chrissy0705

I'm way ahead of you on that, the next tray is already grown and ready to be swapped out. I figure I'll rotate the pans as they eat off each one. I'll try to hold out on this next pan for the seed heads though. Thanks for the tip.

I have a question... looking at this picture of Sunny (left) and Raine (right) what kind of budgie is Sunny? She doesn't look like all my other budgies. Her beak looks different and her shoulders look broader with a more defined breast area???? If she is not the same kind of budgie as Raine what does this mean for their babies????????? :mellow:

okay, so I added some decor to the front since this is an indoor aviary and it's in the middle of my living room... it's a little "busy" looking now, but it looks better than the cold metal bars that were showing before... i think Before... http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3715.jpg After... http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN4014.jpg

Here are pics of my budgies eating the seed I grew for them. They love it. :budgiedance: I took some soil, put a layer of their own bird seed and watered it. Left if for a little over a week and they went to town on this pan... http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3998.jpg http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3995.jpg

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED !!! :budgiedance: I got my first egg. Sunny and Raine.... they did it??? http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN4021.jpg http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/RSCN4028.jpg

I removed one of the feeders and replaced it with some regular feed dishes they used before I also recleaned the other feeder. As for the branches, besides some boiling water, what do you suggest I use to clean them up better?? When the birds got the diarrhea I thought maybe it was the bark they were picking off the branches, but my one bird that seemed to be doing that never got sick... ?? I think KAZ was right and I just stressed them out too much with the move, the aggressive hen, and the nest boxes all at once. But still, do you recommend something particular to clean the branches better just in case?

I was going to seperate the sexes to avoid breeding among my youngest hens (2 are only 8 months old), but now after talking to KAZ I know that as long as I cover over the nest box holes (or remove them) they can be kept together an not breed. I didn't know that, I thought if they pair off they would breed regardless. I've heard of hen laying eggs in the bottom of the cage or in feed dishes even without the presence of a nest box so I thought the only way to prevent breeding would be to seperate them... now I know !! And I have not seperated them, I have all in one aviary now and have to cover over the nest box holes.

I was going to do the same thing. Buy two shelves, making the one that I did and the other one was smaller making four breeding cages about 36"h x 20"w x 18"d... it would have worked great I think I shared the design idea on a previous post, but the main aviary i just built was already 48" w and I only had about 60" of floor space at the most. So I just decided to mount the nesting boxes to the aviary and colony breed. But as we talked about last night I will be covering the nesting boxes until the hens I have are a little older and just let my one pair breed that are in a breeding cage. It is nice that you can find stuff like this and do it yourself. To buy a cage this size here in Pennsylvania it would cost hundreds... The shelving unit only cost about $77, the peg board cost about $12 and the wire cost about $34. With a few other odds and ends to tie it all together I was able to build it for under $200.

And Liv, I will watch the peg board carefully. Be bought extra just in case. I only went with the peg board because it will help keep the "poop" off my walls and it made for easy mounting of water dishes, perches, birdbaths, etc... And thank you for the compliments too.

I have thought of that KAZ and I am currently working on "flaps" for the boxes. Even once everyone is of age to breed, I don't want breeding all year round either. So, I have come up with an idea to put "shutters" on the box opening now and when I don't want to encourge breeding later on down the road. And thankfully, right now, since the aggressive female has left the aviary and is in a cage with her own next box, none of the birds in the aviary are even going near them. I'm hoping it stays that way until I can get the flaps done. Thank you for the thumbs up on the rest of the project.... I know it could be better in different ways but I think it's so much better than what I had (my little apartment building complex I had...LOL)

The barn is a bird feeder... like you see outside for wild birds..... I also have regular dishes for them too, but it added some apeal and they seem to like it so and use it more often then their regular feed dishes so... . I've also started to grow seed for them. The sprouts are popping up real nice. Can wait to add that for them... they will love the greens. you spoil them, but at least there well fed mine have only just started to eat there veggies and thats only two of them so the other two need to at least taste them, aww well suit there selfs, did you make it on your own it look awsome My birds love veggies.... carrots, broccoli, and dark romine lettuce..... the seed idea my dad gave me (he use to own about 14 keets when I was a kid)... he told me just sprinkle some of their own bird seed in some soil and let it grow. Once it fills in nice just put the tray in there and they will pick at fresh growning greens. As for the aviary, yes, my husband and I built it ourselves. It's pretty much done except for a "facia" piece to make the front "look pretty" and I want to add two more nesting boxes. If I come up with any more ideas my husband is going to kill me. This is my "thing" but he ends up doing all the "muscle" work behind it.....

