ShadowGhost

I think I will try and find a professional to clean it up, I don't want her to start picking at it. Large pics: http://users.on.net/~trentt/05242008013.jpg http://users.on.net/~trentt/05242008009.jpg

Minty, Topaz and Blueberry Egg & Biscuit Poor Egg's wings haven't been clipped properly.

okay, I've just been out on the town (so to speak!). I walked into a ... pet store (not sure what the policy on naming stores is, so I shall refrain). I saw 4 birds that I reallly liked, well probably 5. I hesitated. I got the dilute yellow faced blue (will get pics soon), and I got the purple pied, but alas, in my hesitation someone else bought the grey pied... was such a beautiful bird too. Anyway, I trusted the shop assistant to do a wing clip on the yellow... well she's okay (its a girl because it bites hard!), but they only clipped one wing, all feathers including the tips of the secondaries! They also left jagged bits at the shoulder end :fear So I'm sad because I missed out on a nice bird (not the first time I've done that in the last month), and also because I was stupid to trust a shop assistant to do a wing clip.

this may sound silly but what does IMO means? IMO = In My Opinion This is one reason we limit shortcuts - some are quite common, others not so much, but if you've never seen it before, common or not, you lose something in reading the post. Sometimes it's quite frustrating. Oops my bad :fear I come from a background of needing to use a lot of shortcuts in my typing, though my preference is always for "proper" english... guess it just slips out occasionally!

That's fair enough... I did mention it was my very own opinion I like pet budgies because they are smallish, and that is also their natural state. I tend to like finches as well, but not so much the bigger birds like cockatiels and toos, and not just because they have bigger bite potential!

okay that makes sense. There were a number of show budgies in the cage. Where do show budgies come from (in a sense, how do you "make" them), because I want to avoid them... I don't know what possess people to call those things "show" budgies, as in my opinion , they are the least attractive type of budgie there is. My Shadow and Topaz are bootifal shortcuts please do not use shortcuts like IMO. Most shortcuts are not allowed on BBC

Sorry, no pics.. but the afore mentioned shop I went to (in the other thread) kinda scared me a little. The budgies were big. Like, twice the size I am used to seeing. Twice the size of the four I have at the moment (though even Blueberry is slightly larger than the others and he's only a month or so old!). Some of these birds would be close to a foot long or more. Is this common? maybe a product of better nutrition, kind of like the new breed of lanky teenagers we get? When I was younger and had budgies I bought them from several sources and they were all the same size, I never had concern of the size of the birds. But now... well I actually don't want my budgies that big...

Thanks Elly. It is interesting based on my experience, which is probably not what most people experience. The shop I refer to does have a 16 day health policy on all its birds, but I hear the recommended is 30 days, so I'm not exactly sure what to make of that, except to say it's good they have something. My partner got two of her finches from there (she tells me now!) and they are fine. Derek, thanks for that! I will have to go along and see what goes on...

Oh I have no intention of feeding the little blighters, they have reserved forest land nearby where they can go get their own food, and I certainly don't want to attract more of them!

okay, so I went into this shop today that has a huge avairy out back, I wont give out the name to protect them from my inexperienced opinion, but quite frankly, this is the 4th shop I've been into where all the birds are manky, sickly looking birds. Not just the budgies, but finches too. So I guess, I feel I've been spoiled in that I bought all 5 of my birds from the same breeder at a market (R.I.P. Ghost), and they are all very healthy looking birds, but why are the shop birds always in this condition? I noticed also that about 99% of the budgies in this shop were 150-200% bigger than my budgies! (which I must say, doesn't quite look natural, especially those english show budgies...). So, is it just me, or do most shop birds tend to be old sickly looking birds, or is it just because they're in a shop with lots of other birds? I'm looking for a white series recessive pied, and "my" breeder only has yellow at present. I think this shops 4 pieds were the only reasonable looking birds, but they were still larger than the ones I am used to. Someone poke me with a stick and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about please.

Interesting, thanks Norm. Yes he was after the food, not sure whether it was seed or egg & Biscuit in particular that he was after, but he was sitting where it all fell eating it until I scared him off. Is there any info around on what constitutes a good avairy (such as not building one out of treated pine)? I know personal opinions differ on the subject, but it would be interesting to see a thread on the subject. I had ideas of air locks and the like, but given that I am currently in a rental while waiting for my house to be built, I need something small and portable, but big enough to protect against carpert snakes, butcher birds, cold weather and now possums!

Like possums? /boggle... okay in nature maybe, but not my roof or backyard :hap: Thanks Derek, the thought had indeed crossed my mind though I was more worried about them destroying the cage and setting my pretties free. I have the doors pegged though too, so that might help unless the cage falls apart!

Thanks Kaz. I was thinking of getting a small avairy, would that keep the possums at bay?

I awoke to strange sounds in my new house last night at 3am... Of course, there are many strange sounds in a new house, but this was loud and downstairs, so I went down to investigate... To my horror I found the possum had pushed the birdcage off its stand and onto the pavers and the cage hard partially came apart, all the food was all over the ground. Luckily, I had moved my new birds into the larger cage and put them in the garage because it was so cold and windy outside.. But now I wonder, how much damage can a Possum do? What sort of precautions can I take against them? I've never had possums before anywhere I've lived, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the advice Liv, I will not forget it if it happens again. Unfortunately, not long after posting that message I had to pack the computer for our move south. He ate some seed out of my hand and perked up a bit, so I put him in his cage (he started crawling around so I was hopeful), covered it with a towel with a little gap at the front and kept him inside overnight. Unfortunately in the morning he was no longer with us. I am very sad now, as I only wanted to give the best nutrition I could, but I didn't know enough about it, and now he's gone as a result. I miss my Ghost.

The sparrows get access to the spilled seed on the ground. Budgies are a messy lot at the best of times. There was even a currawong clung to the side of the finch cage today, and right now we're packing to move house tomorrow and my partner has left the garage door open... i turned around to find a cat skulking over to the budgies!! mind you, this is upstairs as well... it would have had to got through the fly wire door first, but it probably gave ghost a fright. Actually those two have eaten the remainder of the egg and biscuit i had in there for them. Probably a good thing, I will give them their normal seed now. As for ghost.... he's not doing so well... :hap:

I agree... though I'm no expert, so I didn't think the change would be such a problem. To make matters worse, it looks like Ghost is dying !!!! in the last hour he's gone from happily jumping around in his cage, to sitting still and being completely unfazed by me picking him up... he's lying on his side in my hand right now with his eyes closed :hap:

Well the finches were puffing up a lot, and that can be caused by a few things, including mites. We have too many sparrows visiting the birds during the day. My partner switched the finches to crumbles and they seemed to be starting to return to normal size. I thought I'd give the budgies a go on it too (as the box says it is for them too). I just wanted to ensure the budgies have good nutrition. I didn't expect them to go on a hunger strike, especially after they ate it once.

lol sowwy!

I switched over to Paswell crumbles 2 days ago, they ate the first lot I gave them but this time Shadow has gone and dug out the entire dish full of food like a dog onto the bottom of the cage and the floor. Why would he do this? He just left himself and Topaz with no food.

I wouldnt give a budgie anything with artificial colouring in it Make your own ....MINERAL BLOCKS Ingredients equal parts of, Plaster of Paris (available at craft shops or Pharmacy) Calcium Carbonate Garden lime Method Mix these together with enough water to make mixture similar to pouring custard (don't have it too wet). Pour into containers/moulds and add a piece of wire shaped like a U. Have about 2" protruding from the top, this is used to attach the block to something in the aviary. For moulds you can use :- Plastic cups, muffin tins, empty fast food containers. Allow to dry before removing from the mould. You can also add your own vitamin or minerals or maybe a little grit to this mix. Note : the calcium MUST be "calcium carbonate". Thanks Kaz! Are you saying the Iodine perches have artificial colouring?

I have a pink faced blue too, though he's nowhere near as bad as Shadow is right now...

Foiled!!1! - There's no tricking you lot Yes I have pink mineral pearch, and they love rubbing themselves on it, hanging upside down from it and generally chewing it to pieces! I even gave him a bath and the stuff just doesn't come off! I suppose the moral of this is... is there a way to give them a mineral block that doesn't rub off on them?!

Nice birds! I like your dark blue, I have to wait at least another week to find out if my local seller still has the blue she said she'd have for me. I'd love to get some pieds too. I had some when I was a kid and they're beautiful. Oh, not to mention the yellow faces too... As for the palm trees and blue skies... well, I'm so glad I moved to QLD. After we had snow on the beach at Inverloch in Victoria, that was pretty much the last straw for my partner. Goodbye to 32 years in VIC, hello to (technologically and socially 40 years behind the rest of the world) QLD!! (at least it's warm here all the time, even when there's a cyclone!

Is this rare?