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Robyn the babies are looking lovely, love your spangles, they have nice markings. Congrats on your first Df spangle. I love the white ones.

I am always vacuuming to GB, the floor every day, in between wire cages, but only clean cages once a week unless they need it earlier which sometimes the cages do. Especially feeders need to replace them often because the hens poop on them. Can't wait to finish breeding actually so I can finish off my birdroom, I have lino to put down and that should make it heaps easier to clean and mop. Well better get back out there, cleaning cages. Have a really mess at the moment because I come inside for a break.

Exactly right Robyn, I am not buying so much seed again. Yes I always thought it was seed , lol us women should stick to are gut feeling, it is nearly always right don't you think. Anyway all chicks are looking lovely and healthy, 22 little chickies now, I have about 4 nest that seems to have dead in the shell which I didn't have that before. But the eggs look good in colour but they should of hatched by now, so that is disappointing. But they still could hatch. maybe. But all up there are about 12 eggs over 4 nest that should of hatched. I hope I don't have a new problem. I will cry.

Boy your lucky Gb, I have newspaper in the bottom of my trays and still the mess that gets beside and behind is a pain in the but, I even took the wire base out for a trial out and just had newspaper in the tray, I did find it better for the babies because they can pick at the seed instead of going through the wire and being wastes but still it made NO difference on the mess. I clean probably once a week and in between I try and vacuum up what I can get. I don't like to pull the cages out with the nest box attached when there are eggs or chicks in there but I did the other day and the mess I found, I got nearly a bucket of seed and husk from under and at the back of just one cage. Plus I am not really strong so I find it difficult to lift the cages out but when I cleaned the other day probably I had an empty cage on each shelf so I pulled those cages out and then slide the other along to try and get all the seed. I am still torn between the 2, but I do think I find the melamine much easier to maintain and even to clean , easier than a painted surface. This is really interesting on all your views.

I call it the Hobby. Breeder and exhibitioner of quality budgerigars. Well I try to breed quality birds lol. I actually don't think I have ever used the word fancy.

I was out in the birdroom this avro and decided to through out all clear eggs and block off nest to the hens, will put them out in aviary in a couple of days. Tomorrow they will go into a holding cage for a little rest. That has left me with quite a few breeding cages free. So I have decided to put more pair down and this will be my final shot at breeding this year. Will post photos of pairs once I decide. Oh best news ever. My light green spangle which is one of my best birds and full brother to the white boy and sons of teh yellow Df spangle. well I put him with a sky blue cinnamon opaline hen, Geoff siad she is the best hen in my aviary and they are cousins. Well she hatched an egg today and chick is doing fine, I think from memory she only has 3 fertile eggs. But i am very happy about it any way. So I now have 21 little chicks. The chick that died the other day from yellow, well I am still waiting for the other eggs to hatch, still 5 fertile eggs to go, but I am getting worried they won't hatch.

I use Quiko liquid calcium. I tried Calcivet for a while, but then I went back to the Quiko, because I didn't care for the sugar either. Not sure if Quiko is a brand that's available in Australia, though. No I am sure it is not, I believe you can get quiko egg food too, which we can't get here either. it sucks.

Pride there is NO WAY I would breed between November - February, much to hot, When the birds get stressed from breeding and the heat you tend to get french moult.

Thank you Renee, i hope I get some little crackers, need to breed something for the shields, I would of loved to have had something to the shield next year and it got picked for the Nationals but I just guess it wasn't meant to be. Good luck with your 07 birds to Renee.

Thank you Finnie, yes it has been very depressing, balled my eyes out a few times over it all. At least didn't loose any adult birds, that would of being devastating , that would of destroyed me if I lost them. I am still not out of the woods but things are much brighter. 20 little chicks, can't wait to see how they turn out. My worse losses were from my yellow df spangle pairing because he is an 07 bird and father to my white boy, and I am desperate to get more from him but this year every chick of his has died, but the hen has more fertile eggs so I am praying. The white boy he has only filled a few eggs and they hatched and only one has survived, a grey spangle cock bird and he has had a bad time too, I fostered him the and the rotten hen stopped feeding the chicks at 3 weeks and then I put him in another nest and that cow stopped feeding her chicks too, she a lutino hen and I could't work out why the were on the floor everyday and not even feathered up probably, well she just wasn't feed them so the grey spangle being 4 weeks old I put him with an adult cock who is looking after him and the lutino I put in another nest with smaller nest and she is doing great now. I had a pied last round with a splayed led and I used the make up pad thing and all went well and I put her back in the nest and the rotten hen who sits tight squashed it again and put the hip out or something like that, any way I think it was going to be a mop or a cracker of a bird but I had to put it down because it could move any way because of it's hip. The swelling was just awfull, she would of being in a lot of pain. Anyway the pied nest had 5 fertile eggs and only one hatched, disappointing but at least the the chick is a pied, so happy with that. Hope this one turns out good.

Time for an UP DATE Well the results of my seed culture wasn't good, I have been soaking seed that have mould on it and when wet became toxic. I have lost over 55 chicks since I started breeding this year. I have around 17 live chicks that are over 6 weeks of age. But things have improved heaps, I have 20 little chicks in nest boxes at the moment with heaps of eggs to hatch. I have only lost 4 chicks since Saturday week, 2 full full crops and 2 from yellow belly that looked like they died as soon as they hatched. I have broken heaps of pairs up to quit for the year but seems things are going better I am thinking of putting more pairs down. I had to throw away more than 80 kg of seed. Nearly killed me. But I have decided from now on I will only keep a few bags at a time. One pair I am really happy about is the violet green cock, I put him with a dark green hen and she laid about seven eggs all fertile and I put them in the nest above and left one egg with her , well she laid another 6 eggs and they are fertile too. The first 4 eggs have hatched. excited and I haven't lost one so far. more report later. and maybe some photos.

