Bubbles

Outcrosses are birds from a different family to the ones they are being paired to . They can come from your own flock with different families or from a totally new source . They are usually used to intrduce new blood to a flock or line of birds to maintain vitality within a line of birds . Bubbles.

I'm sure if you find a breeder in your local area they will help you as helping others with budgies is why many people join a club , the job you have in mind could be done by yourself with the correct tools but it is better done by someone who has done it before and would be easier if there were more than 1 person doing the job. Most Budgie clubs are in the phone book give them a call and see if they can help Bubbles.

You may be better to supply her with a nest box her to lay her eggs in and allow her to sit on them for a while as this may fulfil the urge she has to breed , after she has sat on the eggs for a while then remove the box and hope that she is satisfied , by putting in the box she will lay a number of eggs then stop . If you continue to remove the eggs as she lays them she may continue to produce them like a battery hen , by letting her sit on some you may break the cycle . Bubbles.

The outside appearance of an egg can indicate if it is fertile or not but the use of a small penlight will give you a much better result . if the hen has many eggs and some are infertile the clear ones can be removed so that she does have so many to sit on and all her energy is going towards eggs that will hatch . Saying that it is somtimes handy to have a hen sitting on clear eggs so you can use her for a foster if needed . The use of a torch to indicate which eggs are viable helps making these decisions . Bubbles.

Bah is a male and Uh Oh is a hen , Bah is a dominant Pied , Uh Oh is a recessive pied it is not recomended to mix the pieds together by the purists as it will difficult to predict breeding results in the future and you will get birds that are a mixture of both pieds eventually , a bird that is a dominant recessive pied ? what this will look like I'm not sure but if your breeding for your own enjoyment that is part of the mystery of breeding and the fun of looking into the nest to see what you have , but by mixing both pieds you may get a bird that you can never be sure of but if that does not worry you do it , it wont hurt the birds they dont care what colour they are and you may get something new and exciting colour wise . Bubbles.

The Ken Yorke website , www2.tpg.com.au/users/kyorke , has a variety of software that is available that keeps a stocklist of birds and their young to calculating breeding results . A demonstration CD is available on request via the website , there is a lot on the site so it may take a while to find exactly what you need , you can always email him and he may be able to assist better than I can . Bubbles.

The Website www.budgieplace.com has pictures of double factor dominant pieds in blue and green series they look similar to Harliquens with a lot of ground colour and little dark markings , the site has pictures of most varieties as well as some of the rarer ones .

Can you post pictures of the parents ? Do you know their breeding ie anthracite to anthracite or split to split . I am yet to hear of any here in Australia althgough one of the original Breeders did a tour of Australia visiting many Clubs , about a year ago .

The different mixes of seeds are usually just different percentages of the same seeds for certain types of birds , ie canary , french white , jap , red and other millets as well as particular seeds to suit a species . Small parrot has a basic mix plus sunfower and safflower to suit small parrots . Finch would be the basic mix plus special seed to suit finches , you can mix and match seed mixes without hurting too much the birds will pick out what they want if the mix is wrong you just get more wastage . A variety of seeds is good for birds even if they dont eat it all it keeps them occupied choosing what they want from what they dont . Just keep a look out and make sure that there are empty seel cases to ensure that they are eating . If you know what your birds like you can buy the individual seeds and make your own mix just remember that it is usually better to have a consistant mix or usual mix that is the mainstay of a birds diet as a change in diet can sometimes cause problems , never change a birds diet in the breeding cage this can put birds off feeding themselves and their young . Bubbles .

Norm if you are going to the Hunter show at Maitland Show Ground make yourself known to the Fat Fella at the BBQ , I'm usually pretty busy there but it will be good to say hello . Bubbles (David) We usually get birds from the Newcastle Club as well as our own with others coming from all over the state in excess of 400 birds being exibited we hope. PS : there are usually some birds from the exibitors for sale but you never know until they show up.

