melbournebudgies

Renee suggested water soluble iodine to give my boys a 'boost' (not betadine though, it has to be iodine that can be taken internally)

Size doesn't mean all that much as most growth is finished by the time they are a few months old, she is probably a show type and your other one is probably a pet type

The sign is a great idea Carolyn! I will have to remember that for the future

H'll possibly preen his wings a lot for the first day or two until he gets used to it but he'll be fine

I don't think it matters, I have tamed plenty of baby budgies and they could always hear their parents and the outside budgies in the aviary. The main thing is that I wouldn't let it physically interact with the other budgies until it was very tame

I'm having 'technical difficulties' with my printer/scanner/card reader, stay tuned it might take me a day or two to get someone to fix it

If the babies today are dominant pied then their chicks would be dominant pied spangle I think

I agree with Kaz, I have a couple of fairly quiet aviary boys that I would part with but they aren't tame

Either way her age possibly explains part of the issue. If she is 07 and didn't hatch until late last year then she was probably very young when you first bred her(very stressful on a young hen), if she is an 01 bird then she is way too old to be breeding.

I can't remember what year green is but if you have a look there will be two numbers(or a symbol then a number) which are sideways on the band something like 04 or ^4. This is the year she was born

Then it is most likely another hen wanting to use the box. You need atleast 5 more boxes in there all at the same level and facing different directions in order to reduce the chance of fighting. Most people here will tell you that this is precisely the reason they no longer aviary breed as breeding in single cages reduces the chances of problems like this. Also bear in mind that it isn't a good idea to breed a hen after about age 3-4 so she really is getting to the end of when you should be encouraging her to breed

I collected some tonight and will be posting some photos.

I have devestating news I got home tonight and my oldest crested chick was dead in the nest box. I have no idea what happened, the other three chicks are well fed and looking fine, they have cean water and food including fresh soft food. I was looking at him last night thinking he was a scrawny thing (I even posted it up there ^ ) but I didn't expect this When it rains it pours, the smallest of my green clutch is also dead! I don't understand it, I've never lost a single chick before and now they seem to be dropping all over the place. I'm not doing anything different from the other times I've bred They aren't showing any signs of illness

It is more likely that another hen has chucked them out. How many nest boxes are in the aviary and how old are your hens? If you have three hens in there you need to have atleast six nest boxes.

For those of you who aren't aware I am actually a uni botany graduate So in the interests of public service I'm going to start a running botany basics topic for anyone with a question such as telling one plant from another, etc. I'm going to invite topic suggestions from anyone but my first topic which I will put up in the next few days is "When is a grass not a grass" Grasses as a whole are basically safe foods for your budgie BUT there are many things that look like grasses and may not be safe. STAY TUNED Other topic thoughts I've had are "Acacias(wattle trees) distinguishing safe from unsafe species" and "What garden weeds can I feed my budgies, how do I tell them apart" While I am capable of explaining the differences between species, etc I'm not aways aware of which actual species are safe so I'd love to recieve links/info from anyone who has that sort of stuff Any other topic suggestions, chuck them out there and I'll see what I can do

Surely a decent vet would recognise though that having lost your beloved pet one of the best results for you would have been to keep and raise her kittens and probably keep atleast one for yourself.

The only one I'm questionable on is the first one of the 'grasses' which isn't actually a grass but the flower stalk of a broad leaf weed, might be okay, might not After I do my weekly 'harvest in the next few days (depending on the weather) I'll take some photos for all to see to help compare things they have collected

How old are the chicks? It is best to remove the hen and leave dad to raise if they are older chicks

The second oldest from the green pair is looking like it will be blue too (actually probably grey since dad is a grey green). What's funny is I thought that all the chicks would be green and now it looks like I will have almost all blue series

Fish have to be quarantined so it's not as simple as posting them from overseas They put them into a heavy duty plastic bag and blow the bag up with pure oxygen and then they pack them in polystyrene boxes, with heat packs if necessary. When they reach an approved quarantine station here they are quarantined before being released to the purchaser if it's a private shipment or being moved into wholesale tanks and then finally being caught for transport to the pet shops. The process is repeated at the wholesaler and the boxes are transporter by Aus Air Express to their destinations all over Aus :hug:

I hate to say it Libby but having worked as a vet nurse many vets are simply against people having domestic kittens (as opposed to registered breeders) and will try and discourage people from rescueing them. I think this vet has taken that too far though

Gosh Deb, I wish my mice were as stupid as yours, I think my ones are eligable for joining MENSA

What a horrible weekend. They should have been able to tell age on an ultrasound, I'm surprised they wouldn't do that or open her up, after all what is there to lose

I have those traps and had no luck, I've resorted to poison now which I didn't want to but ya gotta do what ya gotta do

Definately not too small for two budgies. How about tis one : CAGE Or: CAGE