Norm

Yes some nice colours Cindy.

Thanks Daz, I did notice that yours had stronger wing markings.

Yes your new bird is very nice, he should breed you some nice babies…Good luck.

Really sorry to hear of your problems Splat. It can be devastating to have things like that happen & your powerless to know what it is. I was going to suggest to make sure that there is no dampness in the aviary, but you say it's completely under cover. Daz is right about the treatment for Mega, not a bacteria but a yeast, the experts say basically all flocks carry it, but stress can bring it out. Moulting time is always an added stress. I know it's no consolation, but in situations like that I try to look at the only positive thing that you can & that is that any birds that survive, must be stronger & from them you can hopefully breed a stronger line. I fully believe that the one & only long term answer to disease problems are like natures, breed birds that can handle the conditions that we have to keep them in. I have had the same trouble as you suggest, mostly it's the birds I like the best or think that have the greatest potential that I seem to loose. Good luck Splat & I hope the problem is soon solved or stops, the few birds that I lost this year mostly came from two families.

I agree your bird is holding it’s self a lot better & like KylieChappell said maybe the perches are wrongly spaced, not allowing the other bird to show it’s self properly, as the wings below the tail isn’t good. I’m not up on show standards these days, but if the cage wasn’t presented properly that would be enough to disqualify the bird.

Yeah my flock loves noise too. When I’m working in my bird room for some time, I will put the radio on, mainly for myself, but they seem to love it & their noise level goes up a notch. Probably think, come on we can beat that crazy noise box. :fear

Thanks Splat I eventually found your other post.

Legally it might be possible to export to the USA from Australia, as we have a pretty disease free status compared to other parts of the world, but to do it the other way around would be impossible, we have strict quarantine regulations, they did build an expensive quarantine station in Victoria & it was expensive to bring birds in through it, but since bird flue it has been closed, but I did hear rumours that it might be opened again. I think I have seen on here others in the USA saying that they wish they could get YF2 Opaline Spangles, but couldn’t find any, but you would think someone would have them somewhere, just the problem of finding them I guess.

You think it will allow your birds to get out all their frustration before letting them loose in the house & that will save your furniture & other things…(Laughing out loud)…good luck.

Yes that's what they are saying. I think Nerwen, I had the same thing with my two Spangles I mated together, the male has the possibility of being split Lacewing & one of the DF pure Yellow chicks had pink eyes at first, but they are now black. Daz or others, a question I have been meaning to ask about this Spangle to Spangle mating, is it only the young that turn out pure White or Yellow, that are considered DF, I mean all the chicks have Spangle to Spangle parents, but are the normal marked Spangle chicks in these batches still considered SF Spangles? The normal marked Spangles in my batch deffinately seem to have stronger wing markings.

Yes Armchairangel, YF2 is where the Yellow bleeds into the body colour, it usually shows up more later, when the bird gets it’s adult plumage. Yes YF2 Blue Opaline Spangle is one of my favourite colours, they are really beautiful & sorry I don’t think there is any practical way of shipping to you …(Laughing out loud)…it sure would be expensive. I love the wing pattern on these birds that is brought about by the combination of Opaline & Spangle.

I agree with the others it’s difficult, no1 is some sort of Grey Pied, but maybe after the adult moult it will get more definition in it’s wing pattern, it may also have Spangle in it. No2 is an YF2 Dominate Pied, Opaline, Spangle, Blue, the Green is because of bleed into the body & wings from the YF2. It has the Blue patch on the stomach & probably on the rump [can’t be seen].

I agree with Macka...it's used with birds like African love birds, but they have to be mature for it to work very accurately.

In my opinion Budgies are the aggressors, I think it’s a risk mixing anything else with them. I know a lot of people on here do, especially in big aviaries & maybe that works. I have a pair of Cockatiels in most of my aviaries with my Budgies & there haven’t been many problems, but they do have squabbles & it seems to balance out, as the Cockatiels have size over the Budgie, but it’s the Budgies, which have the confidence & aggression, so far no big problems. I used to keep King Quails, but have thought it too big a risk with Budgies, but I read where some have them. I tried Quails some years ago with African Lover Birds [i know that’s a different story] they are very aggressive, it worked for quite awhile, but one day I found all the Quails chewed up. In my opinion Budgies & Java Sparrows are two of the most aggressive birds.

Gorgeous Merlin is GORGEOUS!!! He’s Violet isn’t he Elly?…I don’t know why you guys worry about them having big enough cages to fly back & forward in, as you spoil them with so many toys, that flying isn’t an option…(Laughing out loud). :fear

Awesome news Shawna…really great.

Yeah looking good Kaz, Steel is looking well after the loss of his twin, I especially like his choice of mates, she looks nice as was her Daddy…Macka I think Kaz likes to let nature take it’s course with some of her none show birds & lets true love have it’s chance. Isn't that true Kaz?

I’m not making a comment on the size of those cages, but what I would like to say about them, is which every cage you buy, take those stupid perches out, all the new cages seem to have that type of perch these days, I guess they do it so that the bird can be viewed better, but what the bird needs is at least two perches one on each side of the cage, far enough from the ends so that it doesn’t damage it’s tail, which will let it fly to & throw from one perch to the other to enable it to exercise. The better type cage is one that’s longer rather than higher, so that the bird has a maximum of distance between the two perches to enable it to open it’s wings properly to fly. I would suggest at least 18 inches to two feet wide.

Thanks for those pictures Splat, nice young-uns, that Grey Green looks like it’s got a nice head, not that I’m any show expert, but looks promising to me. How do you know that the DF White is Cinnamon, if it’s not showing it, did it have the redish eyes when real young, like mine? My one being the DF Yellow that I suspect of maybe being Lacewing in my other post. That now doesn't show any sign of Cinnamon, as yet, but had the Cinnamon type eyes when real young. PS. Just a note to the moderators…like Marlony asked the other day, it seems that since the change it’s impossible to edit previous posts later on, if you wish to change something or notice errors. Is that being looked into?

Thanks guys for thoughts & your advice, I thought about putting them out on the floor myself, but one is pretty small & I thought it might get chilled. He seems to be going in to feed them okay so far, I might be able to take the smaller one away in a few days, as have one bird just hatched one chick, but waiting till the chick gets a little bit bigger before I give it such a big nest mate. Then I might put them on the floor, as then some of the larger ones may start to feed themselves also, to ease things.

Wonderful news Shawna…good luck.

Didn’t take them long to settle in Timbo. Good luck.

Yeah thanks Kaz he gets plenty of soft food & greens, so I hope it will be okay, but have had Dad’s that just forget about the bubs when Mum’s gone, but he was in the nest after I removed her body, so I’m hopeful & he comes from a good feeding family. The hen I bought.

Yes I agree with your idea of the colours Nerwen, I was just hoping that the two darker ones might be Violets, must look at the cheek patches like you say, keep forgetting that. I had a disaster with this batch today, I really like the hen of this batch & she was only on her first batch & had hatched 6 & was doing such a good job. I saw her this morning, but this afternoon I went to inspect the nest & she was one of those real protective mothers that wont leave the nest & buried herself amount the babies. When I looked, my first thought was she looks dead, but then thought no she is just under the babies, but on closer inspection she was in fact stone dead. She never looked even slightly sick & was nice & fat, must have been something like heart failure, real sudden. The young still had plenty of food in their crops so I’m hoping Dad can do the job by himself, will have to keep a close watch. I can’t foster as everyone full up at the moment, as one older hen didn’t look good the other day so took her 5 young & fostered all over the place, one batch now has 8 young which I don’t like, but their own chicks are almost feathered, so it’s not like they have had 8 from the beginning. They have 6 of their own. I had high hopes for her, but now she’s gone, but hopefully I will get survival of her 6 chicks. Just one of the pitfalls of breeding, luckily it doesn’t happen every day. :ausb:

Would love to see a picture of your DF Cinnamon white Spangle Splat. My first picture, which was working alright before isn’t working now, [for me] but seems most have seen it, guess it’s just one of the bugs with the new system. Oooh...naughty me, I see it exceeds the size limit...bad boy. Sorry.