Dean_NZ

Hi all, Im deep into the research again on my quest to develop my own scientifically based nutritionally sound soft food, perhaps even for commercial sale. I was busy reading up on all sorts of protein/carb/fat, vitamin/mineral information and came across a caution about charcoal. I know of some top breeders who swear by charcoal, and although i dont use it myself i hadnt thought there were any down-sides to it. I have also seen its use recommended here on the boards so although i am in no way declaring this as law, it is worth thought. Everyone can make up their own minds:

The blue hen in the middle up the top is a cinnamon sky blue yes

Colony breeding aside you can easily expect white faced chicks from two yellow faced parents. 25% white face 50% SF yellow face type 2 25% DF yellow face type 2 So basically 1/4 chicks will be white faced theoretically. Thats if the parents are certain anyway Colony breeding is a genetic free-for-all!

Cute! <--- contributing quality comments to this thread hehehe

Welcome to the opaline spangle greywing/dilute thread!

What a curious looking fellow. He has some heavy bib suffusion, and i cant quite tell from the photo (back lighting is not helping), but it appears to be a YF2. As for what is best to put him with, as always that depends on what you want to get out of him. Put him with a normal hen to get 100% SF spangle chicks. If he is YF2 expect half his chicks to be as well. All sorts of ways you could breed him so it really depends on what you want/hope to see.

They do look like opalines dont they >_>

Well i spent last year trying to get my head around colour and breeding inheritance / genetics and i feel like i have a real good grip on that. I still have room to improve and im always trying to answer the 'what is my birds mutations?' threads to keep my skills up there. This year i wanted to focus more on the show side, and while i still dont want to pay lots of money for 'amazing' birds since i'll be leaving for canada after i graduate, i still want some good birds so that i can compete as a novice and further my SHOW knowledge. I went to a judge/champion breeder/friend today, and we spent the whole day going over show traits, pulling birds out, comparing them, asking/answering questions. It was fun having him ask me "whats wrong with this bird, whats right, who of these birds might you pair them with to try fix this point? what about that point?". Awesome day After he pairs his 30-40 pairs up in august, he will go through his remaining birds and we will try select some suitable birds for me and my goals

Well im officially a member of the North Shore budgie club. Soon to be a registered member of the NZ budgerigar society and will then be ordering my first rings and ringing some chicks this year! I have sold about half the birds in my aviary and will use those funds to purchase 2-3 pairs matching or bettering my current best bird and will be interested to see if/what i breed this year. Have a colour pair down at the moment and i somehow managed to put my best bird down with a decent hen (my best bird has a bad wing and is the gentlest LEAST flirty bird i have so its a small miracle). Have yet to see if he has fertilised the eggs (they have two as of today) but i know the colour pair are on 7 eggs as of today. Expect about 8. Exciting times Will keep you all updated and show you my new stock if/when i get them!

Is that lil chick a spangle opaline? Interesting to note so much body colour suffused up the neck/head already. Comes with breeding some opalines eh - although i havent seen a great many with suffusion that high.

I would question the position of the entry hole. Hens tend to move toward the darkest area for safety. I always have the entry whole in my boxes far to one side, and the concave far to the OPPOSITE side. So the concave is in the darkest possible part of the nest. I have never had a hen lay or sit anywhere but on the concave and I think that lighting is a good part of the reason why. Hens do not like light in the nest box, especially where eggs are concerned.

Brown cere in males usually indicates testicular cancer doesnt it?

Sorry to hear the news dave. Was there meant to be a second photo?

As lovely as your /lacewing cock is kaz, im sure you'd love to have one of those two boys GB picked (Flight problems aside!). Hoping for a fertile double yolker!

Sounds like these boys may have just become fat and lazy Off to the budgie gym soon enough...

Thats such a hard call gb! My best bird has a lame wing and has never shown any interest in females. He's also my most expensive bird and the least likely to breed but i just cant give up on him! At first i was sad, but every time i see him he looks so nice and it pleases me to see him in the aviary. Those two boys are stunners, and i while i would be dissapointed to realise they cant fly too, i would not be so quick to give up on them and i'd definately try my best to breed them :doh: If they dont fly in the aviary, they may be perfectly suited to a breeding cage. Non-flyers can still breed if you place square perches just an inch or so off the ground, and have a nest box with a grate on the front for the hen to grip and climb up into the nest box cos if you have a perch by the nest hole, the hen may sit there and leave the cock down below. It also may pay to block off the nest hole for 3-7 days and once you see them mating or even bonding then open it up and cross your fingers. They are stunners :glare: I hope things work out for you!

Holy cow! I''ve had a big egg before but thats crazy lol. Hopefully there is room for two to hatch if it is indeed twins!

