Angelic Vampyre

I have a Cock called Angel who everyone the breeder, other people who have seen him in person and I all think he is a cock however I put him in with a hen and he spends all the time in the breeding box. From what I know he acts like a hen not a cock and this worries me that I might have got it wrong.

LOL I got two rings on mine and then Head Case got his off somehow then I tried to olive oil to get it back on!

I know I could not have asked for a better pair to breed with first time. Mum looks a so worn out i can't wait till the fledge cause she is going to need the break!

So I finally found my camera that has Macro setting and thought I would do a picture post Jean Head Case Jelly Bean Butter aka Butt Boy Jean and Butter (for size difference) So Kaz you going to take a shot at the sex of my guys? Also any idea what colours they will be. Mum & Dad

Fresh water tank with gold fish has no heater and is cold water. yes it looks smoggy in the picture but it's not in real life. tropical tank is at 26 degrees and has the beta's in it.

he got extra cuddles and some oats and sunflower seeds so he is happy. I am also glad cause it means that the Baby got a little boost and is doing so much better

I can try to answer what I can If I peek in and see a baby has arrived, what should I do first if anything? I do nothing, if they are moving and don't have any egg shell stuck to them then I just left my guys. I just check to make sure that the box it clean, chick are not stuck to remaining parts of the shell and if you can without trying to pick them up check that they have food in their crop When can or should I touch them for the first time? 7 - 10 days is what I have been told (other breeders feel free to correct me) this is around the time I was told to ring them so that's what I then do. After that I handle on a daily base as you have to check that there is nothing stuck in the ring. Also gets them use to you if you are planning on hand taming them When should be their first vet visit? That really depends, personally if I took all mine to the vets then I would be broke. If they are healthy and have no signs of illness then I would not. However if I am going to get their wings clipped for the first time I might take them for the pet types but the show types will not see a vet unless they need to. What age should they be weaned by? About 4 weeks I think, I have heard alot of different answers to this so I figure when they start eating on their own I will remove the parents and keep an eye on them that way if there is any issues I can put the parents back in for another week. I am planning on playing that one my ear but others might have a different answer When do I remove the nest box completely? As long as the Hen is not starting another Clutch then when the Babies no longer go into it. When can the mother and father and the babies be moved out of the breeding cage into a holding cage? around the 4 week mark I believe. As I said this is going from what I have read and what I am going through now. Others on the board feel free to say I am wrong, still on a learning curve.

I have 4 little pink bundles of joy. However I notice that Jean & Head Case are getting really well feed, Jelly bean is good but poor little Butt Boy (the last born and the smallest by far) has little to no food in his crop. The other day I took the Flame out of the cage to clean her up, she has been throwing herself into motherhood and not looking after herself so i gave her a bath and a dry off as well as cleaned up her feet. Came back and Blue was sitting on the chicks. Then I had to clean the nest box to I took the babies out put them in a woodshavings bucket and Blue escaped his cage (dam Harley and his teaching Blue how to do this) and flew across the room and sat on the chicks so I knew he was a good dad. Well last night I noticed that Butt Boy's crop was empty when all the others where full, he also seemed really weak and not with it. I have no other hen to put him under so I took a guess and a chance and put him and Blue in another nest box in another cage for an hour. Came back, Butt Boy has a full crop and seems better. So I left them there for the night. Today I swear Butt Boy has grown an inch! Put them back in with Flame and watched. She gathered them up, left Blue take over sitting on them while she went and got water and feed and a quick preen. I watched her feed them and now that Butt boy has more strength he demanded his share and got it, also Blue came in to give them some food as well and pushed the larger chicks out of the way and went for him first (I think they bonded :hap: ) It might not have been the best thing to do but at 9pm at night I figured that it had a good chance of working and I was right. I am lucky that Blue and Flame as such good parents and also are semi tamed as they allow me to do things such as watch them feed the Babies with little to no fuss. They are a great pair to learn about Budgie Breeding with as I have been able to watch and do things that I will not attempt with some of my other pairs.

