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It does sound like french moult Maddy, sorry. You need to clean and disinfect the infected cages and keep the dust at bay and because french is an air born virus spread by dust in the air. Before long it can go through the whole breeding room. I had never had it before but last year it went through my whole breed room nearly every nest got it , I had to cull heavily.

There are some nice pairs there Dave, good luck with it all. I hope you get plenty of healthy little jelly beans that grow into beautiful budgies. I will follow your thread to see how things pan out.

The budgie seed is in wheelie bins in my old birdroom. No rain gets in there. and the red millet is in small cherry barrel. As far as I can see there is never any moisture in there or condensation or anything. Owe and the seed looks fine and it doesn't smell mouldy or anything.

I am not blaming the company because who knows why it got mould on it. They have good seed normally and it is very affordable. But the jap millet is from our last order and tested the worse. Will not be using that again. Anyway from now on I will have all my seed tested. And another thing I will not be buying so much each time either because the seed with the red millet is a few months old that could be the problem too. I will only be getting enough to get me through but the problem is out club is only doing orders only every four months I think but it could be every 3 months can't remember. I use to use Howard Martin maybe I should go back to it. But it is $70 something a bag 40 kilos last time a bought it and i think it was something like $46. for a25 kilo bag. It was heaps dearer to buy the 25 kilo than the 40 kilo. but they may not have the 40 kilo bags any more any way. BUT the main problem was that I was soaking the seed and making it toxic. But Rob wasn't keen on the idea of the aviary birds getting really because it said are they looking okay and i said yes and he said as soon as you see them look sick take it away so I thought I would be best just tossing the lot out. better safe than sorry.

Yes my birds have been eating poison seed for months now, But hopefully things will improve, the seed I use is from Leeton and just about every club uses it even Geelong.

Hi Daryl, Only soaked seed, I don't sprout because that can be dangerous, I was soaking seed over night with milton and rinsing well, the oats I was soaking Rob Marshall said was the only seed that was clear from mould. He said it is perfectly safe for soaking but i haven't soaked it since Friday. Still a bit scared to. But i was putting budgie mix in it too plus the jab millet which both seeds had mould on them so I am throwing it all away. But this morning I lost 2 more, they must of died as soon as they hatched because they had the shell still stuck to them, they were both from different nest and their tummies were full of egg yolk, so I guess yellow belly or they hatched to early. any more deaths I will be back To rob Marshall for more advice. I have 4 chicks in my freezer since Saturday. Any advice.

Yes Gb look at me I have been poisoning my babies with all my good intentions. I have to admit that Saturday morning i was balling my eyes out because it was so depressing going out their every morning to see dead chicks in most nest.

Hi all I think most of you have followed my breeding journal to discover that I have lots nearly all my chicks at about 1 to 2 days old, all had empty crops. I have lots over 50 1 to 2 day old chicks and a couple older, 7 days the oldest. My birds were getting a soft food that contained soaked seed, (feeder oats, sunflower seed, budgie mix and a bit jap millet) and to this added soybean meal, yeast with added bee pollen, seaweed meal, grated carrot, broccoli and celery and sometimes beetroot. Well Friday night I stopped all soft food and Monday I was to send droppings samples and samples of my seeds to Rob Marshall. Up until Saturday I was loosing nearly all my new chicks. But once I stopped their soft food I had not lost a chick at all until yesterday and one today both had full crops and both were from the same nest. Very disappointed but I am hoping this is unrelated. But still there was some bad seed in the breeding boxes too. I sent 4 samples to be cultured :My report on the seed was feeder oats completely safe to soak which I found unbelievable because I was sure that was the problem. Jap millet NO GOOD has mould so I threw that away. Budgie mix with red millet.. NO GOOD has mould. give to avairy birds but if you see them looking crook stop straight away. Do not give to breeders. Budgie mix B without red millet safe for breeders. I new something was wrong with the seed for months, they keep emptying out their jars and I told Rob that and he said that is because they were trying to find clean seed. I didn't sen the sunflower and the hulled oats that I have just bought and also Greg bought me a new bag of seed yesterday to see if there was any difference with birds. So I am going to send them up for culture testing too. Anyway Rob said never soak seed unless it has been culture tested and has the all clear. I personally have shied away from soaking seed now. I know it is not a good idea to change soft food half way through the breeding season but i feel I do not have much choice. I do not use the soybean meal any more or the yeast with bee pollen. and I am not soaking seed. I am using vita wheat biscuits, 9 grain bread, eggs and grated carrot and Passwells budgie crumble and finch food for the extra protein. My recipe is 4 packets of vita wheat biscuits.. ( processed) I loath of 7 grain bread but I couldn't find it so I got 9 grain... (put in oven or out in sunlight to dry) then processed) 12 free range eggs with shells.. (processed) I made half this recipe up, it keeps for several weeks in the freezer in suitable containers. It doesn't really freeze. You could replace the vita wheat biscuits with weetbix. When I get it out of the freezer, I scoop out how much I want and I put it back in the processor with the grated and process both together , I get it a bit finer that way. Then i add depending how many cages I am doing I add a desert spoon to a tablespoon each of budgie crumbles and finch food. I was actually surprised that the birds ate it actually they cleaned the plates. The only down fall of this recipe is the vita wheat biscuits are hard as a rock and nearly killed my new processor. Next lot I plan on soaking them for a while and then process and then put in oven to dry a bit. Anyway beside loosing a couple more chicks everything else seems to be going well, I have 15 little chicks out in birdroom with plenty more to hatch.

