Daryl

I'm on a different screen today and now he almost certainly looks a Grey!!! Cheek patches look nowhere near violet and body colour has only the slightest hint of blue tinge. I think the only true judgement can be made by seeing him first hand. Judging birds from photos is difficult and this was no more obvious than last night when my club viewed a slideshow of the 2009 National placegetters. Some of these birds looked very different to the pictures published on the ANBC site. Probably also goes to show the risk in purchasing solely from a photograph.

I was going to go the other way! I reckon in the first photo (above) his colour is way too blue to be a Grey and his cheek patch not grey enough either. Looks like a Mauve (or Violet Mauve) to me. I guess we get a lot of variation depending on the calibration of the monitor and the ambient light we're viewing the pictures in.

And worth a small fortune

The pictures of the magnificent birds in this catalog along with the list of sellers' names all point to one outcome: make sure the credit card is clear before proceeding

I believe the picture above pretty much gives you the answer to really may have happened. Budgies often do a bit of "beak fencing" and I'd have a guess that J.T. has, in a moment of perfect timing, copped a nip on the tongue! As mentioned Grevillea is fine for budgies and I seriously doubt the bush had anything to do with the blood. In short, you've done nothing wrong and in fact it sounds like you're doing a great job with your birds!

Pearce, I need to send you a message. Can you PM me when your Inbox has some room please. Thanks

Just wondering if any of the Mods know why this thread was moved from Budgerigar Shows to Breeding Tips

Victoria are scoring well, will be hard to beat again this year.

Thanks Daz, good to see some of the SQ results. Unfortunately I was unable to get along to the preselection this year. Hope we can step up from our usual 3rd position. Did the monster size Greywing of Miller's which won at Pine Rivers get selected?

Cheers, thanks for the tip Macka I had a peep at the NSW results. It's too bad that some States don't bother keeping their sites up to date with their preselection results as I'm sure a lot would be interested.

Congrats to all who have birds selected to represent their State, a very good effort. Just wondering if anyone has any links to each State's selection results. I've seen the Gardner Shield results on the Vic site, are there any others around?

Splat I personally don't see any of the above as opalines. If you paired either of those first 2 hens to a normal opaline cock and any of the young cocks were not opaline then the hens cannot be opaline. Similarly, if you pair the spangle cobalt cock to a normal opaline hen and get any normal (non opaline) birds then he is not an opaline. Be interesting to find out for sure. Daryl

I feel very sorry for your losses and have nothing further to add that may help your situation now that hasn't already been mentioned. However, reading this post reminded me of the need to be careful of where birds are purchased from so I wanted to add the following advice to prospective buyers of birds: When buying birds, DO NOT buy them from large commercial situations (eg. large bird dealers, produce stores, pet shops). This is only my opinion but I believe the chance of bringing in a disease is magnified greatly, especially if the birds are in crowded conditions (enhancing stress) or hygiene is not adhered to. In short, you could be buying from a menagerie of illness. Plus, breeders use these establishments to move on problem birds. So, no matter how tempting, pretty or good a bird looks, use all your will power and resist the urge to buy. Is it really worth the risk to the rest of your flock? (Note: I know there is no suggestion of this being related to the MB's situation, but it was just something that I thought might be of value in this discussion).