The barn is a bird feeder... like you see outside for wild birds..... I also have regular dishes for them too, but it added some apeal and they seem to like it so and use it more often then their regular feed dishes so... . I've also started to grow seed for them. The sprouts are popping up real nice. Can wait to add that for them... they will love the greens.

Since I removed the aggressive female to her own cage with her mate there has been NO FIGHTING at all, at least nothing more then chasing eachother around. I plan on installing two more nesting boxes in between the four that are there already. Then there will be plenty to chose from and a few more higher up. I was going to put them all along the top (as suggesting in many of my reading to keep nesting boxes all at the same height) but I don't have the room in the house to have the aviary out away from the wall on the back side... I did the best I could and hopefully all will go well. So far beside a curious entry or two none of the birds I have in there right now are interested anymore now that the aggressive female has been taken out?????? Wonder why that is?

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3776.jpg http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3717.jpg http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3715.jpg http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3700.jpg These are some shots of the new indoor aviary... they are loving it! I originally had it split into an upper and lower aviary (2 smaller aviaries) but then decided to open it up to one full aviary and let them do their thing. Its 72" x 48" 24". I would have liked to have gone deeper, but I did the best I could and they seem to utilize every square inch of it. It is made of a 5 shelf storage shelf unit from Lowes, wire, and some peg board. What do you think?

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3760.jpg This was Pearl when she appeared sick... http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...5a/DSCN3793.jpg This was Pearl this morning when I woke up....

Thank you all for the advice. I was surprised to find BOTH my "ill" birds as if nothing was wrong this morning. Both of them are no longer puffed up, and they have cleaned their "vents" so well you could barely tell there was any diarrhea.?????????? I think KAZ may have been right about the stress and not being able to eat as well. It's been two days since I remove the aggressive female from the flock and EVERYONE now looks great. The two that appeared ill are hopping around playing with toys and are no longer fluffed up and lathargic. I brought the females male out with her because he seemed to want to be with her. THey were calling to each other and pulling at the bars of the cage and aviary to get to one another. I've put him in with her and all are happy now. I looked into the avian vets on the list provided and planned to take them today when my husband got home from work (he comutes and we only have one car), but when I got up this morning EVERYONE was fine. So it seems that the flock in the aviary is all in harmony now and the aggressive female and her mate are preening, feeding and exploring the nest box together. Thank you all for you help. I had a scare there for a bit but thankfully all seems well now. ) I will send pics as soon as I load them from the camera....

Two questions.... can I put both the budgies that have the diarrhea in the same hospital cage or do they need to be in seperate hc's??? and the other questions is, do you have a USA wedsite I can go to to find avian vets in my area? All my pets go to Citywide Animal Hospital about 20 minutes from here but they are a dog/cat vet they don't do birds, turtles, etc... ?? I'll Google it now and see what i can find but if you have a better way, please let me know.

Can "stress" cause diarrhea in budgies? I've been a member of this site for a few months now and have asked all kinds of advice from pairing, breeding, aviaries, mutations, etc... I have tried followin the adivce given with cage breeding vs colony breeding, but was having no luck. The two pairs I had put together seemed to want nothing to do with each other. I decided to follow advice of "stop trying so hard" and "let the flock just be a flock and don't force things".... so Long story short I had a "make shift" aviary and breeding cages that were okay, but not the best for my birds. I just built the new aviary I spoke about in my other posts and transfered my birds to it over the weekend. They all seem to be so much happier. Plenty of food dishes, water bowls, bird baths, wood toys, plastic toys, ropes, bells, mirrors, natural tree branches, ladders, cuttle bones, mineral blocks, bedding matterial and nesting boxes, not to mention lighting ventalation and seed now growing for greens to eat. The flock seemed to all adjust well, except my one female who was once again being too agressive. She would not allow any of the other nesting boxes to be entered. She patroled all 4 boxes I have in there now chasing any bird away for any of them and attacking any bird that even came near her. I have decided to remove her from the main aviary and the flock has seemed to calm down termendously. But now I have a concern......... My one female, that took some of the rath of my aggressive female, went from very active, dramatic head bobbing, and very interested in the nesting boxes to reserved, puffed up and diarrhea all around her vent area. I thought maybe it was the stress of the aggressive female keeping her from the next box, etc... but she doesn't seem to have perked up and now one of my males is displaying the same symptoms. He too is puffed up and has "poo" all around his "vent". If its not stress related is it possible that something I put in the aviary has gotten them sick? I did add nature tree branches from my home's back yard and I did use two bird feeders that were used for wild birds at one time (but I did clean the feeders first)????? Alot has happened for the birds lately, going form being alone in a cage or paired with a mate to an aviary flock again.... but all in all they entire flock seems to be so much happier and active... If the two birds do not perk up I am going to have to take them to the vet but knowing all I said above is there anyone that can tell me the possible cause for the diarrhea and puffing up??? Or what are the leading causes for it? Their diet has not changed (same seed, etc...) I did not buy any new toys (I used everything they already had). I can send a picture of what the birds look like right now if that will help in maybe telling what's wrong?

Thats better Your breeder cage set up looks good and the sizes are good too. The aviary sections would be better wider across ways instead of taller giving them more flight room. With your panelling board, you would want it thickish as birds chew easily through 3-5 mm board. Choose your mesh carefully :fear Good fun to plan ahead..... what would you suggest to use for the sides.... ??? I was thinking the "shower surround material" because it is easy to clean and waterproof... maybe that and plywood??? I don't know what to use since I want the back and sides solid and not wire? wood of at least 10 to 12 mm thick Also you mentioned better longer than taller, would you recommend taking this same basic design, but laying them down and stack them... like two rectangels on top of each other making the hen aviary on the upper half and the cock on the lower ???? then these two sections (not including the breeding cage area) instead of it being 72" high and 60" wide would be 60" high and 72" wide??? perfect Give me more... I'm taking it all in and want to do this right the first time. Thank you so much for the advise. You are always sooooo helpful KAZ. THanks okay, I have the set up down (longer is better)... now about the "wood 12 mm thick"... if I use "wood" it is not water proof and not as easy to clean... as my current aviary is made of painted dressers. So to avoid that do you think it would be okay to use the 12mm wood and adhere the shower surround to that wood to make a clean smooth surface thats easy to clean..? I don't know if they could chew through that and if they did I worry about the adhesive that they would expose IF they were some how able to chew through it.... so if I don't use a "shower surround material" then what would you suggest to use on the wood besides paint for easy clean up or am I asking the impossible by insisting on solid sides and back???

Thats better Your breeder cage set up looks good and the sizes are good too. The aviary sections would be better wider across ways instead of taller giving them more flight room. With your panelling board, you would want it thickish as birds chew easily through 3-5 mm board. Choose your mesh carefully :fear Good fun to plan ahead..... what would you suggest to use for the sides.... ??? I was thinking the "shower surround material" because it is easy to clean and waterproof... maybe that and plywood??? I don't know what to use since I want the back and sides solid and not wire? Also you mentioned better longer than taller, would you recommend taking this same basic design, but laying them down and stack them... like two rectangels on top of each other making the hen aviary on the upper half and the cock on the lower ???? then these two sections (not including the breeding cage area) instead of it being 72" high and 60" wide would be 60" high and 72" wide??? Give me more... I'm taking it all in and want to do this right the first time. Thank you so much for the advise. You are always sooooo helpful KAZ. THanks

How simple should you keep things in breeding cages? Besides the feeding sation, cuttle,nesting box, and perches should there be anything else in the cages with the breeding pair, like toys? I know you shouldn't put a mirror in there, but what about swings and bells and stuff like that... is that a distraction to them or are they a necessity? Please let me know. Thanks

Just note that although the avairy is shown in three sections they will all be attached, but will be divided. The Breeding Cage section will have a solid pannel but the section between the hen and cock avairy sections will be divided with wire... and that wire will be a removable section that allows the hen and cock section to become one unit if ever needed. If you click on "full size" button it will enlarge and you can read it. Try it and let me know.

I used mesh screen, same that I have on the lower left section. It's almost like window screen mesh.... and now I know that is NOT the same as avairy mesh..... (the weird thing is that my other breeding pair that is in the lower section hasn't bothered their screen at all and they have been in there for a few weeks now. Here is another copy of my picture, full size..... let me know if it works. http://s337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...viarydesign.jpg

okay, bad news... the mesh i put on in place of the plexi.... my females chewed right through it. I looked over and one of the female's heads was sticking out the hole they created. :fear So I had to remove that and put the plexi back on for now... I have a design made for a new aviary... but I need imput... please look at this and tell me what you think. This is just a rough idea right now. My messurements are based on the space I have available. My thought is to have it appear to be one aviary but have a cock and hen section along with 4 breeding cages. The screen between the cock and hen sections can be removed to make a larger avairy.... Please give your advise on this. One question I have is the nesting boxes... most pics I've seen of breeding cages show the next boxes in the front... would it be a bad idea to have them on the side like my design shows....? okay.... advise away... i need to do this right. Thanks http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n400/ch...viarydesign.jpg

okay, I did it. I removed the top plexi and replaced it with mesh. It was an easy fix and only took 10 minutes. I'll send an updated picture when I down load my camera the next time. Thanks for the advice.