melbournebudgies

Sorry I wasn't trying to divert the topic, just trying to increase the general understanding of the colouring and work out whether a bird can be mostly Deb's birds colouring with the opaline being masked. My other bird was simply an example that came to mind

On a side note, what do you think the black feathers on one of mine mean? Could it be that this one is carrying opaline, or is actually an opaline but most of the markings are being masked by spangle instead? Can spangle mask opaline?

When we looked around Melbourne a couple of months ago we also considered areas like Romsey which are only just outside Melbourne but aren't really well known yet. To buy a small house there would have been about $550-$700 a fortnight mortgage repayments about the same as we would pay in rent here. Are there areas like that near Geelong?

Oh yeah, there are five quails in there too. The red rumps are actually the cruisiest birds in the aviary believe it or not. There is nowhere for them to breed so it probably helps that they don't feel the need to defend a territory.

Do you work at the moment? We have given up on Melbourne as it is ust too expensive. For what we would pay in rent in Melbourne we can buy a house in Gippsland so we are heading out towards Sale at the end of the year. We plan to buy a big property. What do you do for a living Maesie? We found that there are actually more opportunities for us both to find work in Sale or Traralgon so thinking utside the square has turned out really well for us.

I have 6 tiels, 35 budgies and a pair of red rumps in my aviary, I find there is more bickering within each species than between them Except for the red rumps they just don't care

When I said blue spangle hens I meant that the spangles were blue rather than black, this is what I am testing, not that the actual bird is blue.... The male of this pair has the blue spangles, which is the theoretical indicator or opaline carrier and the female is a fantastic solid black spangle, with no hint of opaline in her. I have a number of these sort of males(and also females of course) that have the body colour spangles and as soon as they get their butts into gear and breed I sould have more chicks to look at.

A non-opaline female. Since opaline is sex linked if he is carrying it then you will only get it in the female chicks

If it makes you feel better I should have more understanding of the opaline theory soon. As long as we gets hens in this clutch It stood the test last clutch as we only got blue spangle hens, so cross fingers for no blue spangle cocks from this clutch .

Tree branches are best Karthik, just make sure that any you use are safe for budgies if they chew on them, not sure what they can eat in the way of branches over your side of the world

Well unfortunately none of them are actually particularly local to me, the closest is over a half hour drive away. I'll call each of the secretaries and see what the best arrangement is as won't be able to attend any meetings anyway as I have my little kids with me all the time.

Thanks Derek found my closest club, they've got a sale on!...YESTERDAY!!! Isn't it always the way

Dandenong is over an hour away from me but I could possibly go there once to buy budgies, don't think it would be a regular occurance though I'll give Judy a call though as she may be able to put me on to someone a little closer to home. Thanks for the info guys.

Believe it or not Bea, that photo doesn't even do her ustice, she's much brighter!

Dave do you think maybe the pied is jsut covering up the neck markings? That could definately give a bird that looked a little opaline but wasn't really. Notice that I edited - the opaline was an afterthought

Probably just getting usd to the place.

It is like seed that is still on the stalk, pretty much every pet shop should stock it

Skyblue, yellow face 2, recessive pied opaline

Where do breeders source their show budgies from? I went to the bird sale a few weeks ago but there wasn't much there. I can't seem to find a local bird club other than joining ASA which doesn't seem to have a local branch...

LB does it matter what colour normal? I have a couple of show type normals floating around in the aviary although they are unfortunately mostly females.

Just to add a small amount of strength to my theory also. I recently bred a regular spangle hen to a "opaline" spangle male(ie. he has the blue spangles), out of the three chicks the only hen was the only one that inherited this blue spangle marking. Which would make sense if the cock was carrying it but not the hen This same pair are currently about to hatch their second round so we will see what we get this time around

Best to have him in a quiet room so he has time to get used to his surroundings and settled in. Right from the start give him lots of fresh fruit and vegies(might take a while for him to get the idea) to keep him in top health PHOTOS PLEASE!!!!

Here is my cock that I believe to be opaline spangle. I get the same sort of colouring in my females although this is the first time these rogue feathers have popped up in the mix. I'm going to put this guy to a normal female and see if I get opaline hens out of them. Excuse the moult face And here's the back view, sorry he wouldn't sit still so it's not great. Note the black feathers on the top inner edge of the wing

Deb have a look at my last post about the colour of your new girl. I think I've explained it as best I can there

Second for me also, better for them to not get that hot sun