christine

So sorry for your loss - he seemed lovely.

Ah!! I consider myself educated. As I said the markings on the wings and throat spots look chocolate brown to me in real life, but the cheek spots are blue so I must be deluding myself. Ah well, I still like her.

Thanks Libby - I know that in these photos the blue hen looks normal, but the patches and wings seem a lot more brown in real life. But given that her body colour is so dark does that preclude a cinnamon?

Here are my latest additions to my flock. One adult and two babies. Advice on gender and mutations gratefully accepted. Anne and Arbellla: Anne is the blue cinnamon and Arbella is a (??) Yellow faced blue spangle (???) Essex is beautiful - he (I think) is white except that his body is the palest of mauve. Excuse my ignorance but I don't know what type of budgie he is. I am delighted!!!

Oh! She looks like she is sucking her thumb!! All the best MB - babies are great!!

Ah!! My mistake!!

I am curious about your advice, Kaz. I have an aviary that is D 90cm x W 180 cm and H 180cm and was told this was only suitable for 6 to 8 budgies. Is there some sort of minimum size before you can go past this number of budgies?

So sorry for your loss. I lost two birds to our cats. I know the feeling of kicking myself; it is so easy to make mistakes. I really feel for you.

Welcome!! You're pictures are lovely, as are your birds.

Thanks for the advice Kaz. George has been throwing out all of the millet to get to the hulled oats, so I have moved to a big open plate that they can nibble from. I saw a similar arrangement in a thread here which looked good. I've also now added a couple of native seedlings for them to nibble on.

Here are the pictures. The aviary itself (sorry about the blurring) Some interior shots And a closer shot of the boys. George is up the back next to Fred (both courtesy of melbournebudgie) with Harry, the YF Blue and Ron, the voilet spangle. (Ithink I have my mutations correct)

Great - I was only after 8 altogether, so it looks like I'll have room. Daz, are you implying that I need to supply 8 perches with 8 birds in the aviary?

I finally have my aviary. It is much more humble than many I have seen on this site, but it is heaven for my four budgies and I think there is enough room for a few more. I'll post pictures later today, but the brief description is that it is 2.4 x 0.9, but 0.65 of the length is a bird lock. It is up on the decking, so I have put in a wood floor on top of the decking. To prevent needing to mop that too often I have a piece of weed matting that I put on the bottom of the cage to catch the seed and poos. I have several of these so that I can swap them around from time to time. Anyway, if the wood doesn't work I'll move to pavers, or move to the garden and put in concrete. There are several places in the garden that the aviary will fit. In addition to branches for perches I am also growing vegies in a pot for the budgies - at the moment it is spinach, silver beet and capsicum, the leaves of which they all love to munch on. I also put in native branches from time time - callistamen, eucalyptus, grevillia, wattle. Being on the decking it is generally a few degrees cooler than outside - mainly because of the elevation. It is about 3 metres off the ground. Anyway - with 0.9 x 1.75 m how many birds do you think?

I'm deeply impressed!

Can anyone give advice on ways they helped their aviary birds survive the heat. I am just thinking of moving mine to an outdoor aviary, and with the Bureau of Met predicting this as an increasing trend rather than exception I am interested to hear of possible solutions. Ideas that spring to mind are putting one of those little fountains in the aviary for fresh running water, or perhaps insulating the covered section - anyone got experience with this? Chrisg

George's dirty beak cost me about $100 today - but that included a poo smear. I suspect I was at vet 1. For a face wash it was expensive, but I have been to my local vet - nice guy and great with dogs and cats but useless with budgies. You might as well just drop off the money and keep driving for all the advice he can give.

I can recommend melbourne budgie's birds - very nice they are!!

The good thing about the aviary that I am looking at is that it is entirely portable, so I will probably start with pavers on the decking with a max 3mm gap between for drainage. I can put geotextile webbing underneath and put sand between the pavers. Then over that I will use geotextile webbing - that's used in wetlands and is UV stabilized so it won't give off fumes or break down. It is also porous so water will go through, and it is strong - it is designed to be used in place of clay. It is also safe for little beetles, wild birds etc, so it will definitely be safe for budgies. I can get a couple of lengths that will fit in, then I can alternate them for washing. If the whole thing is proving to be too difficult the roses are going and the budgies will have the lower area. I'm not much of a gardener anyway.

What a delightful baby!! Worth all the effort.

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The diagnosis is in - George has corn face!! He appears to have stuck his beak so far into the corn kernel that he has managed to coat his face and it has dried!! The vet had the corn off within 20 seconds of walking into her office - see JB I was being gentle. She told me to just rub a bit harder with the cotton wool next time. For the record, he was from you melbourne budgie and the vet said that he was in fine form - no parasites, no mites, no bacteria, perfect beak, absolutely great budgie. So he is now back with the others (who couldn't care less that he was gone) and will be getting his own stash of millet to apologise for all the catching. Thanks to you all for the advice - it is much better having other people help evaluate the risks.

Not only no girlfriend, but the other boys don't like him. I have caught them hassling him when there is millet. I have to put in two stashes so that he has a chance - poor George. It could be food, I checked all the feathers around his beak and they are okay, I checked the beak formation up close and that's okay. There isn't any discharge, I don't know...... The vet will be exxie, but it will be worth it for the piece of mind.

I lost my first two budgies (Fred and leafy) to my cat Martha. My 8 year old let the cats in not realising the birds were out - it is so distressing. Predator -prey relationships are fraught. You won't be able to replace him, but they are so delightful its worth getting another later on.

Thanks Sailor wolf - I tried that and it did come off a bit, but on closer examination whatever it is is also a bit too close to his nostril for comfort. I checked both his vent and his feet and they are all clear. Nevertheless, Dr Sacks will be getting a visit from me in the morning!! he is a great vet and likes to check budgies for their general health anyway, so a trip to visit him will be well worth the time. Also I have three other boys to worry about. Whatever has happened has accelerated pretty quickly so I don't want them to be affected. And yes, I will be isolating him tonight!!

I caught George and was able to check what is on his beak. It is the colour of sand but is like cacked on biscuit. When I chipped at it (gently) with a fingernail I could dent it, but not chip it off. Also it is on the feathers adjacent to his beak, but the beak is in good nick and the feathers are all good, except for a small area (a couple of mm in diameter) above his beak. Hopefully the picture attached will show what I mean.