Munchie's Mum

Excellent very interesting. I might just try that today. Thanks!

That's odd, but cool. What causes it?

Oh okay, interesting. Thanks Kaz.

He is a YF skyblue normal He's not sky blue, the pictures make him look like it. He's actually a deep teal green like this. I only joined this forum in December, so excuse me for not reading every single post ever made here. I don't read every thread and haven't seen any about pet shops budgies. And no I don't know how old the budgie is. I didn't come here to be criticised about everything I do with my birds. If you don't like the way I do things, perhaps helpful advice would be better than snide comments. And just exactly where am I supposed to buy budgies from? I'm not a member of any clubs, I don't know any other budgie breeders. There are 2 annual sales within driving distance of here, that's it. Where do you suggest I buy birds from?

Is it worth going to? Because I breed other birds too- Quakers, Greencheeks, Cockatiels.

I kept him separate in a cage and sprayed him for nits and mites, checked for signs of scaley face, and gave him worming treatment in his water. He appears in perfect health, so that's why I introduced him to the aviary. Wouldn't he appear sick if he was carrying something? What is his colour mutation called?

Yesterday I went on the hunt for a mate for my lonely yellow and green hen. I don't normally buy birds from pet shops because of the price, and the fact that they aren't usually in the best condition. But this boy's colours jumped out at me, and he's a decent size compared to all the other skinny small pet shop birds I see. I have other yellow faces, but most of them are a bright intense banana yellow, whereas this one's face is a really pale lemon. That and his teal body was what made him stand out. I haven't named him yet- any ideas?

Wow, impressive. You sure know how to draw up professional designs. Makes my home-made, slapped-together nesting boxes look really dodgy . I only wish I knew how to build aviaries myself. Well done .

Perhaps you're right, who knows. I got them from a little old lady who was breeding budgies and needed to find new homes because she couldn't look after them anymore. She molly-coddled the birds and treated them like her own babies. Each had cutesie names, and she spoke to them in baby talk. She even sewed and crocheted little blankets to line every nesting box :hi:. It doesn't surprise me too much that the 2 sister hens were so bonded. Those are the only 2 of this woman's birds that I put in that particular aviary with my own budgies, so I guess they wanted to stick together because they knew eachother. I checked on them this morning, and we have baby number 2 :rofl: . Both are well fed and seem to be developing just fine.

This is it. I have no idea where Bundoora is though :hi: Avicultural Society of Australia Melbourne Bird Sale Date: Sunday, 26th APRIL, 2009 Place: Union Hall, La Trobe University, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora Time: Sale commences 11am and finishes 2pm (Trade tables commence 10am) Admission: Adults $2 - children & students free Bird Entry Fee: Hire of Site and Table Sellers $25 Hire of Site and Table Commercial $50 Benching: Setting Up Time All sellers to enter west door from 8am Organisers: Avicultural Society of Australia, Melbourne Branch Enquiries: Ken Kleesh (03) 9715 1661 Lou Dall'Est (03) 5787 1292 Email: n/a Website: http://www.birds.org.au

When I tried it, the babies were the same age. I think maybe she could smell that they weren't hers. Don't budgies have a heightened sense of smell?

Yes I have 4 or 5 others with babies, and several more on eggs, but I really don't want to try fostering. I've tried it with both babies and eggs, and both times it was a disaster. The foster mums ripped the babies to shreds and threw them out, and same with the eggs. No way I'm game to try again . I guess we'll just have to wait and see how many hatch, then hopefully by the time the youngest hatch, the oldest might be enough to take out and handraise if I have to.

Doh, I missed this! Are there any other budgie (or general bird) sales or auctions in Melbourne soon? Thanks.

Not for sure- Georgina was going to come over to help with candling, then had to cancel. But from the outside, they all look white and shiny rather than the cream colour. Fingers crossed! Wonder what I can do for room if all 9 hatch.....eek! Thanks . Yes they are very happy with their arrangement. They're not sitting at opposite ends of the box and just tolerating eachother- rather they're bonded and cuddle up together in the nest, sharing the job of egg sitting. I'll keep you guys updated on how they go .

Yes I will be keeping a good eye on them. So far they have a very happy agreement with nesting together. I have no idea who the daddy budgie is, because I've only ever seen the hens cuddling and nesting with eachother. Weird. I'll be checking on them several times a day.Here they were today: The position and colouring of the hens in that last picture reminds me of this .

Good on you for taking it upon yourself to help these poor budgies. Let us know how they go, and take pictures when they're done if you can. I have a male budgie with feet just like that. He came with about 20 other budgies 12 months ago. His beak also keeps growing non stop and it's all crusty. Not one of the other budgies had the condition though. For almost a year I've been clipping back his overgrown beak and nails (some of which are flat and grow upwards) and treat him for beak mites and nits. Yet he hasn't got any better. He doesn't seem to be suffering, eats well and is even starting to breed. I'm sure if I didn't clip his beak he'd probably die eventually. How can I get rid of the crusties permanently?

Okay today I managed to get a few photos of the 2 hens in their box. Got quite a surprise, the first of their 9 chicks hatched. Don't know whose it is, but there aren't any problems yet. In fact the lilac hen is rather protective of the nest. They were cranky cause I was taking pics with my phone, and they aren't the best quality. But you get an idea of what's going on.

Ahh interesting. I have noticed that some are white and some cream. I get mostly white, and almost all of these hatch. All 6 of these hatched 2 weeks ago: These all hatched too:

Okay, will do, thanks. The picture you posted didn't work.

Thanks, I love her colours too. She's kind of a shimmery harlequin green and has had some awesome coloured babies. Here she is on eggs, and some of her previous babies. She's done so well and so have her offspring that she's a great grandmother and still going. Muffin: Awww preening mummy: Muffin and Scone as babies. Stumpy, who I had to handraise but unfortunately didn't survive: My favourite coloured hen:

I've tried candling before using a torch but I can't see a thing, even in eggs that turned out to be fertile. How do you do it properly?

After a 2 month break, I put the boxes back in late February. Here are some of the babies. We've had 12 hatch from 3 hens so far. This is Oompa Loompa, my best breeder. She's got 6 babies right now.

I'm breeding them- the boxes aren't for sleeping. I have had plenty of clutches from this aviary before. This is the first time these 2 hens have had eggs. If I remove the box I'll be killing however many babies are in the eggs they're sitting on. I didn't leave them there because it's cute. I only just discovered the second hen in there. I thought it was one hen until a few days ago. I don't know whose eggs are whose so I can't move only those from one hen. Are you guys saying I should take out that box and throw away the eggs that might have babies in them? Even if I did that, the hens would just take over one of the spare boxes. If I removed all spares they'd start attacking the hens with babies. What to do?

Some of my past and present budgies :

WHOA! That's a lot of feathers! How many birds do you have in that aviary??