Jen144

Okay then, I was worried about the chickens having some sort of bacteria that could hurt the budgies. Plus I read somewhere that chickens can have red mite which will wreak havoc in an aviary. So, not worth it? Too risky as the chickens could have a lot of things that could hurt the budgies, or vice versa?

Can you safely have chickens living on the floor of an aviary along with budgies/cockatiels etc? For both the chickens and budgies?

Okay thank you very much. I'll start giving it to the budgies then.

I was searching for a native, safe tree I can either plant in the aviary or prune its branches to give to the birds. And I found this one, which is everywhere in the yard.(the yard which is 28 acres..) It's an Australian Pine--though not actually a pine, just really looks like it--a casuarina something-or-other. It has seeds which parrots and lorikeets can eat as well, which is a bonus. Here's some pictures of it: What the pod holding the seeds looks like: Just posting this for anyone who wants to know about a safe tree for parrots and loris, hope it's of help. The photos aren't the greatest but if you look up casuarina you'll find a lot more info.

Yup, the female is a Cobalt Spangle and the male is probably a Cobalt Violet normal. Hard to tell what shade of blue they are in pics, so yes you are correct. :question:

A sky blue Rec. Pied male..but the female with him looks like a DF Spangle or dark eyed clear? I can't see red eyes but I assume she is an Albino, seeing as you are asking if they will have Albino babies. And if the male is split for ino, yes they will have both male and female Albinos. If not, no Albinos, but all the males will be split for it.

Yup, I know what it is, now I just need to find out somehow whether budgies can eat it.

Okay it appears to be a "Calliandra haematocephala", or Red Powder puff plant. Native to South America apparently. They say the native birds and butterflies etc in Australia like it..No idea if it is safe for budgies, though now I know what it is.

1- Well, knowing the mutations of the birds you have we can make a very educated guess. Though depending on what their parents were, they may be split for things that you will not expect until they have bred. So yes, they can basically throw almost anything. They know the lineage of their birds (I'm talking about the show breeders on here, the pet type owners usually don't know back that far) because they need to, to know what kind of chicks they will get (more appearance wise that colour) and who to pair to who for what they are looking for. Someone who breeds show budgies could explain that a whole lot better. It only really matters who the parents of your budgies were..if you know that then you know what they are split for..though there is a tiny chance if one of the parents was split for something that one of your birds may also be split for it..but that's a very small chance, depending completely on what the parents were. Good that you like suprises, because chances are you'll get them if you don't know what the splits are of your birds. 2- Are you talking about type 1 and type 2 yellowface? If so..Type 1 is where the yellow is restricted to the face only, the rest of the bird is blue..Type 2 is where the yellow is in the face and bleeds yellow into the body colour, turning most of the bird green. I hope that this helped and was what you were looking for.

I've posted in that forum actually, DrNat, last Friday. They still haven't replied, so I'm still waiting... RIPBudgies, I don't think it is a Hakea..I googled it and all the pictures look similar to this plant, but definetely not it. Thanks anyway.

I have 4 breeding cages outside, that way when I do use them, the breeding pairs will get sunlight etc. But, I have a question about nestboxes. If I use the type I normally do, the ones that have a lid that open at the top, there is a risk of the mum or dad escaping when I check the nest, correct? If I make the nestboxes so that instead, they open at the back..So I can still easily check the nest, and the parents (or older chicks) can't fly up and out..it would be a whole lot harder for them to fly towards me and out--especially if my hand is blocking the opening--that just out the top, right? They'd want to go the opposite direction of me..ie, out of the nest into the cage. I make my own nest boxes, so would having the nests so that they opened on the back be a good idea? Or can anyone think of a better way of making the nest, so that accessing it, there's little to no risk of the birds escaping? Any input is useful, thanks. :rofl:

Both budgies are fine now, back in the aviary where they came from. The yellowface especially is looking so much better. Thanks.

All of my budgies are showing the early signs of scaly face mites. I have all eight in the aviary, and to treat them all I'll need to catch each one. I will do this, but I'm wanting to know if there is an easier way..Ie, if I got the ivermectin that you have to put in their beak, would it be okay to put some in their water, so all of the birds drink it? Over about 2 days to make sure all of them drink the water with the mite stuff in it? Or if it isn't a good idea to dilute the stuff, can I put it in their seeds or something? Anything that they will eat, anyway, to get the treatment into them so they don't get worse scaly face. Just wanting to know if it is safe to do that. I don't know, so I am not going to do it unless it is okay. Thanks.

Okay I can definetly vouch for the fact that my own advice works, very much so..I've been doing all I wrote above with my flock of 8 budgies ad 1 cockatiel, for a month now. They've been happy to eat the food from the seed bowls when I am holding them (and I have them close to my body when I am holding the dishes also) and climb all over my hands when I have them on the seed dish. But yesterday the birds took a big step in trusting me...Kyra, first, was staring at the food as there was no room for her, the others bullied her away so they could eat. So she sat there, contemplating what to do..then just leapt onto my arm and clambered over my hands and arms and shoulders and started chewing on my hair. Soon the 3 youngest, Ari, Kato, and Coal all followed her example until I had 4 birds climbing all over me. The others are older (though Kyra is almost 1, but she is the least wary of hands than the others) so I expect them to take a little longer to do this, but at least two others have been wanting to fly onto me but are too scared to do so, yet. Just wanted to tell you guys this way of taming really really works, for all my birds, though they are all very different. (in ages and temperment)

Okay, thanks for the replies and info on cleaning them.

Each individual cage.

I just got a set of four breeding cages (2 on top, 2 on the bottom..they are built together) How do these measurements sound, for each cage? 2 feet wide, 1.5 feet high and 1.8 feet deep. The nestbox goes on the outside, so no room taken up by that. Are they big enough?

I take it no one knows?

You can cut off the feathers where you can't get the paint out. I'm pretty sure he will be fine if he preens himself and only ingests a little bit of paint..I know for a fact a close friend of mine's cockatiel has chewed on things with some wet paint on it (that exact type of paint) and he was fine. A little bit should be okay, so if you don't get all of it off and there's a tiny bit left don't worry. Best to cut off feathers with paint or staining on it however, and maybe you can soak his feet in something (if he'll stay still long enough) to get the paint off. Don't panic if you can't get it all off though.

What type of plant is this and is it safe for budgies? If anyone knows that would be great.... I know the budgies would love chewing it to pieces, so I need to know if they can. If someone knows please reply soon.

I had some ideas, so I want to make sure I am right. Okay... A green budgie has a base colour of yellow, that's why it has a yellow mask and green body. A blue budgie is really just a green budgie, missing whatever makes the yellow..as green minus yellow is blue and yellow minus, well, yellow, would be white. A green is a yellow, with blue over the top, which makes the green. Like you can get Violets in blues and greens, it would have to be another colour again, over the top. So a violet green is a yellow+blue+violet, making that colour. The gene or whatever that makes so no yellow is produced is recessive, that is why blue is recessive to green. A yellowface blue budgie, is a bird that the yellow-making gene has gone weird even more..not fully working, more like half-working, so that (in most cases, seeing as the spread of yellow varies so much) it is a half blue, half green bird. And again, the yellow is dominant. But it is not the base colour, but a colour added on top of both the white base colour and the blue body colour. It is in the same category as blue though, that is why a green can be split for blue or yellowface (not actually split..masking it..but it's the same idea) and not both. And pied is another mutation which cancels out all the colour except for the base colour, leaving patches of white or yellow..and an Albino/Lutino is a bird who melanin everywhere is gone, so it is the base colour. (that is why its eyes are red) Is that all right? Now I'm wondering, if you selectively breed to make a specific appearance..say, breeding Opalines to have no markings between the wings, like people do..if you do that and get a bird that looks like an entirely new mutation, purely from your specifically breeding one bird to another to get it to look like whatever you wanted it to look like instead of it just appearing one day..is that actually a new mutation? If it passes that appearance onto its young and everything, then it is the same as a new mutation that just popped up, right? I think that's all my questions, I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me answer them.

