Norm

okay here’s my 2 cents…I’m not sure about the Mauve thing, as I have seen what some say is Mauve on here & I thought Mauve was something different than that. My thoughts on the oldest chick & Kaz’s bird are that they are YF2 Grey Normals. I think if they were Mauve they would have to have some Blue, in their tails. Dave’s chick has a Yellowier face than Kaz’s & it’s younger, so it could be GF except that I can see Yellow bleed in the chest & tail. Kaz’s chick had a more Golden face when young; I thought they always moulted out darker not lighter; maybe it’s just the different photos. The second chick…I can’t see a lot of its body colour, only the rump, it could be a Grey Green, but I think it’s also an YF2 ParBlue Spangle. The third chick…the same an YF2 ParBlue Spangle, with poorly marked wings. My reasons, for my ideas, like Ellulah says, I think Dad is a YF2, I have some Spangles that look like him & they’re what are known as ParBlue, like Ellulah says they have some blue under their wings & on the legs & are not Green series birds. I’m going out on a limb here, I think that Mum is masking Grey, even YF, she would have to be paired with a Blue series bird later to confirm that. Those Spangle chicks could be Grey also, with Green bleed in the chests like their father. okay what do others think…interesting batch Dave.

I agree with the others, looks like a hen & first off I thought Cinnamon, but I think it’s just baby feathers & will get the more black, of the normal after moulting.

Thanks guys. I hope now that it’s just an amount of time, for whatever needs to heal; I don’t think I will loose it now. When it gets better I will try it with another bird, a hen & see how they go. It’s just so strange to me, that it doesn’t make any noise, it can hear the other birds close by, but doesn’t call out. It’s not deaf, as if we make a noise in the room it gets excited.

Like Daz says, here in Australia, especially where the birds live in their native habitat, it gets extremely hot. But also like he says your bird is used to Canada & a hot day will make it pant. Do the best you can to make it more comfortable for her, but one thing I wouldn’t do is go too close when she leaves the nest, as that may be her way of cooling the chicks & if you scare her straight back into the nest, you will disturb it. On hot days here near 40c they will stand on the perch with their wings out from their sides & pant, it’s normal, I’m pretty sure they will survive.

Yes Marlony, there are sort of two types of Black Budgie, the anthracite & the black faced ones, neither of which I think are available in Australia. The Anthracite is a definite mutation, that must just happen or you get some stock from someone, where as the Black Face maybe can be bred via selection.

I bought some new birds two weeks ago, this is a picture of the one that wasn’t well. The day after I got them it didn’t look like it was going to make it, it was on the floor with its wings hanging down, trembling& wheezing. I left it for a day or so to settle from the stress of being at the sale & traveling. I just put it in this cage in the house near the fire. I treated it with Ivermectin & the wheezing stopped & put some antibiotic in its water. At first it just sat on its perch & rarely went for a feed. It now seems to have improved it feed more often & when it hears me, it now in the last few days jumps from perch to perch something it didn’t do at all, the strangest thing is that in two week it hasn’t made one sound. Maybe it has some lung damage from air sac mites, but maybe it’s just scared that if it makes a sound it will be outside in the cold with all the others. It is a Green rung bird so quite young & not too bad a looking bird, so I hope all goes well. An Opaline Grey Green Cock.

Your not the only one Kaz, looks like we have similar ideas. Looks like your ahead of me.

Thanks for all those articles Daz…good to get other breeders ideas.

I have just ordered some rings from Chapman Rings Mortdale NSW 02-95333785 chapmanrings@bigpond.com they said I could order more by email…I have the price list here 100 coloured budgie rings coloured un numbered $22.40 numbered $40.75 plus $2.50 postage minimum order 20 extra $1 up to 100 you would have to ask price of less than 100 as not shown on list. They said about 3 weeks del. Hope that helps.

