renee

It's just a good idea to treat your bird regularly with lice and mite treatment, I do all of mine once a month.

VERY NICE!!!!

Is your Lute girl from the Pairing Kaz and I had last year?

Yes, in a nutshell. Though the most successful nest so far was a pleasant surprise. The hen is a fantastic feeder and her Dad's genes are being passed on to her chicks. Sometimes pairings just meld together well and POP! out come the chicks

I had a cock that was always masturbating the perch and he had no clue till I switched pairings and put him down to an experienced hen in prime condition for him to get the idea.

Thank you Kaz - They should give you a run for your money on the show bench

I haven't updated for ages. Not much to report really, everything has settled down now and over the past 10 days I have been transferring chickies over to the Nursery holding cage. Some chicks: Grey Opaline LGreen Spangle GGreen Opaline The Clearwings wouldn't sit still .... so I'll try again another day. This year I have removed the cock birds 10 days before fledging and transferred mums along with the fledged chicks to the Nursery. Of the 3 hens only one looked ready to go again, so after a 5 day break in the Nursery she has gone down again to another cock. The reason I've done this is because: I want to give the hens a bit of a break so they don't go straight down again It means I can change pairings with no trouble I can clean out the breeding cabinets between rounds with no adverse effects It reduces the risk of parents attacking chicks I've also experimented by removing the cock 10 days after the hen started incubating the eggs. I wouldn't recommend this for every case, but it's working fine in this instance- I moved the cock onto another hen. I won't let her raise all the chicks, maybe 2 or 3 and I'll foster the others. Here's the nest in question: All SF & DF Spangles The nice thing about the chicks that are coming out of the nest this year is that about half of them are as big as their mothers at fledging- not all varieties, but the Normals, Cinnamons and Opalines in particular. Getting the pairings right has helped but I also put it down to the soft food they get daily, in particular the latest addition of Muscle XL Protein.

The handlers keep each State's birds separate however, in transporting the birds to and from the Show Room and the Show itself of course the birds are mixed up but this is mitigated by the fact that all birds are in show cages. All breeders put their birds into quarantine once they get home.

There is a lot more show breeders on here now MACKA............but you want action over a long weekend ? people are off doing stuff and others are recuperating from the Nationals. Other forums with MORE show breeders arent as activce as this one. he, he, he :yuck:

Time for expert advice: Take her to the vet!

I think what you are referring to is a MILLET SPRAY. Yes, they can be expensive but they are real favourites with budgies and a good tip is to start adding them to the nest box so the chickies lear to eat seed before they fledge.

Well said Daz! The Budgies are the main event but meeting up with other budgie enthusiasts is just as rewarding Funny you say that the WA birds looked good, I think the consensus over here was that our team was not as strong as other years. Compounding this was that preceding the Nationals it was unusually warm here in the West so our birds didn't develop the 'winter' feather- ie. down. Many fretted that the birds would catch their cold over in Burnie and I wouldn't be surprise if this was a reason that numbers for Pre-selection were down this year. Quite a few breeders came thru with numbers, but many more only put in 2-3 birds.

A Normal Opaline has black markings. Any Other Standard Variety Opaline has cinnamonn and grey markings. Renee comments isnt exactly correct, Opaline AOSV can be either Opaline Cinnamon or Opaline Greywing, not both. In the Opaline AOSV class, as well as Opaline Cinnamon and Opaline Greywings, Opaline Blackeyes among others. Basically Normal Opaline marked birds are shown as Opalines, anything that retains the Opaline markings but is colour modified is shown in Opaline AOSV. Quite right Heath - a TYPO! Cinnamon OR Grey OPALINE MARKINGS!

A Normal Opaline has black markings. Any Other Standard Variety Opaline has cinnamonn and grey markings.

A hard decision Dave but you've done the right thing. NOTHING is worth compromising the health of your flock.

Jeff has confirmed it: 3 toes forward. Pity 'cause it was a really strong bird.

I've heard that it may be that the bird's toes were forward.

I agree with this Interesting. My budgies get hulled oats in their soft food - but I don't have fat budgies .... I've finished off the black sunflower seed and have bought grey now instead.

Whatever you do, do not use industrial lime! Kaz is right, buy garden lime from a garden center. Sometimes if you go to a garden center you can order a trailer of sand which works out cheaper than buying it by the bag.

Well done!

CONGRATULATIONS SPLAT!!!!!

Heath I totally recommend the DVD, as for the kit: I got it for the capilliary tubes but once I saw the DVD I saw the benefits of having the stand with the magnifying glass and pincers.

I think its wise to not bag the vet to the receptionist because as we have seen vets are human and can take offense and decide not to accept you as a client ...

Congratulations Daz!