Norm

My personal opinion is that it’s probably a lost cause; even without knowing it’s age something looks drastically wrong with it. The fact that it’s nest mates have progressed so much more than it, would suggest that & even with help, even if it survived, after such a setback, I don’t think it would ever be normal. If you feel better trying to help it, by all means do, but I don’t think it would get over such a set back at this stage. Sorry. Also as you suggest, it doesn’t seem to be for lack of food, so must be something deeper wrong.

Well after about one month in solitary confinement, I decided to risk a young hen with him to see if that would make him perk up some more. Well that didn’t work, he was scared of her & she screeched at him & lunged at him a few times. He became a nervous wreck & got down on the floor with his wings out & panting hard. I left her for a few days, but it didn’t work, so I took her away, after she left he spent most of the day eating at the food dish. I think he may be a lost cause now, as I decided to have a closer look at his ring, I thought he was young, as it was Green like this years ring, but on closer inspection I think it was the last time Green was the colour so he may be something like 7 years old. My eyes aren’t like they used to be, even with my glasses, on the ring was KM which was on the old Kempsey Macleay ring, this club is no more & there is a new club starting up. As best I could work out, it had SBS in small writing across the ring, then XI maybe roman numerals, also across the ring then KM & a number, no year. So part of his problem may be that he is over the HILL. :yellowhead: A bit like me...they say once your over the hill it's real easy...it's all down hill from there ...(Laughing out loud).

In the second clutch I have one Normal Green Spangle, one YF2 Blue Spangle & a Normal Green. So I only got the two hens exactly like him from the first batch, but I shouldn't have any trouble breeding them, one already laid an egg in a nest I had in the avairy & she hasn't even got her adult plumage yet, so I put her in a cage where there is no nest. I'm thinking to mate them to Opaline cocks.

Well it happened again, as soon as the young in the nest were almost fully feathered, the cock attacked them, this time worse than before, this time he even drew blood. So he’s off… gone back to the aviary. They only hatched three this time, it was strange the first batch was 8 eggs all fertile, then the next batch 8 again, but none fertile, maybe it was because I took him away till the chicks left the nest & then returned him, before she began to lay, but maybe it was too late to get them fertile. Then this last batch only three hatched out of 8. Anyway at least I got some nice birds from them; I hope none of them get his viscous streak. Luckily it’s rare for cocks to be as viscous, mainly it’s the hens, Aly had that cock that was attached by the hen. Luckily that’s rare also. I like this cocks colour, so now I have 11 young from them, not all like him, but some nice colours, so hopefully I can breed from there, I don’t think he will get another chance.

Yes, very nice Paul...Found a green face [above] He He He!!!

Maybe that answers my question in the other post. A little bit of swapping going on, I guess, wish I had some people with good birds here to swap from…envey… :devil: no green faces available...(Laughing out loud).

Yeah they look good Paul, I saw where Kaz got that nice Opaline Grey, are you just keeping to Ino’s?

Does it look like the toes were bitten off, or that it was born that way Kaz? Just interested to know.

Just going back to Aly’s bird, [the Olive] which we have all decided is actually a Grey green…re the bit about it being a YF…I still don’t really know if a Green series bird is carrying YF, whether it is masking it or is split for it…YF is only dominant over a Blue series bird, but since it’s considered a Dominant trait & birds can’t be split for Dominant, is [when it’s mated to a Green series bird & “disappears”] it just being masked, as an Ino masks it’s true colour. I used to think that Grey was a Blue series bird, but now I have read that it’s a colour-adding factor. In the Green series it’s a Grey Green, Blue series it’s Grey. I don’t think there’s any way apart from when you breed a Green series bird to “know” if it is masking YF…Grey’s will show the YF, but in the Grey Green it’s not visual. I hope I’m making some sense? I wonder whether the Grey factor complicates things? I have a pair, paired up that just had its first batch; the hen is a Grey Green Cinnamon Dominant Pied, the cock an Opaline Light Green. They have had one YF2 Dominant Pied chick, I think it’s the grey green hen that’s carrying it, but I guess I can’t be sure. Now lets talk about the Violet Sky Blue…to me it looks like a Sky Blue, do I get it wrong, from that quote Kaz quoted from Karen…I understand from that that the Violet Sky Blue looks like a Cobalt, but can be told by the fact that it has “the tail feathers are turquoise at the quill end darkening to blue toward the tip.” The idea I got from it was that these are characteristics of Sky Blues & that was the way you could tell a Violet Sky Blue from a Cobalt. But first of all it had to look something like a Cobalt…is that right. Sorry Aly, see you shouldn’t steal birds, see how much controversy it stirs up he…he…he. :devil:

I bought a bird about three weeks ago, that sounds pretty much like yours, I still don’t know what the problem is, it was wheezing at first, so I treated it for airsac mites, with Ivermectin, it’s wheezing stopped, but it still is a heavy breather. I have just kept it separate from my other birds, in case it’s contagious. Also I have kept it warm & it is slowly improving. Airsac mites can damage the lungs & this damage could take some time to repair, I haven’t had a lot of trouble with airsac mites with Budgies, so I’m only guessing, to find out for sure maybe a vet would be a good idea, my bird is silent also & doesn’t make a sound, does yours?

A Pied bird is a common type of mutation that just lacks pigment in certain areas, at random, whereas, as Sailorwolf says, halfsiders are birds with two separate DNA’s fused, quite rare. Pieds when mated together can reproduce their mutation, but I don’t think halfsiders can.

???? :offtopic: good one Elly, He He He!!! was that too late or too early... :(Laughing out loud): :devil:

Yes Kaz & KathyW, got it right, I hope the idea of the infertile cocks will work. I have sort of had it work, not exactly, but I had one of the infertile cocks with a hen & non of her eggs hatched, so I gave them a couple of foster chicks from another pair, then after the chicks were a few weeks old, I took the infertile cock away & substituted another cock, who after a few days helped her finish feeding the chicks & then got all her next batch [8 eggs] fertile. So switching can work, but maybe certain birds will be better than others. Hens seem pretty promiscuous, I read in an article that wild hens have been seen mating with several males, it’s quite common, as this gives the hen a much bigger genetic spread with her young, more chances of survival of her chicks. One of the infertile cocks I dearly want to get some young from, so if he scores some chicks it will be a bonus anyway. Kaz most of my cabinet units are three also, but I built them for breeding canaries, so I can have three lots breeding, then remove the dividers in the non breeding season, so they can fly the full extent. But now that I am using them for Budgies, I thought the bigger [double unit] was better, so only made two, as then the other one unit wasn’t much use for breeding budgies.

Thought you might like to see my new cabinets I built using pine. I build them with a divider position in the middle in case I need to divided, for any reason, sometimes I use them to breed canaries & they don’t need such a big cage. Also I thought they might come in handy if I decided to try using one cock with a number of hens. I have a couple of cocks that seem to be infertile, I was going to get rid of them, then thought with that idea of using a good cock with more than one hen, maybe I could make use of them. I could run them with the hen, then confine them to one side & run the cock in that I want to mate with them, then return them to the hen, after to help feed the young, that I “hopefully” will get. :budgiedance: I used cage fronts that are secured using those plastic things, that hold fly screens in place [don’t know their proper name sorry]. This enables me to remove them to clean out the cages when necessary. I was looking on here & I notice others were also looking for cage fronts, I eventually got mine from Chandlers [the ring people] from Sydney, I think they are just the middle people, don’t know if they make them themselves.

That pair that I spoke about that had so much down, wasn’t really what you would call show birds or British, but I think lots of birds have the British influence these days. The hen, the Sky Blue, just looks like a pet type, but she has very long looking body. The YF2 Dominant Cobalt Pied, looks a nice bird, but not really show type. Here’s a picture of them [not such a good one sorry].

Looking good Dave, I have noticed some young go onto the greens straight away & I like to give it to them, just in case they are slow at finding the water. But then others don’t it’s like everything, each have different characters; I think your pretty safe, if she is a screecher, that it is a hen. I don’t think Mum is playing favourites, your name seems appropriate, she is just Independent, I think it’s mostly the young that choose when to leave & some are very hesitant & if they are getting plenty to eat the will just stay put. I don’t know if it’s true, but I have a theory that they start to hold off a bit on feeding, which encourages the young to leave eventually.

Michelle, with a big batch like that, I’m afraid that you could have a problem with the last smaller ones. I have more than one batch going at a time & if I get so many in a batch I will try to foster it to another batch with less babies or babies the same age, but you haven’t got that choice. It depends on the parents, some are amazing & will rear them all, but others just don’t manage it. It may be a good idea to not look at them too much for a day or two, to give the youngest ones a chance to get some size. As I’m sure you notice as you disturbed them, the older ones will mill around & also maybe the mother, which wont be so good for the littlest ones. With breeding & with keeping anything like Budgies, regrettably you will get some losses sometimes, sometimes it can’t be helped. I know it can be sad, but that’s life not everything makes it.

If they haven’t had Cuttlefish for some time they will get stuck into it, but after that they will probably slow down & only eat as they need

To me it’s amazing that that desire to get wet in the rain, must be genetical, some how embedded through time in their DNA. As my aviaries are completely covered over the top & they have no accesses to that luxury. So my birds including Cockatiels especially, I have noticed of late, when it rains outside, the birds go automatically into that bathing pose, fluffing up their feathers, holding their wings out & going through the actions of getting wet, when in their whole lives they have never had that experience, so it can’t be a learned response.

This works with all types of birds, including chickens, of course the bird has to only “be dead” from lack of warmth, if something is really wrong with it [sick] the warmth alone wont bring it back. Also it's only a short window of possibility, if the period of chill is too long, nothing will bring it back, but it's sure worth a try in most cases.

Earlier this year I noticed two chicks in a nest, with splayed legs, where the mother completely cleared any nesting material I had place in the box. I immediately placed plenty of material in the nest & replaced the chicks. Within a couple of days, all symptoms of the splayed legs had vanished & the birds grew up normal.

I’m pretty sure you are both right. Also the fluffier are probably the more buff birds. I am going to take more notice from now on. I agree Macka that the more pet type birds, seem to have the better coloured feathers [more intense colours] I’m in the process of trying to blend some of the good points of both types, it will be interesting to see how I go. I guess those British ones got their woolly coats, while they were in Britain…(Laughing out loud).

Kaz I have an Opaline Spangle that is similar to yours & has the wing markings Green like him, but he has the Green triangle too. I think there’s some variation in lots of colours [not like the norm] like Green marking when usually they are black & maybe no triangle of green when there should be…it soon will be solved anyway, if he is Opaline he will get Opaline daughters. Some of those new Opaline show type birds I bought the other week have lots of Black marking in the triangle area, which is a fault, whereas some of my others have very little markings there. Did You breed Luigi yourself Kaz? You know he is split Blue do you know anything else? I didnt breed Luigi myself. He has had other babies, so I know he is split to blue. He may also be golden face. All his other babies have been opalines with an opaline hen previously. If he has had Opalines, with an Opaline hen…he’s Opaline, no more questions. If he has had Opalines, with an Opaline hen…he’s Opaline, no more questions. that last one turned out a mess & I couldn't find out how to edit it... As I tried to say Kaz...If he has had Opalines, with an Opaline hen…he’s Opaline, no more questions.

Lucky girl Aly, some nice birds, can I have the Lacewing… you got those birds because the lady was moving, you must be just about ready to move also, out of the house & leave it to the BIRDS.

Has anyone noticed quite a variation of Down on their chicks, I hadn’t noticed it that much, but with seeing every ones pictures of their babies on here & then I put this new pair down, a DF Dominant Pied & a Sky Blue Normal hen, they were fantastic feeders on their first batch & the babies grew so big, but what I noticed was that their young looked like sheep, with such white & fluffy down. I thought I should take pictures & show everyone, but didn’t get around to it, I will if it happens again, as they are on their second round now. They reared 6 nice Dominant Pied, that’s why I’m saying he’s DF. Since then I have noticed that some other pairs that I have, have virtually no down at all. Some of them are good feeder too, so I think it’s genetic. I may have more variation, as I have bought birds from many sources, maybe if your birds are closer related or from one source it won’t vary so much. What are others experiences?