Cod-live oil… I bought some to mix in my soft food, Cod Liver oil was used lots years ago & you could buy a cheaper source, for animals & birds, but these days with all the synthetic vitamins & the reductions in the cod fisheries in the North Sea off the UK, I could only find a small bottle, which I thought was expensive over $7. After reading Daz’s article from that talk by David Phalen… Daz’s post 31 May…I have wondered about that Calcivite, I have never used it myself, but in Phalen’s article, he is saying that Calcium toxicity is the most dangerous with Budgies, he recommends Cuttlefish & Calcium blocks, I’m just thinking that if you feed a Calcium product in the water, it seems to me that the birds have to take it, if they need water, instead of just taking as they need, with Cuttlefish or the block. What do you think? Daz says he feeds his 4 days every 4 weeks, I guess that would be safe.

The times I introduced another male, there wasn’t another male in the cage, so that could be a complication. Don’t worry a hen can do a pretty good job by themselves, but might be a little tired after. If the other pair don’t hatch too many babies, you can foster some to them. I use plastic lids from jars, as soft food dishes, it’s best not to give large amounts just little, fresh & often. I have never put food inside of nests.

I would probably think it is okay Tal, but best wait & see if anyone has tried it.

Kaz, the second Spangle, the greenish one, what would you call it’s full mutation [colour] is it a YF? Nice birds, I like the Blue Spangle the best.

That Eucalypt pictured looks like it is an inland species & I think most Eucalypts are safe, but as I said before, be careful buying a Peppermint, as that’s a common name used for many plants, not a botanical name & some could be poisonous. Kaz shows earlier a picture of the Peppermint they are using together with the correct botanical name, so that would be safe.

They look Nice Aly...good luck with them>

Yes I agree Feathers, those birds that are immune to the mite will still carry it & if you don’t treat all birds that have been in contact, it will spread again to the other birds…so if one bird shows it, treat all & like Feathers & I have said we treat all birds coming into our possession, as in the early stages it can’t be seen. The oil treatment is the way to go if you have one of two birds, but for flock treatment Ivermectin is best.

The complete mutation of Baby is Opaline Light Green Clearflight all her male babies will also be split for Opaline, but not the females as Opaline can only be shown by females & not carried in the split form, as it’s a sex linked mutation. Like the others have said unless she is split for blue all babies will be green, the males will be split for Opaline & all young will mask the Yellow face blue, as green is dominant over blue, you will also have a 50% chance that the young will be Clearflight like Baby, as this also is Dominant. If Baby is split for blue, you have the chance of Green babies, some White faced Blue babies & also some Yellow faced young. If Tiki is Split for Opaline you can get Opalines of both sexes. Also you can get babies of some Recessive characters if both Baby & Tiki are split for the same gene…so could be interesting.

Colony breeding has many hassles as many have said, but there is one thing that is an advantage I think. I also have some aviaries with one pair in them & as with the colony system, once they come out of the nest they stay out, mostly. The problem I have in the cabinets is that they seems to be late in leaving the nest & even after they leave I often have trouble with them going back into the nest, some seem to never want to leave & often the hen is with eggs again. So often I have to remove them before I would really like, otherwise they will addle the new eggs. So far most of the chicks seem to survive after being quite for few days in the young birdcage, they soon get used to it & join the flock. Most of my breeding cabinets are actually two cages & can be divided in two I’m thinking of getting some mesh dividers, especially for feather pluckers, so the young can be confined to one end, but still be fed by the cock trough the wire. I find in the aviary situation, colony or single pair, that I can leave the young longer with their parents, but it’s advisable to remove them after they are feeding well, as some hens can get quite vicious after a short time with their young & if left the young themselves are often quite nasty to the next batch that leaves the nest.

