renee

Well said!

Quite so, I had omitted to mention that in the above reply. I would be very worried if a breeder removed the hen and then put the hen with another cock within a short period of time. Why? I know of some top breeders who put their top pairs together and then foster out all the eggs so the pair in question don't even raise a round ..... Or of cases where they let a pair lay a clutch, foster the eggs, close off the nest box, and then re-pair .... I have no particular opinion on these practices but I acknowledge that their priority is to breed a National winner as often as possible. However, I do understand that as a beginner breeder of show budgies the likelihood of projecting human emotions onto budgie breeding is higher.

Day 9

Quite so, I had omitted to mention that in the above reply.

I agree, mine are 100% Blue Greywings .... I'm looking forward to breeding Violet Greywings in the not too distant future

Actually pulling the hen out early is a tip if you want to preserve the health and well-being of the hen, most cocks if conditioned correctly are quite capable of raising the chicks to fledgling stage on their own. This year I have been doing it the other way round and pulling the cock bird out at week 3 and then when the chicks are ready to fledge, moving hen and chicks to kindie cage together and allowing the hen to keep feeding chicks. This has successfully cut down any attacks on chicks, which was the original goal. But this also means the hen is having a full 3 months turn around time. However, I have found that the hens have been going out of condition after a stint like this and another very experienced breeder has pointed out to me that the hens will take longer to recover because they continue to be harassed by the chicks in the kindie cage. So I will be reveiwing this system and will probably do things differently next year.

Ooops, was feeling under the weather yesterday and forgot to take photos ..... and now my batteries have run out (: Will get more batteries and post today :rip:

I'm waiting on photos of parents and relatives ...... maybe Luisa will post them if and when they become available

Except that it was really RIP and Tony who did the hard grunt as I am absolutely useless when it comes to anything practical! I think thou dost undervalue the important role of a drink waiter Very true if only it were so! Kaz was the perfect host and I stood around making suggestions ....

Except that it was really RIP and Tony who did the hard grunt as I am absolutely useless when it comes to anything practical!

Day 7

I love the breeding .... :rofl:

Well it really depends on how many recessive varieties there are and how many appear on separate alleles. So how many recessive and sex link recessive traits are there actually?....... Kinda like how long is a piece of string really. I think trying to put a figure on it is barking up the wrong tree a little bit.What about recessive grey???? That COULD be still around so there is another recessive variety. Slates, saddlebacks, darkwings, what about crests....? Are they are recessive varieity???See what I'm getting at?..... unfortunately yes.

Grotesquely deformed .... lets just wait and see with these 2!

oooops, forgot to last night's :rofl: Day 6 1/2: Yes! The are blurry ....

My guess would be that if they don't appear on the same allele (like greywing, clearwing, dilute or green, yellowface, blue) then a bird can be split for any number of recessive varieties.this is the answer mate what rip said a bird can be split for up to two sex linkages also well not so much split but can be say domanant pied cock split for cinnamon and an opaline spangle hen the chicks would be spangle hens and cocks domanant pied spangle hens and cocks normals hens and cocks and dompied hens and cocks plus if you stuck yellowface into it 5o percent chicks would be yf and all cocks would be ...split for opaline and split for cinnamon make sense you can put in basically anything you want to be bothered trying to archive patience is keyThank you GB for persevering :hi: The thing is I am not so interested in a pairing outcome so much as how many varieties one budgie can be split for, but thank you for trying. okay I'll try and make it clearer, sorry.So take a normal green cock bird for example. So on that allelic series appears also blue and yellowface so because only 2 genes can be present at one allele then it could be either split for YF OR split for blue but not both.Also it could be split for greywing OR split for clearwing OR split for Dilute but not all 3 at the same time. As blackeyed self is technically a cinnamon dilute you have to remember that this too is on that same allelic series.It could also be split for recessive pied as this is a different allele.It could also be split for fallow as this is a different allele.The same with Sex linked recessive varities. Clearbody and Ino (or lacewing) appear on the same allele so a cock bird can be split for clearbody OR split for ino but not both. But it can be also split for cinnamon as this is a different allele.It can be split for opaline as this is a different allele.(A hen can't be split for any sex linked trait but can be split for any normal recessive trait).It can also be split for any other recessive variety or sex link recessive varieity that appears on a different allele say blackface, darkwing, slates, saddlebacks etc.You could work it out on a bird by bird basis but you can't put a firm figure on it as it will depend on what the bird actually is as to what it can be split for.Thank you Nubbly, I think I have that a cock can be split for up to 8 varieties, does that sound right to you?

Ummmmm. I don't think I understood that, sorry. My understanding is that Dominant varieties are Normal, Spangle DF and Domi Pied with Yellow Face and Spangle being co-dominant Recessive varieties are Recessive Pied, [Greywing, Clearwing, Dilute], Black Eyed Self and Fallow Sex Linked varieties are Opaline, Cinnamon, Texas Clearbody, Lacewing and Inos So forget the dominant varieties as they will always be visual .... how many Recessive and Sex Linked varieties can ONE budgie be split for?

Lovely, lovely, lovely! I just love photos of chickies :hi: - now if only I could take some half decent photo

Well Nubbly I know you know your genetics but the question is as the alleles come in pairs, so how many series of alleles are for varieties? Would it be 3 series of alleles, one for dominant varieties, one for recessives and one for sex linked? And remember the question is how many varieties could ONE budgie be split for? (top figure please)

Looks pretty darn clearwing to me. Not all of my clearwings have really violet cheek patches and some are almost like spangle patches with a bit of silver/white through them. Never been picked up for it though so I'm assuming it's not a problem?........ I would definitely pitch for clearwing cock bird and a fairly nice one at that. Let him moult out and then see what the cheek patch and markings do. My guess is that he will be slightly marked but a nice example of a clearwing. He's go a brilliantly clear tail!!! Thank YOU! First person to say it is a Clearwing (which is what I was hoping for all along). I am going to resist the temptation to bring it along for you this Sunday for the Brasea and follow RIP's advice and let it go through at least one moult as it only came out of the nest a week ago. By that stage I will know the sex for sure This is the first green series Clearwing breeding that I attempted. I am hoping that the brownish tinge to the markings that I identified is normal on the yellow wings .... The cock in question is down to another hen and the eggs are hatching this week, I am rigorously checking eye colours and so far 2 black eyes!

Yes, check the seed dish and make sure there's plenty of seed - parents feeding their chicks go through a lot more seed and water than normal and if they run out they will stop feeding.

The title says it all, How many varieties can a budgie be split for?

They are easy to clean is the main benefit!

Yes they keep warm and no they don't sweat, the nest boxes have ventilation holes.

All my nest boxes have plastic containers of some kind and the ones that Daz designed have ice cream containers. :yuck: I don't use concaves, I did at the beginning but the got all crappy and I prefer just to empty out the containers when they get dirty and replace with new clean fussy cat littler.