JimmyBanks

You don't have to show if you join, after seeing a few aviaries you might change your mind about only having 2 though Budgies are addictive!

There are not many shows coming up now until after the Nationals which is in Geelong this year. It's the biggest show of the year and moves around Australia every year. After that Western Suburbs in Werribee will be your local but that's not until November. If you send an email to the secretary of a club you might be able to get in contact with some local breeders to see there stock and get an idea of what it's all about. For show dates go to http://www.bcv.asn.au/showcalender12.htm for club details http://www.bcv.asn.au/Clubs.html enjoy.

LOL. The council might get suspicious of all the dead snakes near my house... They are protected here so that probably wouldn't be a great result for me...

I dunno what'll see in the close up... Just trying to get a better look and sometimes you see something when it's a closer shot that's done on macro setting... If you can get a picture that might help otherwise I'm all out of ideas...

LOL we had ideas but they were wrong. I wouldn't be concerned about it too much, although looking at the photos it's beak looks fairly long... Could you take a close up of the eye, cere and beak area? Is it just this bird that has gotten the darker markings or does the YF one have them too?

To each there own I guess. I understand what people say about the buffalo style bird but I guess if it wasn't liked by enough people it wouldn't be what exhibition breeders were trying so hard to achieve. Ultimately the goal is to get a well balanced bird rather than a small bird with a big head.

I've seen the snake repellers for sale and am tempted to get one seeings as we live near a large grassland area.... I didn't know they don't like cloves.

A Chemist is a Pharmacist.

Has her diet changed in anyway?

yep, they look like it B.J. I'm not sure what is causing the birds to have such dark markings though. I wouldn't call it flecking.

I must admit, it seemed like a very bird friendly policy. LOL. I asked about the fence line and she said "You can put an aviary anywhere." that said, I've decided that I like the idea of having it 500mm - 1m away from the fence line. It gives space to walk around the outside of aviary. I'm not worried about the houses at the back, they are plenty far away it's the house at the side that I worry about. That's why I chose the original location... Away from all the houses. But you're right, it's to close to the fence. There is no perfect spot, I just need to find the least not perfect spot. I'm a man of great indecision...

Called today and they confirmed their are no restrictions other than they need to be clean and they can't cause a rodent problem. Now to see if I can get that in writing... I still think I will move it to the other side so that It is away from the fence. There is a lot more room that side too for expansion. Who doesn't love expansion...

Yeah, I checked with council, no issues with keeping birds... On the other side of that fence is a big grassland reserve. Not sure if snakes are a problem (it's home to the leg less lizard apparently) but I'm guessing they eat birds too... I've spoken to our neighbors on the other side and they're fine with it, so let's hope they don't change their mind. I contacted the council a while ago and there was no problem but it won't hurt to call them again.

Thanks Kaz. I new you'd be able to give some practical advice. How do you put on a second roof? The wire doesn't go all the way to the bottom which I knew you'd be happy about but yes, I will have to make a safety door... we'll have to see if my DIY skills are up to that or if I need to get someone to help me out. Is your Aviary insulated at all? if so what did you use? You've got me thinking about different locations to put it now... The wife read your post and was like, "We Have To Move It!! I don't want to walk out my bedroom and see Rats!" So there are a couple of possibilities... would a Solar Hot Water service give of any harmful fumes? I don't think it has a pilot light... If they don't there could possibly be space in the back there... otherwise it's the other corner. Hmmmm... Decisions decisions...

okay... I have no idea what is going on with my pictures but according to my Photobucket they are all the right size... Hmmmm....

So... its taken me a while but alas I am finally starting to build my Aviary. A friend of mine let it slip that he had an aviary that he had never used and offered it to me for free so off I set... Hope that image works. Well I picked it up and back home. 5 hour round trip but hey I caught up with an good mate so it was worth it. So today I went out and started to prepare the ground for the Cement Slab... I'm really not a DIY kinda guy but I managed to figure it out after a few hours LOL. This is how it looked when I started. Middle... This is what it looked like by the end of my time in the back yard... So I'm thinking that 100mls of concrete will be thick enough, what do you think? I originally started digging it down to 200ml but then I looked online and all the pages I went to said 100ml should be plenty. I was also only going to cement the area of the aviary but have since decided to concrete the whole area. Makes it easier when I add on later me thinks. I'd better get a quote on the concrete too... The aviary is not bug but I am hoping that it will be the start that I need. I am thinking of building a nice Birdroom to attach to the side of the Aviary. and then go down between the house and the fence. It will be very narrow though, thats my big concern. Well I'll try and keep you posted on how things progress. Total cost at this stage is $0.00

I agree you would be always playing catch up. Thats what I was trying to point out but I probably should've spelled it out more. And even then, lets faec it, the current exhibition birds have been bred by some people who have some pretty great husbandry skills (is it still husbandry when its birds) anyways. You get the point Shajee... buy from Exhibition stock from Europe if possible.

Agree with BJ, search the web for breeders in Europe. Good luck.

There are exhibition breeders in Pakistan. I've seen them post the good news is your not restricted to one country... You can import birds to Pakistan if you have the money... I don't know how much a family car is where BJ is from but I wouldn't be spending $5000 on birds if I was a beginner... In fact I wouldn't be spending that much at any stage... But basically, exhibition birds have been bred for many generations, to start from pet type to try and recreate exhibition type is just implausible... Not impossible but your grand kids would be able to see a bird that remotely resembles an exhibition bird nowadays, you wouldn't.

Nice looking bird KAZ.

You don't break copyright laws. KAZ would be.

Wow, surprised only 1 person is...

LOL!!! I dunno why I thought 3 forward was normal.

One that likes to put 2 toes backwards as opposed to the usual 3 forward, 1 back...

Here's another thread from back in the day... http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=23762&st=0