Good job Feathers, it’s good to have the chance to repair such horrible damage, with the Ivermectin, I think you will see change in a few days, but the oil must help release some of the caked stuff. You will feel good after they come back to health, it’s sad like someone said that something like that can get so bad, before anyone thinks of doing something, the damage is so obvious. Yes Mandy you need to treat all birds that have been in contact or housed together & also the Cockatiels. I think any type of bird can be infected by Scaly Mite, even if it’s not obvious, so all need treatment & I think the Ivermectin, though expensive is the best, as it remains active in the birds for about 21 days & clears up any eggs that hatch later. I bought some birds that I didn’t see it on & months later it emerged, I just treated with Ivermectin, I didn’t spray the cages at all & it has never came back. I think it’s recommended to retreat after 21 days, but in practice I have never had problems after one treatment. I treat all new birds that I get straight away, as it can remain undetected for months, & then you find all your flock is infected. At a resent sale we had here I saw a breeder who looked like he had been in the game for years & he had beautiful parrots & Lorikeets [expensive birds] & lots of them too & I saw most of them had terrible legs affected by mites. So you wonder, maybe some just don’t know.

If the Lutino is split for blue you will get both, but if not you will only get Lutinos, as green is dominant over blue [albino].

I read on here so many are worried, that they don’t want to breed their budgies & the humping worries them. The only solution is to get a different mind set about humping. They will probably slow down a little as they get older [like us all]. Just look at what you are asking them to do; you keep budgies as a pet, often completely by themselves, except for their doting owner. A budgie by nature is a very gregarious bird, which lives its life in large flocks in arid areas. By nature & natural selection, they have become a little breeding machine, for their survival. So you stick them in a small cage, pump them full of lovely healthy stimulating foods, so nature clicks in & all they have is their toys or feed trough, what do you expect to happen. I don’t want to sound cruel, but just think about it, you always want the best for your bird, I read it all the time. But what you expect of your bird is really the cruelest thing; you wish to deny it its very nature. So all I can suggest is just change your mind set as I say, let the dear little thing have its small pleasure. Try not to let it worry you. This is not just for Bea, but many here…I hope I’m not being too honest for some of you…reality is reality.

Ains, if I were you I would just leave things go as they are. You can’t remove the other pair as they have eggs too. Yes the cock will think it’s great having two hens, but it will be a big strain on him. He will try to feed both of them. Just hope that both pairs don’t get too many young that hatch, as that will make the strain worse. Males are very accommodating, if you have another male at all you could add him to the aviary, but I would wait till some of her babies hatch, as he may encourage her to leave & start a new, but once the babies hatch, he will probably pair with her & continue to help feed the babies. I have done this myself & it’s worked, I have even replaced a cock that was not fertile during feeding of some fostered young, with a new male so that when she went down on eggs again, which usually happens so quick after the chicks are raised, so that the next eggs would be fertile & it worked fine. Within a day the new cock paired with the hen & continued to help. Miss Purple will spend more time out of the nest, as she must feed herself more now that she has lost her mate, she wont stay long enough I would think to effect the eggs & she probably is being fed some by the other male.

Sorry Dave I made a mistake I can see the body colour, now so no Lutinos. That oldest chick looks like a Grey Green as it has the black tail, Mum [the albino] must be masking Grey. The second chick I would say is a Spangle & that third, [the lightest] could be a Cinnamon Spangle as Kaz says, but I can’t see any colour in those wings at all, I’m wondering Recessive Pied…maybe both parents are split for Recessive Pied. It’s got a dark spot of colour on its body; we will have to wait a few more days.

Nice chicks Shann…I like Lucein, he’s a Texas Clear Body, something I hope to get soon…nice birds. Looking at the Clear Body genetics, you should be able to get Texas Clear Body hens from that pairing of him to a Normal Opaline Blue hen, but I think that yellow chic is going to be a Lutino hen. Lucein must be split for Lutino or at least red eye. All the cock from him will be split for Texas Clear Body. Some of those chicks with dark wing pin feathers could by TCB hens if they get clear breast feathers…good luck.

As I said before Paul, they look wonderful chicks, those young cobalts or violets look nice, I have yet to breed a violet, & something I hope to have the pleasure of soon. That one Grey especially looks like it has good potential, best of luck with them. It’s nice how all you guys in the west swap birds etc & can visit & check each others birds out, it’s a bit quite like that here. That's why this forum is so good for me.