Ravengypsy

Kaz, I use the same wire ones with breeder doors on each side... I have 6 of them currently and removed my wooden breeding cages as these are much easier to clean and my birds like them. I've been fairly sucessfull so far with fertility while using them. The only issue I find is that the perches don't fit front to back due to where the wires go horizontal at different heights on the front versus back. So I have to put them side to side. But so far they do just fine with them arranged like this and no issues with them mating. The males still hop from one perch to another even though I don't have them set at the same height this round as a test. Daz, the cabnets are looking great... I wish I could find some wire fronts like yours here, but they aren't as nice as yours look.

he looks like he may be carrying violet (the photo is a bit dark though)... I'd pair him with a mauve for 50% visual violets and 50% cobalts. If you pair him with a cobalt then you'll have 25% visual violet, 25% cobalt, 25% sky violet, 25% sky.

sounds like you are getting the hang of it now

most pedigrees are kept for 3-5 generations whenever possible. This helps with genetic predictions in offspring as hidden factors can pop up generations later

Elly is right, that hen looks violet cobalt. The mom was most likely a violet mauve. YF2 opaline cobalt violet hen x recessive pied cobalt cock = --50% of all chicks will be YF2 --all males will be normal split opaline and rec pied --all females will be normal split recessive pied For colors: 12.5% mauve 12.5% violet mauve 12.5% sky 12.5% violet sky (vibrant cobalt) 25% cobalt 25% violet cobalt (visual violet)

unfortunatly by the time I was home from work the bub was dead in the nestbox. The mom refused to feed it and had kicked it to the back of the nestbox. of the 9 eggs, only 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 & 9 were fertile.. egg 4 was the chick that died. chick 1 & 2 are doing okay.. and I fostered eggs 6, 8 & 9 to Dawn & Footsie to raise who I know are good fosters. It makes me wonder if she knew something I didn't about the chick. Anyways it's been a rough night, but hopefully the other 3 eggs will be okay.

I hadn't seen any photos of a bird that is known to be visually clearwing opaline spangle.. the only thing that seeped into the wings is the opaline part. I know genetically it's possible for her to be clearwing, and although her front is a light lilac in color the back rump is a bit darker purple (seen in photos)... so i'd be interested to find out. I know none of the chicks will visually be opaline or clearwing or dilute since Dusk is not known to be split for them. But if anyone has one that is known to be clearwing opaline spangle I'd love to see a photo to compare. Her coloring in real life is actually lighter than the photos show. I'd be interested to hear more on this :budgiedance: as I've been struggling with her color ID myself... I have her written down in my books as opaline spangle split to dilute and possible split clearwing... but her wings show no black spangle markings on the wings other than the opaline portion.

1. Dominant Varieties Can a dominant pied be split Fallow? > yes Can a fallow be split dominant pied. > no, the dominant pied would visually affect the fallow markings. Name the varieties I would get from pairing Spangle cock to a spangle hen. > 25% DF Spangle, 25% normal, 50% SF Spangle 2. Recessive Variety, What variety do I get if I mate: A greywing cock to a greywing hen. >100% greywing assuming both parents are carrying 2 greywing genes each rather than 1 greywing and 1 dilute >>> {if both parents have only 1 greywing gene (expressed) and 1 dilute gene (recessive to greywing on same allele) then it would be possible to have 75% greywing and 25% dilute.} A clearwing Cock with a normal / clearwing hen > 50% normal /clearwing, 50% clearwing A fallow cock to a normal hen > 100% normal /fallow Colours Name the three colours of green > light green, dark green, olive Name the three colours of blue. > sky, cobalt, mauve Name the other two colours. >yellow & white, or violet & grey / greygreen…. Which two are you looking for? 3. Sex Linked varieties. Name all possible outcomes of these matings. Normal Cock to an Opaline Hen > 50% normal male /opaline, 50% normal female Opaline Cock to a Cinnamon Hen > 50% normal male /opaline /cinnamon, 50% opaline female Normal/opaline Cock to a normal Hen >25% normal male, 25% normal male /opaline, 25% normal female, 25% opaline female 4. Last one. Name all possible outcome of these matings (Colour/Variety/sex) Lutino Cock to a green opaline hen >50% normal male /lutino /opaline, 50% lutino female Grey Cinnamon /lacewing cock and a blue cinnamon hen. >Lacewing is a combination of cinnamon and ino.. so in other words the grey cinnamon cock is cinnamon split to albinism (Ino) technically. Also the grey could be in single or double factor form, visually the same. >>If SF grey: 12.5% grey male cinnamon /ino, 12.5% blue male cinnamon /ino, 12.5% grey male cinnamon, 12.5% blue male cinnamon, 12.5% white lacewing female, 12.5% white lacewing female /grey, 12.5% grey female cinnamon, 12.5% blue female cinnamon. >>If DF grey: 25% grey male cinnamon /ino, 25% grey male cinnamon, 25% female white lacewing, 25% grey female cinnamon light green dominant pied / opaline cock and a skyblue normal hen >Pied: 50% dominant pied, 50% normal >Opaline: 25% normal male, 25% normal male /opaline, 25% normal female, 25% opaline female >Color: 50% light green, 50% light green /blue light green opaline cinnamon cock to a light green spangle hen. > 25% light green male spangle /opaline /cinnamon, 25% light green male /opaline /cinnamon, %25 light green female spangle opaline cinnamon, 25% light green female opaline cinnamon

So far, Precious and Dusk have had 3 chicks hatch. The first two are doing great. The 3rd chick, I went downstairs yesterday to check on everyone and knowing that the 3rd had been due to hatch that day I didn’t see a 3rd chick. Then I counted the eggs and was one short. I rechecked the nestbox to make sure one didn’t get buried in the bedding and no luck. I looked into the breeding cage itself and saw an egg shell on the bottom and was thinking.. where did that baby go? Then I noticed a tiny pink baby that was laying in the catch tray under the cage looking lifeless. I quickly pulled the tray out and picked up the bub. The chick was stone cold and had an empty crop, looked lifeless. There was a small piece of one of mom's feahers stuck to the bub which indicated that the bub was still wet and hatching and the baby & egg got stuck on her when she left the nestbox, which explains how the egg and baby got there. So I warmed my hands and tried to warm the chick with radiant heat from my body and as the chick began to warm up he moved a little bit finally and opened his beak. He was alive! I made some formula and syringe fed the tiny little chick enough to sustain him through the night and put the chick back in the nestbox once he was warmed up and fed. I checked the chick several times in the evening and so far still good. This morning I went down and it was still alive and finally heard it’s first tiny chirp. It had not yet been given the morning feed yet, but it was early this morning and the auto lights were just coming on. I fed the parents their morning soft food and the mom came out to get sustenance for her chicks. I would have attempted another hand feeding this morning but I was running late for work. So I’m anxiously awaiting to get home tonight and check on the baby to make sure the mom has finally fed it and still alive. But I’m happy to say that luck had it that we found it when we did even though it was almost dead, and with some extra care it came back to life and this morning was finally chirping softly for food. We may have saved this chick with any luck. I’m going to let her raise the 4th one if no further problems arise and then foster the last 4.

beautiful photos, your budgies look so happy

yeah I'm going to get some clothespins tonight to block all the cages more perminantly... the chick in the 2nd video is only 6 weeks old too.. and I had to add a few foot toys to the nursery to keep them busy.

here is a photo of Conan last night, the grey green spangle: And here is updated photos of his siblings: Tinsel: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...ks/IMG_4733.jpg Frost: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...ks/IMG_4675.jpg Blueberry: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...ks/IMG_4573.jpg

updated photo of chick 1 & 2 last night.

a great article, thanks for posting it. whenever something goes wrong my first thought is always "what did I do wrong" or "what could I have done to prevent this" and use that information for the future and adjust my managment as needed.

I may have to try this way, I recently trimmed the vent feathers of my infertile birds that had buff feathering and it took my husband to hold the bird while I trimmed. Would be helpful if I could do it myself like this.

it was pure luck that I caught them doing it both times, and funny that it happend within a day of each other and in totally seperate rooms. they crack me up and they are defiantly smarter than some people give them credit for. I'm sure at first it was just a fun novelty for them to find something to play with, and then I know Blueberry (the blue chick) figured out he could escape with it somehow.. he tried about 5 times before I got the video cam ready for the 6th attempt... hehehe.

I know Daz has it in another thread somewhere.. but I remember he used a fostner bit to cut a small starter hole and then a 80 grit flap disc sander to make the concave. I used this method on my new nestboxes and it worked great.

I had this happen with a pair too and all worked out well... I'm sure your's will be just fine

I have just had the experience this past weekend of trimming the vent feathers of all my birds which had clear eggs on the first round. They all are considered to have "buff" feather types and I realized just how much when I tried to trim them.. wow.. no wonder they were all clear eggs... ain't nothing getting through those feathers! So off to trimming I went with help from my hubby to hold them for me. And with luck the 2nd round will be more successful.

thanks Daz, this is truely helpful information.... now if I could just commission someone in the US to make cage fronts I'd be set. I am envious though, they are really nice and I love the designs. Hopefully my next perminant aviary will be able to do something like this. Well Done.

thanks I had them custom made for me by a friend who does woodworking... unlike Daz I'm not that talented!!! But they do work great and my hens seem to feel more secure with it for some reason. I don't have the normal ventalation holes, however there is a nice ventaliation gap between the sliding door and the top wood peices that's about a 1/2 cm deep, enough to give fresh air but keep the humidity in. My hens all accepted these new nestboxes with entheusiasm. Here are photos of the nestboxes: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...08/IMG_3436.jpg http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...08/IMG_3438.jpg

I decided to make a new thread for this pair because of the number of fertile eggs they have and such a cute pair. Dusk's mother was a Daniel Lutolf hen, who's father is one if his champion birds so I'm really hoping to get a good show chick from them or at least good breeding stock for next year. Precious is an opaline spangle violet (and I think clearwing? not sure how clearwing looks with an opaline spangle?... the father was a spangle YF split to clearwing and opaline, the mother was a violet white dilute). She laid 9 eggs, the first was infertile. Eggs 2-8 were fertile, and so far the first two chicks have hatched. I'll most likely foster the last 4 chicks to another pair I have that's infertile and good fosters, Dawn & Footsie. Here are photos of the parents... (larger photos are linked) Precious: Dusk: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...es/000_2482.jpg And here is their first chick, I'll take new photos soon.. I promise! The breeding cage: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x271/ra...08/IMG_3433.jpg ...so anyone wanting to guess what the chicks will be? (Laughing out loud).. should be an interesting clutch with a nice variety.

how's the flooding, kaz?

good info there.. what I'm trying to figure out is how best to diagnose a death in a chick other than a post mortem vet visit.. that way if correctly diagnosed you have a better chance to prevent it in the future when possible and also reduce the mortality rate for future chicks.