Ikon

Our next meeting is 8pm Friday Sept 19th Bexley School of Arts, Forest Rd. Ivan

If you are concerned then you could install a filter costs a few hundred dollars and will save you in the longer term. In saying that I use tap water and so far all has been good.

What you need to do is go along to your local club meeting. I believe we have some members here on the forum that are close to you so they can advise on when the meetings occur. You then join the club and buy some birds, or if you like I (like most show breeders) have birds that I sell all year round (I'm at Kogarah). Prices for show birds start at about $25 and as Kaz said go well into the thousands. I dont recomend you spend too much at the beginning.

Hi Geoff, What part of Sydney are you from?

Nice Neat. Make sure you pair these birds up to show tyes and keep the pet types away from them. You will notice not many breeders will sell their better Hens. One thing I do is buy the Hen(even if its not up to bench standards) from the same breeder that I purchased the cock bird from. See you on the bench.

Ivermectin as Liv says, on the birds, I agree with Neat, treat the aviary as well.

Hi AV, I'm not offended. Just adding my opinions. Thats the good thing about these forums. We all see things differently and our collected experience can help others and help each other.

Isnt this going a bit too far. Most people are responsible and it only serves to scare people that might want to get into the hobby of breeding budgies. If I had read this post before I purchased my birds two years ago it would have frightened me out of the hobby all together As if a novice will spend $1500 (If you buy the culls off a good breeder you can get bargain show quality birds for $25-50) or spend $50-100 on seed. Those figures you quote are wrong. I have approx 50 birds and spend $35 a month on seed (yes its of good quality and I buy in bulk) The aim of the forum is to help people along the process of breeding birds not to discourage prospective people from breeding. Breeding birds is fun and it is not hard if you listen to the advice offered by more experienced breeders. What your post should be about AV is on Animal Husbandry. If you have the correct setup and your bird management procedures are good then you will minimise all the things that can go wrong. How about this, 1/ Make sure that you house your pets in a clean environment, 2/ Fresh water daily, 3/ Make sure your birds has plenty of seed and access to calcium, 4/ Keep an eye on your birds behaviour, a change in the way they act could mean your bird is sick, 5/ When pairing birds keep an eye on them for a while, The Hen may attack the cock, if t his happens remove the cock bird and introduce a new mate she will accept. Feel free to add to this. Come on guys stop assuming everyone who wants too breed has not done their homework. Like I said most people are responsible and for the small minority that dont know what they are getting themselves into, well they have us to ask for advice and we can steer them in the right direction.

It looks like scaley face Deb. I would treat all birds that are in the same cage as this one, even if they dont appear to have the symptons.

Looking good. Remember to mouse proof it - no gaps anywhere as if they get in you will lose a lot of budgies. Mice and rats can and will contaminate food and water.

Hi Jodie, Violet is a dominant gene and can be carried in any budgie colour (check aroung the vent for any vilet colouring). The cobalt gene is a dark factor blue. If you want to breed a visual violet (Purple) then I would pair a violet budgie to a cobalt as the true visual violet budgie is a cobalt violet. (at least thats my understanding) There is so much to learn with genetics. Try this web page http://www.geocities.com/heartland/bluffs/1958/index.html It might help you in understanding the genetic side of breeding dofferent vairties/colours of budgies. Other more experienced breeders may try to answer this question better or even correct me if I'm wrong.

Hi Jodie, All sounds good. All you need is a bit of patience and you should see results. Good luck.

It should be okay. What are the dimensions of the Nest box and cage?

:budgiedance:

I dont have a favourite colour, if the bird looks good then it makes no difference.

Hi Aaron, All of the above, In fact it is really good for them.

Great stuff. How many chicks do we lose to young Hens. Thanks.

Same as the Hens I give them 3 rounds a year and then rest them.

I bought an avairy from a pet store that was closing down (Display model for $500 - as long as I took it down, worth over s1200 new)with a safety door, measured 2.7 x 1.5. I attached my old avairy to the side of this (1.2 x 1.2) that acts as my breeding avairy. So my flight is 2.2 x 1.5 and I can get through one aviary to the other. So far this setup works well (no budgies lost and no bumps on the head) My floor is mouse and snake mesh with pavers on top. No evidence of mice inside yet (but the buggers are there I can see their **** in the shed about 8 meters away). Good luck with your setup Neat.

The real Football (soccer) I support The Newcastle Jets and Manchester United. In Rugby League its the Manly Sea Eagles. I dont really follow AFL.

Nothing to worry about. Most my young have black beaks.

Great work Kaz. I look forward to reading them.

My setup. I have a large avairy measuring approx 4.5m x 1.5m. This is split in two. My flight is 2.2 x 1.5 and the rest is my breeding cages. I currently have 8 breeding cages and one nappy cage. I never let my budgies raise more than 3 clutches per year and breed my hens from 12months until the age of 3. Cock birds I breed until they no longer fill the eggs. Your budgies will not die in the avairy. Make sure it is rat and mouse proof.

Be patient before you buy birds. Its my second year breeding show birds and I have not shown any. This Friday will be my first. I am taking 3 birds to our table show to see how they square up with the other novice breeders. I dont expect to win but I do expect to come back with answers on where my birds need improvements. Keep in mind when talking to breeders/judges it is only their opinion on what makes one bird better than the others. You coud show the same birds to different judges and they will all rate them differently.

I think the photo of the Lutolf birds exagerates its features. If we had the same photo sideways then the bird would look different. I have been on another forum reading a post on exhibition birds that runs for 56 pages. Not sure if I can post it here but I will PM you the link Neat. Enjoy reading.