Sounds like things are staring to happen Gb, good luck. I hope you breed some little rippers.

I am swaying between the two to be honest because they both have their good points and their bad points, But I think the mess turns me off the most on the wire cages.

Clearwing the way you have your birdroom set you really need the wire cages so the birds can see each other but for you know I have cages on each side of the room plus some in the middle on the back wall that the birds can can see each other so it wouldn't matter if I use wire cages or wooden. But boy I was measuring up the cages today and the shelving that is holding the wire cages up, well each cage will be 45 cm deep and 45 cm high and will be 63 cm long. Very roomy. Keep the inputs coming in

I have a radio going too.

I actually think that sometimes wire cages next to each other is a pain because are fussing over what the other birds are doing next door, quite often I have put a piece of white perspex between the cages to stop it. My plan is to convert my wire cages into wooden breeding cages. I have shelving up to hold the cages. I am going to fix more white wood where the cages should be, converting it into 9 cages. I am going to take the front off each cage and use these for my wire fronts. I will put a rail up so I can still use the trays and they can slide out under the rail, The best thing is I am going to make each segment so it will slide in and out so I can make one huge cage or a what ever or if I want to put a cock with 2 or 3 different hens. They will be quite roomy. Greg can store the rest of the wire cages once I take the fronts off. I will have to wait until the breeding has finished. I am also thinking of shopping a bigger hole in the front, so the nest boxes go inside, which will look heaps better but then it will be good to have them for holding cages for show prep etc. so I will have to think on that one. Renee that Alp stuff you use I can't find that any where around here, not even that fussy cat litter

Yes Renee , that is what I was saying that the wire cages are easy to clean especially if you are finish for the season or between clutches, take them out side and pressure was them and basically done. Last year I turned my fronts upside down so I didn't have to cut the fronts to put the nest boxes on. BUT I found that a pain only having the little door to do everything with. This year I put the wire fronts back on the right away and cut wire away to hang the nest. and I took the wire floors out and put newspaper on the floor. I actually found this better. But today i decided to put the wire floors back on. Big job in the end. Having the wire floors back on at least I get get the vacuum hose in between the wire floor and the bottom to suck out some seed. But then I have one wire cage with babies that has a little build up of dry poop and I tied scraping it off ans washing it bad couldn't lift it all. That was annoying.

It looks good to me too. Have fun doing it.

Always looking for easier ways of doing things lol

Welcome to the breeding world of exhibition budgerigars Maddy. lol Please don't quit and I know it is very depressing when things go wrong, especially time after time. What Renee said is great advice. If your cages are wooded and painted , once you clean them and disinfect them , also give them a good coat of paint. That will help to kill the virus also. Nest boxes need to be disinfected too and placed out in the sunlight, Sunlight will kill germs. I am in the mist of breaking my birds down because of the problems I have been having and I have only been breeding since Start of June.

That sounds interesting Matt, lol Can you post some Photos of the V type shoot too please.

I wouldn't take the mum away the are to young, I would put the chicks under another hen if you have one with chicks and if not leave the chicks with the mum, most times they only pluck the down and then leave them be, I just had a nest where the mum plucked them stupid and then just stopped, one minute I had these beautiful white fluffy chicks and the next little pink bald little chicks. There was a little blood on the wings but I had NO choice and had to leave them there but the hen stopped and they grew there feathers but they were still bald under the feather for a while.

I agree completely Matt. even the wooden cages make a big mess too but at least it only comes out the front so easy to clean and access. Matt do you mean that your nest boxes a box inside a box? My view on Wooden boxes or white coated are they are easier to keep clean, the mess only comes out of the front. I use both I have the wooden ones on one side of my birdroom and wire on the other and also 6 wooden ones in the middle. The only reason I have put this thread on is to see what others think and use. Today I spent hours cleaning the wire cages, pulling them out and sliding them along trying to get all seed out from behind, I do this every week and it is unbelievable the amount of seed and husk that is behind and under the cage. I filled up a bucket nearly. Which makes me think that it is breeding hazard for air born diseases. Where is the wooden ones, when cleaning, I just roll up the newspaper and take out which has most of the seed on it and all the droppings and then if there is a tray I pull the ray out and empty seed and then I use the vac to get every bit of seed, then a quick wipe down of walls and perches and then replace tray and paper and feeders and done. But when I do the wire ones unless I pull the hole cage out which I don't like to do when there are eggs in it it. but i do slide them along a bit. BUT I can never get all the seed that is under or behind.

Can you post a photo of your cages and the internal one Matt. Pride I said that wire cages are easy to clean that is the good part about them but they are messy because seed goes out the wire all sides. Yes Squeak today when cleaning cages, one wire cage had a lot of chewed oats and when I pulled the tray out most of the oats stayed there and then fell on the shelf once the tray was out.

I am starting this thread because I want to know what breeders think and prefer. As for me I find the wire cages easy to clean but are very dirty when it comes to seed going every where. Seed comes out the front, sides and back. Just awful I think. Babies hate to walk on the wire and when the birds empty their jar out for some unknown reason, what a waste of good seed.