He would have to be a Pied wouldn't he..I can see white patches on his front.

I've found a way that really works for me, on taming my birds. Aviary birds, cage birds, young and even a few years old, it seems to work for the lot. I figured I'd write it out here for any of you who want to know another way to tame your birds, I hope it helps. This is for cage birds, same principle with aviary birds however..it seems to work a whole lot faster for avairy birds, as as soon as one is brave enough to try a new thing, they all do. 1- Once you get the new bird home, in its cage etc..leave it alone. Change food and water of course (moving soo slowly, stopping whenever he starts to panic/fly around, and starting to move again once he calms down.) and sit by the cage talking to him softly a lot, and make sure..above all, move slowly around him for the first while. 2- Once he seems to be getting used to you changing the food and water--ie, staying on the perch he was on, not moving off it to get further away from you--try this: When it is due for you to change the food again, get the filled seed dish, and hold it in front of him. Moving slowly, and though you are holding it make sure your hands are as little visible as possible, and hold it away from your body. It may take a few days to a week for him to do anything, but just persevere. Hold the container in front of him (do not chase him around with it though, put it in front of him..if he moves, keep the dish still) for about 15-30 minutes each day. He will soon peer at it intently reach down and tentavely take a seed or two then start eating, making sure both feet are still on the perch for a quick getaway and looking up frequently. Do not move the dish at all at this point, make sure to keep still until he has had his fill. Then he will slowly get more comfortable with this, and even put a foot on the dish, even two. You may have to veery slowly move the dish away from the perch a bit so he has to put his feet on to eat more comfortably instead of streching. You can now put your hand around the dish so he is virtually standing on your hand to get to the food. 3- Once he is comfortable with this, and does not panic anymore when you put your hand in the cage, and does not hesitate when you put the dish in front of him...Try this next step. Put a lot of his favourite seeds on your hand (have your hand flat) and put it very slowly up in front of him. As when you did it with the dish, stay still and do not push him to do anything. Let him take this at his own pace. Do this every day, and he will eventaully start eating, put one foot on, then two. 4- You can then sloowly move your hand towards the entrance of the cage. He might hop off at this point..just stop, move your hand a little closer, and let him get back on. After a while he may let you take him out of the cage on your hand. 5- Depending on how okay he is with all this, you can now take him out of the cage and let him play a bit outside. To get him back in, put seed on your hand, etc. After a while you can take him out of the cage, and get him to step up, with the promise of a favourite seed/s on yor other hand...that he must step up to get to. 6- Now you have a bird who will happily step up to get out and in of the cage, and even climb around on your arms and shoulders now he is more trusting of you. Eventaully, he will step up without seeds, though it is good to occasionally give him seeds/treats for doing so to keep it a good thing in his mind. Getting him to allow you to hold him or 'preen' him will be all his choice, he'll let you when he trusts you more. There, six steps on how to tame your bird. The most vital things to get him to trust you is..let him move at his own pace, do not force him or push him to do anything he does not want to do, though making it more comfortable to do what you want to do (ie, he has to hop onto your hand to get to the seeds, see step 5). Those are the most important things. You can't force someone to trust you, let him take it as far as he is happy with. It may take months or even years, or perhaps just a matter of a few weeks, it all depends on the bird. You may ge the most cuddly friendly bird, or one who will just step up but will not allow you to touch him otherwise. I've gotten all those kinds of birds in my flock, and how this actually started was not intentional, they just decided one day to eat from the seed dish while I was holding it. (they had first gotten comfortable with me going into the aviary frequently and no longer panicked) Hope this helps for someone. It sure worked for me.

Agree as well. Beautiful birds.

Can anyone answer?