Lib

Kaz, wishing your husband all the best and hope is well very very soon, Thanks everyone, This is really interesting, hearing everones experiences I will go through each nest. Nest 1, 7 eggs, 7 hatchings, 1st, 2nd 3rd and 7th chick (fostered out) still doing well, 4th died at about 4 days due to deformitiy, 5th died at about 2 weeks 6th died at a couple of days old and seemed to have been squashed (this clutch compared to my other birds chicks are huge - my first show type birds). This pair now raising 3 chicks. (new pair never bred before) Nest 2, 4 of her own eggs, 2 foster eggs - 3 of her own eggs clear 1 of her own hatched and both foster eggs hatched all doing well at this stage (young hen - experienced cock) Nest 3, 6 eggs, 6 hatchings 2 chicks still alive. 1st & 2nd chick still alive, 3rd died last night for no apparent reason, 4 & 5th were dead one morning, again seemed to be squashed, 6th died the day afet hatching - (new pair never bred before) Nest 4, 6 eggs all clear, 1 foster egg, hatched and doing well (7th chick of first nest) Young hen-cock bird ?, i caught him about 1 year ago, may be infertile. Nest 5, 7 eggs 1 hatching so far expecting another hatching tomorrow. This hen is young and when she started laying was eating her eggs, i took all eggs that she didn't break and put them in nest 2 which are the foster chicks that are doing well, she has since layed 7 more eggs and so far is being a really good mum. - experienced cock bird. I don't handle eggs, i don't even candle them as i can usually see very early fertile from infertile without having to touch any of them. Nest have wood shavings in them. I generally don't touch the chicks untill they start to open their eyes unless there is an obvious problem. I treat for cocci, psittacosis, worm, lice & mites but i have never heard of yellow belly if someone could let me know what that is. The seed i feed the birds is of high quality from my local produce, i feed the birds fresh vegies 2 x a week & wild grass in seed which they love about 2 x a week. Eucalypt leaves when i can get them. When there are no meds in water i give them shell grit & cuttle fish. I also give vitamins in thier water, ocassionally. Is there anything i have forgotten. Thanks, Lib Does anyone have any ideas???Ask me more questions if it will help. I am keen to work this out. Lib

Good on her, my kids are homeschooled as well and they love helping me with the budgies, I use it as part of their science KLA. Creating her own web site will be yet another learning opportunity. Feel free to send me a PM if you would like to talk about anything else. Lib

The poor kid, it is so annoying when things like that happen. It's already her enough for them when it comes time to selling as it is so easy to get attached to them but that's a double wammy. Do you have any produce stores in you local area or even a public notice board? What i would do next time is take some photo's of the birds on your daughters hand (you don't have to have her face showing in the picture just her hand) and print off a sign with your phone number on little tare off stips on the bottom and sell them directly to the public and that way she gets 100% of the sale price. I do that myself and i charge $35 per bird and people are happy to pay that, you can charge wahetever you like but keep it just under the pet shop price. here in the Southern Highlands the pet shops pay $10 for non tamed and $25 for a tamed bird and then sell cage birds for $35 and sell tamed birds for $65. Find out what the going rate is and give them some competition. Good luck, Lib

Hi, I don't claim to be an expert but i had something similar happen to me just last month. I had aquired this hen from a friend and put her down to nest and she laid her first 3 eggs and broke every one of them, as she laid the rest of her eggs for that round i took them out and put them under another breeding pair and successfully hatched them and they are doing well. As for the hen that was breaking her eggs, she just stopped doing it on the next round and is now sitting on 6 eggs with 1 chick and is a really good mum, so there may be hope. Try again, as for not sitting on her eggs, most of my hens don't sit until they have laid 3 eggs, sometimes they will sit after 2, so that aspect is quite normal. I am sure someone else will respond to your question who is far more expericed than i but i hope this helps. Lib

Kaz, wishing your husband all the best and hope is well very very soon, Thanks everyone, This is really interesting, hearing everones experiences I will go through each nest. Nest 1, 7 eggs, 7 hatchings, 1st, 2nd 3rd and 7th chick (fostered out) still doing well, 4th died at about 4 days due to deformitiy, 5th died at about 2 weeks 6th died at a couple of days old and seemed to have been squashed (this clutch compared to my other birds chicks are huge - my first show type birds). This pair now raising 3 chicks. (new pair never bred before) Nest 2, 4 of her own eggs, 2 foster eggs - 3 of her own eggs clear 1 of her own hatched and both foster eggs hatched all doing well at this stage (young hen - experienced cock) Nest 3, 6 eggs, 6 hatchings 2 chicks still alive. 1st & 2nd chick still alive, 3rd died last night for no apparent reason, 4 & 5th were dead one morning, again seemed to be squashed, 6th died the day afet hatching - (new pair never bred before) Nest 4, 6 eggs all clear, 1 foster egg, hatched and doing well (7th chick of first nest) Young hen-cock bird ?, i caught him about 1 year ago, may be infertile. Nest 5, 7 eggs 1 hatching so far expecting another hatching tomorrow. This hen is young and when she started laying was eating her eggs, i took all eggs that she didn't break and put them in nest 2 which are the foster chicks that are doing well, she has since layed 7 more eggs and so far is being a really good mum. - experienced cock bird. I don't handle eggs, i don't even candle them as i can usually see very early fertile from infertile without having to touch any of them. Nest have wood shavings in them. I generally don't touch the chicks untill they start to open their eyes unless there is an obvious problem. I treat for cocci, psittacosis, worm, lice & mites but i have never heard of yellow belly if someone could let me know what that is. The seed i feed the birds is of high quality from my local produce, i feed the birds fresh vegies 2 x a week & wild grass in seed which they love about 2 x a week. Eucalypt leaves when i can get them. When there are no meds in water i give them shell grit & cuttle fish. I also give vitamins in thier water, ocassionally. Is there anything i have forgotten. Thanks, Lib

