Norm

It's a nice looking bird, I saw it yesterday, but I haven't seen a bird coloured like that before so I was waiting to see what others thought about it. I think it's probably a Grey, Grey wing & the little bit of Green in the body is the bleed of colour. I also think it probably is a Golden Face not a Yellow Face, but I don't know enough about them, to know if Golden Faces have the bleed of Green in their colour. I have some Blue birds with strong Yellow Faces, which I want to post on here to get opinions on later, after I get some pictures. I have some with that strong Golden Face as different to a Creamy Yellow, which I think is more the YF1 & YF2. So my guess Dragonfly-Sky is that it is a Golden Face Grey, Greywing. I think it's check patches look Grey which means it's either Grey or Greygreen.

If the seed is Black & round, it’s probably what used to be called Rape & now has been changed to Canola…because of the connotations of the word “Rape”. It’s a member of the cabbage family, it’s pretty safe, it is very high in oil & if they ate large amounts it may be a problem, but I don’t think there’s much danger of that. Canaries love it…if it’s not round the only other seed that is black that I know is Niger, it’s a long thin seed, again it’s not a problem.

Silver beet is a good green food, but I wouldn’t give her that much that, that is all she is feeding. I would give her enough that she soon eats it all in the morning & then later in the day again, so that she has to eat grain etc as well.

Well after those chicks were feather plucked & I put them on the floor of the cabinet, things didn't look like they were going well, I saw the mother feed one once, but the cock just kept feeding her & the chicks didn't look happy so in desperation I tried fostering the two TCB's with another pair that had 5 chicks at about the same age & they were accepted & the three Lutinos where taken away & put in the young bird aviary, where the youngest is struggling a bit, but they are slowly starting to eat. I find if a bird is being fed a couple of times a day it will continue begging for food, even if it doesn't get much, but once it's on it's own it soon starts to feed itself. Things are not out of the woods yet, but I have the three hen Opaline TCB's that are feathered, one is already in the aviary feeding it's self, the other two with the foster & one left the nest yesterday. Then the TCB to TCB has three Lutinos & 4 TCB's so I'm up to 7 TCB's now…so I'm off & going with Texas Clearbodies. Some pictures as soon as they look presentable. At last yesterday I got my rings after waiting something like a month, the story is that they were delivered to a neighbour of the ring secretary & then returned to the makers & then had to come back again. With a lot of trouble I got rings on 5 birds, but have about 20 birds that missed out on rings & now as luck would have it, I hardly have any birds that require rings for some time.

That’s a good result Zebra…7 less problems.

I would wait & see if both are females, as I would think that the male is probably split for Lutino. Like others have said, results are always % over large numbers, but in my experience you can get batches of one colour & then when you breed again, not see that colour at all for many batches. I’m not sure it’s just chance, as I have seen batches of one colour & then batches of another, it seems that results can be in clusters. Runs of one colour & then another.

I agree with what Kaz has said, there are not many birds that will mix well with Budgies, as they are very aggressive, Java Sparrows are in the same league. Like Kaz says Bourke’s are nice passive birds & I would worry about their survival with Budgies. Some of the bigger parrots you mention are also very aggressive especially if breeding & mostly are best kept a pair per aviary. If you wanted a mixed aviary it would be best to keep to some of the finches & with them only one pair of certain varieties can be kept together.

I agree with Kaz, there’s lots of variation, some of the show type birds have such thick legs. I have put many on & tried them & thought they wont come off, but the next day they are gone & then the next day it was a real struggle to get them on.

I’m sorry to hear you lost another one, it seems you have a good eye for the ones that are not doing so well. It may have been something to do with that the hen wasn’t feeding them enough, but as we say some birds die & often you cant explain it. I hope she will raise the others okay, keep us up to date & pictures would be good later.

I had a Greywing Spangle & didn’t realise it till I mated it to a Greywing & all the chicks turned out Greywing. But your birds markings seem too strong for Greywing.

It seems the name [Rainbow] is used a lot in Europe.

Thanks guys…yes Elly I hope I can start a breeding journal…that’s if they even get eggs…& their fertile…got my fingers crossed.

Your bird looks like a Yellow Faced Blue Spangle…it might be type 2 as you say, but I don’t see much bleed of Green into the body colour. Unless he is split for Albino or any Ino, you wont get Red Eyed chick, but all the young cocks you breed will be split for Albino [carry it] & when bred later will produce Albino hens. Most of your chicks should be Blue & about 50% YF. Spangle is Dominant too, so about 50% of the chicks will be Spangle.

