melbournebudgies

I built the smaller of my new aviaries today and put my corella pair in it within close proximity to each other for the first time (the male has been on quarantine). The cock is in a small cage attached up high on the back wall and the hen is free range at the moment. So far she has spent the last hour trying to eat him through the bars of his cage and he has spent it cowering in the corner I hate seeing him so upset but really this is the only way I stand a chance of ever putting them together so I just have to stick it out for the moment. If she doesn't settle down in a day or two I'll swap them over and put her in the little cage and give him free range The other new aviary will be set up tomorrow and much the same thing will happen with my galah pair (who also haven't met due to quarantine)

Also if you use Kaz's idea of using seed as bedding that will help. At this age if there is space in the box I also add a tiny dish of moist soft food in the box to encourage the babies to start eating (I use soaked chicken raiser with a dash of Neocare hand rearer Make sure it's a heavy dish that they won't tip over (like a tiny ceramic ramekin) or use a bit of blue tack to push it onto the base of the box and hold it in place

He doesn't look too bad to me, certainly not as bad as one of mine

okay, well here's a doozy for you According to the DSE guidelines in that size aviary you should be keeping 5-6 birds BUT if you call yourself a breeder and all the birds are one sex then you can keep 38 in that size!!!

The victorian department of primary industries has guidelines on their website which include a calculation

No worries, I ran out a couple of days ago but I'll go get some when the kids wake up. Any idea what the daily intake of calcium for a growing bird should be?

It is a combo of a number of mutations, often opaline, spangle and yellow face. The would compete in whichever is the first mutation on the show list that they have, so if they have spangle then they would compete as a spangle I imagine :yes:

The parents have ground and a calcium bell and I have been topping the bubs up with Neocare formula which includes a Calcium Carbonate additive too. So does it normally correct itself Kaz as they get older?

Yes but that is exactly the point other were making, high fat diets are the problem, that is why a budgie should have a complete well balanced diets consisting of fruit, veg, native branches and green seeding grasses and yes seed. A pelleted diet WILL be better than an all seed diet, I guess most members aren't convinced that it will be better than a balanced diet

By time I meant over the course of weeks, etc not holding him continually until he's annoyed. Take him out frequently for shorter periods rather than having him out for too long at once and pick something he loves such as millet spray which he only gets when he is with you :yes:

Maybe offer her a second nest box of a slightly different shape so she has options :yes:

Click on the FAQs link and then you will see it on the quick links on the left hand side, second from the bottom

If they were pet types it would be no issues but I presume that this sort of thing may cause me problems if it isn't sufficiently corrected before I want to show them :question:

Exactly Elly, large parrots have a naturally inquistive nature when it comes to large food particles

Yeah it's got me puzzled too, they are being fed by the same parents so it doesn't seem to be dietary. It's not the legs itself or the ankles, just the tips of the toes where on a normal chick they are pushed upwards by the claws instead they are twisting sideways

I have noticed that my two show type chicks have slightly turned in toes which the pet types (being raised all in the same nest) do not have this. Is it to do with the show types being generally larger and more pressure on their feet or more likely a deficiency? Is it something that should correct itself once they can perch or do I need to do something now?

Does this woman treat many budgies? Having lots of species here I can say that my larger parrots will happily take pelleted foods as treats but my budgies just look at them like they don't exist. It's a relatively easy thing to do to move a large parrots onto pellets, I don't think alot of vets realise just how much harder it is to introduce a new, very strange, food to a budgie.

Olive is two dark factors so if the hen is hiding that she got two dark factors from her parents then shecould also throw mauves If she got only one dark factor then she will throw cobalts only. Also you may get skyblues if she is only masking cobalt :party0011:

Well you won't get any inos as that is sex linked, any cock chicks will be split for ino. Opaline is also sex linked, as the cock is opaline any opaline chicks you got would be hens. You might get spangle chicks from the pairing and you should get yellow face chicks as that is dominant :party0011: Meant to add, chicks should be cobalt or mauve(depending on what the hen has carried down from her parents) You won't get any pieds unless the cock happens to be carrying recessive pied (any spot on the back of his head?) He is possibly split cinnamon so you may get cinnamon hens

Taming + time = bonding :party0011:

Astronauts survive on gross stuff that contains everything that they need to survive, it doesn't mean that is the best way for us all to eat!! If you can feed him a great fresh and seed diet then pellets are a waste of time, if you have trouble providing a good healthy diet well then maybe pellets are handy for the extra nutrition :party0011: I think maybe some seeds could be considered 'fried chips' such as sunflower seeds but certainly not all seed

If the chicks are showing cinnamon the dad must be split cinnamon as if only the mum was cinniman you would have no visual cinnamon and the cock chicks would be split

Surely 5 minutes would be enough Renee? They only recomend 5 minutes for sterilising baby bottles...

Nope

Yeah I can't do that The freezer is pretty quick because of how small they are, they go into like a coma within a minute or two and then they just stop breathing