Since joining this forum my birds are healthier than they have ever been thanks to the fantastic advise you can get here. What would be the suggestion to find out if there is an issue. Avian vets have said to me previosly that birds lay a large number of eggs for the very reason of being survival of the fittest so i assumed that this was normal. Maybe because i breed outdoors intead of a breeing room?? Or is there a certain food that would assure all vitamins are recieved. I do already give vitamins in water, wormed, fresh vegies a good mix of seed, they are in a open aviary recieving sun, they have preventative meds for cocci and other potential bird diseases as posted on this forum, sprayed for lice & mites aviarys get cleaned weekly. What else would people suggest, it would be interesting to see if we can an increase in chick survival, might be a good research topic. Thanks, Lib

Hi Everyone, I was just thinking about beginner breeders (my daughters are very interested in budgies) and wanted to get peoples views of generalised expected live chicks per clutch. I will give you an example of what i am trying to say. If you have 2 healthy birds that produce 5-7 eggs and all of them hatch would you expect all 7 chicks to survive or should you expect a % of mortality in chicks. I thought it would be a good thread for people wanting to give breeding a try to put some discusion out there as everyone who breeds know you can get some heartache and i thought this could give people some insight so as not to loose heart. Here is some of this years experience: I have had a reasonable breeding season this year up until now where i have had large clutches but few surviving chick eg: 6 eggs 6 hatched 2 surviving. 6 eggs all clear given one foster chick, 7 eggs 7 hatched 4 surviving chicks (my first attempt breeding of show line), 6 eggs 3 hatched 3 surviving chicks. 3 months ago i had almost 90% survival rate for every clutch some raising 5 chicks. What have other peoples experiences been. Lib

Hi athena, Just to be on the safe side give an avian vet a call and double check with them or even a local breeder and ask there advise. Here in Australia in the last 5 years the non indigenous species of willow that is all over NSW along the river beds and peoples dams has been daclared a noxious weed and is now illegal to plant as they release toxins from their roots onto the water supply. I stumbled over this information when we were visiting a friends farm and they had been given an order from dep of Agriculture to remove them from their property and then they told us about the toxicity, i would be concerned that there maybe toxicity in leaves (unsure but i would question it). The native Australian 'Agonis Fexuosa' (PEPPERMINT) is fine but be cautious about other species. Worth the research. Lib

No problem.

Thanks Kaz, If i may ask, how do you euthenase them. I have a friend who is a vet nurse and she has offered to take it away for me and do whatever she does, but i am curious what you think the most humane way to do this not so pleasant job is. From what you described in your reply i think it is a deformity as when the chick is in my hand the knee joint is red and if you move the leg forward it looks as though it has no obvious hip joint. This is the down side to breeding budgies, Yuk!!!!!

Hi everyone, Does anyone have a picture of a chick at about 4 days with splayed legs? I was checking and cleaning my nest boxes this morning and discovered a chick that has issues with one leg. I am not sure if it hatched with it or has bee squashed by the other 5 chicks in the nest. The chick has one leg that stretches backwards on an angle, i am not sure if this is a deformity or a splayed leg. I remember seeing Kaz's post on how to fix splayed legs so that is why i am asking for a picture from someone on the forum so i can compare it with my chick. I CAN'T post a picture from my end as i only have a iphone camera and you can't zoom in to get a picture clear enough or close enough to be of any help. Hopefully i won't have to cull this chick. Thanks Lib

Well, I hope Finnie and Phoebe have more, but I don't want Colleen to overdo it. It would be nice if she stops soon Do you have any picture's of the young from this discussion, i would love to see what you ended up with. Lib

I have wood shavings/sawdust whatever you like to call it with the usual concave. That's the same as we do with chooks, i wonder what a nest box looks like

Hi guys, My latest question is. How do i stop my violet hen breaking her eggs open when she lays them? I have been trying to catch her as she leys so i can foster her eggs out but she always beats me too it, so i thought there might be a trick to stopping this. It is her first time laying so it is a new problem not an old habit? Any advice? Lib

I am a mum of 4 beautiful children of which i homeschool and soon to be mum of a foster child which will make 5 beautiful children. I also manage a CAP (Christians Against Poverty) centre in Picton NSW doing debt counselling and co-ordinate the running of Money management (or budgeting)courses FREE of charge to our local community. I also Manage Wollondilly Care which is the name of the ministry attached to our church C3 Wollondilly which looks after peoples needs in our Community that are finding it tough by helping pay water, electricity & Phone bills, giving them emergency food parcels, supplying councelling FREE of charge, teaching budgeting skills and as of this year educating young single mum's & dad's to shop & cook healthy meals on a budget. I also co-ordinate with some other local services the Community Christmas Party where we give families a good Christmas dinner and every child recieves a present that has been donated by members of the public. A very rewarding job indeed and it keeps me out of trouble. My budgies are my down time, if i feel a bit stressed i just hang around and watch them for about 10 mins and i feel really relaxed, even though they are busy little bees they are also quite tranquil.