Yes Macka pluck them as most my birds have really heavy down In addition to this, I'd be interested to hear your method and progress on running the Spangle Grey Green cock with up to 3 hens. I've never had much luck with this due to pair bonding.Hi Daryl to start with I put one hen in a show cage with the cock for a while to see how they like each other if all good I put the hen and cock in the breeding cage for the 1st day and let them bond and the the next day I take him out and put him in the show cage with my second hen and if all is well she goes in the breeding box with him. So up till now the cock is with the 1st hen over night and then in the morning I put him with the second hen, if I only run him with 2 he will stay with the second hen till 4 or 5 o'clock then he goes back with the 1st hen.But if he is with 3 hens i put him in the show cage with the 3rd hen to see how they go and all is well they go into the breeding box. So the 1st hen has him over night , the second gets him in the morning till lunch time and the third gets him from lunch till about 4 or 5 o'clock in the late afternoon.Some breeders find it doesn't work for them and prefer to leave the cock with the hen until she has laid her eggs then move him on which is much easier but normally I find running him with 3 hens works for me and when i put him in with the next hen she welcomes him and they go for it straight away.My reason for doing it this way is because this cock is quite old and i want to try get as much as i can out of him this year. I hope I helped Daryl. Sounds like a lot of work Splat - I'm with Daryl i havnt had much luck running a cock bird over multiple hens at the same time. I prefer to wait until she has laid and then move the cock on. I have found that you get more fertile eggs. Thanks Splat, very interesting. I've also had some success with the method Heath has described. Although output is reduced I mostly just leave them one on one. Having a smaller number of birds means that whenever I do separate mated pairs they can spend all day calling to each other, even with one aviary well away from the others. However if left until the hen is on eggs then the eggs become her primary focus and she will sit in preference to wondering where her mate has gone. I think success with using multiple hens is also very much dependant upon the personality of the cock used. Some are quite passive or reserved whereas others are bouncing off the walls. Also, younger cocks are generally much more vigorous. For me the main killer to using more than one hen is that I often don't get home from work until after dark so changing mates is not possible more than once a day.

okay, thanks. I think there is a type of oats here called racehorse oats, they may be the same thing. I'll give them a try and see how they go.

In addition to this, I'd be interested to hear your method and progress on running the Spangle Grey Green cock with up to 3 hens. I've never had much luck with this due to pair bonding.

That's an interesting observation Heath. In SQ the pyramid is the other way up; the Novice class contains the most birds! We have exhibitors in Novice and Intermediate who are successful at national level! Also, I believe in Vic aside from points elevation from Novice to Intermediate you can also be elevated on time in section. Perhaps this is also assisting to provide an easier path to Open for exhibitors in Vic.

Hi Pearce, Not soaked seeds, sprouted seeds. At the moment I'm sprouting Large Parrot Mix which I think consists of Sunflower, Corn, Sorghum, Wheat and some type of Oat. To this I add mung beans. My method is to soak for 12 hours, wash every 12 hours and feed sprouted after 2 days. However I can't see the oats in this mix sprouting hence my question. Which type of oats will readily sprout? I thought hulled oats didn't sprout at all but as you've stated otherwise I'll get a small bag and try for myself.

I like the Sky bred from the split Fallows. Fingers crossed it is also a split as even as a Normal it's very nice.

Been sprouting a range of seeds for a while now but I'm wondering if anyone can tell me a type of oat that I can sprout. Thanks.

Daz, I had a conversation with someone about this just a few weeks ago. Personally I believe the system we have in Sth East Queensland is majorly flawed. It is well known that certain exhibitors will show at a particular club and when they get close to accumulating sufficient points for elevation they will cease to show at that club thus delaying elevation. I believe we should follow a system like Victoria which is administered by the controlling body where points from all clubs are counted and accumulated. Not necessarily following the actual Vic points system (ie points in class etc) as I think the one we have is fine, but just change the system whereby the controlling body elevates and not the individual club. Doing this also makes the process of elevation more transparent. Have a look at the Vic system, it's on the BCV website for all to see. Here in SEQ who there's no way of knowing how many points any one exhibitor has at a particular club. I find it strange that exhibitors try to avoid elevation as personally I look forward to the day I'm elevated and from reading your post re: intention to show at Sunshine Coast to gain points I think you do to.

Congrats on the wins Splat. How close are you to being elevated? Geoff Gardiner, you can't go wrong there he was a top judge!

Not only does this thread contain some good advice on buying birds, but, being the hopeless cook I am I now have no excuse for not being able to slap together one tastebud tantalising hamburger

Very nice as always Splat. I still maintain that the Spangle Cinn Sky hen would enjoy the warmth of a Qld Winter spent at my place And a nice warm nest box!

Well there is Matthew Lloyd who plays full forward for the Bombers, but I'm not sure if he breeds budgies :yes: