nubbly5

Hi All The WA State Show is on the 21st Feb at the Coodanup Community Centre - Wanjeep Rd, Coodanup. This show will combine an Adult State Show and the Young Bird Derby run as 2 seperate shows. Should be a reasonable turn out of birds and people and might be a good opportunity for any of you interested in showing but not quite sure what it entails, to come along have a look and chat to some exhibitors. Everyone else in WA, I hope you can all come along with your birds (even if you want to just visit WA for a short holiday - maybe brings some birds! ).

Well said!

l have never heard of a Mick? What is that? Catholic

Kaz that was my fault for asking Nik for bigger photos sorry! Nik first chick can only be a single factor dominant pied or it could be a combination of dominant pied and recessive pied if both parents are split for recessive - but definietly not a double factor dominant pied.

My birds must be seriously sh*t feather wise then as they do not spend time on the floor but most of their time flying about or annoying each other!

Well I was brought up a Mick but after spending all my life breeding, growing, treating and relating with animals I believe that THEY have a way better handle on life than anything we've been able to come up with - religion, karma, whatever. I'm a bit more into kaos theory actually - seen way too many BAD people get away with doing BAD things to believe in karma.

Budgies are terrible - they don't seem to mind if it's boy on boy, girl on girl or even some swingers action they just take it anyway they can - dirty little so and so's But that's waht makes them good pets too - their ability to bond with others - even people who are so obviously not the right partner for them!!!!

Thanks Nik! I did work it out with Amys help Answers for you in red. No real change to before....

Looks grey to me. Mauves cheek patches are very dark blue/violet not the kind of steely blue - steely blue or a grey slatey blue designates the bird as a grey - Plus mauve is usually a patchy kind of colour. I'll try and get a couple of comparison pics for you. okay grabbed some pics. Bear in mind he mauves are both clearwings but the pics still show cheek patch and body colour accurately to what you would see on most normal mauves. Greys can have a wide range of cheek patch colours - steely blue to a straight grey colour but they are never the deep colour of a mauve. Body colour of a normal grey is also much more uniform whereas mauves are patchy, purplish dark grey. 3 different greys with varying cheek patches. All have nice uniform grey body colouring. These birds are unrelated. okay 2 mauve clearwings. Note the difference in the cheek patch colour AND the body colouring. These are from unrelated pairs as well. Hope that helps.

I don't like floor dwellers - unless it's hot or at feeding times. Says to me that the birds are not interested in flying around (therefore don't fly well maybe). I am really happy to see budgies zipping around everywhere and hanging off things or trying maddly to open the slide bolts on the doors etc. Says to me they are fighting fit and bursting out of their little feathery bodies. I have a tendency to get rid of anything that dwells on the floor. BUT I have perches low to the ground 20cm of the ground is the first one so there is no real reason for anyone (even big fat girls - hens I mean) not be be able to find a perch off the ground somehwere. I often have budgies that crash into me while they are zipping around though - I have had a couple lately meet me face to face (quite literally) - scared me as much as it did the budgies that did it mind you. One of them even employed some claws in a last minute bid to get turned around - OW! THIS tell me that their directional feather is imparing their ability to see straight in front of themselves - I'm okay with that though

Doesn't look quite the same as a mop but you'll see in time. What did you breed her from?

Oooh now you are getting in the realms of a bit too confusing for me as well. RIP is the one to answer that one properly but as far as I understand it, yes you are right and the combination of the 2 different YF factors would not give you a white face. But the YF2 can be modified by the YF1 to some degree so that slightly more reduction in yellow occurs than a normal yf2 (or is it the other way around........ "RIP"). My other thought on alfalfa was that you would have a hard time really distinguishing YF2 or YF1 until the bird has fully moulted. Even a golden face will have a clear blue body colour, not turning that strong greeny suffused colour until adult plummage. THAT's why I was questioning alfalfa not particularly coz I thought she was any sort of yf just that she looked too green at this young age to be ANY yellow face at all. Mind you then I looked at the picture on my iPod screen and it did look suspiciously like a YF2 cinnamon mauve........ (Gina looks sheepish)...... Still test mating will tell the full story of her colour.