Yes that would mean the greygreen cock is split for blue and for lacewing. So greygreen/blue & lacewing X opaline lacewing blue hen = Cocks: 6.25% greygreen/blue & lacewing, 6.25% greygreen/blue lacewing (mustard yellow lacewing?) 6.25% green/blue & lacewing, 6.25% green/blue lacewing (yellow lacewing) 6.25% grey/lacewing, 6.25% white lacewing (masking grey) 6.25% blue/lacewing, 6.25% white lacewing (masking blue - should be identifiable when in sunlight due to a faint blue sheen on the feathers that a lacewing masking grey wont have) - (all cocks split for opaline) Hens: 6.25% greygreen/blue lacewing (mustard yellow lacewing?) 6.25% greygreen/blue 6.25% green/blue lacewing (yellow lacewing), 6.25% green/blue 6.25% white lacewing (masking grey), 6.25% grey 6.25% white lacewing (masking blue), 6.25%blue

It depends really. I find some nests have poos that seem to never stick to the chicks feet or beaks or anything, those nest boxes i would only clean out once or twice weekly. Others, where every single poop seems to find its way onto the chicks it seems i have to change the nesting material regularly to prevent this. Its a preference i suppose. One might argue that you cant let poop build up, but think of the wild nests. I personally have not seen or heard why you have to clean nestboxes daily or even every second day. I think its a balance between cost, willingness on your part and whether or not its even necessary based on each individual nest.

You can only tell through breeding. SF and DF greys in the green or blue series dont appear any different from eachother. The only way you can tell is by breeding them to normal blues and greens, and the way you tell is because you will get all greys or greygreens from that one grey parent paired to a normal. And i did all those breeding outcomes in my head. So i may be wrong, but im pretty sure they're all right.

Green bird X blue bird = 100% green/blue chicks Green bird x green/blue bird = 50% green, 50% green/blue chicks (impossible to know which is split without breeding) Green/blue x blue = 50% green/blue, 50% blue chicks Green/blue x Green/blue = 25% green, 50% green/blue, 25%blue SF Greygreen x blue = 50% greygreen/blue, 50% green/blue SF Greygreen bird x green/blue bird = 25% green, 25% greygreen, 25% greygreen/blue chicks, 25% green/blue(impossible to know which is split without breeding) SF Graygreen/blue x blue = 25% greygreen/blue, 25% green/blue, 25% grey chicks, 25% blue chicks SF Greygreen/blue x Green/blue = 12.5% greygreen, 12.5% green, 25% greygreen/blue, 25% green/blue, 12.5% grey, 12.5% blue SF Greygreen/blue x SF Greygreen/blue = 6.25% green, 12.5% SF greygreen, 6.25% DF greygreen, 12.5% green/blue, 25% SF greygreen/blue, 12.5% DF greygreen/blue , 6.25% blue, 12.5% SF grey, 6.25% DF grey Wont get into the double factors just now lol

have no problems when i use them

Quick update, Quarantined the bird immediately (before i even posted here to ask questions) and trimmed the eye feathers that appeared to have grown into/over the eye. Monitered droppings - all fine. She is energetic and not fluffed up, eating well. The next day her eye appeared much better and i am about to go check her again. Looking more and more like the feathers growing into the eye during a moult were causing inflammation. Will update after i check her

Pretty sure this is a really good example of a double factor golden face. In the single factor the yellow suffusion is very pronounced producing that really sea green colour on blue birds. In the double factor the body suffusion is extremely reduced and produces what is generally considered to be the most attractive of all the YF forms - strong golden face colour with little body colour suffusion. In normal birds you would see less of the suffusion on the body but because this bird is pied it is more noticable on the white protions of the body. On second glance i totally agree with you there nubbly. I remember writing up a big spiel about YF genetics and had been trying to explain or find a photo of a DF Golden face. This is a classic example - you can see the bright coloured face and the suffusion is limited to the upper chest and wings - perfect for what i want in a rainbow budgie. I hope to one day find a banded pied (pied belly band like dom pied but i dont want wings affected, i can dream!) which in the DF golden face sky blue would mean it has green chest, yellow band, blue belly/rump and the other gorgeous effects of throwing opaline + clearwing in the mix as well.

There are three budgie clubs. Metropolitan budgie club that meets in bassendean. Rare budgie club that meets in girrawheen and southwest budgie club that meets in Mandurah. The rare budgie club has the interclub challenge ( all three clubs ) on this weekend Sunday 5th at Girrawheen.....if you want to go and have a look. I will be there. There will also be budgies for sale there too. Jeepers, girrawheen? Last time i was there that was a scary place lol. I lived all over WA and perth (up, down, left, right, inland, coastal) for over a year and girrawheen was the only place i wouldnt go at night-time! Although i did hear that some richies were buying up all the cheap places bordering on the nice suburbs and extending the nice buildings until 'old girrawheen' got smaller and smaller?