renee

On Saturday at the State Derby for Young Birds Peter Glassonbury penalised a magnificent Normal Green for having heavy wings, so it didn't make the top 5 on the Top Bench in the Novice Class. There were a few mumblings about that decision. However, later when he was judging the Colour Classes the same bird was selected ahead of Intermediate and Open birds. So I guess what you can take away from that experience is that heavy wings are a fault but must be viewed in perspective with/against the other competing birds.

Good luck Dave, I hope you can keep the pooey bums at bay!

Unfortunately, Caesr, my blue Cec Gearing bird, has come down with some illness. He has not been exposed to anything, he has been dry the whole time, he has gone through 28 days of treatments and was fine. Yesterday i noticed he had a pooey bum so he went into a hospital cage. Then when i came him from school, he was not even perching, so I took him straight to the vet. The vet is keeping him in for observation, they will get and run some poo samples, he has a few injections, but I need to know what he has, so I can treat the rest of them. It is very strange that he has gone 28 days with no illness then he has come down like this on day 29. I just hope that he is alright, and there is something that I can do for the rest of the birds. What a downer! Please keep us posted about the vet results.

I love the look of your aviary Dave. Do remember that by placing the seed closer to ground level you encourage your budgies to fly down and upwards and this helps develop their shoulder muscles. I see you mentioned that in your post, perhaps you can modify the stand so that it's only about a foot high?

If they have bred two rounds, the rest of the year is their holiday in the aviary. Cameron, the season you choose to breed in depends a lot on the conditions of your breeding room but should include Spring. So you may choose Autumn to late Spring or Early Spring to Autumn. But I would recommend a "rest" period for your entire flock in your aviary of 3 months. During this 3 month break you can do your annual treatment program and are therefor are well prepared for the new breeding season. As Kaz says, no hen should raise more than 2 rounds, unless of course she's a foster hen and even then I wouldn't expect her to do more than 3; and no pair should go down unless they're in tip top condition.

The article is Baby Budgerigars Milestones by Betty Rhea, first published in 2004 and republished in February 2009 Aviary Chatter magazine. After listing the milestones from Day 1 -35, the author writes: "During the first days after hatching the newborns are nestled all the time. The mother completely covers them. As consecutive chicks hatch they huddle close together with the youngest at the bottom. They rest their necks on each other and stay in this huddle even when the mother leaves the nest. The reason for this is their intense need for body contact – staying in this huddle provides this contact, maximises warmth and happens to be a very good resting position. That for the first week of its life a newly hatched chick is entirely dependant on its mother and siblings for body heat. It is only when it reaches a week old that it becomes 'warm blooded' and from then on maintains its body heat for itself by oxidizing its food."

I've just seen a documentary on SBS about Living Dinosaurs. Interestingly the doco ended with the narrator stating that his favourite "living dinosaur" was the PARROT. Food for thought.

I can't bear to watch the news. It's so terrible- so many lives lost, so much pain and horror, such destruction. Ours may be the Lucky country but it's a harsh country too.

Natural is best. How would you like to survive on a diet of shakes and replacement meals forever? I recommend a diet of good quality budgie seed and veggies. Your budgie will thank you for it.

In my short experience I would say the most challenging variety to breed was good variety Clearwings to Show budgie size. From what I have experienced and seen, many of the larger birds have very dirty wing markings while the well marked Clearwings are pet shop size. I suspect the same goes for Black Eyed Clears, though I'll never try breeding those!

No, Lochlan, there's no dust build up that I have observed. It's an open design so feather dust and the like blows away. The issue I have a problem with was described by Teagan in another post: Build up of dried poo around the vent and loss of appetite. In her post the vet diagnosed a 'crop issue'. This would make sense as an affected bird I took to the vet, while there was no diagnosis offered, Lincospectrum was used as treatment. I have since treated a young bird (from another aviary) that was similarly affected: 48hs hospital cage and then 4 days in a separate cage with crop feeding twice daily a mixture of ER formula and Lincospectrum. Throughout I didn't see any evidence that it was eating at all but I've popped him back into the aviary and he seems to be doing okay so far.

I'm sure you have access to more articles than most of us and can find a definitive answer SW. But the reference to the oxdization of the blood after the first week of like seems to indicate cold bloodedness to me .....

Neither did I. It goes to show that when they're first hatched it is imperative to keep the breeding room temperature above 10C.

Did you know that when chicks hatch they are entirely dependent on their Mother hen for body warmth? :cake: That is because when they are born they are Cold Blooded! It takes them a week before they start oxidizing their own food and generating their own body heat. Thanks to Betty Rhea who shared this fascinating insight thru the Rares magazine.

Good advice Daz! I thoroughly recommend to everyone to invest in good quality seed. Supermarket seed is just not up to standard. Pet shops and Stock Feed stores sell premium budgie and breeder budgie mixes, these I recommend. Brands to look for (in Australia) are Triangle, Golden Cob and Golden Fields. Even if you only have a few budgies it pays to buy a 20kg bag and store it safely in an empty plastic container, such as a bin or box you can pick up from Red Dot or your local Hardware store.

Congratulations Daz & Darryl!

How did you go Daz?

Very low nutritional values. It's high water content can cause the runs.

Mine too :rofl: The birds in the breeder cages cling to the front of their cages waiting for theirs to go in too :rofl: Thanks for the photo of the tree Kaz, I've been scratching my head wondering what it looked like. As it turns out I have some near by! :rofl:

Stock Feed stores usually supply it. Or else if you are a member of a Budgie Club you may be able to get it via the Accessories Table. :rofl:

Kaz has given you some excellent advice which you should try. If however, that doesn't work remember that most times when a chick fails to emerge successfully from the shell it is a sign of a natural weakness in the chick, ie. it wasn't meant to be. There are a couple of things you can do to improve the hatchability- 1. Vitamin B supplements 2. Increase the humidity But these options will be extremely challenging if you continue to aviary breed because you won't easily be able to manage the breeding environment.

Chin up AV. It's horrible to lose any birds, lets hope your air con will do the trick! :thumbs_up:

I don't think so. FM is not genetic and nobody sets out to have it disrupt your breeding season.

Not following you Dr Nat, maybe you could elaborate?

Although I bought this bird from a Pet Shop I knew the breeder and where he bought most of his birds from so I recognised French Moult could be a factor. However, as SW correctly pointed out FM is a virus with no cure and to the best of my knowledge FM survivors don't pass it on so I took a 'safe' risk with this bird. But I don't think I'll be taking any further risks in the future and I will be cleaning my breeding cabinets more frequently this year. You live and learn!