Ahhh thanks Amy! Looks like skyblue dom pied or double factor dom pied maybe opaline (bird 1) Yellowface dom pied (bird 2) Dilute but not sure what else (bird 3) Yellowface opaline skyblue (bird 4) I'm assuming that you are not interested in the last bird in the last picture (sitting to the right of the dilute) - anyway it is a yellowface opaline skyblue. What varieties are the parents of these little ones Nikpendar?

I think he is a dominant pied - which sort (as there are a few) is a bit of a guess.

Pictures are too small for me to really see as well.

I've seen definite family trends in birds with feather cysts. Not every bird mind you but more common in certain families than others.

Would depend on the bird and how important it was to my breeding program. I would also depend on the cyst itself - one or multiple, how big, if it resolved with treatment or returned at a later date. I DO try and save good birds and have used feather cyst birds in the past so I suppose that answers the question.

Oh the joys of breeding show budgies! A big welcome to you Splat!!!!!!! This is the pointy end of the stick, in the same position I would have done the same thing and tried to lance and clean as you did. The arguement for not breeding with your top bird is such a hard one when it really comes down to it. Do you breed the predisposition for feather cysts in a family by using her or will all be well. For me the chance of using her would outweigh the risks of doing so - THAT I guess is why we DO have the health problems in our birds that we do. It's a nice moral agruement isn't it but one I only play around the edges of particularly because I WILL try and save a really good bird. I really hope she has a full recovery splat!

Of course i don't mind - anytime. And I'm sure master chookbreeder also has some fallowly advice to offer a new starter to the variety.

Looks like a boy to me too. And does it matter if the girl is a yellowface - although I'm still to be convinced! Mating her with Mortimer will at least determine something - whether she is a blue or whether she is a green series (then you would KNOW if she is yf mauve or not). If she is indeed a YF mauve all the chicks will be blue series. GB if they are both yellow face, presumably they are both single factor yellow face (or yellow face split blue) so the results should be: 25% will be blues 50% will be single factor yf 25% will be double factor yf (white faced) Although you won't be able to tell the difference between the normal blues and the double factor yf I suspect that would not really matter too much and at least you would get an answer about the hen.

Nasties over here too Ratsy - Dugites mainly but also Western Tigers. Carpet Pythons tend to like budgies a fair bit too.They find it pretty easy to get into aviaries usually BUT if they get in and then happen to eat a budgie, they can't get out again for a while - until the budgie sized lump get partially digested anyhow!I've had to remove 2 snakes from the aviary over the past few years. One baby Dugite and one big mother dugite (hope the neighbour liked them ) ...... luckily no budgie snacks were had.

Dunno if it's been tried in the past or whether it was just the suspicious nature of those designing the competition in the first place. I've not seen anything written about it or heard anything but then I'm just a puppy in the whole scheme of ANBC things. Maybe someone with some more long standing experience can comment on that.

So which variety are you considering dropping? Hopefully NOT the Fallows or BES's as we have so few good breeders of those varieties here in WA. I was considering dropping the BES mainly because I don't find them very attractive as a variety AND they are similar to the lacewings just not as nice. Then I was thinking of dropping the fallow coz they have stalled so very badly but in the end I've culled the BES and clearwings really hard with consideration that I'm only running a few nests of these each season. I've kept all my remaining fallows (not many) and most of my lacewings. I had hung onto quite a number of hens that I was giving a "second chance" so I've bitten the bullet and taken them out too, leaving only untried or proven girls that I want to keep. Cocks the same. So now I should have room to accomodate the new youngsters. I now have lots of clearwings and few others looking for a new home though.

Well I'll have to restate all that. I got to and looked at my birds this weekend as things are starting to get very tight spacewise with such a good breeding season filling up the aviary in a hurry. So now I have one flight full of culls, one flight for BES, Fallows and clearwings (and splits) cocks and hens, One flight normals (cins, spangles etc), lacewings and splits, 2 young bird flights and a baby flight. And as far as winning lotto - the whole shebang, concrete, materials, fittings, wire and everything cost us around $5,000 (we did recycle pation tube and tin from the original flights). We designed and built it ourselves and it's only that we are lucky to live on acreage that we've been able to do it this way.

Do I spy a greywing?! YF skyblue greywing?............. Very cute and I can almost feel the excitement from here!!!! Sh*t sorry missed a page again!!!!! You obviously covered the greywing thing last page