renee

Liv you're doing the right thing by treating them all. How long should the Chlortetracycline treatment last?

Well done Splat! The feather on your DFs is really good.

Congratulations! It's fantastic. One question though- Why would you want to keep your birds indoors away from the elements?

Are you doing the Doxy treatment? If so, Gary always recommends that we give the birds 1 day off per week and on that day they should get greens. I've haven't heard that antibiotics damage the gizzard .... I'd be interested in the thoughts of other experienced members.

Jwancia, Mega is very treatable and - unfortunately - contagious as well. I don't understand why your vet euthanized the affected bird, and I really don't understand why the vet didn't give you treatment for the rest of your flock. There's a really good pinned topic on Mega which lists the various treatments available. The bird I had autopsied a few months back was ravaged by Mega and since that time I have been very scrupulous about treating my flock and any new birds. The antibiotic I use is FUNGILIN which you add to their drinking water at a rate of 1ml/100ml for 7 days.

I believe because it's highly processed and contains nasty chemicals.

I know how you feel I took a chance and entrusted the budgies welfare to my husband for 2 weeks while I visited my sister for Xmas. Two days before I was due back disaster struck and I lost 3 of my most valuable birds .... According to my hubby "they just fell off the perch with no warning". Yeah, right.

When I have a bird that needs individual specialized attention I catch it up in the aviary and then keep it separate from the flock in a smaller cage. This way if I have to catch it each day and treat it's not so difficult. Now more so in the hot weather, you don't want to be running around stressing out your flock for the sake of just one bird.

Moxi T is a Rob Marshall product, it is an antibiotic for Strep and Staph infections. I use S76, an invermectin based product, also from Rob Marshall that you add to water for 2 days out of every month. It treats air sac mite, lice, red mites and worms. The big advantage is that it is safe to use during breeding. Just recently Kaz had a horrible outbreak of red mites which to my shame apparently came from one of my birds. The thing is I never had an outbreak myself because I treat all my birds at the beginning of the month with S76. And believe me, red mites are the worst of all creepy crawlies as they hide during the day in the cracks of nest boxes and emerge after dark to suck the blood out of your birds.

Good advice MB. I've found that mice follow scent trails so not washing the traps helps catch more. Also Bunnings sells a gluey substance that is irresistible to rodents - I left a bottle lying around and the micies chewed through the plastic top to eat it!!

Depends on the vet. Best budget for $50.

Hey lilfuzzy, Just started reading this post and was about to warn you of 'sudden death' when I read he'd already carked it. Please let this post serve as a warning to all budgie lovers: pooey vents when not cleaned and meds administered immediately will very often lead to sudden death syndrome within 36 hours, sometimes less. For those of you not familiar with meds or medicating, please take your bird to the Vet asap. Personally I pull the bum feathers and monitor very closely. If the budgie starts sitting on the bottom of the aviary or tucks its head under its wing I remove immediately and place in a hospital cage. I usually administer Sulfa AVS via crop needle and if I can tell the bird is loosing condition I also administer Mini Boost & ER Powder (both Rob Marshall products) via crop needle.

No, I don't think so .... but most of them have. I think the criteria is a few years as Steward, a couple more as Show Manager and then you can do the Judging course and so long as you pass you then become a Probationary Judge, the State Judge and Finally for a few, National Judge.

Can I clarify something first. You don't buy show birds as they cost thousands of dollars. You buy stock birds. Birds that breed show birds. I have paid up to $300au for a stock bird which has done me well. But the best start was a cock bird for $80 and three hens for $30 each. I won Champion Young Bird of show with one of the chicks. I see a lot of stock birds on the forum. Birds that look good but have some faults. If you put two very good birds togeather that have different faults you could breed a bird that has none. This is your show bird. Well said Daz. :yes:

Good point. In fact what I do when confronted by a distressing situation is inform the vendor that his/her sick and untreated birds have totally put me off his/her store and that I will not buy from them in future. And I mean it. lilbabybudgie, you may know by now that I cannot abide pointless whinging - so don't take my posts personally.

In fact scale face and mites in budgies are as life threatening as athlete's foot and nits in humans. :question:

Aha! Well an old adage springs to mind- Give me the courage to change the things I can The humility to accept the things I cannot And the wisdom to acknowledge the difference

Well you know what you have to do, don't you? You need to buy them and bring them back to good health. Simple really, I can't understand why you're making such a fuss.

Unfortunately that's the way Show budgies are heading whether we like it or not.

A very wise and experienced breeder told me not to pay more than $300 for a bird. As a Novice I think that is very good advice. If you are making the transition from Pet Shop to Show Budgies, I suggest that you put a $50 cap per bird in your first year. After you have had a chance to assess the results of your first year's breeding you should be able to identify "features" that your birds don't have- be that mask, spots, markings, melanine, blow (head), of course size, length, back scull, etc. Then you need to go out and purchase those features. This year, my second year as a Novice, I have purchased several birds over the $200 mark because I am setting myself up to transition into the Intermediate grade in 2010. It is not uncommon for Open Breeders to pay several thousands for birds at Auction.

May I just add that EVERYONE is a "clueless" breeder when they start out. I certainly was .... Some people decide to learn as much as they can so they buy books, access forums like this one and join budgie clubs. Others just enjoy doing what they do with out feeling the need to do any more. Does that make them bad people, deserving of our scorn and derision? I say NO. Dean, if you feel the need to put someone down because they haven't taken the hobby as seriously as you do, I suggest that you visit every pet shop you can and put up flyers with the BBC forum's address. And then accept that not everybody will be as diligent as you are, AND THAT IS THEIR PREROGATIVE!

Congratulations!!! Yes it is fun when you win a nice trophy to bring home :hap:

KD Powder is an excellent product. I give my budgies KD Powder in their drinking water 2 days out of 7. The dosage for bath water is 1 gm/4 liters.

What exactly has been amended Daz?

I suppose there's nothing wrong with providing baths but I don't. If you're not careful they will poop in the water and I just don't provide any open water because I'm obsessed with not leaving any potential sources of bacterial growth available.