nubbly5

What were the parents? If solid black eye stays and cere stays pinkish then DEC. But it's a super solid bird - probably unlikely to be a DEC (but then RIP's new one is super sized too) usually they are littleish things. More likely to be a DF but like everyone - need better clearer pics.

Wouldn't have much left for sale if you killed everything off........

Hi Jacodk Unless someone has found a gene marker for the 2 varieties I don't think there is any simple way of separating the 2 YF varieties. The only way would be through test mating and progeny records. Any YF's that, bred together, that produce DF in the white face form I suppose would have to be M1. M2 DF are still YF but less than the SF version. Other than that it's going to be a lot of mating and recording and separating them as best you can.

Please do a search or look through some of the pinned topics, budgerigarsherewelcome, this topic has been done to death.

Best way to do it Amy! Just make sure that when you split the pack that you store the product out of the light (ivomec is UV sensitive and breaks down in exposure to light).

AND she didn't even slip a little something my way for the win!

Hey guys, find your local Landmark, CRT, Elders merchandise stores and you can buy Ivermectin (cattle pour-on) probably 1L bottles. Easy walk in, pay $, walk out). Sld as Ivomec Pour-On for Cattle, Noromec Pour-On for Cattle, Baymec Pour-On for Cattle......

Hi Pride I don't put mine down until September now. After many crappy attempts at winter breeding after being told that the first rains after Easter were THE time to breed budgies. Mind you we ARE a little cooler that Perth and that seems to have a bearing too. My birds always seem to have better results as it starts to warm up and then I go all the way through summer until March but we have a really shaded aviary. I think sometimes trial and error to find the best time for you and your birds is best. And I have a suspicion that different years bring different conditions which might alter the perfect breeding times too.

Usually though you buy the best bird in Australia for extravagant $ and then it doesn't breed anyway - probably why it was for sale in the first place!

Hi Lion Sorry been a very random visitor. You can use some forms of synthetic and/or natural pyrethrin straight onto the birds but i would use one that is purpose made for this. Where are you? If in Aus then use Avian Insect Liquidator or ANY other pet shop brand lice treatment on your bird. You CAN use ivomec spot-on for cattle directly on your birds (one drop on back of neck is fine) - DON'T use any organophosphate treatments on or around your birds - very deadly to them! Again if in aus you can spot these (the organophosphates) because they will always have "anticholenestrase" somewhere on the label. Other synthetic pyrethroids used for long term treatments like the 3 month outdoor mortein type pump packs are fine to use on perching, nest boxes etc etc BUT I would allow the product to dry before allowing bird access. These are generally safe treatments around birds but in this form they are of a much higher concentration than the "on bird" treatments so I would always use at least a little caution. Hope this helps!

Well looks like opaline, opaline clearbody a dilute the next one i'd be going gee I wonder what THAT is and a DEC. That's the trouble with some of these mutations isn't it! They look SO MUCH like something else (with minor differences) that they are not really startling enough for people to really want to breed them - hence being rare I guess. Looking forward to seeing them in the flesh though and maybe they will be something a bit more "different". Thanks for sharing RIP. Hoping they all breed very nicely for you! Oh an what about AI-ing the hen that's not allowing the cock bird to mount. Easy fix for that problem (if that's what's actually causing the issue).

Grey green fro me. Cheek patches are obscured by the white mottling a bit but what is showing looks more like the blue/grey of a grey green to me. PLUS the body colour is very even (where it is green that is) usually olives and dark greens are more patchy coloured than that, especially as a youngster.

So it's not the stupid f-wits USING the internet that are the problem then? That's wonderful to know and I don't feel so bad anymore

How about fudgies - finch x budgies!

Hi Lion Pyrethrin is reasonably safe for use around birds but I would allow it to dry before placing birds back in contact with it. When I used the 3 month surface sprays on cracks and dents etc, no more red mites - none. No need to throw away your cages etc if you go with this sort of treatment. I never did a major clean whilst treating our red mite infestation either. Just needed to break their breeding cycle and the 3 month surface spray did just that!

Hi Dazler (Nubbly5 waves loudly!)

Me too.

Coopex is okay. I have used the old 3 month outdoor surface spray - Mortein, whatever brand.... with very good success and my pre-breeding preparation now ALWAYS includes a synthetic Pyrethrin surface spray to all nest boxes, paying particular attention to the joins and cracks. Since starting this treatment as well as using ivermectin spot on regularly I have had NO issues with blood mites at all. I did find that I could also spray the box whilst it was being used. Take out the chicks, empty the bedding, spray, let dry, replace new bedding and put chicks back in. All sweet. Red mites are not resistant to scatt, just that the live and lay their eggs OFF the bird in the cracks and crevasses of your breeding boxes usually. They only go onto the bird to feed .So treating the birds kills the mites that are present but doesn't kill off the eggs or the ones sheltering off the bird.Treating birds and surfaces together works but you might need to do two treatments a few weeks apart to completely break the mite breeding cycle.

Boy

So pretty! You must be very happy with these littlies!

YOU SET UP A VIDEO!!! You, SarahC, are my hero. Good job on the sleuth work!

Well Mystery is even more of a Mystery than before. I have to say that I really didn't think he was violet looking at him or at the chick colours BUT gee that cheek patch on chick 3 is sooooo dark I'm tending to think now that he might well be. So you probably have a combination of skys, light greens and dark green violets look at the babies now. My first thinking was cinnamon split greywing for mystery but that doesn't really explain the differences between the chicks wing markings very well. My thought were initially all greywings and opaline greywings apart from chick five who looked to me to be not a normal but probably a cinnamon greywing but that would only work if the chick was a hen and it's a cock isn't it?! So if in fact it is a cock bird then I think you probably are playing with a combination of clearwing, greywing and cinnamon. The wing and body colour modifyers of greywing and clearwing seems to be almost readily swapped around so you tend to end up with a huge combo of different characteristics spread through the chicks - clearer wings on what otherwise looks to be a greywing, brighter body colour on what ordinarily is a 50% body colour on greywings etc. I get the odd dilute from my clear clearwings that show no wing markings at all when ordinarily they have noticable markings (wing modifiers have been carried over even though the offspring is actually a dilute). So probably at a best guess Mystery is cinnamon split greywing and your hen is greywing/clearwing. I would definitely pitch at chick 2 being a cinnamon greywing but don't forget that opaline will affect the colouring and how the wing colouring appears. This is what i really like about breeding pet budgies - the fun surprises you get in the clutches and trying to work out where it all might have come from!

Reading all this just makes me very very sad. It makes you realize that there is absolutely no help for the human race and that our collective IQ is tumbling at an amazing rate.

Umm just a question? What BUG was it that bred in the blankets? Only asking as I can understand a fungal infection from blankets but golden (antibiotic resistant) staph??? Very very surprised. Firstly it has to have come from somewhere. Golden staph is staph aureus and resistant staph strains mainly proliferate in hospitals - anyone been near a hospital lately. Usually S. aureus is readily treated with antibiotics it's not until you get the MRSA strains that the problems occur.

Finnie a cinnamon is a cinnamon and the plum eye is a distinguishing feature - if it doesn't have a plum eye then it's not a cinnamon. But as Kaz says, sometimes it's pretty hard to tell and some plum eyes are more obvious than others.