Your question about expcted colours is hard to answer without knowing more about the parents ie is the green pied hen split for blue , is the grey cock a double factor grey ? saying that you can expect 50% pieds and 50% normals probably grey green in colour and pedpending on parents breeding some grey or blue birds , pied babies are easy to spot early as they appear splotchy a few days after hatching as for colours you need to wait for pin feathers to appear to see . I love to lottery of breeding and seeing what comes out with observation over time it becomes easier to identify what you have , in the end colour is not that important to you , healthy babies takes precidence , good luck & enjoy the ride . Bubbles

This is not a Rainbow, it´s a Spangle. A Rainbow is a Clearwing. Norm was not claiming it to be a true rainbow just looking very similar to a rainbow and being a spangle easier to breed , he mentions earlier in his post that a true rainbow comes from a combination including clearwing so its not techically correct but looks very similar to the true item. Bubbles.

I think that there was a study done with ultra violet light to show up colours that are not usually visible to human eyes and females chose males that had greater amounts of certain colours consistantly , but the urge to mate and reproduce was mostly overpowering and females would use any available male given no other choice . The urge to reproduce being the main factor with the female being the one decides if and when , but who knows what goes on in a females mind.(A mystery to males of most species). Bubbles.

The "dusk"is just a factor that is carried by a bird that modifies the birds colour. A bird carrieing the factor may be a light green according to its breeding but visually appears as a dark or greygreen . The factor is a colour modifier it usually darken or intensefies a budgies ground colour . I have had limited experiance with these birds but this is how I understand the "dusk"factor to work . Hope this gives you some insight into what they are talking about .

Yes it is possible I'm sure if you search the pictures on the site you'll see one somewhere , green colour is dominant over blue so you are more likley to get green , sorry I do not have a photo to post for you. :ygbudgie:

Has she tried any medicines to stop the birds dying ? Start with cocivet or bacox , then doxicycline (turbosol) or Sulfa 3 . It may halt the carnage but by doing this way you will not know exactly what they have . To some people this does not matter they just want the birds to stop dying . Many people in the hobby medicate their birds on a roster several times a year and have the medicines in their cupboards ask members of your club to lend you some medicine to try until you find the one that works if you dont want to spend a lot of money until you know what works . The best way is a trip to the vets to get the problem properly diagnosed but this can be a costly exercise and some people are not prepared to spend that sort of money this is where the try it and see method may work . Research in a book may help there are some good books available on bird health and medications , Australian Birdkeeper has one that is excellant and give a list of medications and their uses . Hope this helps you some , good luck . Bubbles.

Thanks Norm , I thought it may have been. I know Ken and have been in the same club as him for many years. You would go a long way to find a man more knowlegable on mutations and breeding . He makes and sell many budgie products as well as computer programs that can tell you what you will get if you put any pair together you just enter the cock and hen and the program tell what babies you may expect and in what percentages . Many of his birds may not be of show standards but he certainly has many of the rarer varieties there for you to see . Once again its good to see someone taking on some of the rarer varieties to keep them going , good on ya Norm.

Can you tell me which breeder you got your rare varieties from ? I assume that you got them on the bus trip you took to Newcastle to visit breeders there . Hope that you have much success with the rare varieties as the more friends they have the less likley we are to lose that mutation , I have much adoration for those who take on this area , as for myself I'm just happy to be able to tell green from blue and cocks from hens (harliquens are a buggar). Good luck with your new arrivals hope all continues on the up.

The ivermectin that is used on budgies is a diluted version of the product that is for other animals , I know that it is not the one used for cattle but not sure exactlly which one. Usually a Bird club with a products section will have the preparation diluted to the corret level and ready to use , contact a club in your area and they may be able to help although they may only be able to supply members .

Though they may look similar both mutations breed very differently and by mixing them together it makes predicting breeding results in the futute of any young produced extreamly hard to predict , as well if you show birds the young produced may not fit in either catagory .