Wayno

Hi All, Im a fairly experienced when it comes to Budgies, but i need help with the following scenario. I have a pair of nice English Budgies. The Hen is 2 Years old, Yellow Face Blue. Cock is a Cinnamon. I checked their cage this morning, Baby number 6 has hatched. The hen is experienced and looks after her babies well. When i checked the cage this morning the cock bird was dead att he bottom of the cage. No visible signs of why he died. What do I do with the Hen bird, will she be able to look after all 6 babies, should i foster a few babies out? Should I introduce a new cock bird to her that may help with the feeding? Any advice would be appreciated..

Now if i am right with what i said previously, can I then start introducing Yellow Face Birds to DOminant Pieds or wont that work? Can you get a Dominant Pied Yellow Face in Blues or Greys. One last question, I am also getting into Crested Varieties, If i keep breeding can I introduce Cresteds to Dominant Pieds?

All my birds are Cabinet Bred. Here is a picture when he was a baby SO what you are all saying is, If I breed the young from the pairs to a Grey or Bloue Bird then their offspring should be split blue and thats when I will get different Dominant Colours?

Hi Everyone, Been a while since I've posted on here, I try and get on at least once a day to read comments by everyone. I've just about finished renovations to my Aviary/Bird room. I have made my bird room bigger as I'm now breeding Budgies and Finches and wanted a little more room. I successfully bred about 5 young Dominant Pieds last year from 2 pairs which I am looking at Breeding. They are all Green/Yellow Colour. Now if I wanted to try and breed these birds and produce some Grey and Blue Dominant Pieds what colour budgies should I pair them with? Below is a summary of their parents. Pair 1 Cock - Green/Yellow Dominant Pied Hen - Olive Produced 1) Green/Yellow Dominant Cock 2) Green Cock 3) Olive Green/Yellow Dominant Cock 4) Green/Yellow Dominant Hen Pair 2 Cock - Green Hen - Green/Yellow Dominant Pied Produced 1) Green/Yellow Dominant Cock 2) Violet or Mauve Cock Any help would be appreciated.

Mine has blood from irritated pin feathers from its moult. SO Kaz, does this usually clear up itself, or do you need to do something special? Great Birds by the way. Do you know where i could find information on Bird Auctions In Victoria.

Kaz, The Blue Cock in pair 2 has some reddish marks around its cere, can you please tell me what this is as I have a Budgie who looks similar and also has these red marks. Thanks

I have no idea how it happened, Now that she has raised the 3 chicks, I have removed her into a cage on her own to let her recover a bit. I do this with all my hens.

Hi I have a georgous Adult Hen who has just brought up a beautiful clutch of 3 White Chicks. Just before the baies left the nest this Hen lost her tail. Can i expect this tail to grow back? The Hen is about 3 years old.

What about Cauliflower? is this safe to give to Budgies. I'm talking more of te stem and the green leaves around it, had heaps left over today and was going to give it to my budgies.

Hi All, I have now been set up for 8 months and had a pretty good breeding season from Sept to Jan, Bred about 50 Young from 20 or so pairs. Which i think is pretty good for just starting. I've now built up my collection of birds. My question to all of you. When do you pair up your Budgies? Is there a certain time of year/season you wait for? Most of my birds have not been breeding since Jan/Feb 08. I only have a selected few pairs breeding at the moment. As I'm in Victoria which can get cold in Winter I was thinking about pairing my birds up either Queens Birthday weekend in June. Or the Middle of July and breed them for 2 Clutches Each depending on how each pair goes. Would it be too cold at this time of year? or do Budgies breed all year round? I do breed my budgies in a bird room but it is Outside.

Well done Kaz, I hope you find it.

Kaz, I hope you get him, I feel as though I have Mozed you into a RAT Appearing. I'm sorry... Here I am complaining about Mice and you have a RAT. I worked all day on the aviary today, concreted all holes i could see and found 4 dead this morning, so Wayno is on his way back. Looked out to the aviary this evening with a light on and still can see some but i have bait and traps everywhere. I hope i win eventually.

Yeah i dont' like the idea of doing that either. Could alleviate the problem very quickly though. On the instructions it says on leave in there for 2 hours and dont leave over night. I only see Mice overnight never during the day, so not sure about it

Kaz, Can you tell me more about this automated Mouse Trap, does it kill the mice or catch them alive? Is it safe to put in an aviary or in places like a bird room?

Interesting night last night. Didnt find any holes this morning in the Garden Beds, each morning for the past 5 days there have been holes and i have been covering them up. But this morning they didnt dig through. Wonder Why? I also brought a mouse contraption, it is skinny and is made of steel, you put it on the floor of the aviary, it is long and skinny., It opens up at the top, you put Mouse bait in the middle and close it. At each end is a tiny hole which only mice can get through. I tried it last night and half the bait is gone. Its a good thing beacuse hopefully the mice have gone away to die and a bad thing is that if half the bait is gone does that mean I have a nice colony of mice? The Bait cant really get out of the hole so is pretty safe for the birds, plus i remove it from aviary first thing in the morning. The bait was from Bunnings and is Green. I also brought a bucket of really strong bait called TOM Cat (Its Red), anyone heard of this? Will try this tonight it is meant to be much stronger than the Green Stuff. Sat morning will cover up some hole ive found with concrete.

Kaz,Are you saying thay can jump off the ground up 600mm? Never seen that before, only really see them climb up wireHere is another question for you Kaz, How would you go about getting rid of the mice that are tunneling in the Garden beds in my aviary. I cover the holes up each day but in the morning again they have dug through. Should i flush them out with water? or do i need to dig them out? or do you have any other suggestions?Working on it this weekend.. Thanks for that idea about plumbers pipe, I was looking at doing that anyway this weekend, someone told me to drill the hole at one end and to put bait inside, making sure the bait cannot come out. But not sure about this as i have brought some bait that is really strong and i'm worried it might get to the birds, but if i try it in the bird room first might have some luck. I have 4 traps out with peanut butter but havent had any luck the last week, i think they are getting smarter.I'm not sure if aluminium flashing is available in more than 300mm will have to enquire.

okay, Went to Bunnings to get some ideas, what about: Aluminium Flashing, Its very slippery and you can buy it in 10 metre rolls and its 300mm. Do you think it would do the job if i put this at the bottom of the aviary to stop the mice from climbing up the wire. This would at least stop the mice from getting to nests and food sources. Its a start then I can work on eradicating them from the aviary full stop. What do you think?

Will maybe try a combination of everything that has been suggested.. I might try the thick plastic but try and some how double up the ends or something like that, perspex is too expensive. Will keep plugging away, I am so Disheartened at the moment, I just want to beat them.

Melbournebudgies you have been a great help, thats what I love about this site everyone helps each other. Never heard of those mouse deterrent things, I have Power in My aviary? Might be worth a try, do you have any more info on them you can give me? Hey where in Melbourne are you located? You looking for any birds, got some nice young at the moment. Wayno

Hi thanks for all the great feedback for my AVIAR. It was a lot of hard work, but i did have alot of help from a close friend. It did cost me quite a bit of money. But it blends in so well in the back yard. I'm very happy with it. I am working on alterations at the moment but want to try and fix this Mouse Problem first. I'm so whats the word "upset that I have mice" They really annoy me and the way i've built the aviary its going to be hard to stop them, but i suppose if I can cut off the food supply I might get some where. So if plastic won't work I'm not sure what else to use. Clear perspex is very expensive, what about thick plastic? Will keep thinking about it. Thanks again

As you can see from the photo's below, my aviary goes a fair way up, so doubling the wire is almost impossible as there is too much of it and it would not make the aviary as see through as it already is. thanks for the suggestion anyway. http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii283/w...17-02-08005.jpg http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii283/w...17-02-08004.jpg http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii283/w...7-02-08004.jpgI I have flood lights that shine on to the aviary and when i turn these on at night time i can see the mice running around up and down the wire in the inside as they can see the light.I take it the mice would be able to get on to the brick paving I have around the perimeter of the aviary. I suppose I have to put something on top of the Brick Paving so they can not climb up on to the bricks and through the wire and get in. What about Plastic, how thick would the plastic have to be?My Aviary wire is 12.5 x 12.5mm so based on feedback I have received mice can get through that no problem.I think I need to do a thorough check and make sure mice can not get into the Aviary, then I will make some refinements to see if i can keep them out. What about Walls, some of my internal walls are Cement Sheet, would this be the best place to attach food if i needed but to support the food it would have to be attached to some sort of wood, would mice get to the food if I did this.I just feel a bit down at the moment as there are a few mice in there and want to get on top of it before it gets really bad as i know they can breed very quickly. I apologise if those photos are too big, can someone let me know, I might of used the wrong link.

Thanks everyone for your ideas, I think iwill just have to try my best and do what i can.

Kaz, My aviary is made of wood, and lots of wire. The Mice climb up the wire very easily, but i cannot change this. SO are you saying mice can climb up wood as well as wire? I think no matter what i try mice are still going to get in. I dont want to concrete the whole floor of the aviary as this will ruin the look and living arrangements of my finches. I'm really interested in these pedestal feeders you were talking about? At the moment i use steel feeders with a spillage tray underneath. These are attached to a wall of the aviary or are on the floor. I also have quails and leave feed for them on the bottom of the Aviary how can i get around this? I love quails and dont want to get rid of them. If i was to put 50cm pieces of wood around the aviaries at the bottom, do you think the mice would still be able to climb up this wood (I was thinking mdf or something like that!) Open to any ideas. What about the garden beds i want to keep these for my finches, if i was to put water down the holes they dig, do you think that would help as i know mice hate water. Wayno

Hi All, My Aviary has been built for approx 8 Months. My Aviary is seperted into 4 Aviaries, One big Aviary and 3 smaller Aviaries (One of these Aviaries I use as a Bird Room. I have had great breeding results in the first 8 Months breeding around 50 young. In the last month I have noticed a lot more mice in my aviary than usual. I knew when I built my aviary I would have mice as whenever I have had birds in the past I have had mice. I bait and have traps in the bird room and have caught a few. The big aviary has not got a concrete floor and it also has garden beds in it. I have found that the mice are digging holes and making themselves right at home. What I'm asking is what ways can I start getting rid of these rodents. I know I have to plug up 2 holes that I have found that they are coming in from but are there other ways I can try and get rid of them in the aviary. Any suggestions would be welcome. Are mice common in all aviaries as its getting me a bit down at the moment?

Im away at the moment, before i left I had the Green Crested paired up with a Yellow, 6 Eggs and 2 hatched just before I left, So i'm hoping to get back next week to see how they are going. I have good babysitters looking after all my birds at the moment. Wayno