nubbly5

Yes the triangle is the "secret code" and the 7 designates it as an 07 bird. The secret code is to make sure breeders can't get their own leg rings made up earlier that the designated ring issue date and therefore have birds that might be significantly older in the Nationals. Stops cheating in other words.

very cute! and cute name too. yf opaline cobalt dominant pied as gb said.

No worries - happy to share! AND I was very happy with the ring change as you might imagine - it fits perfectly with the Sept to March breeding season for me!

No worries clearwing! We get cold wet winters and looooong hot dry summers similar to Vic but probably less summer rain - no summer rain is more like it. So the choice is to breed in the wet (when it's cold and manky) or in the dry when most of the time it's warm with some really hot days. It does seem to change over like that too with not much of a spring or autumn to read about. Now when I first started I was told that I should be putting my birds down in April after the first rains (often we don't get a winter break (first winter rains for those non-agi's) here until May either) and I did just that only to find that by the time the chicks were hatching out it was getting seriously cold and rather nasty. The birds condition never held out and the breeding results were ****! Then as soon as they hit September and it started to warm up BINGO breeding results would pick up. I was really hesitant to run them over the heat of summer at first but even in a tiny little metal 3x3m garden shed chicks hatched out and things were smooth. Each time I tried autumn breeding the really early first round was okay-ish and then terrible. So really it's been trial and error, finding the time of year that best suits our set up and environment and it's only been based on previous breeding results. Until the birds tell me different I'll continue breeding at this time - this year has been the best ever results I've had so I don't think they are telling me to change yet. Also if you look at when the birds breed in the North when it's wet it's hot and when it's dry it's cooler so my assumption is that they should be able to stand some heat whilst nesting and they definietly do, although when the temp gets around 38 I will run my cooler and open the north and south side shutters for full air flow AND we have very nice shade from two pretty large trees.

Yep I initially did not record the year and each year got continuing numbers. I very quickly realized that as soon as I got to 999 and had to start again, that the budgerigar program would not be able to distinguish the ring codes. That's why you'll now see my records as 120/09 or 085/07 - I always now put the year in as part of the ring code and you'll see that I actually write that down on my nest cards too. Now I find the budgerigar program invaluable. Places to record whatever you like and the ability to print out a full report (such as the one I keep on file). And no my system is not complicated at all - nest cards, chicks onto file, file onto computer, print out a report. If it were more complicated I would lose track and get bored and frustrated! I don't like lots of admin!!!!

snh snh snh - that's most mens wish isn't it?!

I use the old breeding box card thingo. I use the small system cards available at office works etc. And clip these to the top of the door of each cabinet using a mini bulldog clip. Very simply on these I record the pair, the date the pair started the round (or when i put the pair together), the box number and then have 3 columns 1 for eggs laid, date of hatching and ring no. I put any moves on the cards to and from so I have a double record if you will. If the nest is a straight forward nest, I record ring numbers immediately onto a record file or often if it's a mixed nest and i have to wait until their feathered I'll plonk them into the record file when I move them into the nappy cage. At regular times every few weeks, I take the sheets inside and record details on computer and update my "Alive's" record list which I keep at the front of the file for reference. All my yearly breeding sheets are retained in the file in case of computer problems. Box cards are retained until the end of the season and any notes like feather plucker etc are added to the computer records at the end of the season and then cards are discarded. Card showing 2 added babies prior to ringing. This is a normal nest with a DF grey bird so all chicks are grey or grey green. The chicks I've added are a clearwing and a chick from a nest of 2 normal greens (no greys) so it'll be simple to tell these guys apart come feathering. You can see I've moves one chick out of this nest to nest #18 This nest card shows parents date of round and box number at the top. Even where chicks already have ring numbers I'll still record their hatch date and parents on the box card that they have been moved to. Chicks record sheet. The ones highlighted have already been added to the computer records. At the end of the season I complete any bits missed like sex which I often leave until I'm 100% sure. This file lives in the aviary. It contains as up to date list of computer records as I have. I always print out a new one when I've put in new birds. And behind that are the chick records for several years.

GENERALLY male budgies are nicer and less aggressive and USUALLY easier to hand tame. Thats why people say that males are better as pets. Female budgies still do mimick quite well and some have made good pets but not as a general rule.

Same thing different way of saying it.

Haven't used concaves since 2002, use a box within a box and lots of shavings. Used bran once and had a HUGE moth outbreak and have stuck with pine shavings ever since. This year Grant made beautiful soft pine shavings with a thicknesser for me but they are easy to buy at Better Pets and Gardens etc. If the hen tosses shavings out I let her go for it until she has laid and started sitting at which point she is no longer digging out the shavings. Topping it up a bit after that has never seen any of my hens resume digging the stuff out again. I only use cat litter in boxes after the chicks have hatched if the nest gets too wet. I did originally use it in cabinets AND boxes but I really don't like drying out the nest at all during hatching, especially as we breed through the hottest dryest part of the year AND I found the cat litter too rough on the eggs.

Rarely lose track but have done once or twice - exactly as Kaz says, when I've been in a crashing hurry and forgotten to clearly write down the move. Mostly even when I've moved birds into nests where I might not be able to tell the difference features of the pairings stand out - moving chicks from a BES split pairing will always stand out in quality, distinctive looks from certain birds come through in the chicks etc BUT you have to be vigilent and observant AND most of all write it all down as accurately as possible otherwise it all goes to ****.

If I move unrung chicks it's always to a nest that I can tell it apart. For example red eyed chicks into a nest from known normal parents or visa versa plus every move is recorded on the cards. Then come ringing time I know who is who.

Vasaline has many uses!

Steaming, flaking and rolling often increases the digestibility of grains but rolled or cracked grains quality deteriorates faster than whole grains. If grains are rolled or cracked they should be used quickly and not stored for too long. Groats maintain their nutrients better than rolled oats as although they are dehusked the starchy material inside the grain is left unexposed to the air and therefore does not deteriorate as fast. Price wise you need to compare apples with apples. Groats have to be substantially more expensive than whole oats to make whole oats worth the purchase as a significant proportion of the weight you buy is husk and not grain. In feeding cattle oats are one of the least efficient grains to feed just because of the wastage in husk. It is better to look $ per %protein and ME than looking at straight $ per kilo. You will find that with the severe dilution to the nutrient value caused by so much husk, that groats will always end up to be better value for your money based on actual digestibility and nutrients per kilo.

Well I think I've got what you are asking here...... If you are asking how I seperate birds into different flights........ I have 6 flights (actually 7 as one full length flight is divided into 2. They are 1.5m x 6m in length so I have big flights and 2 half sized ones. One half sized one is usually empty but gets used to house a show team when I am prepping them for the Nats. The other small flight is a baby flight. They go in there after the nappy cage and then once they start to moult they go into a full sized flight. I house babies together cocks and hens so that they learn budgie communication between sexes ettiquette. Once I do my yearly cull just before the next breeding season, they get seperated into cocks and hens and housed in seperate flights to prevent any surprises when pairing. BUT since starting with clearwings and BES I have ended up housing both cocks and hens of those varieties together as they and their splits look really crappy in amoungst the other birds AND I was running out of space! So currently - show team flight is empty, baby flight full, 2x blue ringer young bird flights full, 1x hens flight (normals, fallows and splits, lacewings) full, cock flight (normals, fallow, lacewings and splits) full, 1x clearwings, bes and splits (both cocks and hens) full. I don't think I have a real system and this changes a bit once I do a cull. I think this year I'm going to have to cull sooner than normal as the breeding season has been great and I have soooooo many blue ringer babies. Looking at quitting a variety maybe too...........

Gorgeous name! I might have to borrow that for when we get to our W litter - a long way off if you look at our normal breeding program! Would it bother you if one day somehwere in Australia there was a Rakaia Weasel Teaser named in honour of your beautiful baby Liesl? And what are earth dog trials? I know that there are way more disciplines available for dog sports in the US than here but I've not heard of earth dog trials before. I'm assuming it's testing their ability to go to ground..... Shame of all shames is that in Western Aus we don't even have lure coursing - what our whippets were born to do!

Aww shucks! Thanks Finnie! GSD's are fantastic dogs and treated right are hard to beat as working dogs, family dogs, show dogs, herding dogs, whatever - their versatility is unmatched. I would still be involved with them but I would only breed them by the GSDA code of ethics which means hip & elbow x-rays, haemophilia testing and breed surveys. Recently they were trying to introduce a working test as well, which although I think is a great idea, I was having great difficulty with. We live 4 hours round trip from the one and only location that any training for the working test was taking place and for me working full time, training agility and obedience and getting more and more involved with budgies and budgie politics, it became a mission impossible and so the complete swap to whippets. Whippets are great too and don't need the mental stimulation that the GSD's do, nor do they need the physical work that the GSD's do. They run around for a few minutes and then happliy spend the rest of the day asleep on the couch. They are never agressive to other dogs and are perfect pets for children. They are also (discounting Princess Effi of course) super motivated little agility hounds though and my little Tchorna is matching it in times with some of the faster border collies etc AND they don't knock down jumps! Being sprinters the short agility runs are well suited to them but unlike GSD's they don't like the cold & wet and would prefer to sleep when it's 38 degrees plus. Luckily in summer we have night trials and they LOVE these! Very different to train than sheps though - you have to really make it worth their while - it's a hound v's working dog thing. And what a gorgeous Dachy! Such a cutie. You know they were originally bred to hunt badgers of all things?!

Head patch is often considered a sign of being split for recessive pied but it can also be present in spangles and birds from spangle breeding without the presence of recessive pied. A bird can't be split for dominant pied they are either visually a dominant pied or the do not carry any dom pied genes. A bird can be split for recessive pied - thats what recessive means - it takes 2 copies of the gene for a bird to be visually recessive pied, but the bird can carry one recessive pied gene and one normal gene and look like a visual normal bird. Thats why we call it being split for rec pied. IF the chicks are split for recessive pied this could have come from either the mother or the father as this is a straight recessive variety and not sex linked so either sex can be split for recessive pied. Opaline and cinnamon can only come from the dad as the females are either opaline or cinnamon or normal, they cannot be split for. Your hen is a normal spangle. Males can carry the sex linked recessive gene and still appear to be normals so your boy, having breed opaline AND cinnamon is split for both as the mother does not have any cinnamon or opaline genes to donate to the youngsters. If any cinnamon or opaline chicks appeared in this pairing then they MUST be hens. To get opaline or cinnamon cock birds the babies would have to get one opaline gene from dad and one from mum and we already know that mum does not have any! Because hens only need one of these genes to be visual the X gene bearing the opaline is donated by dad and the Y gene (which designates the bird a female but does not carry opaline or cinnamon) comes from mum. I hope that makes sense.......... And Finnie is TECHNICALLY correct. Because normal is recesive to dominant pied you could technically consider it to be a dominant pied split for normal but the term we actually use is single factor dominant pied. AND I need to check for more pages to these threads as I just end up repeating what others have already said - sorry Finnie!

Nice! Looking forward to seeing them moulted out. You bringing any to the State Show Kaz?

The issue date is the big thing. They used to be issued on the 1st January to breeders so that everyone had the same opportunity to breed birds of the same age for the Nationals. After a couple of years of to-ing and fro-ing it was voted in that the ring issue date be changed to better suit the breeding cycle of the budgie (amoungst other now forgotten arguements). So now the ring issue date is the 1st of September so breeders around Aus will get their coded rings on that date or very close to it. You can then use them until whenever but generally the older the bird is at the nationals the better as it has a better chance to grow and mature so using the rings past the 1st September this year would disadvantage any birds bred after that date that might have instead been rung with the following year, as they would be significantly younger than those rung more than 12 months earlier.

ANYONE who ends up with one of my birds from ANY SOURCE is more than welcome to contact me for details. Or for that matter any budgie advise or even a chat about birds and breeding - feel free! Newbies, oldbies, whatever!

Baby cages, holding cages, whatever - during the breeding season I generally only use the top 2 as the babies go from there into the baby flight reasonably quickly.

Thankfully you have reached the level this year where you do not need to rely on others' generosity. :rofl: Of course it occurred to me that you just wanted to on-sell those birds, after the fact unfortunately other wise I would have asked for $30, just like the Pet Shop. :happy-dancing: We live and learn .... and in the meantime Live and Let Live! Hey Renee if you chose to sell for $10 and Kaz chose to sell for $30, why are YOU shirty about it? And why then does everyone else who might (through no fault of their own) end up with one of your birds and want some details have to pay for your bad temper? In fact like LittleBudgie said, thankfully most breeders out there are a fair bit more forgiving and willing to give details of their birds no matter how they ended up where!

You can tell what's on HER mind can't you!?

In the scheme of things, no, not really. :laughter: I just dislike being taken for a fool because I tried to help someone out. :happy-dancing: I will get over it and in time reassess. :rofl: Sorry mate - that all did end up like a pick on Renee session really. And I get that not everyone out there is open and honest - we all get taken sometimes and I'm glad to think that you might reassess as time goes by. It would be a shame to make others pay for one persons behaviour.