Managed to order some Ronnivet today as well as some Doxy which is fantastic. My local vet was realy good and said if i need that sort of stuff i can just order it in. He is giving me enough to have some on hand in case i need it again. After i treat for canker do you think i should do a preventative treatment with the Doxy or just keep it on hand just in case. I did read the forum on resistance to antibiotics so i am interested to see what you would do. I haven't introduced any new birds but there are bronzwing pigeons that visit and i have an open roof section on my aviary where they can land and droppings can fall in so i suppose it's entirely possible that's where the canker could come from, might think about putting more roof sheets on unroofed section. Lib

Thanks so much for your advise. When i turned up to pick up the medication yesterday the vet realised that Ronnivet was the med i needed and appoligised for saying there was a generic so i have no medication but he said he could order it on Monday for me. I will get vetafarm a call also and get the ball rolling. I checked my birds for signs again this morning and none of the birds are regurgitating anything nor shaking their heads and flicking seed, a few birds are looking lethargic though so hopefully they hang in there until the Ronnivet comes. I have had budgies for 20 odd years and never had to treat my birds for anything other than the usual worming and mites. I suppose as your flock gets bigger the more you need to add to your budgie first aid kit. Lib

I spoke to my vet and he has said he doesn't have Ronnivet-S but he has the generic of which i will gladly be picking up this afternoon. I'ts funny you were only saying yesterday about cocci and now i have another issue. Is this something that happens in most aviary's and do we have a preventative treatment for canker or is it only if signs start to appear. lib

Hi, I have amde an appointment to take a couple of birds to the vet but are unable to go until Monday as the avian vet is at a conference until then. I think a few of my budgies are showing signs of canker. I read the articles posted on the forum but was wondering can i get ronnivet-s from any vet or only an avian vet? The symptoms are regurgitation, shaking head from side to side and flicking seed from mouth at the same time. They looked fine yesterday, but this morning i noticed when i was doing my rounds. Is there anything else i can do? Local vet is uncertain of bird illnesses and refered me on. Lib

Thanks.!!!

Hi, Just managed to get a clearer picture of this double factor dominant pied the question is, is it male or female, i've lent towards male but i am unsure, i have never seen a cere half blue hlaf pink and it never changes. Anyone!!!! Lib

Hi Kaz, I'm not sure if you are refering to the breeding cabinets or the aviary but either way i have never had a problem, i think because i keep the floor clean and regularly scrub perches and all the rubbish naturally gets blown down into the drain away from where the birds play as well as the sun being able to dry the floor out i've been able to avoid it. For the aviary, lice are more of an issue. We did have a solid 2 weeks of rain with temps in the 30's i did do a preventative treatment just in case. The birds get very excited when it rains and come out of the shadows to play and have a bath, it's good watching the birds enjoy some of their natural behaviour. The back section of the aviary is 2 panel deep, if you look at the aviary picture you can see 2 exposed panels, add 2 more to the back and that is how much protection they have. Sydney over the past 7 years or so has had little winter rain but very cold nights and nice sunny days. So i have been lucky.

I don't think she is cinnamon, she's doesn't have the brown quill, her wings are almost void of any spangle markings. If this hen has laid eggs only last winter would she still be to old to breed? One of the hens are randomly laying eggs on the aviary floor and i think it is her. It would be a shame if i couldn't use her, she is such a nice hen. I suppose thems the breaks. Lib

Hi Guys, I took some photo's of my breeding cages and aviary and thought you might like to see them. i don't have the advantage of having a breeding room so my husband and a friend built this for me and i must say they have been fantastic. As you can see the floor is wire so evertyhing stays clean. If i ever have to move i can just stick all the birds in the cages and off we go. The aviary is made on a slab of an old glass house which we pulled down and my husband and myself built my aviary on top, as you can see it has a drain for water run off and my husband sealed the end and put a cap on it so whenever i clean the aviary out i can just hose everyhing into the gully and out of the pipe.

I understand your feelings on this. I felt that when I first joined the first club. The second club was different but I am now in both clubs. I hope you have choices about the clubs you join and the only way to get over that feeling is to find them and go along and see what you like from any that you are considering. Good luck PS I would have liked to see pictures of the birds you were discussing in this topic Hi Kaz, Here are the birds in question. This is Big Green & Lavendar This was the spangle opaline hen in question (Is this colour considered grey green or something else) Lib