wessiri

LOL, no I havent candled it, The shell is clear enough to see that theres noting in it even without candling it. I had a second chick hatch today Fingers crossed for the third. Both chicks doing well

Thought I might post an update. So my pair went on to lay 4 eggs in total. Apart from the first one, the others appear normal size and color. Today my first chick arrived. Im so excited! So far its being fed well and appears to be active and in good shape. Im hopeful for at least 2 of the other eggs, pretty sure the first egg is no good. Will wait and see in the next few days. Now that the chicks are here I've added some egg and biscuit to the breeding cage as a soft food option for the feeding parents. I'm still feeding them a variety of fresh veg everyday that include silverbeet, carrot and sweet corn. They also have plain budgie seed and a cuttle bone and a calcium bell. When I get a chance to take some pics I'll put them up.

I've had a pair together in a breeding cage for over 6 weeks and they only just started to lay.

Its definitely much bigger than the one on the right.

Hi Robyn. I do have cuttlebone and a calcium bell in the cage. I think it was just first time mum stuff as the new eggs have been laid okay in the nest box and they have been undisturbed for a few days now. When I checked this afternoon mum was sitting on them fine. I like what you have done L_J with your recycled bits and pieces. I need to do something similar (not only so I have something more permanent but I also need my saw stools back ). I was thinking of using those cages that you have in your photo as my next breeding cages and making up a rack of 4 shelves like yours, that would hold 6 cages, with sides and a roof. Will put some pics up if I ever get around to it. Heres a few pics of the eggs in the nest box.

Hi L_J, do you have any pics of the setups you are talking about? I like to see what other people have done. So far Im happy with the breeding cage but I would like to put together a few cages and Im thinking of doing something different. As for my breeding pair they have been together for about 6 weeks in tbe breeding cage. There was no activity for nearly 4 weeks and I'd just about given up that they would breed until one day, about 2 weeks, I found an egg on the bottom of the cage, obviously laid off the perch. It was cracked but I picked it up and put it in the nest box to try and give mum the hint. When I further inspected the cage I found the remains of another egg laid a few days earlier. Mum ate the egg in the box the next day and didnt lay any more. I wasnt to worried because it was the first eggs she laid and she has no experience being a mum. I left them together in the cage. 2 days ago, to my surprise, I found a new egg in the nest box. Today she has laid the second egg in the box. Hopefully this is the start of my first succesful cluth in a very long time. The first egg is a large one and the shell is quite transparent, but the seconf appears more normal. Will see how things go and I'll post pics up soon.

Glad you were able to get something out of the pics. Happy to say hen found the way into the box pretty quickly and the hole hasn't seemed to be an issue No worries

It looks like you are having a lot of success with your breeding. I just put a pair together and hope that in a few weeks I will be enjoying the same success. I don't know the answer to the 5 egg question but I did want to ask about your quails in the aviary. I also have a few king quails in my aviary, very cute and never a problem with the budgies. Have your quails ever had chicks? Mine constantly lay eggs but never seem to sit on them.

So I am ready to attempt to put down a pair and hopefully get some new little baby budgies. I did put a pair together in early December and had them together in the breeding cage for nearly 4 weeks without any sign of breeding activity. I wasn't very happy with the breeding cabinet I have and I thought this might have contributed to the pair not showing interest in breeding. The nest box is in the cage and there only 1 perch up high so it was very cramped and there was almost no opportunity for the birds to do their courting dance. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on a new breeding cage and as I have 2 of the same wooden cabinets I thought I might try to retrofit something with what I already had at home. I am very pleased with what I came up with. I used the nest box that came inside the wooden cabinet and attached it to the outside of the cage. I made a new removable lid for the nest box and I added the extra perch in line with the other one. The birds now have almost double the room and 2 perch's The only part I wasn't very impressed with was the hole that I had to cut in the side of the cage to get to the nest box. I didn't have the appropriate tools to cut a smooth hole so I used what I had. Its okay but slightly smaller than the nest box hole so I hope this is okay. I'll see how it goes for now. The breeding cage before retrofitting Breeding cage after retrofitting Nest box with removable lid The not so great nest box hole Thanks Jimmy. I have decided to leave the perch's in the aviary as they are. I plan on upgrading the aviary in the future and I will adjust them then. Thanks also for the link to the facebook site. Ive got a lot of clearer pics of the birds so I'll post them up there and see what people think. Ive now got the new breeding cabinet set up and Ive chosen 2 birds and paired them up. Ive tried to choose a pair that showed some interest in each other and are in breeding condition. Its the first time Ive looked at breeding condition when selecting a pair so I hope Ive got it right. Hen Cock

Yeah, its not really suitable for an aviary, its a pain in the backside trying not to let the birds escape when I go in to clean, have to use a net to cover the gap.

Thanks for the tip. I considered doing this however if you look at the picture of the aviary you'll notice that one whole half of the front of the cage is the door. This makes it hard to attach perchs to it running from the front to the back of the aviary. When I eventually replace the aviary I will put up the perchs so they can fly the length of the flight.

Hi all. I have recently moved house and now have a lot more room to dedicate to my little bird colony. Now having more room I've put in a bit of effort into setting up an aviary and have started breeding again. I'm not an experienced budgie breeder by any means. I've only ever successfully bred 1 little budgie several years ago, and that was more by luck than by skill. I am a bit wiser and more experienced now (most of which is due to what I've learnt from this forum). I still don't know how to tell the difference between the color varieties (other than this is a blue one and that's a yellow one Feel free to tell me what you think they are). I thought I'd start a journal to share with everyone my flock and setup and share my breeding experiences becuase I enjoy talking with people about my birds and picking up whatever tips I can to improve my breeding. I am happy to share my experiences with everyone but I am only very junior in terms of budgie breeding experience so please dont take my setup or the way I do things as advice, I'm more than happy for any advice or tips people might like to give me. I've got 9 budgies, 4 female and 5 male. All are at least 12 months old with some of the oldest ones being around 5 years old. I also have 3 king quails which run around the bottom of my aviary (1 male and 2 females), they are fun to watch and are prolific egg layers (unlike my budgies). Right now I have an aviary with 7 of my budgies in it and the 3 quails. I have 1 pair of budgies together in a breeding cage next to the aviary. Here are some photos of my aviary and my budgies. Aviary All my budgies in the moving cage just prior to going into the aviary (The budgies that I have paired up to breed are the light blue male budgie on the far right on the back perch and the yellow female budgie on the far left on the front perch) Quails and the setup on the bottom of the aviary Breeding cage setup Shortly I will post up some more pictures and details about the pair I have put down to breed. I will also put up some more detailed pics of my budgies for people to see and comment on the color types.

I know its a budgie forum, but I thought I'd put it out there to anyone who has any female king quails they are willing to sell. Im in Western Sydney.

Hmm, interesting

LOL, this is hilarious, if slightly worrying though....

Excuse my ignorance but what is a mop / feather duster budgie, im assuming its not a good thing.

Hi guys. Have a small problem with my breeding pair. The hen has so far laid five eggs. Today I came home to find one egg on the floor of the cage outside the nest box with the top broken off. It was empty with some blood inside. When I inspected the pair I found the cock, who is white, to have yellow egg yolk around his mouth. I dont know why this happened and dont want it to continue so I took the cock out of the cage and into another cage. The first egg is due to hatch in around 2 weeks. Will the hen be okay on her own from here? Is there something else I should do, this is their second clutch this season and the first went fine no problems.Since posting the first post about 5 mins ago I went outside to check the birds and found the hen has tossed out another egg from the nest box. Its still okay and I put it back in the box. I dont know what to do, its very strange behaviour.

okay thanks Daz, I will give it a go.

Hi All, I have a chick 6 days old (my First). Its crop appears very full however it is alear and not the yellowish colour I have seen from photos and would expect when full of food. I am concerned the chicks crop is full of air and not getting enough food. Unfortunately I was on holidays when the chick hatched 6 days ago and only returned today so I dont know if this is one off or a problem since it hatched. Does any one have any suggestions, is this something to be concerned about or does it sort itself out. Any help much appreciated.

Thanks Maesie, Crop is full but is clear so im assuming air rather than food/milk. Is this a problem and what do I need to do? As for the nest material do I just leave a little pile in the box for mum or do I actually take out the eggs and chick and fill the bottom of the box. If so whats the best way to move the chicks and eggs so all is not to disturbed?

Hi All, Just got home from holidays today to find 1 new baby chick (Hooray). Hatched on the 19th and appears to be doing okay, it has survived since Monday without me so thats a good sign. Heres some photos, Im not sure what to look for to check alls okay, should it be on its back? and Im assuming the large bulge in its neck means that it has been fed. It hasnt made any noise yet since Ive been back...(Its only been 1 hour) So far only the one egg has hatched but according to what you guys have told me in the post above some of the other eggs arent due for a few more days so I will wait. You may be able to see in the above photo 2 eggs are very dark with a distinct line around the center of them (the egg on its own and the bottom right egg in the group) dont know if this means they are hatching? Ive read through alot of the posts and FAQs so Im pretty confident going ahead but any advice will be much appreciated.

Here are a couple of pics of the happy couple The hen - Aphrodite Cock - Zeus Their Eggs

Yes I have been searching for any ads for missing budgie and keeping my ears open for any word, but no such luck yet. Here is a photo of the little guy. I named him Hercules

okay that gives me a better idea of when to expect the eggs to hatch. I havent candled the eggs yet. this is only my first time breeding and Iam not 100% sure how to candle properly and confidently so whilst all is going well I will just be happy to wait for the hatch dates and see what happens this time.

No worries Happy to help, you have one cute budgie!!