Daryl

Just an update. Although it doesn't seem so from the photo, the Spangle Sky Blue in the top pictures has turned out to be a hen! This happend with her older sister from the first nest too. Maybe it's a family trait in that some of the hens in this family start with a pink cere. I'll try to get a photo of her sometime but she doesn't sit still near the camera now

If only I could get my hands on a copy of "Hypnosis For Dummies" I feel sure that Lacewing could be mine They're all very nice.

Congrats GB, it's always exciting when you breed your first of a variety you've never bred before.

Macka, there's not just one simple answer to this. Firstly distinguishing between Cobalts and Violet Sky's is difficult for some people, especially those newer to the hobby. Secondly, and probably most importantly, almost all of us reading this forum have probably not had their monitor professionally calibrated to accurately reflect true colour. The colour you view on your monitor varies depending upon what ambient light you're viewing the monitor in. My wife is a photographer and does a lot of Photoshop work. Her work area is under artificial "natural" lighting so that her results are consistent. For most of us, viewing the same picture in daylight and again under night lighting will drastically alter the colour, but generally we don't care. Next, most on here are probably amatuer photographers at best (myself included) and find some of the finer adjustments on their camera a bit daunting. Below is a picture I took at our show in June with what was then another brand new camera (I have a personal problem with buying new cameras, but I'll get help I swear ). The area of the hall where this bird was situated was a mix of daylight and flourescent lighting. Both the Auto White Balance and my attempt at manually correcting this in-camera failed. The result is a fantastic coloured Violet! In the second picture I've done a quick colour correction using a VERY basic editing program at work with the result being that on MY monitor it looks closer to how it was on the day. See the difference? It is for this reason that I rarely comment on posts asking exactly what colour a bird may be as there is just too much variance between monitors and lighting conditions and camera settings. As an example, I have the Greywing picture of Kaz's displayed simultaneously on 2 monitors right now. On the first I can see a slight Violet wash on the body colour. On the second it looks just like a standard Sky colour to me. By The Way, it's a pretty fair Violet above. Not mine unfortunately.

Both VERY nice birds Kaz, hope you get lots of chicks form that clutch.

Spot on. I reckon he looks Olive in the pics linked.

If the cock IS NOT split for blue: All hens will be Opaline Dark Green All cocks will be Dark Green If the cock IS split for blue: Hens: 50% Opaline Dark Green, 50% Cobalt Cocks: 50% Dark Green, 50% Cobalt The parents could also be split for all sorts of other varieties (cock being split Cinnamon the most possible) in which case you get variations on the above.

Not sure what you're saying here. Yes, he's split for ino but he's not split for Opaline as he IS an Opaline. It's called me rushing and not proof reading before I post You are right though lol. No worries mate, I understand exactly where you're coming from as I have to edit almost all my posts after I re-read what I've posted (ha ha , had to edit this one too) Good post too nubbly, certainly not a straightforward result from this pair.

The thing that stands out for me, as RIP pointed out, is the "orange" markings not displaying consistently through the head and neck area. It just doesn't tie in with any existing mutations. What bothers me most out of this though is that if it is a hoax (and it certainly appears to be) then the next time someone tries it they may spend more time "bleaching" all the black feathers and have quite a few casualties in the process. If whatever agent is used to change a feather gets on the skin or worse, into the eyes, I'd hate to think what suffering the bird would go through.

Not sure what you're saying here. Yes, he's split for ino but he's not split for Opaline as he IS an Opaline.

Yes Finnie. it's quite common for Spangles in their baby feather to have nice charcoal Spangle markings which then moult out to become less distinct. The mother of this guy has very dark Spangle markings whilst the father has very pale Spangle markings. I think this one will end up somewhere in between.

I think thats about it... I think Dean's got it, but with the changes noted above in green:

Here's one more, related, but not from the same nest. This guy is bred from the grandfather of the babies above (ie he's an uncle to them). He was bred in April and he came second in his class at the Ipswich Bird Spectacular in June to the bird which went on to win Best Novice Nestfeather. This picture was taken at the show. Here he is today, still going through his first moult. His mother is a Spangle Violet as is he, although on some monitors he may look Cobalt.

