Sandy and Josh

Well I did think that myself, but was unsure. I don't know what the parents were so it's going to be fun to see how he breeds after winter!

Hi Everyone, I just thought that I would send in a couple of photo's of our 2 new birds. The first is a Yellowface Grey spangle cock and the other is a yellow texas clearbody. Talk soon Sandy

Thanks everyone, I am really proud of what we're producing. The little pale skyblue pied boy is soooo friendly too, he'll come and sit on your shoulder when you go into the avairy..... I've had 2 violet babies and they are both really strong colors... This is the strongest colored one.... I can't wait to see what it's color will be like after it's first moult! Now we just have to sell some... The avairies aren't big enough and I've got 4 more chicks ready to come out of the nest! Just a quick question..... I only have the one pair together now and their chicks are nearly out of the nest, everyone else is in communal avairies with no breeding boxes. Should I stop any and all breeding now until after winter? It can get really cold here, our horses water trophs have ice tops in the mornings..... and I'd hate to have chicks freeze overnight.... Thanks Sandy

Hi Everyone, Well I thought that I would post a couple of photo's of some new chicks. They are from a clutch of 4, but these are my favourites. The Aust pied boy is a really nice chick and very friendly too! I hope you enjoy them Sandy Front and rear views of the Aust pied. http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q38/jig.../1002080131.jpg And the opaline hen chick. This is a full brother from the previous clutch....

Hi Kaz, Yeah, I know. I really didn't want her to have the third clutch, but the only other breeding hen had chicks already and she was no longer in the nest with them, so I couldn't put them in there. And I couldn't take her out of the box as she still had 2 chicks in there that weren't ready to leave the nest..... If she does it again, I'll have to shake the eggs until the last of the chicks comes out and then take her out of the avairy. It's amazing hey! I couldn't get them to have chicks at first and now I can't stop them! :rip: Sandy

Hi Norm, It's quite interesting with the yellowfaced chicks. There are some that have such pale faces that you can barely see the yellow, then there are others that it's very bright. As for taking the eggs away, if I do that will it stop her from laying once she realises what I'm doing, or will she just keep laying like there's no tomorrow! The second clutch she actually laid 10 eggs..... She is a very good mum and loves her babies, and she's having such beautiful chicks as well, but I'm just afraid that if I don't stop her she will keep laying eggs till she dies of stress or something. With the other hen, the pale sky cinnamon one.... (the messy one), I've tried to put the other chicks in with the other hen but the two hens don't have chicks at the same time. When one clutch is hatching, the other hen's sitting on eggs.... and I only have the two pairs breeding at the moment. I am hoping to get some breeding cages soon, but I have to work out where I'm going to put them as it's just way too hot for them to be in the shed. Talk soon Sandy

Thanks Elly, I have had 2 violet chicks and one is a lot more vibrant than the other, but they are both nice birds. I have another hen chick that is pale violet with a pale yellow head! That one is really nice but hard to photograph. The color doesn't really come out properly. I'm going to have to start to sell some of the babies as we have too many now and as most of them come from the same parents, we can't keep them all...... :-) and we have more coming.... 4 so far from 7 eggs..... So, now I just have to work out which ones I want to keep and then sell the rest! Sandy

Thanks guys, Yeah we're very pleased with the colors we've got. We have 4 chicks from the same pair as the pied chick is from. The dad is a sky blue Aust Pied and mum is a very pale, almost washed out, blue cinnamon hen. The last clutch they had we got 2 chicks, a pale sky blue pied cock and a pale sky blue cinnamon hen. This clutch we have another pale sky blue cinnamon, 2 pale blue's and another pied, but that one hasn't got enough feathers through yet to see what color blue it is. It was the last to hatch. The mother of these clutches is not the best mum. She is an extremely messy feeder and we have to clean the chicks faces up to 3 times a day and with this last clutch, she had 8 eggs and they all hatched but after the first 3 chicks, she started to forget about the new ones that were hatching. I'm lucky that the last one (no. 4) survived, or at least it's lucky.... hehehe I won't let her breed any more as it's too hard to watch them die when there's nothing wrong with them. My yellowfaced pair are good breeders tho! They've already had 8 chicks and their 3rd clutch is now hatching and the 4th out of 7 eggs hatched this morning. By The Way...... with this yellowfaced pair..... after their second clutch I tried to stop them from having a third clutch, but she started laying while the last 2 chicks were still in the box. How can I stop them from laying again after this clutch. Do I just destroy the eggs as she lays them, as in shaking them up...?? Thanks Sandy

