renee

Nope. Thank you Neat for the article on Air Sack Mites. I will treat with Ivermectin and monitor.

I would hazzard to say there's no chance of either iodine deficiency or vitamin A as I give them all the Budgie Supreme Breeders mix which contains supplemented vitamin A & D, iodine and cod liver oil. Plus they have iodine blocks available and I periodically give them soluvet plus in their water. They all get brocolli 3 times a week

Renee hasn't actually said anything regarding a vet trip, so we cant really assume one way or the other. As you may recall I have recently, this week, seen the vet about my yellow face grey hen who presented with lung congestion. All I was told was that that was a low level infection. In this case I have been observing one of my cock birds get very 'chesty'. Today I caught him to see what was going on and found that his air sacks are inflamed and he is wheezing. So I consulted my Diseases of Budgerigar bible. I then recalled treating a few budgies for this a couple of years ago but can't remember what I used, I think it was Ivomectin, but not sure. I also keep canaries nearby and this may be the source of the infection. Neat, I appreciate your concern but I am a firm believer of taking birds to the vet which present with symptoms I have not had any experience with. Right now it's bucketing it down here in Perth and we are also experiencing some cold weather. I see no point in rushing to the vet when either my birds catch a chill or come down with a bout of cocci. I know those symptoms and I have the medication and experience to treat them.

I'm in Perth too Liv. Where's your local dealer?

Hi All, Has anyone had an infestation of air sac mites in their flock? Can you remember what you treated them for it? I've got some Ivomectin in liquid form from Rob Marshall which says it treats worms, mites and lice but am not sure it would do the trick for air sac mites.

Good news in that the hen hasn't got megabacteria or any of the other nasties, rather a low level infection. Ray was going to treat her with Baytrox (or something like that) but when I said I wanted to give all the birds in the outside aviary a preventative treatment he gave me Lincospectrin which will target the congestion specifically.

Vet appointment with Dr Ray Butler at 4pm. I'll keep you posted. I hear he is an excellent vet Yes, he is a top vet and the deal-breaker for me is that he specializes in avian care. I have since found out that Jeff Lloyd uses him too. RE my recently-purchased-at-great-expense yellow face grey hen, Ray doesn't think there's anything wrong with her but he's going to keep her there overnight and check her droppings (which by the way are firm and perfectly normal). What spooked me was that on the Metropolitan Budgie Club forum they've been discussing cocci and megabacteria in length .... well turns out that in the advanced stages of mega the birds get bunged up/congested. And since I separated my y/f grey hen I went through the outside aviary (where she's been) and pulled out 3 more birds who were tail-bobbing and when I listened to their chest were a bit wheezey too. They are now in a separate cage in the warmth and whatever the hen has they'll be treated too. What really annoys me is that apart from the tail-bobbing, visually they look in great health.

Vet appointment with Dr Ray Butler at 4pm. I'll keep you posted.

I picked out a lovely yellow faced grey hen today to put down to breed but noticed she is congested. Definitely got bunged up lungs. I have put her into a cage in the breeding room where she'll be warm. Has anyone had this and what have they done? Apart from the labored breathing she is very happy.

Yep, definitely not budgie breeding set up .... You can stop feeling envious Jenene

This year at the Nationals a rep was promoting Arcadia Lighting. At the chat hosted by Janice Al Nasser (UK judge invited specially for the event) she said that she had installed Arcadia Lighting last season and had recorded a 30% increase in her breeding results. I installed the Arcadia lighting almost a month ago and several pairs that weren't getting as much natural light suddenly went down and are now raising chicks. We too are in a rental property and bought the fluorescent tubing fittings from Bunnings for $30 and the Arcadia tubes for $56. We tied them to the ceiling beams and ran them on extensions to the power outlet, also all on timers. It's working really well. I can't speak for the heat lamps as I don't use them. Instead I run a radiator at night to take the chill out of the air.

<br /><br /><br /> okay, I will monitor and see how it develops.

I've just noticed that one of my chicks has an air bubble in his crop. He is a few days old and still receiving crop milk (I think from the look of it). Is this okay, will it work itself out, or should I do something? I've never seen anything like this before.

Thank you everyone. Yes I've taken your advice and yesterday Tony and I put in some nice thick perches in the 4 breeding cabinets affected. My big green is still the ever attentive partner and the hen has laid 2 more eggs since I chucked the last clear round 5 days ago. I shall give them a week before checking this round though of course they may be clear again .... I think the effects of the new perches may not be appreciated for maybe another fortnight. BUT we shall persevere!!!

I think the main thing is to control air flow, temperature and lighting. The birds need fresh air but no drafts. Here in Perth day temps still get into the 20s but drop down to 5 at night so I run a radiator at night to take the chill out of the air. I have noticed that since installing Arcadia lighting breeding has really taken off, this is a spectrum lighting that is optimal for birds and I run it from 7am to 7.30pm. I have a few pairs that don't seem to be very interested in reproducing, maybe you need to put a time limit on how long you're going to keep them in the cabinets before releasing them into the aviary for a rest and try them later. I think the consensus is about 3½ weeks. When you say they're not interested do you mean- a. Not in eachother? b. Hen not going in the nest?

Doxy is only available through a vet. Yeah, sorry about that ... I've edited the earlier post. It's also known as psittavet but I only realised that when I looked at the label.

I put all the birds on a 40 day treatment of doxy/psittavet over the summer as per Gary A's advice. What exactly IS the course of treatment you're referring to? As for diet and supplements: Special breeder seed, 3 times/week fresh broccoli, every day fresh soft food (carrots, apple & boiled eggs base). Water changes on alternate days - 2 days Calcivet & Soluvet, 2 days Calcivet, 2 days Calcivet & Tracemin ... Iodine blocks in cabinets.

Can anyone tell me if they do anything special when a young (over 12 months) cock bird does not fill eggs? A special tonic perhaps? Special treatment?

YEAH!!! How many more do you think are left???? There's no actual evidence of more, but I assume there has to be as there was a mum and dad and one large juvenile caught, so I would assume the rest of the juveniles from that family and they may have even bred some of their own by now. I am going to suggest to my husband he start concreting his aviary floor. He likes the natural look. But if he was to dig down and remove soil, place a layer of smashed glass down first and then about 3-4 inches of concrete..when its dry, he can then set woodchips or gravel over top and he can do it in sections until its all covered. He can work with the birds in there and cover each section as he goes until it dries. What's the latest on your rat situation Kaz? How are your birds faring?

okay. So what are the chicks? Albino split Lutino? Or is it more complicated. If I put one of the chicks to a grey normail or opaline what would I get?

Some photos would help....

I am a tad confused with outcome of one of my best nests of Lutinos. The hen is visual Lutino masking Spangle and the cock is a visual Lutino. I was expecting a nest of Lutinos and maybe the odd Spangle ... instead I have a nest of 4 Albino chicks. I'm not complaining, I have always wanted to breed Albinos BUT How did it happen? Please enlighten me.

Anyone in NSW know a stockist for the Golden Cob seed mentioend above? Yes, it is more expensive. I pay $50 per 25kilo bags through the club.

Over here in the West our local club has started shipping over bulk Golden Cob Special Budgie Breeder. It comes in 25kg bags and is basically the Mannes mix with added Iodine, Vitamin A and D plus cod liver Oil. My budgies absolutely love it and there's no turning back for me.

She can't, well I'm pretty certain she won't be able to. It's a deep nest box attached to the front of the cabinet.