RIPbudgies

Latest up date on Chikky. She did pull up sore and went back to Tezza's place for spell. She is doing very well and will soon be heading back over to Adam's for the next step in her prep. Hopefully she should be good from know on. Belmont may well be her next place to race. See how things go. In the meantime her half sister Russian Playmate has been retired as of the 19th of April 2009. She bled in her race on Satruday so that's it for her. Pretty good career though. 38 starts for 6 wins, 8 seconds, 9 thirds for prizemoney of $267,490. She raced in some top races.

Over the last couple of days there has been activity in the nest boxes for 3 out of the four pairs. These being Pairs 1, 2 and 4. Kaz the photos were taken in the bedroom which on the day was no light that well so the pics do show the Clearwings to be a little darker than they actually are. There body colour is not all that dark at all. Really clean Clearwings don't usually have full intensity of body colour although in some it does come very close.

Joe Darmin is a top breeder been around for quite sometime. The other is Peter Dodd. Top breeder and ANBC winner of Black Eyes.

Good job there Pearce. Photos are lovely. Daz, both birds are Normal Grey Greens. What makes you think one is an Opaline?

FRENCH MOULT IS A VIRUS. It was discovered to be a virus right here in Western Australia in the late 1980's by Murdoch University. I personally made many french moult affected birds available to them for study. After lengthy study of the virus they also developed a vaccine but was prohibitively expensive. No vaccine was ever made publicly available and I am unsure if any study still continues at Murdoch. There was, and may still be a study being done in the UK backed by the BS of UK. As for my own personal managment system, I don't really worry a whole lot about PBFD. I keep and breed with affected birds but with exceptions. Those that are affected to the degree that they are almost naked I give away to folks for pets or put down humainly as these birds usually suffer when the cold weather hits. Surprising these little featherless runners can be extremely hardy and have been known to make very good pets. I have bred from PBFD affected birds that have in turn bred no PBFD and then again some have. It depends on wether they are shedding the virus at the time of breeding. The studies have shown that birds can build up immunities to various diseases. I believe in keeping PBFD affected birds in the main avairies with the rest of the breeding stock. It builds immunity. Whilst breeding if any nest show the slightest hint of PBFD it will then be marked and will be the last nest to be checked. Any pairing that has PBFD in the background is also marked and moved to the later end of the line for inspection. In regards to the Bob Smith article. I too have read it. My opinion is that mites, lice etc have nothing to do with cause of PBFD in the true sense. What they can do is help with transmission. What the article seems to do is target the mite as a cause rather than an insect doing what most insects do and that is behave naturally. Bob does not say what type of mite it is but I suppose we can assume red mite. He also states that mites were found on the non affected chick. I suggest that red mites being predatory in nature as well as opportunistic has covered the PBFD chick far easier because the chick is weakened and can not fight off mites as would a healthy chick. Having minimal coverage of feathers also allows the mites easier access to swarm over the body of the affected chick where as it is harder to get to the skin when the mite has to navigate through a dense maze of feathers. Anybody who has outside aviaries will no doubt get mites and lice. Wild populations of dove etc are riddled with them. I kept white racing pigeons for a release business and I was forever spraying them for lice.

Looks like a Brown Honeyeater.

Shannon it's not that it is bad for them so to speak. it is a show perspective. Opaline Clearwings cannot be shown in the Clearwing class. The pairing of an Opaline Cock with a Clearwing hen can be worthwhile depending on how you look at it. This could start a nice line of Clearwings of that can be used for production of "Rainbows". The qualities of the Opaline can infused into the Clearwings through the production of hens which will be normal. All cocks will of course be split for Opaline and it is these birds that a decision is to be made on their future. After all sometimes what your breeding are stock birds, not always show birds.

Looks like Red Millet.

That was excellent that the vet allowed you to see. I autopsy my own birds. Have a nice little kit I purchased from Kevin Gobby. He made the most excellent crop needles too. Sadly he passed on a few years back. When I can find the kit I'll take a photo of it and post.

okay guys here are photos of the pairs I have down breeding. Not the best shots by any stretch of the imagination but they wikk do for know. PAIR 1 Clearwing Dark Green/(Blue) x Light Green PAIR 2 Goldenface-sf Cobalt x Light Green/Blue PAIR 3 Clearwing Olive/Blue x Clearwing Dark Green/(Blue) PAIR 4 Clearwing Light Green x Clearwing Dark Green

AV I have just read this thread and I really feel for you darls. Hang in, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Have you had some recent wet weather? If so this will most likely be the cause of the Cocci out-break. Oocyst stay in the ground for a long time and need moisture to continue the life cycle.

The Blacklight does emit UV light.

Paired them up on the 11th April. Since I don't have a birdroom anymore cause I put all the other junk in the shed (aka birdroom) I have set them up in the bedroom that I am renovating. Can't go any further with the reno anyway cause I ain't got the money now. As I only have the four pair I have dragged out my old wire breeding cages so they can see each other.

You can say that again. Been chewing it over for a couple of weeks. With only 8 birds to start I have to make the most and iron out as many faults as I can in the beginning. These pairings are done thinking five years down the track. I have pretty much already paired the offspring that are yet to be produced.

Very nice double factor Goldenface their Kaz. At least that is a photo of what it should look like. The picture I have posted is of a composite Goldenface-yellowface Mutant I

Well I have managed to get enough birds to put four pairs down to breed. I have not got any photos but will try and get some as soon as possible. Here are the four pairings and why they have been selected. I always start with the cock. Anything in brackets means that it is possible and as yet unproven. Pair 1: Clearwing Dark Green/(Blue) x Light Green This pair is to produce Clearwing splits. Colour is irrelevent at this stage but maintaining good wing deportment is. Both these birds have good wings. Pair 2: Goldenface-sf Cobalt x Light Green/Blue This pair is to begin the Goldenface bloodline. This Light Green hen has the width of face and shoulder the GF lacks. This pairing will produce single factor Goldenfaces in Sky and Cobalt. Any green series birds produced will be either split to GF or Blue. Pair 3: Clearwing Olive/Blue x Clearwing Dark Green/(Blue) This pair is to produce all Clearwings and if the hen is split for Blue then some blue series Clearwings may result. It was also to balance the wing deportment issue. This is also a pairing in which hopefully a few more Olives can be bred. Pair 4: Clearwing Light Green x Clearwing Dark Green This pair is to produce all Clearwings. Again this pairing is to balance the wing deportment issue. Only those with good wings will be kept for further breeding of show standard Clearwings.

Two Inos cannot breed a Normal under usual circumstances. If the hen strayed another cock could have been the father. Another but very very rare occourance is a back mutation.

A green series bird CANNOT carry yellowface and blue at the same time. The yellowface genes are multiple alleles and as such a bird can only carry two genes at the same time. A green bird can be green/yellowface or green/blue. It's that simple. The bird that prompted this thread is a single factor Goldenface. You forgot the the Yellowface Mutant II - The yellow is paler than the Goldenface and is similar to the Yellowface Mutant I. Single factor birds shows suffusion after the moult same as the Goldenfaces but not as heavy. Double factored birds show less suffsuion. That photo of the Goldenface I believe has been tweaked to enhance the yellow thereby not making it an accurate representation of the variety and therefore should not be used to evaluate another bird.

It is a Greywing. There are two possibilities. 1. Both parents are split for Greywing. 2. One parent is split Greywing and the other is split Dilute.

I couldn't help myself. I go under name houran on yahoo. Kaz great answer. Jimmy love ya work. I picked up the Latino bit too. See it a lot in adverts in newpapers too.

I don't see Opaline in this Spangle hen. You state she has washed out markings. Washed out markings is not an indication of Opaline. The Opaline effect is such that body colour is represented in the wings making the bird appear mostly green. Is the cock split Opaline? If not you will not produce any Opalines with that pairing.

My son use to bred Crested when he was in the fancy. I never really liked them all that much although I did breed them for a couple of years.

Sorry to burst ya bubble there Sailorwolf but it is genetic. It has no relation to Down's Syndrome at all. I have bred a number over the years and kept a track of the trait just as any other. It is recessive and can be selected for just like any other recessive. The thinking of the day re Down's Syndrome was based on no edvidence and very little knowledge of budgie genetics. It is just another urban myth.

William Pike was the jockey and it was his first ride on her. Jumped her pretty smartly to get a good position and she was running third most of the way. Problem was that she will fizz up quickly and cause the pace was slow she was pulling too much and never really settled. On the straight she started her run and we thought she would at least get second but she just didn't run on in her usual style. Looks like she may have pulled up sore. So out for a rest she goes. Even though she didn't win today we are still happy with her. She has had 3 starts for a 1st, 3rd and 4th for stakemoney of $9,925. She has never been further back than 5th in any race or trial. She is still a baby and if you guys could see her in the flesh she is not a big horse at all. Thank you to all who had a flutter and I hope nobody did their dough.