ShadowGhost

Poor Bitey's beak and cere don't look too good, its been this way for a while but seems to have got a little worse (slowly). Might it be some kind of disease or just him fighting with other birds? http://users.on.net/~trentt/bitey_sick.jpg

Thanks Liv. I'm guessing that too, he's still fine now. I've been experimenting with leaving some of the inner primaries rather than the outter ones. I left one primary I think by the look of it, thought I left two. You can see it in that picture.

the thing is he didn't do this behaviour till the next day, but he stopped after an hour or so, and appears to be just fine now. He didnt resist much during the clip, and I clip in a curve following the base of the secondaries around. I did clip 2 of my birds leaving 2 of the outside primaries, but KAZ told me to cut em off lest the bird breaks them.

He can fold his wing back, but once he lands and is stable (yes he can still fly) he likes to bring it back out. I did the clip (I did my other 6 budgies too, no problems there. I held him while my partner cuts). He didnt resist, though I'm a big person, so there is always a chance that I inadvertantly hurt him. I dont think we did the neatest job we could do though. We've done better before. Poor Minty... I'll go check him in the cage now. edit: He's currently feverishly preening his wings. I noticed while he did his left one, he had his right one (the one in the picture) folded back normally.

Kewl thanks Liv... He's the first one to do this constantly.... the others did it with both wings but were able to fold them in. This guy has been sitting here like that for a few hours now My partner keeps insisting that I take him to a vet.

I went out to the cage this morning and found my bird sitting with one wing out. I clipped his wings yesterday but he was fine then. http://users.on.net/~trentt/06172008062.jpg Any ideas?

I have a strange lime green / bluish coloured bird that kinda looks flourescent green... but I don't know what to call him!

Oh no! I hope she's okay now. Why do you have budgies? Because they're cute, colourful and just plain silly birds

Storm is a good name for a grey... I named my pure white Shadow

Wow I thought I'd be a lone .nerd here lol! I think Spatial Analyst counts... I did a whole bunch of mapping software with MapInfo once...

Ahh thanks Liv! Being a computer programmer I get a little obsessive when it comes to jaggies... ha! (nerd joke)... I'll go fix them up shortly.

Don't construct your avairy from Treated Pine.

Those mornington peninsula beaches are nice to walk on.... well... most of the time...

Oh good, thanks for that! Was expecting to have done mediocre at best, my cuts are all jagged like... if you think mine are good you'll think my partners are perfect! well, really they are... but yeah.. I was trying to keep a couple of flight feathers for that unclipped "sleek" look, but yeah I can see how they would get caught on things. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to cut 9 feathers off before they couldn't fly too! I guess I should do Egg ASAP too, as that shop girl only cut one wing, now she'll be all unbalanced.

Sorry about that... posted the wrong url, and can't seem to edit the post now... The correct links are: http://users.on.net/~trentt/05272008043.jpg http://users.on.net/~trentt/05272008045.jpg I didn't have time to do it on photobucket this time, plus I wanted the detail to be visible. I left only the outside primary feather, and I was tempted to cut that off too. He was still able to fly normally with 2 primary flight feathers! Yeah I am serious

okay, I decided that I couldn't afford the $50 fee to have the vet clip my budgies wings, so I did it myself. I know its not perfect but it has to be better than what that girl did to poor Egg's wing. Below is what I did to Blueberry (repeated on the other wing as well) (Warning, 500kb images) ftp://users.on.net/05272008043.jpg ftp://users.on.net/05272008045.jpg I've since got my partner helping, as she used to clip chooks all the time, and she is good with a pair of scissors, so Crumble's wing clip is a lot neater . Did I do okay?

Hi! Thanks for the offer I really appreciate it, but given that it's fairly cheap stuff I don't think I would bother given the postage would probably cost more. Just keep it in a bag and sell it to some locals for a dollar a piece or something! I was more asking about finding it on the beach given that I live a whole 20m from it, and if I'm going for walks on it it would be nice to know if I can expect to find it, given that I haven't found any yet.. I still have the same piece (store bought, so its not that big) in my cage that I got 6 weeks ago, and I have 4 birds in there! @Sereptilia, I lived near Philip Island in Victoria, on the beach at Inverloch there used to be loads of it, big pieces too. I would have thought that there wouldn't be much profit in the collection and sale of cuttlefish bone... you'd have to collect a lot to make any money wouldn't you?

Yes I can see where you mean, I will head up there soon to have a look, I'm just off Bishop so its not far to go I'll let my dad know about the worms, haven't done any fishing myself for a long long time!

I lived at Beachmere for about ten years and used to be able to collect more than I ever needed from along the shoreline there. I think you will find it is there all the time but a lot of people collect it and sell it.Best time is right after a good south easterly wind first thing in the morning before the crowds arrive.Derek Nope, not true. We actually catch them off the coast here. Thanks Derek! as usual you're most helpfully useful! I actually live in Beachmere, and am building a house here. The units I'm in back onto the beach, so its like 20m to the beach. I went for a look yesterday but only found broken glass :/

I can only hope! I just did a google search... one guy has found stacks of them near the whitsundays and Mackay... Apparently they live near Tonga and Hawaii too... This is just info from one site, so I can't confirm this as true or just luck, given I know they live in the bay near Port Augusta I think it is in SA.

Burger.. Thanks for that.

okay, I had to resort to buying cuttlefish this time round... When I lived in Victoria it was so easy to go down the beach and find a few pieces of cuttlefish. I guess I was spoilt! Does it show up on the beaches here in SEQ? I looked at Rainbow Beach when I lived there, and I've just walked out the back onto the beach here (Moreton Bay) but come up with nothing both times. Was I just unlucky or is there none this far north?

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm164/k...05242008015.jpg Egg's wing bits... Large: http://users.on.net/~trentt/05242008015.jpg Egg playing! It's amazing what a wing clip does for the attitude of a budgie, even a hen! Large: http://users.on.net/~trentt/05242008018.jpg

ewww snakes I hope my avairy is snake repellent when I actually build it... I also wish I had the breeding success that you do, I've never successfully bred a budgie or finch

I know nothing about clipping wings so I wont try. I posted some pics in the flock section, though its hard to see the clip. She's not tame enough for me to get a good picture yet.