Hi Everyone, I thought that I would send in some photo's for an update. Well the chicks that we're getting are really lovely birds.... and quite a mixed bag from the parents! Mum must definitely have a violet gene in there somewhere as she's having violet babies! One is almost purple! Here are some of the pics for you all. Talk soon Sandy Now with the chick on the right.... Male or female??? And how cute is this..... :(Laughing out loud): This is the same bird on the right, but different bird on the left as the photo above and the photo is a bit lighter in color than they really are.... And here's a picture of our little pied boy and the other violet..... I hope you enjoy the pics! Sandy

Hi Thanks for the replys. They're different to mum. We've actually had a few that have come out the same as her, but these are different. The yellow that's on the wings and mantle is nearly as yellow as their heads. It's actually as yellow as dad! Thanks Sandy This is one from the previous clutch which is identical to mum. and now...... (the middle one) And this is from this clutch

Hi Everyone, Well we have a lot of new budgies and 2 of the chick's have come out different!! hehehe The parents are the yellowhead type 1 hen & yellowhead type 2 greywing cockbird. So far this pair has had 10 chicks and these are the only 2 like this. Mum has been naughty and has seen another man behind hubby's back But these two must be of this pairing as he is the only male that I have that has yellow on him. The other 2 males in the avairy are a greywing violet or the blue Australian Pied. Can you see what you think the colorings are? Would they be rainbows???? The yellow on the wing feathers didn't come out quite as bright as they are in real life, but it's close. The first chick also has what looks like deep green on the wing feathers. Thanks Sandy This is the first chick again and it's underbelly This is the second chick of this coloring..... It has more yellow in the wing feathers than what comes out in the photo's. Here are the parents....

Hi Norm,Thanks for that, I'll have to write it down. Well mum is definitely cinnamon, and dad is the only pied cock bird I've got in the avairy, and I don't have any cinnamon cock birds at all, so having the cinnamon pied baby must mean that dad is split for cinnamon???? Is that right??? The younger chick is exactly like mum, but baby's blue is more uniform all over, mum is more like a clearbody. So if the pied turns out to be a cock bird, will his cere be blue?? I think the younger chick is female as it bites like a banshee!!! hehehehe The older chick doesn't even try to bite.Thanks for you help.Sandy Thanks Nerwen,You and me both!! :(Laughing out loud): He is such a beautiful little baby, really friendly. I was holding him on my finger today in the avairy, as he came out for the first time this morning, and the cere is quite blue looking, which I thought was strange for a baby so young. Sandy

HI Kaz,Yeah I know!!! I'm so pleased that it seems to be growing out. The only part that isn't normal is the tip of top mandable. Would you say it's a boy or a girl? Or is it too early???I can't wait till he/she leaves the nest, so I can bring it inside. It's so friendly already, yet it's sibling is just like it's mother. She's not nasty, but you can't get within cooey of her, and this chick looks to be the same nature. Sandy Just a quick question..... Is cinnamon dominant? If one of the parents is cinnamon, does that mean that all offspring will be cinnamon too, or can some come out black like the other parent? Does that make sense???

Hi Everyone, Well, the chicks are finally fully feathered, so I took some photo's and thought that I'd send them in. The first one is of the chick who had the problem beak. I think it may be growing out without any real problems, what do you all think??? I am going to have this one as a pet anyway as he/she is very quiet and gentle. Hopefully I will get another clutch from this pair as they have produced 2 really lovely babies. Talk again soon Sandy And the second chick from the clutch.

