nubbly5

Dunno Shannon. He's a normal isn't he???? If he definietly was not opaline I would consider putting him to a very clearwinged hen. Even so I think he would darken the wing markings a bit BUT if he is a significantly better bird than your clearwings it's still a good option. If he is equal or lesser quality than your clearwings I would not worry. It all comes down to what benefit you might get from the pairing - don't just put them down because you've been told clearwing x dilute is the way to go. Usually these pairings are done because it's easier to get really good quality dilutes AND that clearwing is dominant to dilute.

To go from this - I would have ALMOST ALMOST bet that this was a hen...... (and others agreed with By The Way) Looking very much like a cock bird now. That's why some time ago I commented that advising on sexes of such young birds can be fraught with danger (of getting it wrong I mean). Just like the young hen I posted for example in your previous topic. Still time tells all with budgies and it's great that you perservered with the babies and us to find out for sure. Again, great photo's too. What camera do you use?

So Simone goes back to Simon again! This time for sure. That's why I don't ever class myself as the budgie sexing expert....... there always seems to be one that I just am not 100% sure about. Same with one of my baby dilutes at the moment. One day I could swear she is going to be a she (well is...) and the next she looks decidedly like a he. Sigh. They sure are cute though Kate!

Yep look like 2 boys to me too but green recessive pied is a dark green not a grey green. Agreed that Dunkin is a grey recessive pied...... Ember can be for a boy - why not?!

What a fantastic thread Chryso!!!! What a full and happy life your beautiful Milly & Squee live!!!! And fantastic ideas I'll hang onto if I ever have an indoor budgie again (one day!!!). And you are so right about how smart the little buggers are.

Nice babies Pearce. My mum colony bred budgies for many years and generally things went okay. Mind you they were not show birds of any description. The fall of 1 metre should not have killed a baby but there is the possibility I suppose if he fell onto concrete, usually from exposure to temperatures colder than those needed for brooding especially if they are not properly fledged yet. Starvation would take a day or so.

Yes better to think of them as a "removal of yellow" gene. this is also why double factor golden faces have way less body suffusion. In single factor golden faces, faces and bodies carry a lot of gold yellow pigment (but still less than that of normal greens), when the golden face factor is doubled, more yellow is removed and the body of the bird is almost yellow suffusion free with yellow remaining only on the face. The confusing part of this argument for me though is that it only appears in the blue series bird. If you breed yellowfaced birds with green/green you do not get any yellow faced birds so for me it still makes more sense to think of them as yellow added........... But if you breed them to blue/blue you get 50% yellow face.

Woo hoo 5 now. We have lift off. Now to wait an see if fertility matches keen-ness.

Hopefully not so quick that the swimmers didn't have time to swim

Kind looks like a crest to me. Sometimes even those breeding crests comment on the fact that babies with obvious feather disturbances in the nest will grow out to look like normals. They call these crest bred from my understanding of it. It'll be interesting to see how this chick develops on.

OMG we have our first egg already...... All my pairs were down by the end of the day last Saturday and this morning we already have our first egg and many other hens looking extremely eggy and very keen to be in the nest - maybe some more tomorrow??? This first egg is from my beautiful '05 Skyblue boy whom initially was a bit gay and would not pair up with a hen so lived in the hen flight for the next 12 months so he was a bit of a late starter anyway. Still since 2007 when he successfully bred for the first time, he has produced a large number of super babies from different hens, a couple of which were selected for the Nats and one lovely grey boy who won Best in Show. The hen I have admired since breeding her. She has a lovely full rounded outline of head and good depth of mask plus she blows when relaxed - something I've been aiming for in all my birds for sometime now with results really starting to show.

What do you mean by that CSB? And agree with Liv - opaline - clear mantle and striations on head rather than stripes - definietly opaline.

Unless cock is split for cinnamon or opaline or both........

Ivermectin Treatment for Budgies It seems there is a huge amount of confusion about Ivermectin treatment for budgies as well as different products available and much misunderstanding about which ones are appropriate for use. Ivermectin (the active ingredient in many different products including Ivomec) is highly affective in the treatment of both internal and external parasites in many different animals. Knowing which "mectin" product to use seems to be the hard part. There are many different brands of ivermectin-based products (or products that contain actives of the same "mectin" family) and there are even a few different versions of some of the brands. Ivomec for example comes in several different forms. You will see pinned in this forum information regarding the inappropriate use of Ivomec Oral for Sheep. Ivomec Oral for Sheep is a wormer product that is used orally for sheep in a ready to use form. This product cannot be diluted in water and is not designed to be used topically (on the outside of the animal) and therefore should not be considered for bird use. Ivomec Pour-On for Cattle is a ready to use product that is designed to be applied directly to the hide of cattle and will treat both internal and external parasites of cattle by both translocation of the product around the body (physical movement of the ivermectin to different parts of the body) as well as being absorbed through the skin, into the blood stream to treat internal parasites such as worms. You can also get specialist bird products like S76 which is designed to be mixed into the drinking water of birds. This form of ivermectin only treats internal parasites and does not come back out of the body to treat feather lice and the like. So which ivermectin product do I use? Well for oral treatment of worms, specially designed water based products such as S76 are appropriate and effective. However if you want to be able to treat worms, lice and mites in your birds all in the one treatment, then ivermectin in the form of the Cattle Pour-On is appropriate for use in this manner. There is no need to mix it down – just apply one drop (if you overdose by mistake it's still usually very safe unless the bird has a specific allergic reaction) to the nape of the neck. You can apply it directly to the feathers, as it will translocate easily around the bird to treat lice and mites and to the skin where it is absorbed into the blood stream to treat worms. You can buy 500mL, 1L, 5L and 20L of Ivomec Pour-On for Cattle or other "mectin" based Pour-Ons over the counter at your local rural merchandise store like Elders, Landmark, CRT (Your Local Bloke), NRI etc and you need nothing other than your cash to do so. Other brands that can be used are Baymec Pour-On for Cattle, Noromectin Pour-On for Cattle, Cydectin Pour-On for Cattle, Eprinex Pour-On for Cattle – shop by price. 2 things to be aware of however: 1) Even 500mL of Cattle Pour-On is a substantial quantity to have to buy if you are only going to be using one drop for one budgie. 2) Technically the only person legally allowed to use a product in a way that is not listed on the registered label is a vet (and using Cattle Pour-On for a budgie is NOT on the label) AND vets are legally obliged to have a history of the animal they are treating before they will dispense product to you so that is why they will get shirty if you ask for ivermectin without a consult of your pet and rightly so.

