] paired with a Cinnamon Opaline Grey Green hen [bought from Hunter Valley show] they had four young in first batch. No problems…Now on their second batch & because of lack of pairs breeding & large batches of eggs hatching I had fostered some chicks to them as eggs. They had 7 young, when one TCB fell out of the nest, found it with it's head bitten quite badly, replaced it in the nest. Next day on inspection it was dead…a few minutes later when passing the cabinet saw the cock bird with blood all over his mask, checked the nest found three young just over pin feather stage with wounds to their heads…removed cock. Fostered some young to another pair who I had removed their larger chicks to aviary…seem accepted okay. I seem to be getting too many young attacked when leaving the nest making me remove most young to the aviary soon after leaving the nest, as a precaution. Can't remember having these problems when I used to breed when I was younger & then my breeding cabinets were just made from wooden fruit case I got from the Green grocer & weren't as large as my breeding cabinets I use now. Well that's my latest news hopefully I might have some interesting young to show you soon.

You must think Phat Tony is pretty special Kaz, as your not even holding out for cake as well? Those chicks look really great Libby, I'm pretty sure some will turn out special. I think Mum & Dad are pretty good looking birds so it's to be expected. The Fallow looks nice too; my Fallow pair is now on eggs so hopefully it wont be too long before I have some picture to show off too. I'd be a bit careful about using the name Precious…as I called a dog "MY PRECIOUS" & it ended up going a bit crazy.

It’s certainly got plenty of directional feather, will be good to see what it looks like when fully feathered…I put my rings on their right legs.

I admit I also use Ivermectin; every bird that comes into my aviary gets a drop, as a prevention to the introduction of mites & worms. Apart from that I try as much as I can to keep my birds as healthy as possible with good sound food, soft food to increase protein & supply minerals & daily fresh greens, but I’m lucky in that sense as I live in the country & have plenty of room to grow unpolluted green food.

They are as cute as…I hope all turns out with things Kaz & life calms down a little for you. Not sure it’s going to be that calm soon but with all those expected visitors wanting cake etc…tell me the date it’s happening & I will see if…

These are some of my thoughts on feeding drugs & chemicals to birds. In the wild, birds or any other animal in fact, breed each year if the conditions are right. Of the birds bred only a small proportion of them ever survive till maturity to breed, its called survival of the fittest. I also think that you have to keep birds in the environment that you wish them to live & see which birds can cope with it, as it’s impossible for us to provide an environment like they would experience in the wild. In my opinion from reading what others do on the net, I feel that too many chemicals are used. As soon as, or even before a bird is sick they are given a drug. At one of our club meetings someone made the statement that you never need to loose a bird these days through sickness. I think this idea is the reason that today some strains of birds need drugs to survive, there has been no selection by nature in their birds & only birds that the breeder likes are kept, especially if a bird complies with the standard of perfection for showing. There seems to be no thought or idea that it’s important for the bird to survive in its environment as well. If birds are popped up like this & bred from for successive generations, of course you will build strains of birds that can’t survive without them. I have in the past fed antibiotics for what I thought was Psittacosis [didn’t have a vet check] years ago it was recommended that it had to be fed for 30 days…of late the instructions says now 45 days. When I used it, it was Vetafarms…I fed it to Neophemas, Cockatiels & Budgies. I saw little if any effect & eventually had to kill the birds infected in most cases, it kept others alive, but they turned out useless anyway. And it was expensive. Also even though vets issue some of these chemicals, even antibiotics, the experts tell you they shouldn’t be used unless to cure an infection, not as a preventive, other wise they will build up immunity & later be useless in coping with real problems when they occur. I also thought that my infections were possibly introduced by mice entering the aviaries & after years of trying everything I found it impossible to remove this avenue completely. So even after spending amounts of money, the next day it could be introduced again. My thought is that the only real cure is like in nature through breeding. I have always found when you buy in birds you have greater losses in the first few generations until the birds adapt to your conditions or you remove the weak ones. I have started out in Budgies again in the last couple of years & even without using drugs I have only lost a small number of birds & I noted that most were from a couple of families. This year we have had exceptional wet humid conditions & I started loosing a few birds, one here one there. I have approximately 300 birds that I have bred this year & so far I have lost something like around 20 birds. It always hurts to loose birds, especially when they are birds you had set your sights on as good birds. But I feel I have to be realistic…all birds can’t survive & I hope by letting nature select theses birds that I can’t see anything wrong with, nature is helping me breed more healthy birds. If your main thing in life is to breed that National champion, well that bird just might die sadly, but if you want to be a breeder that has the bird fancy & its future in mind…especially to breed strong healthy birds, I feel that’s the way to go. If you only keep one of two birds as pets & don’t breed, well that’s a different situation…keep your friend alive at any cost if that’s what you want.

I think for showing that an Opaline Spangle should have some Black markings in the wings…but I like birds like that, in the Opaline series, that have only the two colours…only Green & Yellow & in the Blue series Blue & white.