Thanks Renee. I think the first Sky hen will turn out pretty nice. Also have 1 more picture taken today of the fuzzy Grey in the show cage above. This one is better focused but he is not blowing as well here. Still not sure if he'll stay as I think he lacks impact. But as Kaz mentioned above they can change a lot while growing up.

Last year I bought a Spangle Grey cock at auction. Luckily he didn't cost a lot and is bred by G&M Watson. He has quite a nice face but he is TINY and the kids named him Weeny! Anyway I finally got lucky in that he has bred 2 chicks. I've posted 3 pictures below of his first chick (a Spangle Cinnamon hen) and will add some of the second in the next few days when she grows up a bit. Both are still with their parents. The pictures of the Spangle Cinnamon are all quite different and hardly even look like the same bird. She's not a real big bird either but should be a fair bit bigger than her father. What do you think? How you doin' Had fun getting pics of this bird as she is very tame and REALLY wanted to climb into the camera lens! These 2 pics are of a Lacewing hen who hatched at the end of August. She also has 2 siblings but both are smooth feathered. She at least has a little bit of feather quality and reasonable size but has the lightest colour. It will be a long road for me to breed some decent Lacewings but I think this hen will be a keeper. Hope you like them.

Managed to get a few more photos of the family. The first photo is the Sky Blue hen I mentioned above (even though the cere looks blue in this picture she is definitely a hen). The second and third pics are of another Sky sister who is a bit finer feathered.

Wow, really nice. The Cobalt and the Lacewing have so much cap feather they almost look like they're wearing hairpieces

Thanks. I think both of these guys will be better than their parents and that's what breeding for show is all about. The one thing I'm most happy about with this line though is the fertility. I explained the father above but the mother, who I bred, came from a nest of 4 (from 4 eggs) so I'm hoping good fertility will be inherent in this family of birds. It's the often unthought of feature we need to be aware of when trying to breed budgies.

Not really sure at this stage but the thought had crossed my mind. I'm not a big fan of close relaitve breeding, I'm just not sure it's that necessary. I'll probably prefer to breed them with unrelated stuff or use one with the Lacewings I'm trying to develop.

I reckon they'll be staying Not sure if they'll turn out as well as I hope, but with that Grey Green cock as the father if they even looked ordinary I'd still be keeping them.

Yep, I think I'll have to do that. I think perhaps the picture flatters him a little, but it will be interesting to see how he looks in 6 and 12 months.

This hen is a beauty! If she ever needs a holiday in sunny QLD I can assure you she will be well looked after

Thanks Kaz and GB. The Blue is actually a fair bit bigger than the Grey but I couldn't get a picture showing it. They came from a nest of 8 (out of 8 eggs). The first nest was 5 from 5. The father is a Henry George bird which Henry said was a very fertile line. He wasn't wrong!! There's also a Normal Blue sister I like but I can't get a photo of her as she's a bit older and more aware now. There's also another brother, the Grey below, who came first in a class of 10 at Ipswich last weekend. It's a shocking photo of him. He's a showy little fella but needs more width. Not sure if I'll keep him long term but he's here for another year while I decide

In July of this year I managed to pick up the 2 birds below at the Brisbane brasea auction: Well, I ended up pairing them together and bred 2 chicks before the cock got sick and the chicks had to be fostered out (he's okay now though). The offspring are both hens, an Opaline Cinnamon Grey Green and a Cinnamon Grey Green and I'm pretty happy with them. I took them both to the Ipswich show last weekend where the Opaline won her class. The Cinnamon came second in hers with a very short tail, but the bird that beat her was a ripper! Both my girls were very young as they have blue (2010) rings! This morning the Opaline kept still long enough for me to get a few shots of her. The Cinnamon didn't want to hang around so I've only got the one to show of her. Here they are: The Opaline Cinnamon Grey Green The Cinnamon Grey Green Cheers Daryl

Just thought I'd post a few pics quickly taken this morning of 2 babies which have gone into the baby cage in the last few days. Both are from the same nest and hopefully will turn out to be keepers. The Grey is definitely a cock but the Sky Blue is one of those who are sometimes hard to pick. His/Her sisters from the first round were the same. Although I'm leaning towards the Blue being a cock this time. Here they are: