renee

Yes, I know. Sorry about that. Just passing on the contents of an email I received yesterday from MBC as it seemed topical. I already have the Budgerigar Breeder's Programme myself so didn't follow the links, but now understand what you mean. Try emailing Jeff Stone for clarification: jeffstone@cfl.rr.com

We are running an online only, end of the year sale on The Budgerigar Program today through January 10, 2009. Normally $75.00 (USA), the Budgerigar Program is sale priced at $50.00 during the sale. The sale price is for software downloaded from our web server only. We will E-mail you the download instructions after you place your order. You won’t receive a CD in the mail. You may visit our webpage at http://www.geocities.com/budgerigarprogram/ The software is compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, and Windows 95. To order your copy, send $50 (USA) using PayPal to PayPal ID jeffstone@cfl.rr.com You may visit PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ No checks or money orders will be accepted for this limited sale. Get your 2009 breeding season off to a good start!

The budgie programme, which is widely used amongst breeders, is on sale- Check out the promo: We are running an online only, end of the year sale on The Budgerigar Program today through January 10, 2009. Normally $75.00 (USA), the Budgerigar Program is sale priced at $50.00 during the sale. The sale price is for software downloaded from our web server only. We will E-mail you the download instructions after you place your order. You won’t receive a CD in the mail. You may visit our webpage at http://www.geocities.com/budgerigarprogram/ The software is compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, and Windows 95. To order your copy, send $50 (USA) using PayPal to PayPal ID jeffstone@cfl.rr.com You may visit PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ No checks or money orders will be accepted for this limited sale. Get your 2009 breeding season off to a good start!

Courtesy of Daz's Master Breeder Doc:The Dominant and Recessive Character (Colour) The colour genes are either "dominant" (e.g. green) or "recessive" (e.g., blue). A bird carrying the dominant gene on one half of the chromosome pair will be coloured as if it was carried on both halves. The recessive colours will only show themselves if they are carried on both halves of the chromosome pairs. The colour genes can be carried in a number of different chromosome pairs. A bird can then be one dominant colour (such as Grey) and carry in its genetic make-up one or more recessive colours in a hidden form, but not vice-versa. Thus, one can say that in the simplest form of interaction of two dissimilar alleles, one is dominant and the other recessive, that is, the dominant allele controls the character. For instance, when the green gene (i.e., the gene with the code for green feathers) and the blue gene are on allele pair, the bird is green because the green gene is dominant with respect to the blue gene. Because of the interaction of dissimilar alleles, a bird's physical make-up (its phenotype) may be different from its genetic make-up (its genotype). The Grey Factor and Its Dominance by Gordon and Sylvia Hallam Our own colour preference as far as Budgerigars go is the Light Green. Why then do we only have four or five in our stud? There is nothing more satisfying for us, indeed for many Budgerigar enthusiasts than a really quality, typy, stylish Light Green, displaying good colour and in the peak of condition. We ask again why are there so few of our favourite colour in our stud? The answer lies in the dominance of the grey factor in the development of our strain of Budgerigars. We do not seek particular colours, notwithstanding the above,already expressed, preference. Our aim is, and always has been, to breed outstanding show specimens. To that end, colour is largely irrelevant. It simply has been our experience that by breeding Light Green to Light Green we have lost size. Without the Grey factor we get quality face, but the birds lack body or, where they possess sufficient body, they lack the face required. It may not be so for everyone, and here we must recognise that the Snell stud has produced top class Light Greens for many, many years. However it certainly has not been true for us. If we have a nest of youngsters containing Greys, Grey Greens, Blues and Light Greens inevitably the Grey Greens are best followed by the Greys with the others in third place.

Very wise words Kaz. I started Stewarding last year and observed time and time again the Judges promoting what they termed 'the Modern bird' to first place. These so called Modern birds not only have brow, but width of head and mask (as well as depth) and plenty of back scull. The shoulders are well developed with length of body. If I'm reading the coming trends correctly, this year quality of markings will feature prominently as well as all of the above.

Not to worry Lochlan, my breeding season will commence in April with chicks expected for May. So long as Nationals continue to be held in May any of my future champion chicks will be 12 months old. Of course the serious breeders will be entering chicks born in January 09 for National 2010 and therefor have an advantage from this year on of 4-5 months....

I'm still in the dark on how you would administer it?

okay, seems I have a whole chapter in Gerald Binks "The Challenge" book about Probiotics. Here's a summary- In simple terms, Probiotics are about making life for harmful bacteria as difficult as possible, without administering antibiotics to our birds. Probiotics products have a variable amount of live organisms in them and these are essential in quantity to have any beneficial effects. Nearly all probiotics on the market contain Lactobacili and/or Streptococci. When there is stress (in our birds), there is a decline in the numbers of beneficial bacteria in the gut (of our birds) and a rise in the harmful Pathogenic species. It is at this time that we should administer probiotics. Probiotics is about reversing the harmful rise in Pathogenic species. The number of times it is given per annum is irrelevant as there are no toxic affects from using probiotics in the long term.

I don't know if I should be, but I'm kind of offended by that comment. Vets don't get the government paying for half their stuff like human doctors and GPs do. That's why we have to charge. There are no government subsidies for vet medicine as there are for human medicine. A lot of vets actually go out of business because they don't charge their clients enough because they feel bad. I don't know if that was out of place and I read that in the wrong tone or not, but that's how I read it. Keep your hat on SW, I think she was more likely retorting to what I said in an earlier post. Ie, "Now you need to understand that vets need to make money."

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I thought you said he did 2 poo smears on one other bird. Great news none of the other birds are infected.

Use a small torch and without moving the eggs shine the light directly into each of the eggs, this process is called candling. If they are fertile after 4-5 days you will see little red/pink lines starting to form inside. If in doubt, wait a few more days (till the 7 day mark after laying) and try again.

Feather Pluckers: foster affected chicks, replace with similar aged chicks and distract mother with millet sprays and open up nest box with clear partition. Non-Feeders: foster hatchlings, introduce 3-4 day old 'noisy' chicks ... monitor and keep trying till dumb-dumb realizes she has to feed. Tight-sitters: place marbles in the nest.

Not at all! I rarely show hens any way. I mean that if my Maiden hens demonstrate anything but highly desirable mothering instincts I will persevere and try to teach them better habits.

No, that is again incorrect. Especially during the hot weather budgies do drink. If you are worried about them getting enough of the antibiotics into their system try the following: Day 1: No water Day 2: medicated water Day 3: No water Day 4: medicated water and so on It may take you double the time but rest assured you birds WILL be cured. As I have indicated earlier in other posts, it does not need to cost you a fortune. But of course you can do as you please. Just remember that by the time you have forked out only $16.50 for poo smears for 8 birds you could have purchased enough Fungilin to treat your birds many times over (and by the way, you can purchase it in smaller containers).

I do it this way because my garage/breeding room is East facing and of brick structure so with very little effort it keeps nice and warm throughout the winter. Also with the advent of Arcadia lighting I can keep breeding conditions at an optimum. So in effect my set up is best suited to this period. Because the first chicks of the new season are hatched in May it makes sense to let them mature as much as possible till the following August, plus the weather starts to warm then and Spring starts to kick in and the birds normal hormones take over. I have this year put younger hens down but that's because they have been bought in and are already mature (and always after consulting their breeder first). I don't expect much out of the first or even second round of my Maiden hens, their first season is all about assessing their viability as top breeders and if necessary "training" them.

That's right MB, I commence breeding with my 2-3 yr old hens in April (after the doxy treatment), as a rule I let them go 2 rounds and then start the 'second cycle' with my maiden hens as of August. The breeding period determines the budgie year, usually it's all over by January for me anyway but even if it weren't I'd still consider this January's chicks (despite having new rings) as being of the breeding season that started last year. Confused? LOL. That's because only this year the new ring issue date changed to January 1st 2009. Still confused? Perhaps I'll leave this to another member who can explain it better LOL. :baby:

I've wrapped up my breeding season for the year- I had had 6 pairs down but I came home from my hols to a lot of clear eggs.... After the 'unexplained' deaths I've put everyone to a course of Fungilin which will be over by the week's end. They'll all have a couple of days on KD Powder and then their monthly lice, mite and worm treatment. On Monday 19th I commence the annual Doxy treatment. I cannot stress how important it is to do this for all you aspiring and experienced breeders. Doxy primarily treats chlamydia which unfortunately is very prevalent in today's birds. I first did this treatment last year and have been overwhelmed by a fantastic breeding season - sure there are other factors, but the Doxy 60 day treatment was the foundation for this. 2009 will be my last year as a Novice Breeder so I am busily planning this year's breeding season, after all for my budgies to continue to be successful on the bench they'll need to go straight into the Intermediate grade at a competitive standard. This past year I bought heavily from 2 Intermediate breeders in Feb-May who are on the verge of transitioning into the Open grade. My current chicks look like they will easily attain the qualities of the parents, which bodes well for this year's showing. But this year I will be buying in cocks from an established Open breeder. He is not the Top Open breeder but this Saturday I hope to be able to purchase a super Normal Green and Blue cocks to build up the size and feather of my Normals. You see you have to get your Normals to the highest standard you can before you start working on the rarer varieties. So, fingers crossed, this time next year I should have 20 Normal chicks from these 2 sires as the foundation to my Inos and Greywings. I'll post pics of my visit on Sunday.

Now that's interesting. How can I get hold of these articles? Mods? Any one out there knows of this?

So do antibiotics damage the gizzard?

Rob Marshall's tel No: 02 9871-6036/ Carlingford Animal Hospital, 772 Pennant Hills Rd, Carlingford, NSW. (they are closed today). No matter how clean your aviaries are Mega is one of those nasties that is too easily transmittable from bird to bird.

When you read the pinned Megabacteria topic you will learn that Mega is a yeast. Some months ago I took a sick bird to the vet, and he is an excellent avian vet, and he treated her with Baytril. When I picked her up I inquired about treating the whole flock and he told me it would cost a small fortune due to the cost of the antibiotic, in this case Baytril. In fact the bill for that visit itemized the treatment at $50. Now you need to understand that vets need to make money. I chose on that occasion to contact Rob Marshall and purchase the Baytril direct and I paid $44 for 25mls. I treated my birds and have peace of mind.

No, that is not correct. I have just bought 100ml of Fungilin for $75.00 which you add to their drinking water at a rate of 1ml/100ml for 7 days. I give each of my 3 aviaries 200ml of treated water every day for the 7 days. That equates to 42ml total.

45 days (6 weeks) Then I'd definitely give them one day off a week with water and greens.

UhOh. That doesn't bode well. Good Luck!

oh MB that's awful. I'd say your hen really, really doesn't want to go down right now. Is she a couple of years old? Did you breed her or is she an import? You may find if she's an older import that she's been too heavily bred and needs a good long rest (at least 6 months). Then follow the advice you've been given and introduce the cock into the breeding cabinet first.