I agree with what Elly has said you are not doing anything wrong. Alot of people think you get a bird and within a few weeks he will be talking and wanting to spend all his time with you. Bonding with a Budgie can take month so hang in there. I have two that I am taming at the moment, Boof comes out of his cage finds a stop and just sits there and watches. Buddy comes out of his cage and runs all over my desk tries to fly and reach the box the millet is in, chews on everything and then normally falls asleep upside down! :hap: So each bird is different. As for Veggie keep trying. Have you tried green leafy veggies? Mine LOVE silverbeet. Harley took 6 years before he would eat a veggie one day he tried a snow pea and then it grew from there. I know a bird that is offered veggies on a daily base look at them then says "hand over the honey stick" and I mean that in the fact that he says it (thanks to a boyfriend who thought it would be funny to teach him that phrase) some will never eat them which is a pity. As you bond more you might find putting him on your shoulder and then eating some veggies yourself might sparke his intrest. Don't fret, read everything you can, try and take it in and ask questions. It will all work out.

Everyone in the tropical tank looks really good today, the male Simese looks 100 times better then he did yesterday when I brought him home. they have them in display bowls and told me that at night they get moved back into holding cages in a big tank but still, I thought he was dead or close to it. Seems to LOVE the room and is zipping around the tank. The two females seem to have picked up and spent most of last night watching the male :hap: SW the rainbow things are about the size or large tetras (sp?) And live around the top of the tank. This is a picture of my set up Will try and get a better picture of the little guys.

I have a 39L tank with some rainbow things, an Oranda and a large bubble eye But I want to put more plants in there and I am worried about overcrowding.

Joel in Vic if you go to a club show they MIGHT let you get away with it but do warn you off it. I know one show I went to the Judge was walking around prior to Judging and went to the desk and the owner was told to remove the split ring but I was told that if it had not been a low key meeting then the bird would have not been allowed to show.

Thanks for the info SW. See I am confused some say around 24 degrees other say as high as 28 degrees so I now have it set at 26 i think. Took another sample to the pet shop and the tested it for me. We can't work out what went wrong as everything is 100% so they gave me some teturas (sp?) and a male fighting fish for free and said to come back over the weekend and let them know how I am getting on. They have another fancy fish like Brain Tumor who i also like but don't think i could put him in with the the two I already have it might be to small.

I did two today the thrid one fell off when put on. I know they are pet types but i wanted to practise and also the people who have asked for them asked for them to be rung as they feel it's safer incase the bird gets out or gets lost.

Nope I got corn as well

Biggest freak out for me all my cocks who are in holding cages stacked ontop of each other all did it within a day of each other. Went into total panic mode

Yeah Neat that was the one that I was thinking of! See I knew there was one!

Just a note on the lime green about four of my birds got lime green poop and I was all freaking out but then a breeder told me that apple cider vinger does that to them, took them off for a few days back to normal, put them back on it lime green again. There is alot to be said for the limits diet. Take a bird back to fresh water and standard seed then slowley add things in every two to three days to see what is effecting them. Birds can have allergies to. Picture would be a great help.

I was really hoping that it would work out and not have to go back to the vet but at least you know what is going on. I hope it all works out for the little guy.

I have been looking at pictures of fancy gold fish for the past few days and just falling more and more in love. I really would LOVE to have a big tank that could hold like 10 but will have to wait for my sister to move out before I can think about doing that! :hap: My biggest issue is all the conflicting information about how much space they need. They need 5 gallons, no 10 gallons no 20 gallons per fish..... I have two 10 gallon tanks some people say I can have one in there others say up to three Then there is the food, one forum was talking about how you can't feed them flakes as they get air sack issues and another forum was saying how you can't feed them sinking food as they eat rocks and get them stuck..... Did you know you could feed your fish peas? I am going into info overload!

One of my two remaining girls does not look well I don't hold much hope that she will still be kicking when I come home tonight. I have decided to give up on Tropical fish but have found that I am falling for the fancy goldfish. Check out this site! http://keysboroughaquarium.com.au/2008/ind...=20a&page=1 I thought paying $20 for one fish was alot! :hap: I had a look at some of their tanks and can I just say WOW I am tryingto work out how I can change my study around to fit one of the 1000L tanks in :hap:

okay I have just been told that the last posted image is a different bird *bangs head against desk* I am going to tell her to pick the bird she likes and worry about sex later.

Oh how cool, which one is yours? Both do such a great job!

okay the pet shop is claiming that it is a cock and said to post this picture to prove that it is a cock ]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/flawlesserr/budgie/_0902165.jpg We still taking hen for 100 right? Image oversized turn to link

I see what you mean about being short on time. I guess it depends on how regular to get after the implant is out.