That's great news.

Don't get to down Gb, you know the basis, you have an excellent eye for the birds you will get there, if it was meant to be easy everyone would be at the top Look at me having another rotten year. And also I don't have the money to buy in top birds, so my plan is to quitely breed my little Champions lol. no just do my own thing. With all the chicks I have lost heaps this year over 50 dead little chicks, I really don't think I will have any thing on the show bench for a couple of years. The little dark green cock I bred well he is not eating and has lot heaps of wait. tried cropping him today, the grey spangle from the white is not getting fed either and is skin and bone. The last surviving chick from the yellow df cock, the one I saved Friday well it died through the night with a full crop. I have totally had enough. But then I do have about 13 little chicks out there that are looking healthy, cross my fingers. Get my results today from Rob

I agree with Kaz and they really don't look like they are 3 weeks either. Your nest must be wet to have that much build up on their legs, to much soaked seed can course wet nest and so can Enteritis. Is the nest smelly?

Ha Ha I just need to find money.

Try the pet shops, most of them have them for sale.

What is Atapulgite Renee. I am not getting dead in shell, the chicks are hatching and they they die, one or two days old. It is happening all over again. I rang Rob Marshell and I have to send seed Samples and poo samples cultures ect. Boy it is going to cost $122.oo just for the poo samples and $10. for each seed sample. Plus meds. Anyway I have taken the step and took the wet food off them and NO more bought veges which I did soak well. I am sending samples on Monday because I don't want them sitting over the weekend in the mail center drying out. I will have an answer 72 hours after they get them.

Finnie can you post a photo of the pipettes please

I would leave them alone and see what happens, I have had eggs that you swear there was hardly a chick in there and they hatch and others that take up over half the egg and hatch. I have also had eggs cold over night and they still have hatched, so you just never know. But please don't chip away.

I agree too.

Gee Pride this is NO bump it's a mountain almost LOL.

So the higher the humidity the better is that right Daz.

Yes I did but they have been on it before they started to breed and the only difference is I use soy bean meal not budgie starter and this soft food is more consistant. Geoff uses the same soft food and his birds are fine so I don't believe it is the soft food.

I bought a lovely grey dom pied from an auction a couple of years ago and he filled clear eggs time after time , I culled hen. They are lovely Daz. more photos please

Hi Daz. No every things the same that I can think, the only thing I can blame is my new stupid birdroom maybe. Do you know what the humidity in there should be and how can I fix it. like right now it is 14.3c and 84% humidity and the max reads 15.4%c and 91% humidity and the min reads 8.8c and 77% humidity. I have the father of that dark green down with a related dark green hen and they have about 5 fertile eggs and I really want them to hatch and survive. This is all driving me nuts.

LOl I drooled over the first 3 Daz and then I knew you would say no this may not be for sale, lol Nice birds Daz and I just love pieds.

Thanks Daz, it will be great to have a female to talk to for a change lol. Hey Sharon the meeting you are coming to is going to be a unbroken cap show. The members bring along their babies that haven't broken their cap yet so under 3 months old and some one their judges them. They have 2 classes, beginner/Intermediate and Open/Champion. I actually don't think we have any Champion breeders in our club at the moment because they have gone back to open. But you will see some nice birds on the night. Lol I use to wins these nights all the time but my time has past. there is a really good upcoming beginner with some top birds and he will beat me hands down from now on..

He is dark green Maddy. His dad is violet green and his mum a sky blue spangle that's why the blue is there, it will disappear later when he moults I hope. Renee things were improving but is is starting all over again. Rats so sick of it. I had 4 chicks hatch in the violet nest but the 3rd one died at 2 days old. I have 2 chicks in the pied nest and so far so good but what I am really unset about is I transferred the eggs from the yellow df spangle nest and his grand daughter to the clearbody nest because she is a good mum, well I go out there this morning and an egg must of hatched late yesterday and the chick was dead, it was quite big too and it looks like the 2nd egg is addled. the dead chick just looked unfed , no yellow belly. I really wanted those chicks so I am so disappointed. I really don't know what to do to fix things. I have 16 chicks for the year so far and that is just awfull, should have over 70 by now with all the chicks that hatched and the fertility was good. What's worse is yesterday I couldn't work out why the yellow face wasn't doing much so I grapped him out of the breeding box to put him in a holding cage and he has gone light. there goes my chances of yellow faces. Then to top that I went into the aviary and found the mother of the violet green cock with her leg swollen, just horriable the ring has nearly cut her foot off. I just don't know how I missed it. We cut the ring off but it is still just horriable the poor girl. The swelling just hasn't gone down. She is the only daughter of the yellow Df spangle that i have left. So every thing is getting me down.