nubbly5

Thanks Finnie and all! Yes Finnie, this year I will catalogue the chicks against which pair it came from so that you (and I) can follow the different pairs progress. But already we have had a bit of a disaster! The cock bird in pair 4 was looking a bit worse for wear yesterday and on examination appears to have maybe a ruptured proventriculus (crop) or something else a bit wierd going on there. The crop of the bird hangs down past the start of the breast bone...... So he has gone into the hospital cage. I can only wait and see if he recovers - but he does seem happier in the warm. His girl has been put back out into the flight as she was already bonded to him and it would have been too big a risk to put another cock in with her, lest she kill him (can't afford that!). They have been replaced with: Pair 4: Normal Grey Green x Cinnamon Opaline Light Green - The cock I recently purchased from Mark Chidel in an effort to get some different feather qualities into my stud. The hen is daughter to my 10th place Nats green boy to the Normal Dark green hen so she is sister to all the young dark green cocks and is the proof that my normal/normal line was defintely anything but! Hoping she doesn't pass on too much of that flecking. It's interesting that she is o heavily flecked as neither of her parents are..... Actually I do juggle pairs around a bit to start with particularly if a pair have not bonded and got into the nest box within a week or so. I will update any changes.

How exciting Finnie! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the mutations that come out of these pairings. It's always fun making the predictions as to what the parents may or may not be and then putting some of the jigsaw together with the breeding results.

Although I wasn't there I spoke to a couple of the organisers who said it went well but that doesn't give much idea about general pricing or quality.....

Thanks S_C! Yes I have thought of my fallow pairings quite closely. You'll see that both the cock and the hen are heavy bodied "dumpy" kind of birds. I really don't want to double up on that plus I've had a lot of trouble with my fallows breeding dwarfs and spastic (kind describe it any other way) birds and I really want to outcross into another line altogether for some visuals. The hen in pair 19 is bred from some very strong Jean Horrobin fallows so hopefully that's far enough removed from the cock bird to give me some fresh genetics as well as the possibility of popping out something nice. The hen in pair 19 is also much stronger in the facial features than the hen in 21 who is more an example of an older style of bird. It's just bit hard to see that distinction with my slap dash photography

Oh what a sh*t fight trying to get this post formatted properly....... (BIG sigh)...... Pair 13: Normal Dilute x Violet Clearwing - Lets see what this dilute is split for. My guess is cinnamon AND opaline so I guess I'm only going to be able to use the normal hens in my clearwing program but we'll wait and see. Is it obvious that this is an effort to improve feather and type in my clearwings? Pair 14: Olive Clearwing x Olive Clearwing - Don't laugh at the small clearwing hen she is being used for her almost spotlessly clear wings to a cock that has bred some real beauties of clearwings for me last season. I just want to impart his style on some birds with cleaner wings. Pair 15: Dark Green Clearwing x Violet Clearwing - A HUGE cock bird with sloppy longflighted wings and a long tail. His markings are not horrible though and the hen is a nice neat girl with good wing clarity and a nice style. She is a daughter of the cock bird above. Pair 16: Olive Clearwing x Dark Green Clearwing - believe it or not this cock bird came 11th at 2008 nats. I'm using him for his super clean wings again to a more stylish hen that still has reasonable wing clarity. Pair 17: Violet Clearwing x Normal Skyblue - I had wanted to pair Titan's cobalt brother to a violet hen to produce some normal violets/clearwing but he is not in condition so I've gone for a vibrantly coloured violet clearwing cock to a nice skyblue hen. Some violet skys please! Pair 18: BES x BES - A very vibrantly coloured BES cock paired to a bigger more typey grey yellow hen. Hoping to improve size and feather here. Pair 19: Green Fallow x Blue Fallow - Cock came 6th Nats 2009. The hen was recently purchased with Darryl's aid at the recent Brasea auction. I just hope to get SOME fallows.........!!!!!! Pair 20: Normal Light Green/Fallow x Opaline Dark Green/Fallow - A brother sister pairing trying to aviod cinnamon. This pair are brother and sister to the fallow cock above. Pair 21: Normal Grey Green/Fallow/Cinnamon x Green Fallow - okay, what's the bet that I end up with cinnamon fallows (which look identical to lacewings) from this split cinnamon split fallow cock bird, but it's worth a chance I suppose. I'll probably only run this pair for one round and replace them with some fallows coming from the east soon. Pair 22: Normal Grey x Grey Green Opaline Spangle - Holy Cr@p and my most favourite hen. His blow and size with her directional feather would be what I'm after here. Pair 23: Grey Green Opaline Spangle x Normal Grey Green - Holy Cr@p's sister to a cock that comes from C&B Gearings Nats grey winning line (a brother to the dark green opaline spangle from earlier). If she has the potential to pass on some genetics like Holy Cr@p's with the added benefit of a strong cock line, that'd be great. I had put this hen with the green boy that came 10th at 2009 Nats but he's now with the hen recently bought at the Brasea show so this is a bit of a punt. Pair 24: Normal Light Green x Grey Spangle - A pairing that I promised to share! The hen is a DF M1 YF and I want to breed some green/yf from this very strong young green cock bird whose mother is the green hen in pair 9. I've been told the spangle hen breeds better than herself....... I just hope so. But a little tinker never hurt anyone. So now it's just the waiting game but already some hens have been happily exploring their nest boxes and digging in the nesting material - a good sign hopefully. Sheesh, just had a major hickup and huge amount of re-formatting to do. Sorry for those trying to read prior to me fixing it up!

Well all my pairs are now down. Not everything is the same as the pairs I had posted earlier for a few different reasons.... some of the cock birds were not in condition, I changed my mind on one of the lacewing pairings which meant a bit of a jig around for the others AND I bought a couple of birds at auction, one of which I popped into the breeding program as she was screaming to go down and she is too good not to use asap. So here are the final pairs! They are in order of the cabinets that they are in so i can more easily report the chickies according to the parents. Pair 1: Lacewing x Lacewing - My lovely 3rd place Nats lacewing boy but I changed the hen for this pairing. I was just not 100% happy with the width across the cere of the first hen, she was too narrow so he gets a nicer girlfriend. Pair 2: Normal Grey x Opaline Lacewing - This is the same as original pairing with a ripper opaline lacewing hen (the best lacewing hen I bred in 2009/2010) to a wonderful balanced normal grey from my very best normal family. Pair 3: Normal Skyblue/Lacewing x Normal Light Green - Same pairing as before. Split lacewing cock bird who I let choose from a selection of hens as he is so picky and prefers boys. Pair 4: Lacewing x Opaline Grey Green - I was initially going to use this lacewing boy over another lacewing girl but this opaline hen (the mother of the grey cock bird above) is soooo strong and I really wanted to make use of her in my lacewing breeding. Pity about the opaline but a strong bird is a strong bird opaline or not. I am thinking of swapping her over to the 3rd place boy for the later rounds as I think the combination would be super but i want a few visuals from him first. Pair 5: Normal Light Green x Lacewing - Borther of this cock came 10th light green at Nats and they are related to holy cr@p and holy sh*t so it was always my intention to use this family back into my lacewings so here goes. Pair 6: BES x BES - Super BES cock who is winning all his colour classes. He has great colour and is a big bird compared to the normal BES offerings. The hen I've chosen for him has magnificent colour and is not too tiny but needs more feather - a BES failing generally. Pair 7: Normal Light Green x Cobalt Opaline Spangle - well I'm a bit excited about this pairing. I purchased this hen at a recent BRASEA Auction (well Daryl chose it for me), her father came 6th at 2007 Nats in Spangle Class and her mother is half sister to 2010 Nats Opaline winner so she has some tremendous breeding behind her. The cock bird came 10th at 2008 Nats in Green class and is related to Holy Sh*t and Holy Cr@p so I'm hoping these birds nick well together and produce something special. Pair 8: Dark Green Opaline Spangle x Normal Dark Green - The cock bird is from C&B Gearings Nats winning grey line and has bred some solid chick for me in the past. He hen is the mother of all my nice 2009/2010 dark green chicks. Both good solid birds and dark factored - maybe some nice olives?????? Here's hoping. Pair 9: Normal Dark Green x Normal Light Green - Cock is the son of the above dark green hen. The hen although looking a bit dumpy here bred some fabulous normal greens and pieds to a Jan McMahon Dommie last season so I'm giving her a bash in the normal x normal program. She is actually a half sister of the hen above. Pair 10: Grey Green Cinnamon Spangle x Opaline Grey - Couldn't not use this hen. I bought her from our written auction last year and she has been catching my eye ever since. The cock I've chosen for her is a Gary Gazzard line bird from a pure GG SW syndicate bird I got in 2006. He bred my many really nice feathered birds over the last couple of years and this is one of his best grandsons. Pair 11: Normal Dark Green x YF Skyblue - Cock is the son of the above dark green hen and brother to the dark green cock above. This is a pair of young birds but I'm hoping they fire to produce some dark factor green/yf or dark factor yf birds. Again both are good solid birds with nice feather. Pair 12: Skyblue Spangle x Cinnamon Opaline Dilute Dominant Pied - Titan and a really nice dilute dommie pied of Jan McMahons. I really would like some blue dommies....... yep okay breeding for colour but they are also both great birds and the hen produced some really nice chicks last season.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Magnificent.

Oh good, I know who to call to buy some fallow outcrosses! Nice looking birds and all the best of luck with them.

"Yummy Budgie Salad" Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar together. Toss assorted budgies in a bowl and cover with oil/vinegar mix. Crumble basil over the top. Hey presto - yummy budgie salad! Make sure you use different coloured budgies to add interest to your salad. Sorry couldn't help myself But I did really like your more proper budgie salad too!

Does not look like FM to me Finnie. FM affects the feathers as they grow. Your bird looks like she has (or someone else has) chewed her tail as Kaz says. On the wing she has a healthy looking quill growing through the clipped feathers which she has obviously knocked or chewed to make bleed otherwise all the clipped feathers look healthy too. Also FM usually affects baby birds still in the nest causing mild to severe loss of feather. Some stress behaviour maybe......

Jealous!

GOOD ADVICE Nubbly,,,,,,, and we didnt even have to GOOGLE you Dammit! I might have enjoyed being GOOGLED!!!!

Cinnamon fallows look almost EXACTLY like lacewings (you would have to be really good to spot the difference if you didn't know) and cannot be shown (not an allowable combination according to the standard). IF you do feel the absolute need to use cinnamon then try and stick to hens as at least that way you know that all cocks will be split and all normal hens will be cinnamon free (my advise here is to quit the cocks and keep the normal hens). In fact using normal cocks can be a bit tricky too as you never know if they are split for cinnamon. If you use a cinnamon cock you will have an incredible amount of wastage and be back tracking constantly as all hens will be cinnamon and all cocks split so then when you go to use the cocks 1/2 their baby cocks will also be split cinnamon, just you won't know which ones they are........ It's an absolute pain in the bottom, speaking from experience! Go for your life with opaline as at this stage a thumb print on the wing is WAY better than pumping out cinnamon fallows and at least opaline fallow is an allowable combination. I have seen some tremendous opaline fallows too one of which I remember won the fallow class at the Nationals that was just stunning!

From a fellow fallow breeder, can I advise AGAINST using cinnamon if at all possible. The wastage is very big especially if you use cinnamon cock birds. I have found it very frustrating!

Comes in waves! Right at the moment I'm not raring to do anything but as I get more energetic yes

All cabinets scrubbed, disinfected and surface sprayed today. Just need to finish cleaning and disinfecting seed and water containers and my breeding room is just about ready to go again for another year. Picked up 2 fallows and a split plus a cobalt opaline spangle from the latest BRASEA auction. Thankyou Daryl! Also picked up a couple of lovely grey green cocks from Mark Chidel that I'll use as out crosses for my lacewing and normals. Thank you Mark! But it'll mean a bit of rejigging of my pairings. Thinking of putting the cobalt opaline spangle with one of the Chidel cocks and putting the other Chidel cock with as nice a lacewing hen as I can find for him. I think that means I have to go backwards one standard of hen for all my other lace pairings. Will post pics of final pairings as they happen!

Sorry Kaz but the last part of your statement is one of those old wive's tales. Mops appear in show stock and pet stock alike. It is more prevalent in show stock due to inbreeding and regular supervision. In colony bred pet stock the inbreeding occurs but not in the same as as show stock and when a mop appears it is usually not detected unless the owner checks the boxes regularly, when the young fledge they either learn quickly to fend for themselves or die. It is not uncommon for bodies to be hidden in the aviary litter and go undetected. Yar I know mops are recessive and all but I too have been told over and over that mops mean you are getting somewhere with your breeding. Thank god that's wrong as I still after 10 years have not bred one single mop, not one...... so I was always thinking, what the *** am I doing wrong. Really it just means I'm not doubling up on the feather duster gene I guess!

okay after some discussions on another forum I thought I would post pictures of my birds entered into the SW Auction. Age and ring details on catalogue but if you have any other questions in regards to any of these birds, please PM me. Lot 1 - Cinnamon Grey Hen Lot 11 - Normal Grey Green Cock Lot 19 - Yellow Face Lacewing Hen Lot 29 Cinnamon Dominant Pied Cock Lot 42 Normal Grey Cock Lot 55 Cinnamon Opaline Light Green/Lacewing Cock Lot 66 Cinnamon Opaline Grey Green Lot 67 Cinnamon Opaline Grey Green Hen Lot 84 Normal Skyblue Cock Lot 99 Cinnamon Spangle Grey Green Hen

During a trip to Alice Springs this last week I had the great pleasure to watch and snap some pics of wild budgerigars nesting in trees on the Todd River. The season in and around Alice has been fantastic with great rainfall and there is currently lots of seeing grasses and plenty of access to water. Even saw some cockatiels flying around. Was like being in an enormous and very beautiful aviary! Checking out a nesting hole. Dirty exhibitionist budgies! Man can these guys fly. Hen coming out of her nesting hole with her boyfriend waiting nearby.

Hey GB just breed clearwings, they are the pretty pet type bird designed especially for the show breeder!!!!!! And they breed like flies! :)That's why I got them really. Pretty little violet and white things that I can still pretend I have for showing

mee thinks clearwing.

There is natural variation in everything including colouring so you will see variations even in the same colour. Dark greens often have (especially as babies) quite a lot of blue on their rump and vent area - normal. Dominant Pieds - these also have variations between no band and lots of band or mixed markings. These babies - head spots, no head spots, whatever - are dominant pieds. The only slightly confusing thing for me is that the last chick looks to be an olive. It's a bit early for me to tell 100%. If that ends up correct then mummy needs to be a dark factor (although she looks like a light green to me) UNLESS - there is that slate thing again....... RIP make reference to it previously on a confusing dark factor outcome. If chick 5 is a hen (and it looks like it) AND mummy is indeed a normal light green then maybe slate needs consideration too. BUT I'd have to wait to see them all fully fledged before making that call. More likely that she's just and opaline dark green really.

That's funny as Ratsy "Eggnant" - hope you don't mind if I start using your wonderful term! Hens will often nest wherever and whenever THEY think they can and often the lack of a nest box won't stop them. If you can it would be best to separate her from her partner, although if she is far along on her "eggnancy" she may well complete the nest without him. Certainly I wouldn't panic if she looks otherwise well and sometimes excess weight can make them look bulkier around the vent/rump too.

Yes you can. Mine love it too. Just don't go overboard with beetroot though as oxalic acid can build up causing kidney issues.

I so agree with what you are saying. This issue is AUSTRALIA WIDE !!!!!! I have had to resort to buying my outcrosses and ongoing breeding stock from interstate auctions and interstate breeders for quite some time now. Breeders that once sold me birds now wont as my birds begin to beat these open breeders on the show bench. Even waving a huge amount of cash ( $500 upwards ) under their noses will not let you get one good bird and you get shown the sh*tty cull cage......the "dregs". And these are the very breeders who criticise you when you buy from interstate. All I get offered are birds with issues, hens who scalp their chicks, birds with cysts, feather issues, health issues, lame birds etc. I have taken to taking photos of my birds with me on the camera to show them why I dont need those problems and why I need just one good bird, one outcross etc. At National selections we wonder why we are low in numbers of birds offered to be selected. A great many breeders have fantastic birds and arent even putting them up for selections anymore too. There is a general feeling of apathy and lack of motivation. There is grumbling behind scenes and in the ranks. There is far too many saying they have been ripped of or sold dodgy or sick birds by the upper levels of breeders who should know better. It seems to be that every single one of us us GOING IT ALONE with little to no support and little to no UNITY as a group. No wonder so many fall by the wayside and give up. There seems to be less accountability for rubbish birds sold as "good birds" to the newbies. I am hearing all the time of birds even sold for $1000 plus that fall off the perch in far too short a time and no offer of a replacement bird. What happened to conscience and good faith and doing the right thing by others. And then of course our best birds are going interstate to fill auctions......the mighty dollar is a drawcard for that. What gets left behind in the state for others to buy and work with ? Not a lot considering the breeder wont sell to you once you show you know what you are doing with your birds and breeding and have gone up a level. If they arent meeting the demand for interstate auctions because of the invitations to submit birds, they are sending them away to be sold so that local breeders cant get a hold of them and do something good with the bird. A fear of someone beating you on the bench with your own bloodlines that someone may have improved by the right outcross or good pairings. I have heard from TOP breeders here that no other breeder will sell them a bird too. Even they feel it................some have walked off laughing when others have asked to buy a bird. All I can say is, if this continues, with us all having to go it alone with no community spirit of assistance and helping fellow club members move forward, there will be no progression and things will die a death, members will leave the hobby disheartened and the only ones doing it and well will be the ones with $$$$$$ s. Sorry for my late reply to this thread! Just read it through now and have a couple of thoughts on the issue. On one hand I have an urge to help people out with birds and have gifted birds to a few people. On the other hand I'd really like to re-coup some of the large amount of dollars that I have spent over the years and I have to admit that getting good prices at auction helps here. At the moment I don't have enough of a name to send birds east to auctions (been asked but politely declined) but I would imagine when I have a bit more behind me that I WILL probably send birds east given the opportunity. I get a bit shirty with people who whinge and ***** that they cannot get good birds for reasonable prices, generally their idea of a reasonable price is $30. I will sell my lesser culls for that amount but I won't part with a quality bird that I've worked 10 years to build and spent many dollars on, for that amount, although I still think that I ask realistic prices for my birds none the less (I'd love to hit the $1000 mark one day ). I think in some respects it comes down a little bit to supply and demand, hey if my birds are in strong demand then I can charge more - it's a basic law of sales - the trouble is it's the top breeders birds that are always in demand so yes they CAN charge more or sell at an auction. Personally I'd be really glad if someone succeeded with birds from my aviary and love to hear that they are breeding well and/or have produced nice stock for them to go on with and I don't care if they beat me on the bench with them either - I figure that's all part of it and when "the bench" for most of the serious ones of us becomes the National arena, surely it doesn't matter which state you sell them to, there is a chance that you are going to be knocked off by chicks bred from some of your own stock! Really, I do think that people who breed the birds have the right to do whatever THEY personally chose with them, sell at auction, sell privately, give them away - whatever. At some stage people getting into the hobby have to realize that unfortunately it's not really a cheap hobby and forking out large dollars to get where you want kinda goes with the territory. When they get to the same level, they too will get to choose what they do with their birds - it's their right. Some will feel the urge to help out beginners and some won't. OR beginners can do what any number of us have done in the past - start with cheap dregs or be helped out with birds from some kind hearted souls and then WORK their way to breeding good birds. Isn't that part of the attraction of the hobby too??? Or is it instant success that many beginners are chasing - seen that a bit lately too! And the easiest way to do that is to buy it in right (or better still get given it)?! The ONE THING that I REALLY cannot stand, nor see any long term advantage for anyone, however, are the shonky dealings. Why some top breeders need to sell complete rubbish is beyond me all together. I personally am so sick of getting ripped off by one particular breeder over here after buying a few of his auction birds, that I refuse to ever consider a bird of his under any circumstance. This helps no-one out at all but unfortunately it's buyer beware (especially at an auction where you can't handle the birds) but I guess we learn who to trust and who not to trust - just like in life generally. I guess a novice only needs cop this a couple of times to become disillusioned though. My pledge to myself and others is that I will never sell a bird that I KNOW has a problem such as internal laying, tumours, feather cysts etc and I always tell people if a bird doesn't have flights or tail so that they can then make their own mind up about buying it or not. Any bird I've ever sold at auction has either bred successfully for me or has been unused (so are an unknown) and any non-breeders have been culled. Surely you can't get away with the practice of selling rubbish for too long before people walk away from your birds (as I've done with that one breeder over here) anyway, but people are people and there are all sorts out there. Unfortunately my failing in the hobby is that I actually have a natural suspicion of beginners as I have seen many a person leave the hobby after buying up big and pledging their keenness. I really don't want to sell quality stock to people who then decide it's all too hard and then give it away. To me that's a complete and utter waste of my time and their money. My personal preference is to build alliances with people that I know and trust, whether that be novices or open breeders (whatever) and will gift birds where people have helped me out or where I see a need and feel the urge to help. I'm sorry but there are just some people that get right up my nose, that I will not help out even if they asked me nicely bet those are the ones that complain the loudest too. And I will stand by my desire to sell my quality birds for what I consider is a reasonable price considering what it would cost me to replace them and the amount of work and time that has been devoted to getting them to that quality.