**Liv**

The nasty truth about some breeders who hand reared birds to pet shops. The birds don't have to be hand reared to be un weaned either, some breeders sell their parent raised babies before they leave the nest

OMG!! This gives me images of "The Island" where they are growing human organs in living clones. These bird mills sound disgusting!! I am mortified! and the animal act doesn't cover birds... whats with that

I agree. wash down the wire with vinegar. let it sit 2 hours, then vigorously rub it as you rinse it off - both inside and out. The paint is fine if its normal water based house paint. Is the wood untreated pine??

I hope you can clear up the suspected Canker. I had Canker come home with me in one of my hens. So many birds from so many places, they had to have something. she snuck though quarantine with it. I have been lucky not to have any loss from it. I now test for canker in quarantine as well as mega I hope your two who are under the weather are feeling better soon

Good luck and i hope she is a lovely mother

It shows which hens are keen. Cocks will condition up to follow the hens, but the box clearly shows which hens are interested in breeding

Those "pet transport" companies are quite $$$ - i wouldn't do it and you are putting your faith in someone else... He will be flying on the same flight you are, so you just drop him off 90 mins before your flight at Australia Air Express. Its too easy really :rofl: Make sure when you book your flight, you book his too. Travel boxes are really simple This is what my 19 birds from WA traveled home in Yours could be a quater that size easy.

You can get it from most avian vets or you can find a local breeder who possibly has some. You only need one drop per bird. Would be best to treat her partner too, but if the mite is not active it will not consume the poison and may still infect the bird later down the track. Personally, i treat as i see it, i don't treat the flock when one bird has it, because the mite can lay dormant for many many months, sometimes years.

She definitely has scaly mite. she would be best treated with ivermictin. the pet shop stuff wont do much good when she has it as bad as she does. You can treat the cage etc with A.I.L and there is no harm in putting ivermictin on the others she was around too.

I normally put chicks under 4 weeks back in the box if they come out early

Some hens are overly cranky. It is possibly a sign that she is not interested in breeding at the moment. How is her cere colour? Have you seen her interested in any males at all in the aviary? Perhaps select her another male, and if she doesn't warm to him, try her some other time.

I voted "NO" too.

Oh wow! that is so awesome!! I love it!! Will have to check out balloon stuff for my kids parties

A hen can only handle 2 clutches in a year, as hens need a good 6 months to recover from breeding. She may have not been rested long enough. Hens that dont get enough rest can not produce the quality crop milk required to produce healthy chicks

I agree. No one is mad with you, we are all just trying to help you out. Learning is full of critisizim and praise. It's important to take constructive criticism on board and make it for for you. That's what learning and experience is all about I like Kaz's idea on making your boxes level too :laughter:

How old is the chick?

2 birds dieing in one day suggests something contagious. i would not foster the chick to any other parent, leave it with the dad or raise the baby your self. What were the symptoms that mum had? was she thin, poopy bottom etc..

Budgies are inteligent little creatures and they DO know when you are trying to help them and understand more than they let on. I have a couple of new birds who were refusing to eat my seed mix. After 5 days of not eating properly, their bottoms were green and i was really starting to worry. I pulled them inside and put them in my hospital cage. I looked them in the eye and and held up my crop needle. I said to them "eat before sun down or you get fed by this (the crop needle) " - to my delight they ate within the hour and haven't looked back since

is there any chance that his seed mix has changed in the last two weeks?? Even if its the same brand, the company may have changed the blend...

There could be a couple of things. It could be stress moult - Have you changed their enviroment or diet in the last week? It could be an injury - she could have caught her wing in the cage and pulled out the feathers. It could be feather cyst - like an ingown feather which will cause a fast growing cyst to grow. It could be mites - mites feed on the feathers and damage them to a point they become weak and break.

I agree with everything that Kaz says Sounds really exciting. WOOT another member in SA :laughter:

WOW love it!!

I have kitch who has an underbite and i have been taught how to trim the beak by my vet. I had to do it every 3 days at first, but now i have noticed he is starting to grind the lower mandible himself :bluebudgie:

Welcome :bluebudgie: I agree, Its an under bite. It is caused by a build up of food getting caught in the beak as a chick.

Hello and welcome :bluebudgie: