renee

Hold your horses there a moment Penny. In response to your question, Yes, Canker is a really nasty and fatal disease and must be treated with Ronivet S. HOWEVER, you would know if he had canker because there would be mucus staining on his mask or above the cere because an infected budgie vomits when it has canker. And you haven't mentioned that. So go have another look at him and check for signs of vomiting. As all you have mentioned is a fishy breath I would be more inclined to think he has 'Sour Crop', that is a yeast infection in his crop. Straight away I would be adding Apple Cider Vinegar to his water at a rate of 5 drops per 200mls. It is important you get this into him asap SO if you can crop feed say 3 mls into him that would be an advantage. IN ANY CASE with the best of intentions Liv and I can offer you possible solutions but really you need to take him to a Vet asap and have him professionally assessed in person (so to speak).

Looks like a good pair .... the Sky Normal cock seems a lot nicer than your Rec Pied hen - if you don't have another (better) hen then I'd go with this pairing.

Hormonal changes are usually the cause of this. Try popping some iodine in his water - 2 drops per 200mls should do the trick.

Look after yourself! Eat well, sleep as much as you can - charge those batteries You are in my thoughts and in my heart.

Glad he is back to his cheerful self - yes, keep up the drops for at least 5 days total.

okay, I will give this a go (bearing in mind that Dean NZ is SOOOOO much better at it than me!) Can't see the eye colour on the hen in the background .... if it's Black she would be a Double Factor White Spangle, if it's red then she would be an Albino. The cock in the foreground looks like a Recessive Pied. Hard to tell from this angle but they both look like Recessive Pieds. This hen looks like a Normal Cobalt, possibly carrying the Violet factor? This hen is an Opaline, probably Sky - hard to tell from the photo, maybe Cobalt The hen in the center looks like a Light Green Greywing The cock bird is a Grey Spangle Hard to tell from the photo - I think she is a hen and is a Cobalt Spangle Your Grey Spangle cock looks like he is dropping his wings so I would pair him with a tight-winged hen, I really like the Normal Cobalt hen for him. I also like your Greywing hen but cannot recommend a cock bird for her from the ones I can see. Best of Luck!

Hi Montie, A healthy budgie is alert and chatty so I am worried for Sunny. If he is lethargic and sleepy it is an indicator that he is not so well. You really need to keep him very warm, around the 35C mark and make sure he has easy access to food and water. Best of luck with him and I hope he pulls through.

I breed mainly in winter so I provide artificial light to my budgies. I prefer fluorescent tubes made specifically for birds so I know that they are getting the best spectrum of light necessary for good breeding results, the type I buy are from Arcadia Lighting - it's an international brand and I know for sure it's available in the UK, if you can't source them locally you can try Ebay. As for supplements, well yes I have been providing seed that does contain added Vit D and the Calcium supplement my birds get in their soft food daily does contain Vit D3 and magnesium too - the brand I prefer is Calcivite Plus from the Knox Bird Vetinary Clinic, tel no 03 9800-5311.

okay this is the second year that I have had an outbreak and I identified the source of this year's outbreak and disposed of her. Maybe more experienced breeders can say for sure but in my limited experience a chick that recovers from FM does not pass it onto their own chicks. Is this what you are asking? yes this is what im wanting to know im wanting to know that if i keep these young birds the un affected ones a) will they be carriers and produce fm chicks and the affected chicks should they be culled to stop french molt spreading from aviary to aviary or do the not breed fm chicks either is it a permanent thing or only a viris that last 3 months ??or know one really knows for sure okay, so my advice to you is YES keep and breed with the chicks that regrow their flights and tails properly as they do NOT pass it on to their own chicks. No it is NOT a permanent thing, it IS a virus and the affected older chicks DO recover with further immunity. Most breeders experience it at the end of their breeding season BUT an infected parent bird will cause an outbreak no matter when. It is very contagious and most breeders stop breeding completely for about 6 months and then thoroughly disinfect their breeding room/cabinets/holding cages. I have found that by keeping the infected chicks in a holding cage close to the floor and separate from my breeding cabinets the outbreaks are contained, because the feather dust falls and if no birds are below them there are few chances of reinfection - also the measures I mentioned above about wiping the surfaces and hoovering really do help. Of the 15 chicks I had separated last week 5 are now back in a kindie cage with their friends and there are no issues. Again, every one does it differently and I have read elsewhere that some breeders keep all their birds together and do not experience infection from affected birds. Each to their own ~ as I say Live and Let Live!

well you have a very weird way of saying it maby you should of stuck to breeding show budgies can be very challenging and is not for the faint hearted. as no offence could of or would of been taken said like that yes everything you said was true but it looked and felt very directed toward me the way you worded it mabe ? well no qualms here okay :hurryup: i know you only mean well i guess im a tad touchy after all i did everything to a t quarantine included and i do medicate quarantines just not doxy i use other things i have a very stricked practice all birds get vet tested poo smear, gulet test before entery to the flock at 16.50 a bird its worth it to the rest of my flocks health for not much Yes OF COURSE you are doing everything right! I wouldn't have written what I did if I thought otherwise. BUT even so you will sooner or later come up against the pitfalls I mentioned - EVERYONE does! Remember : Perhaps means Maybe and IF is a conditional which is a hypothetical situation - NOT a fact! Anyways I already know that you chuck it if you are feeling sensitive and the world is against you.

okay this is the second year that I have had an outbreak and I identified the source of this year's outbreak and disposed of her. Maybe more experienced breeders can say for sure but in my limited experience a chick that recovers from FM does not pass it onto their own chicks. Is this what you are asking?

No GB was I not having a go at you or being negative, I'm just clarifying that breeding show budgies can be very challenging and is not for the faint hearted.

Look I agree with you on NOT breeding with "runners" that is why I was happy to give RIP those affected budgies - she doesn't have a problem with it, so each to their own. Obviously I got French Moult last year from an infected adult bird that I brought in, this happens I'm afraid 'cause there is NO way of knowing whether an adult is a carrier- no obvious signs you can pick up on during quarantine, no test and no medication, and you only realize when you get a nest of affected chicks. I send the affected parent to God. Harsh though that may seem but I have no time for a carrier of such a pervasive and untreatable virus. The chicks I isolate and give doxy to. I know you don't agree with this but although doxy does target pararsitic infections it also boosts the budgies immune system and I can't see anything wrong with that. I also remove and dropped feathers from their holding cage every day. Above all I make sure I continuously wipe all surfaces in the breeding room with a wet cloth to minimize the reansfer of feather dust - an identified means of transmission of the FM virus. I also hoover very regularly. I do breed with those chicks that make a full recovery, they are after all immune to the FM virus now.

If your chickies drop their flights and tail feathers as a fledgling this means they have caught the FM virus. By providing plenty of accessible liquids and food they should recover fine and the added bonus is that once they've caught the FM virus and feathered up again it means they have now built up a resistance to the virus. This is why some breeders happily breed French moulters, ask RIP - she recently was happy to adopt about 4 FM survivors I had in a separate cage, and these guys had NOT completely recovered and still had missing flights. Many a breeder refer to these birds as "runners" which is just a euphamism for a flightless budgie. If a chick catches the FM virus in the nest from a parent the chances of it feathering up properly are diminushed but the same principle still applies and by the time it is a few months old it will have built up an immunity to the FM virus.

You didn't really read up about it on the pinned topics, did you? Here's a step-by-step guide that La_Coka_Nostra posted under the topic Help. Support, etc. I will do it in steps for you. THE CAMERA MUST BE ON AND STAY CONNECTED FOR THE FIRST 4 STEPS! 1) Connect your camera to the computer using the USB cable or camera dock 2)Turn the camera on 3)Wait for windows to find your camera, A window will pop up asking what you want to do select "browse photos" 4) Choose the photos you want to put on photobucket and save them to your desktop or selected folder 5) Once they are saved to your desktop go to photobucket.com, Sign in and upload them 6)Once uploaded they will show up in your album, If you are wanting to post the pictures on the forum than copy the tag in full which is under the photo. 7)Paste the tag in to your forum message and bob is your mothers brother.

Every one does it differently but the top breeders seem to have very similar set ups. I would join a club and then visit as many aviaries as you can to get ideas and listen to those infinitely more experienced (take a note book and make notes!) Your local breeders will be able to recommend aviary builders if you are unable to build something yourself. I prefer a mixed sex aviary as some hens can get lazy and just sit, by having the cock birds in with them the hens get more exercise. However, prior to breeding I separate my pairs in 2 holding cages to ensure that who I breed with are what I get - so no surprises. Look you can use a shed but you do need to make sure that your flights are long enough, 5m+ is ideal and also you would need to add a pop out suspended area so your birds have access to the natural elements. See above.

Yeah the hens are going in and out of the nests regulary, everytime i go in there the hens are in there. They are talking to each other, kissing etc. they are up high in the cage, just above the perches. will take some photos and upload them. do i need that photo book thing to uplaod them? thanks for your help. Yes, you do need a Photobucket account of your own. Check in the pinned topics to see how you can go about uploading pictures to this forum.

GB I'm sure you know by now that whenever you import birds into your aviary you are importing a health risk. It is a well known fact that birds can be perfectly healthy in one person's aviary and then turn around and cark it within a week in another person's aviary. This is because a flock of birds builds up immunity to certain strains of bugs- but not others. This is why a complete and thorough quarantining process is vital. Unfortunately that includes preventative medications not just a period of observation. And even then that cannot be 100% guaranteed due to the different strains of bugs I mentioned earlier - BUT a full and proper quarantining process is the best chance you have at minimizing your risks. You cannot rely on other people to do it for you because every one has their priorities and you need to develop your own method. :rofl: Many budding show breeders become completely disheartened at the stage you are at now, this is understandable because it is a terrible shock and very disappointing after you have done your homework and outlayed a small fortune to buy these new super duper birds and the results can be very poor. And this is why it is called THE CHALLENGE. :rofl: Perhaps breeding show budgies is not for you, there's no shame in that. To become a successful show breeder you require patience, long-term vision, attention to detail, a thirst for knowledge and the where-with-all to invest on the birds, their health, their food and optimal environmental conditions. If you cannot or will not meet the required criteria then you need to accept that you will continuously have issues of one kind or another. This what I wrote on the MBC website last week in the topic Love and Hate (about this hobby) bearing in mind that I have been doing it now for just over 3 years now - ... and 3 years on I still love breeding show budgies and chatting to other breeders about budgies! In the intervening years .... I have come to learn that how we house our birds is fundamental to their well-being and have to that end built and expanded upon 2 super aviaries for our budgies. I have come to recognize Coccidiosis, Psittacosis, French Moult, Feather Dusters, the effects of Megabacteria and recently Canker. So QUARANTINING my flock has become the by-word. The illnesses in themselves don't bother me too much, I have learnt to identify sick birds now and thankfully there are medications for such illnesses although early intervention is crucial to a happy outcome. I have come to learn that sometimes a cock bird will mate the perch but not any hen (and I mean all and any) that you try to pair him with, or he will prefer to be mated (yes, I have seen it with my own eyes), or he will prevent the hen from sitting on the eggs, or he will kill a fledging chick. These issues I call hic ups and know that in the scheme of things cock birds are more easily managed then the potentially tricky hens. I have come to learn that sometimes a hen won't like a cock and try to kill it (and though less commonly vice versa), or she will not lay eggs (they are called internal layers), or she will not want to lay eggs, or she will die in the process of laying eggs, or she will get off her eggs and let them go cold, or she will scramble or eat her eggs, or she will not feed her chicks or she will attack her chicks. These heart-wrenching and darn right infuriating events I have come to take on the chin as part and parcel of THE CHALLENGE. I have a few 'tricks' up my sleeve and in time hope to acquire more in addition to a wealth of experience that will allow me to minimize these risks. I have come to realize that as a Novice we are in fact serving an apprenticeship ... and I can only hope that I survive the course and go on to succeed not only as an accomplished breeder but also as an integrated and valued member of the budgie fraternity. And finally have come to appreciate that everyone has their own reasons for choosing to breed show budgies - and that's just fine. I genuinely enjoy helping others and I like winning.

Thanks Liv....There is no baldness around the cere, just like pin feathers coming through on the tops of their heads, they only moulted a few months ago, so I was just putting it down to the change in seed? Well I HAVE heard that a seed change will induce a moult from very experienced breeders. I am just changing my seed mix this week for my aviary birds, I will let you know if they go into a moult over the next week or so.

When a pair is ready to 'go down' (ie. lay eggs and raise a round of chicks) the hen's tail will begin to bob and she will start eying anything that looks like a possible nest, like seed containers. This is an indication that they have already mated. The topics I suggested you read will help you determine whether the pair are in breeding condition, if they are not there won't be any 'shananigans'.

I have to say that October's breeding was a bit shabby but I'm winding down now so I don't care too much. Also I ran out of iodine and I reckon that directly influenced fertility.

okay Humprey, look at the pinned topics on budgie breeding (they within the budgie breeding topic) and you will learn how to judge whether your budgies are ready to breed and what the best conditions are for them to do so successfully. :WobbleSign: You can also post pictures of your birds and other members will offer opinions. :rofl: Remember that you are better off waiting till your birds are 12 months old, especially if you are relatively inexperienced or your birds are show budgies. This guy may be a bit young still, try contacting the breeder and find out when he was born before you proceed. Pay particular attention to topics about Colony breeding vs Cabinet breeding.

If your pairs were in prime breeding condition then I'd say you would have got your first eggs by now .... but sometimes the hen isn't quite ready so it takes longer. Usually if the cock birds aren't quite ready you get clear eggs - but as you don't seem to have eggs at all, I'd say the hens aren't ready. :WobbleSign: Please post photos of your pairs.

Oh I don't know .... I'm a fan of Greygreen Dommie Pieds and I particularly like Greygreen Spangles - they are very good for producing Yellow DF Spangles (best if paired with a Cinnamon Spangle). :hug: Good move removing the egg muncher - you have been way more patient with her than I ever would be :rofl:

Maybe that they are Cinnamon too is making it worse? :hug: