renee

Lovely deep masks and nice blow Kaz!

I rely on Gary Armstrong's good will.

I keep all my meds in the fridge. The doxy is in a jar so it doesn't spill. It comes with an expiry date, which I respect.

I'd also ask your vet for Doxycliclone. Worth renewing as well is wormer.

YIPEEEEE! You've got the bug! Best of Luck!!!

No I don't stop, I run a heater and have special lighting. It's expensive- but worth it.

Clear eggs mean they haven't been fertilised. You can usually tell if they are fertile or not by day 4 of when she started incubating.

Congratulations Liv! You did so well- and it was your first time as well! Peter G is a wonderful judge and so generous with his comments. Don't worry that your Domi Pied wasn't your bred bird, that will come with time , in the meantime by showing you are getting your 'eye' trained!

Daz, are you giving your birds Golden Cob Supreme Budgie Mix or plain Breeders Budgie Mix. I only ask 'cause the former has iodine and cod liver oil already added. Before making the switch I was adding oil and giving the birds Soluvet as a booster - I no longer have to do this. :sadsorry:

I believe Blackcurrant cordial is a 'natural' wormer. I put apple cider vinegar in the water because the tap water where I live is slightly alcaline and the acid content of the vinegar neutralises it.

How about 'unexplained' surprises? Where a pair not destined for each other get the jiggying on just prior to being put into the breeding cabinet?

I keep hens and cocks together in my big aviary. I don't have another aviary to separate them to as I still have young uns in the baby aviary. That's why I'm really happy with Pearce's suggestion of putting them into Holding cages facing each other. Fingers crossed it works out!

You know Sharon I think it's time you told us all what it is. For what it's worth I think it may be an Australian Golden Face- but it's only a wild guess.

Well I was only going to catch up a few .... Cabinets facing each other, hens on the Left, some cocks on the Right: Two tiered Holding Cage for Hens Now they are on Calcivet, Iodine (4 drops) and Apple Cider (4 drops) I've also turned on the Arcadia Lighting.

Renee, Have you ever tried putting the cocks in one cage and the hens in another. Cages side by side so the birds can see eachother. I know some breeders who do this and it is supposed to be very good. Supposedly the hens stay in condition because they are desperate to mate, and when put in with the cock they will mate early. I am going to try this method this year and see how good it works. What method did you use last season? That sounds like a good idea. Thank You Pearce! Last year I just caught up a hen who was hanging around the nest box in the aviary, and put her and the mate I had preselected into the breeding cabinet. No forethought involved!

But how long do you keep them in the holding cage before introducing them to the breeding cabinet? I know that budgie sperm can survive in the hen for up to 10 days.

This afternoon I'm going to set up the Holding Cage for the hens. After some consideration I'm concerned that if I separate the hens for 2 weeks they may come out of condition. So I've come up with idea of putting 3 cock birds in with them. These 3 I've already discerned will probably will be candidates for AI. All are super big birds, the Normal Sky has a dodgey foot and the others are the 2 I got from John Payne and he described them as 'lazy buggers' that hadn't bred for him. I'm hoping that when in contact with randy hens they will peak into condition. What do you guys think of this plan?

One of the reasons the husbands try and get out of coming to an auction if they can And why my hubby thinks if he sits on the money somehow it won't get spent!

Oh No! I hadn't picked up on the YF. In that case I wouldn't pair them together as I don't think you can show YF DF Spangles. It would be a waste of good birds.

This is my favourite pairing- but then I'm biased! You should get some lovely DF White Spangles.

Yes, she's not bad at all. I believe her parents were Ganzer birds. Would you say she has heavy melanine and be well suited to a Spangle pairing Heathrow? The trouble with opaline spangles is that poorer marked opalines get used hence a badly marked opaline spangle. She looks to have well defined opaline marking and that should throw a well marked opaline spangles. The dark melanine helps but i think it's more to do the definition of the marking. Thank You Heathrow!

Well done Splat! Here's hoping you haven't broken the bank!!! You can always tell when Kaz and I are at an auction 'cause half way through we send out our hubby's for extra cash!

Yes, she's not bad at all. I believe her parents were Ganzer birds. Would you say she has heavy melanine and be well suited to a Spangle pairing Heathrow?

Renee - why would you be happy to have it in recessives and not opalines??? Because Heathrow it's a matter of taste. I like nice big Opalines with clean caps. For some reason I don't mind it so much in Recessives. Having said that I do have a syndicate bird bred for me last year By Cec Gearing that has flecking and almost black wings and I'm at a complete loss who to pair her to .... my Spangles perhaps? Here she is next to the Greywing hen:

I have a Rec Pied like that which I got from Gary Armstrong. I don't mind it in Recessives but I'm dead against it in my Opalines.