melbournebudgies

My only issue is that I have to have an image to draw from such as a photo, I can't just draw what is in my head. Maybe with a bit more practice I could though...

I'm reaching way back into the recesses of my brain here but I believe the native peoples of wherever willow comes from used to chew the bark...I think

In AV's book thread someone asked me if I had any other drawing so I drew a couple for you tonight. Rainforest giant: Sorry I scanned it wonky Mother and baby brushtail:

Liv do some research and see if budgies are allowed willow branches. The natural chemical which is now synthesised as paracetamol comes from the willow tree bark.

You could be right Kaz, I have advertised my excess birds for $5 each and still got no calls despite advertising that I had lots of nice unusual colours to choose from such as goldenfaces and yellow face blue pieds. They are the sort of colours that most people love for their backyard aviaries but people just arn't buying them at the moment. Maybe the cold weather...

Mybe we should change the name of the forum. From this day forward we will no longer be BBC we will be BBA...Budgie Breeders Anonymous Yikes I just did the maths and realised I am averaging 600 posts a month!!

I don;t think that counts you as a farmer Libby. You don't really make a profit out of your birds as it goes back into the birds for food, etc. I make money of my birds when I sell them but I also spend alot on them. Yes one month you may end up with cash in your pocket but the next month you may be hit with an infection and spend a bunch of money at the vet.

Dave you were blunter than me but that's exactly what I was thinking! AV there is a bird forum based in New York which has that opinion and they are extremly rude to anyone who dares to even consider getting a second bird as they feel it is cruel to the first bird, etc. IT's just nuts!

Thanks TB.

So did I for a little while there. One side of his face was quite swollen but no infection that we could find simply soft tissue injuries. Since his puncture woumds were all around his neck I would say the dog grabbed him around the head and shook him. He was very disoriented last night.

I would say that 'farms' are doing it for the cash, whereas you are doing it to better the 'breed'(I refrain from using the word species since show budgies are very seperate from wild budgies now) as a whole. She probably also believes crossbreeding dogs is all about hybrid vigour too Yes there will always be birds that you don't keep and you sell on but I know you and you will always send them to good homes, I can't see you letting a second rate prospective owner walk out the front door with one of your precious babies. I don't agree with keeping hundreds of birds in small breeding cages and breeding them constantly but most good breeders have free flight aviaries that hold the birds they aren't breeding. I don't like the fact that my breeding birds are confined to the breeding boxes and I always have atleast one of my breeding pairs in the kitchen cage where I can open the door so they have a fly in the house but that only works for pairs which are comfortable breeding amongst the household noises of course. Besides where does she think those indoor pet birds come from?

Our BBC possum passed away a couple of hours ago. He was acting very strange last night and I had a bad feeling maybe he had suffered a head injury in the attack which only became evident once he got a little strength back yesterday. Despite spending the night up and down checking on him he was looking awful this morning and I felt he wasn't long for this world. We made him comfortable in the nest box with some nice dry blankets and offered him water but he wasn't interested. Rest In Peace little man

It's not the washed out you have to look at so much Elly as that is very subjective. The tail is grey not clear therefore it is a greywing, if the tail were white it would be a dilute Actually Elly going on that thread I would have said dilute too, I was basing my verdict on Ravengypsies mutations guide. Two different sets of guidelines Jim Hutton: Greywings Greywings appear in all the normal colours, Green, Blue, Grey Green and Grey. They have a suffused body colouring and the wing markings are a pastel shade of grey on either a yellow or white background, depending whether they are yellow or white. The Rare Variety and Colour Budgerigar Society Dilutes Yellows are the Green version, Whites are the Blues. You can get Grey Yellows and Grey Whites. They should not be mixed up with Lutinos and Albinos who have red-eyes with a white iris. Yellows and Whites have black eyes with the white iris, the body colour of the Yellows range from a washed-out yellow to an apple green, the Whites range from a lightly-suffused blue to a darker blue, the wings are lightly-suffused. Raven Gypsy: Greywing This form of dilution will dilute the body color by 50% of the normal color depth. The markings on the wings, head and mask should be grey in color. The eyes are black with a white iris ring, light violet cheek patches on a blue or light grey on a green variety. The flights should be grey with a slight tinge of the body color and the tail feathers should be grey Dilute These have an 80% body color dilution with light grey wing and head markings. They are washed out all over and will have clear flights and tail feathers (white or yellow) instead of the grey flight/tail feathers of a Greywing Rainbow: Greywing With the greywing, the flight feathers are diluted at about 50% intensity from normal, and the body of the bird is diluted at the same percentage. The flight feathers will have a light edging of the face color. The tail is grey with a bluish tinge. Dilute In the dilute, dilution of color can be anywhere from 5%-95%. All the feathers on the bird will have the same level of dilution. The bird will look 'washed out' all over. It can be difficult to tell a dilute from a greywing for this reason, as the more dilution that occurs, the "greyer" the flights get. Since greywings are of 50% intensity to normal, if the bird has very light grey wings as well as a very light body color, most likely the bird is dilute and not greywing Someone else needs to post so I don't have to keep adding to this one I have just come home for lunch and went to check what relevant birds I might have. I have a dilute blue which is a similiar level of dilution as that one. The difference is that the flights and tail are light grey-almost clear as suggested by Ravengypsy, also Rainbow refers to them as VERY light grey as opposed to simply grey which is more in line with my bird. The tail and flights of dragons bird are quite dark grey so I would say it is a greywing not a dilute. Dilute: This photo actually picks up the suffusion on her rump and makes her look brighter than she is, she is a soft pastel blue in real life, more like you can see under her throat.

Do you mean both parents of the greywing bird pictured or do you mean that both the above birds are carrying the greywing gene? I can't see how you would know that the normal green hen pictured above was carrying sa greywing gene unless you have greywing chicks to show for it. That's whats confusing me, I understand the gene function

I don't understand why both the birds are carrying dilute or greywing Elly? Unless their is a thread on the chicks that I have missed... The other bird looks to be a normal green to me. He is a greywing. If he was a dilute he would not have a grey tail. Yellow is his base colour so because he has had much of the over colour washed out he looks nearly yellow, but he is infact very pale green.

Your male must be carrying the blue gene A blue bird will have two blue genes, a green bird can either have two green genes or one green gene and one blue (since green is dominant you won't see any evidence of him carrying blue unless you breed him)

He is a greywing which I believe can cause a lightening of the body colour

That's where training becomes so important I guess. These guys are for breeding so obviously their ability to 'show' isn't such an issue but any chicks will be put in the show cages regularly right from that start to help train them for the show.

Definately not supermodels As soon as the camera came out they flew around like crazies and then sat and fluffed themselves up and looked generally unimpressed

Celery leaves are my birds favorite They are the first veg food I offer to my babies as they always eat them

Some not so good news today, he is looking bad, don't know if he'll survive the day

They are okay Elly, just fluffed themselves for photos

tell me that when I have some show babies to show for it

ONe of those 'you win some, you lose some' kinda weeks by the sound of it TB. Good tip on the antiseptic cream, I'll get some of that for in my kit.

$10 for the blue boy, the spangle hen cost $15 and the two grey brothers cost me $35 for both.