Ravengypsy

glad to help.. I didn't know it either till I saw it in person then it seemed easy to recognize after that

here is the pics of my hen's vent area before she layed.. you can see how big her vent area has grown. http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...2008/eggbum.jpg

as of 12/14/07 we have egg #3 from Duke & Duchess

thanks kaz! I'll stick with the wait and see aproach then :fear

okay thanks Kaz, I'll just keep waiting and checking on her regularly to make sure she doesn't become distressed.. she seems perfectly happy last I checked her over, just protective of her eggs.. (Laughing out loud) she didn't want to move this morning from them and I was running behind so I didn't force the issue. I just hadn't heard of laying stopping like that before and started to worry like the mom-type I am :fear

she's stopped at 2 eggs so far, the past 4 days have had no more eggs. She does look like she's going to lay again though.. I'll keep you all updated :fear She's not in distress though, seems very happy and protective of her nest.. (Laughing out loud) she didnt' want me to move her this morning to check for eggs.

After laying two eggs duchess, we've been eggless for 4 days. The two she laid were on 12/7 & 12/9 but none since… she still has the large droppings and what looks to be an egg-filled bottom when I checked her over last night. But no eggs in the past 4 days as I write this. So far she’s not been acting oddly or as if in distress that I can see, and she doesn’t come out of her nestbox unless I move her to check for new eggs (I do this every evening). When I did this last night she sat low on the perch and darted back in as soon as I closed the nestbox door. I may be worring for nothing, but I thought they would lay every 2 days unless something was wrong. But she’s not acting oddly otherwise. Should I be concerned she may be eggbound or should I just use the wait and see approach? Is it normal for a hen to stop laying and start back up? I had another rescued hen of mine (Bambi) who was in distress a few days ago flying around the bird room on the 9th.. (she's since been clipped to avoid her getting herself hurt temporarly) The birds all went gerenerally quiet while this was going on and I wonder if this may have cause some stress to my breeding hens which caused them not to lay the last few days? Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated. If she shows any sign of distress I'll update this thread but thus far I don't see her breathing heavily or on the floor of the cage. If she may be eggbound, what's the best way to help her.. i've heard conflicting information from various sources but do respect the members here who have experience in this. I have made sure she has natural full-spectrum lighting and plenty of calcium and vitamins.. fresh beans/veggies/fruit mix as well as their normal diet of seed/pellet mix & a millet spray.

I already have been watching other's examples in identifying.. and I'm familiar with the genetic predictions.. that's not my issue... I'm just curious the more simple factors such as... opaline or not, spangle or not... as I know the down feather color and tail feather colors tell you these things. I was hopeing someone would have these already known.

by the way, I did get a photo last night of two of my hens with "egg bum" aka the egg lump near the vent as they are about to lay sometime this morning. I'll post a photo for you when I get home.

does someone know of an article or post on how to identify colors/mutations in young chicks from pin feather age and before fully feathered? I thought I'd seen one once but now I can't find it. I'd like to see what to look for when seeing a pre-fullly feathered chick and know it's mutations/colors. If anyone can help that would be great! If not, maybe someone can write a how to?

your violets are beautiful!!!

sorry about that.. when I posted it from my home pc (the gamma must be lighter) it looked just fine, now that I see it from my work PC I can see how dark it was! i'll fix the picture and re-upload to the same link, but in the mean time here is another picture taken the same time.

how can you tell they are spangle, since i can't see the normal spangle markings in the baby or dad? this is a good one I've not seen before.

I agree with Elly, the mom is a double factor dominant pied (I have one that looks just like her), and the dad is a single factor dominant pied yellowface... your baby is a single factor dominant pied.

I'll try to get a picture of it as well as mine are laying currently as well if I can. I did find it to be noticable as well now that I've seen it on my hens. And as Kaz said, sounds like you'll have eggs soon!

Egg #2 was laid today (12/9/07). She's been incubating her eggs since the first was laid.

WE HAVE AN EGG!!! Our first egg for Duke & Duchess was laid today sometime between 7:30 am and 8:00 pm when I found it. Here it is! Parents:

Here in the US, we can take them on a plane with a certificate of health from a vet and a special traveling cage that is small enough to sit under the seat. They can also go in a special carrier in the normal animal cargo, but for a budgie I'd recomend to take on cabin with you so you know they are safe and cared for. Also be sure to take a towel with you to cover the cage wire while on the plane this will lessen the stress. However that is in the US, and not sure how other individual airlines do things (many restrictions are country specific). I used to be a flight attendant for NWA. I'd suggest calling the individual airlines and see if you can do carry on with special cage. Then just break down his normal cage with wire pliers (if necessary) and put it in a box for normal cargo. Make sure this is reserved in advance for pet carry-on or unaccompanied (cargo) when you make your reservations, as there may be a seperate charge involved. Here is the information for United Airlines Australia: Carry-on A small dog, cat or domesticated household bird can travel with you in the passenger cabin if the pet is small enough to fit comfortably in a kennel that is placed under the seat. Animals are never allowed out of the kennel during flight. Unaccompanied pets An unaccompanied pet will travel as part of the cargo system. Animals in the cargo system are accepted at the cargo facility and travel in the pressurized cargo compartments of our aircraft. Fees vary based on weight, size and destination. United Cargo accepts live animals for shipment mainly from "Known Shippers"*. "Known Shippers" are individuals or companies that have a shipping history and cargo account with United Cargo, i.e. commercial animal shippers and licensed pet breeders. Extreme weather guidelines will apply, preventing cargo shipment of any live animal when the temperature is forecast to exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit at any point in the animal's journey. Also, here is the website regarding live animals for AirNorth. http://www.airnorth.com.au/index.php/plany...riageofanimals/ ..hopefully these might help... but check with your individual airlines for their rules and regulations. Or change to an airlines who can accomidate better.

pardon my naive question, but what is an "outcross"?

question 6... maybe condition, style or markings? ...this is a good question, I'd love to see the answer to this one!

I probably will miss some of these but I'll try anyways I gotta learn somehow and this is actually helpful! Can’t wait for the answers :glare: 1-What is the ground colour of a light green budgerigar? Yellow 2-Can a cock bird have a brown cere? Not to my knowledge! 3-What is the spot colour of a cinnamon skyblue budgerigar? Cinnamon brown throat spots with violet cheek patches. 4-What are the two body colours of a double factor spangle? Yellow or White 5-Must a Dominant pied have 6 large round evenly spaced black throat spots? Yes 6-What is the most common faults of a normal budgerigar? Good question, not sure on this one. 7-On the show bench, what happens to the bird if it has lost two tail feathers? It should be disqualified. 8-How many primary tail feathers on a budgerigar? Two 9-Do all budgerigars have an iris ring? No 10-What is the colour of the tail quill of a cinnamon Brown 11-What is the spot colour of a lacewing? Cinnamon Brown 12-On the show bench there is a Spangle with Cinnamon Markings. Is it A. Accepted. 10 /12 well done

Thanks for posting this Daz!! This should be added to the FAQ, it's very helpful for beginning breeders to get a rough estimate of when to expect things (aka not do them too soon or know when something's amiss by waiting too long). I printed this with my other FAQ files for personal refrence.

none of my close local stores had the calcivet when I checked last night, so I'll have to order online or see if one of the bird stores in the area have it this weekend. I'll add it to my normal regamine. Since using this, have you had egg bindings? if so, were you able to determine the cause?

okay thanks, I'll run up and grab some tonight... do you give daily to the fresh water?