The hen should be able to feed that many chicks okay, especially at that early age. No matter what you do some may die, so it may be that something was wrong with that chick & the littlest may still be okay, as sometimes their crop is looking empty, but nothing is wrong. There’s probably nothing you can do, just keep checking on them & if you have further trouble ask again.

I'm hiding in the bush anyway, so it would be hard for you to find them...(Laughing out loud)...

Most hens stop throwing it out once the chicks hatch or even after they start laying eggs. Good to try putting a little in anyway to help keep it dry.

They all look nice & healthy Liv…the Lutino looks a nice dark colour. The other Yellow bird Looks like a Dominant Pied Light Green & maybe Opaline, as not much markings on the wing, but they look like Opaline markings. It & the Albino look like they could be cocks, the other Pied in the last picture may also be a Dominant Pied, but could also be a Recessive Pied, it’s hard to tell, see what some of the others say.

Looking good Denise, yes it’s amazing how they stack themselves, with the littlest underneath, but still they get fed.

He has already improved a little Elly, so I hope it will continue. I have already paired him with a nice hen that I bought the same day, so I'm hoping he can produce some chicks better than him, if he has the breeding & he will give me some unrelated blood for my TCB's.

At last I got around to getting some photos of my new birds that I got at the Hunter Valley Show. It takes ages to get good photos showing their good points, some haven’t turned out that great, but I’m too busy to spend more time on it. It’s been raining here for almost two weeks now every day; I think the drought is broken here at least. So it has been hard getting everything done, slip slopping in the mud. A Sky Blue Spangle, supposed to be 50% Gazzard 50% Capper. This is a Cobalt, but looks like a Sky Blue in photo, because of flash, does that mean it’s got some Violet in it? From same breeder as the Spangle & similar bloodlines. A Cinnamon Light Green hen, from the same breeder, same bloodlines. An Opaline Light Green cock, from the same breeder, again same bloodlines, I think these were a good buy [as long as they breed] as if I bought a pair I got them for $25 a pair. I couldn't get a better photo as he wouldn't stay still long enough. My new Texas Clearbody, cost me the most [$50] from different breeder [Capper blood] looks a bit like a bundle of feathers. So far the more I have had to pay for birds the worse they look, of course they are rarer mutations, so I suppose I can’t be that fussy if I want to get into them. It trembles a bit & holds it’s head in a downward position, similar to my new Saddleback…but breeder I bought it from assured me it will breed, even gave me his phone number, so maybe I will be lucky. My nice looking Opaline Cobalt cock that I bought recently from the pet shop, has already produced a batch of clear eggs, don’t know if I should give it another round, as I’m wasting so many of my better hens with cock that I have bought that don’t produce. Also that Grey Spangle that had only one wing complete with feathers that eventually grew the other wing back, has been with one good hen for two batches, I checked the eggs the other day & all seemed clear, as was the first batch, so I removed him, to mate her with something else. I left her for a couple of days, then yesterday I went to throw the eggs away, but torched them again & found a little “red spider” [developing chick] in one, so gave that to another hen. So maybe hope for him in the future. He’s a nice looking bird & only an 06 bird.

As Elly says, it’s still a big risk, especially now that she can fly, if she got scared by something she could take off & if it was a bird of prey you could easily loose her.

They are looking good Lucy, I still can’t tell for sure if that third chick is Cinnamon, the markings on it’s head look that way, but there are not much markings on it because of the Pied, to be sure, if those markings on it’s head are Brown [Cinnamon] as I said before it surely will be a female & if it bites more than the others that’s another sign. Kaz seems to like to guess them at that young age, she might help you later. The other two look a bit like males but hard to be sure.

Even some of my buffier birds that I have bred myself & some breeders told me those are the birds you need to breed have had trouble to fly & when they moulted they lost almost all the main flight feathers at once & couldn't fly for weeks, not like other birds that only loose a couple at a time & can always fly. One of my birds I put a photo on here some months ago, that people said was a good type bird I had trouble with & now I paired him with a hen & all the first eggs are infertile. I guess your not suppose to do it, but that photo I showed was off the net some overseas aviary, but I've seen it here as I said. Not mentioning any names, but one of Ozs top breeders whose avairies I visited reasontly had birds on the ground just the same.

Thanks Kaz, yes there always seems plenty of complications.

It seems to be working Kaz, I haven't in fact seen him feed them, but they have good feed in their crops & when he goes close to them, they don't beg for food so they seem okay. She is feeding the others. They are just over the spin feather stage, but they may be feeding themselves as well.