Howdy and welcome.

Which is the male and which is the female?

That is one of the hard things about breeding budgies. Even with the best of facilities sometimes the little buggers still manage to get themselves into a pickle. Sometimes in ways I've not even been able to imagine......... Hopefully the leg isn't broken but by the looks of it AND if she's not moving it - I'd say it is.

Bummer Shannon! Fit it's not broken it'll heal okay with TLC and time - if it's broken............ vet or............. The cock bird is typically out of condition but starting to have the brown cere appearance of a cock with what has been decribed to me as a hormone imbalance. I have been told that cocks with brown coloured ceres are not fertile - dunno if this is correct 100% of the time though as I have one cock that always has a cere like the one you picture but has a good sperm sample (not checked for actual swimmers mind you) although I have not yet used him for breeding so don't really know.......

That is a bit rough. I liked your hubby when I met him. So let me get this straight - he told you a bird was a feather duster and you sent your hubby to heaven? Talk about "shooting the messenger!!!" :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: You may have edited this but I got in quicker. snh snh snh.......

Better at Liv's that at other places I know where as soon as it's realized that the baby is a feather duster it is put down. I figure it's not the birds fault it was born a feather duster and as long as it's not suffering and has a good quality of life which is plainly obvious for Liv's birds then that's great. Kudos to Liv for the care and attention she is giving to these little guys AS WELL AS providing useful information to the rest of us. I for one am glad to see more information like this especially pics as these little guys grow and the pics of when they were younger is very helpful to me. Thanks Liv!!! Oh and they are fabulous looking things too - 100% cuties. It is a shame that they live shorter lives because of all that feather growth. It's kinda s shme that they don't stop midway like frizzle chickens.

I think their names are DPS 490/09 & DPS 491/09 (there you go Kaz you would know who they are from now!!!). I have to go check....... oops got that wrong they are DPS 410/09 and DPS 411/09. With over 200 birds I tend not to give them names.......... but none the less I can still generally tell you who they are (the ones I've used for breeding anyway) by ring number.

I there is no "sheep strength" pour-on version of ivermectin - this is where the whole ivermectin issue gets so confusing for everyone. Pour-ons are generally used in cattle as the only time a pour-on would work systemically on sheep would be directly after shearing. Still even given this there is NO registered mectin based product registered for control of worms & lice in sheep. There is a jetting fluid (different application) registered for flys & lice but nothing that works systemically on sheep. The cattle Pour-On however is designed to travel through the hair and hide of the animal and the assumption is made that it also travels through the feather and skin of the budgie - although there is no published data on this (I don't think anyway), the general understanding of the industry (including the sellers of these products) is that it works extremely well on birds and distributes well around the body of the bird through the feathers AND into the body of the bird via the skin. Broken record..... broken record. I don't know HOW many times I have typed this information so far BUT........ IVOMEC POUR-ON for CATTLE for spot-on treatment will kill external parasites AND internal parasites (i.e. LICE, SCALE MITE, BLOOD MITE (on the bird), WORMS, FEATHER LICE and yes QUILL MITE - although reading about quill mite indicates that it is a very minor issue for the bird). S76 or any other WATER SOLUBLE ivermectin that is consumed by the bird will only treat internal parasites (WORMS), these products are not designed (unlike the POUR-ONS) to travel around the outside of the body. Technically so that you know you CAN buy 1L or 5L or 20L of IVOMEC POUR-ON for CATTLE or BAYMEC POUR-ON for CATTLE or NOROMECTIN POUR-ON for CATTLE all over the counter at rural merchandise stores such as Elders, Landmark or any CRT (Your Local Bloke) agents. You do not need anything other than your cash to get it HOWEVER it is TECHNICALLY illegal for ANYONE other than a vet to perscribe the use of these products contrary to the registered label SO that is why vets get so antsy about needing to see you birds etc etc when you ask about ivermectin treatment. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make me have to type this out AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Niiiiiiiiiice. The Ken Seagrott cock bird will definitely compliment what you already have. Very Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

If you put a clearwing to a normal you get normal split clearwings if you put a clearwing to a dilute you get clearwing split dilutes. So you can bypass breeding normal splits but then you have to be careful about where the dilute ends up so you don't end up with a whole aviary full of dilutes.

Thought you might like to see pics of the 2 new birdies I bought on Sunday. Both dilutes - 1 normal, 1 opaline dom pied - both seriously cute!!!!! I bought these guys from the same person that bred my older Dom Pied Opaline Dilute Hen that i bought at auction last year to use with my clearwings. Honestly the opaline is a bit of an issue and I assume if the normal dilute is a boy he is probably split for opaline too so I'm only going to be able to use normally marked hens but they are glorious birds in their own right and I have put the older hen down to breed into my normal/normal line this season. The breeder and I were both puzzling over boy or girl. Initially we both thought the normal could be a girl (I really hope so) but looking more and more like 2 boys at the present. I'll just have to wait and see.