Hi Everyone, My YH pair laid 9 eggs and so far 6 have hatched. I'm wondering if they all hatch, is that going to be too many for them to look after? They are a really good pair and mum is very attentive and doesn't stress with me looking in twice a day, but I would hate for her to lose chicks because she can't feed them all. I do have another hen who's eggs are starting to hatch. Only problem is that she has laid 6 eggs! By The Way, the YH pair, this is their second clutch, she started to lay the second clutch about 3 or 4 days before the last 2 chicks of clutch number 1, left the nest. I won't let them breed again after this second clutch, but if she starts to lay again before all the chicks have fledged, do I just take the eggs out? Is that as clear as mud!!!! Thanks in advance... Sandy

Hi Birdluv, These chicks have come out really nice colors. It's a shame what happened to the first chicks beak, but we now have a lovely pet! :-) I'll send in some pics when they are fully feathered. Sandy

Oh By the way, My Yellow Head pair have just had their second clutch start to hatch. She laid 9 eggs and so far 4 have hatched. My question is, how many is too many babies? And what should I do if they all hatch? And while I'm asking questions. What is a good pen to use to mark the eggs as they are laid... graphite pencil, biro, marker???? Thanks Sandy

Hi Kaz, Yeah, I knew he'd be a keeper when I saw his beak. But I don't mind. I think he's going to be a beauty no matter what his beak looks like... (Laughing out loud) I'll have to get the vet to show me how to do it... Do they learn to just sit there and take it or do they put up a fuss each time you do it???? I was going to take him from the nest and hand raise him the rest of the way, as I thought it would make handling him later on that much easier. But I didn't want to take him too early as the second chick hadn't feathered up and I didn't want it to get cold from missing out on body heat. Mum is still in there with them, but I wasn't sure. How easy/hard would it be to start hand raising now? Or should I just wait? Sandy

Hi Kaz, Thanks for the info. After the first clutch, my sons were going on about how they could do it... I didn't need to go and check the babies, they were old enough to look after them.... you know.... So I gave them the chance to show me that they could. I went in after the first week and found the chick like that... So since then I go in twice a day to check on them and keep them clean. I asked Josh about the food on the beak, and he said that he'd seen it but didn't think it was a problem! Well, let me say that he now KNOWS it was a problem! Will this chick require softer foods or will seed be okay for him? Also, how do we keep his beak trimmed? What do we use? Thanks Sandy

Hi All, I thought that I would send you all a photo of how these chicks have grown up. They are sooooo pretty!! I can't wait to see their colors once they have gone through their first moult. Sandy

Hi Everyone, I haven't been on here for a couple of weeks, but thought that I would send in some photo's of our second clutch of Budgies. They are a couple of weeks old now and they are looking really nice. One thing though, the mother is a really messy feeder, and covers the chicks beaks in food every day. We didn't think too much of it a first but it has made the eldest chick's beak grow funny, oddly shaped... We clean them every day now, but will this chick's beak grow alright or will he have to have special food as he gets older? I'm just worried that he won't be able to crack the seed properly. Oh and By The Way, they both look to be cinnamons like their mum. Thanks Sandy (Josh's mum) Here's the chick... He/she has the sky blue on the top half of his/her crop area as well but white from there down and under the belly. This is the second chick. This is mum and dad. Dad's the pied and mum is the skyblue cinnamon further up the perch.

Done!! Thanks for the advice guys! Sandy

Hi Again, If I put all the non-breeding birds, male and female in the other avairy with no breeding boxes, would that be okay?? They won't attempt breeding would they? Sandy

Hi Macka, yeah, the possibility is there I guess, but she does try to kill any other male that comes near her other than her hubby! :(Laughing out loud): Hopefully we'll be able to get single breeding cages soon, but for the moment this is all we have! hehehe Sandy

Oh, I agree totally, but at the moment this is what I have. We have 3 - 4ft x 4ft x 6ft avairies. Two have been joined together and opened up so that the birds can fly around. The third one is seperate which is were I want to put the other birds. I have 3 pairs of breeding birds at the moment. One pair has 3 chicks, the other 2 pairs are sitting on eggs. So I wanted to get the other non breeding birds out of there. I also have the young YF pied hen (I think that's what she is) that I've had separated as she keeps getting picked on when I put her with the other pairs. Sandy