melbournebudgies

I was thinking the same thing Splat, not much breeding to go for me either so I'll just use the protein powder now but next season I'd gladly go shares

That looks great, what are the bits on the corners?

Tell me about it, no wonder people get confused about how many they can keep. Thinking about it I probably have more than the non-breeder amount in my aviary but they are mixed sex birds rather than single sex so I'm probably going against the guidelines myself

No Sunnie it says eggs are available at Colles and Woolworths, for egg products call the number listed

So how much protein powder should I be mixing into my handrearing mix? Is it something I can mix into the adults soft food too to try and encourage them to eat it (since it's slightly sweet). What sort of percentage protein should I be aiming for?

She has her beak and one foot done and is tucked up on the heat mat in a tub of rolled oats with her little sister for cuddles I'll see how this foot travels for a day or so and if it looks promising I'll do the other foot (which isn't quite as bad)

Time will tell whether the effort is worth it but the way I see it it's also a great chance to learn something and if it works well it's great to know something can be done to help these sorts of chicks. For both sets of prosthesis I'm using soft plastic (like the type tupperware is made of) as it's light weight and won't cut into her feet, the edges have been rounded off so their are no sharp bits to cause problems

okay, well this is where I am at, I have made a tiny little corrective prosthesis for her beak which I will put on her only when supervised(which is most of the time except at night), the idea of it being to push the tip of her beak up and forward slightly into a norml position, if it looks to be causing any other issues I will of course discontinue it straight away, her parents won't be able to feed her properly with it on so I'll feed her myself I will trial it for about four days and then decide whether it has really helped, her feet prosthesis will probably go on tomorrow as I think I've upset her enough tonight

tell me about it! It is by far the best chick of all the ones that survived so I am desperate to do everything I can

This chick is already in a foster nest after it's original dramas which started in the parental nest I'm now trying to play catch up and fix the problems which is bad start has caused before they become fixed

I have protein powder from the health food shop, can anyone tell me if it's suitable: Ingredients: Soy protein (86.5%) Fructuse Maltodextrin Flavour Sweetener(sucrolose)

5kg bag How long does it last and how much do you pay for it?

No It was going to cost about $3000 and we are trying to buy a house so it's just not affordable right now

What protein percentage is best? The rearing formula I use is 22% protein which seemed pretty good which is why I chose it. I am still supplying the supplementary foods to them incase they decide to try it but they just won't eat it, my other pairs go nuts for it

Sigh, I refuse to give up on her yet, I'm going to do everything I can think of to try and give this chick a normal life, she'll get her orthotic leg braces on tomorrow and I'm going to try a few things for her beak, such as encouraging her to chew on a ittle branch to put forward pressure on her top beak. Since it's only very mild at this stage and has only become visible today, with some fast intervention you never know...

I wouldn't do it for pairs that will take the other food, but a couple of them are refusing to touch anything other than the straigt seed, they won't touch soft food or even vegies, I'm worried that the babies are missing out on important food sources in this case?

I don't think that's the cause of the problem this time Kaz, how long would the food have to be there? I have been checking their beaks regularly and there still isn't any there now I check their beaks every day as I have been getting a good view due to the top up feeds I've had to give

That can be true regarding larger parrots but if you think about many of the bad behaviours that larger birds can exhibit many come from being handraised as single birds rather than as a group, they don't get the chance to gain an understanding of 'pecking order' so they may become bossy and then you get the problems of biting, etc. I have resolved than even with larger birds I will only handraise if it can be done with more than one bird at a time (eg a clutchof two or three chicks together) so that they develop healthy social dynamics Aaaargh your right, am I thikning of Jimmy Banks?

I would say that unlike larger parrots, there is no real benefit of hand raising budgies. The temperament of a hand raised bird is actually sometimes worse than that of a parent raised one. The vast majority of people on this forum favour co-parenting, allowing the parent to feed but handing the baby as much as possible while in the nest. Birds raised in this way often wean better and are more well adjusted as pets. There are a number of us breeders in Melbourne, myself, Angelic Vampyre . AV and I are probably the closest to you (I think Dave is out in the Western Suburbs but if I was buying I would happily buy of any of us as we are all great I haven't got any chicks available at the moment as I have finished my first round for this season (next chicks will be in a couple of months) but I think AV has a few coming up, not sure about Dave Should have said that a good breeder can tell the difference very young (at even as young as three weeks), it is near on impossible to raise a baby budgie without using a crop feeding method as they are so small, I use a tube in preference to a needle as I feel it's slightly gentler

I have just taken my show chck out of the nest to give her a check after being away since yesterday. I have discovered she has th beginning of an underbite. It i only very minor and I'm wondering if this is something that will correct itself once she is using her beak for more like climbing around cage bars and cracking seed, etc or whether I need to do something (if I can). Help!! i just want this girl to get over her dramas and get on the show bench so much after all we've been through. I'm planning on taping her toes tomorrow

Chicks will often naturally move into the concave, also it is harder for her to keep control of the eggs and keep them clustered without the concave so they are more prone to going cold. You will find a much better success rate with a conave I would say

If you sand the sides to a slope then that's fine, you don't want them to fall.

The reason a concave is used is because you don't want the eggs to have to fall back in if she manages to push them out. Maybe PM member Splat and see if you could get a false bottom made with a concave to put over the top :happy-dancing:

That's not good news having the concave under the entry. I would swap the box over or you'll have broken eggs and squashed chicks

I have noticed that couple of my pairs won't touch their soft food while othewrs go bonkers for it. I was considering particularly for show chicks clutches topping up thm up one feed a day with a high protien handrearing mix. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of this?