*Nerwen*

Poppy looks like a boy to me with that bright pink cere. His colour is cobalt, as to the cinnamon look I think it's only the baby dullness to feathers that you are seeing.

Karen did you find the cloning gene???

I didn't take note of WHEN by babies were feed, i check there crops to see if they were full and weighted them once each day to be sure they put on weight. But as the bubs grow older they can hold more food in the crops and so need less feeds. As to the noise to be feed, that is normal. You will also here this noise from the bubs at the nest box hole and once out of it for food as well. If the cere is changing it means her fertility is lowered and it best to stop her at this clutch. It shouldn't change her behavior to the kids.

Both have great colours starting to show. The oldest Sonrisa's beak is misshapen, this could have been from food stuck to the beak or being squished in the nest at some point. Pie's beak looks normal (love that name by the way ) I don't know if anything can be done to help the beak at this stage or not. You will have to watch Sonrisa very closely to see if he (or she) is eating correctly when he is old enough to try. The dark on the beak seem to be random but it will fade around the 6-10 week mark. I would think they are both girls, only becuase of the Opaline being a sex-linked gene. But becuase snowflake is an all white bird there is a small chance she is 'hiding' the gene. (not split for it)

Beeper is still so white! Poor little Pintpot.

Yes I would wait until the egg is around day 5 and candle it, then you will know if it is fertile or not. Also removed of eggs will restart the hen faster into her cycle and you might have better success with a clutch the 2nd time. (still check this egg first.)

Yes different countries have a different set of colours. Hath might be able to list the cycle here for the UK. I'm not sure what the USA does with colours either.

Welcome Beth. Your Billy sounds wounderful. Are you trying to get him to talk? What sort of dog is Gemmer? Look around and make yourself at home.

Cute names. I just saw Violet on your other thread.

She does look a bit scruffy with the tail feathers. What was the cage like where you got her? overcrowding can cause tail pulling and chewing which could explain them. The staining around the nostrils could be a sign of airway infections. Since you are already worried I would look for an avian vet (if you don't have one yet) to get her checked out while in quarantine to get all checked out.

Baby I would mark as a yellowface type 2 Grey. the body colour now looks like a grey-green and the cheek patches are a silver blue (although they change becuase of the greywing gene too) But the patchiness in her colour show spots of grey to my screen I would also think greywing in the bigger sized pictures the flights and tail looked to be the same shade of colour.

There is going to a a small difference in size to the babies until they are mostly feathered. Get your kitchen scales and weigh each of them daily to be sure both are gaining weight.

There is a change with out a proper nesting site that she will not lay any more. It's up to you and what you feel best is for your birds. Most full breeder stop the hens around 3-4 year becuase of breeding once or twice each year is work. Read up a bit of issues with breeding them while you are thinking of it, before adding the box so you can gain a better idea of what can happen.

They look great what a change with the flash!

I didn't know that either Sailor.

I love the name Donut (and meaning behind it )

Hi Jen . Welcome to the site. I hope you find it interesting. Feel free to ask anything if you don't find answers. Do your four have names?

YAY for Ash I'm glad things are looking up with him. (yes a bit of a side topic to the point of this topic)

Yay a place with them listed again, the site I know had them up isn't working anymore. Thanks Daz.

Poor Golly. The names I liked: Jewel (but I think you already have one) Marble Pewter Magic Beamer

Great read, it really shows to those just starting out that this isn't something that is going to happen over night. I wish you luck with your 2nd year plans and the bird going to show soon.

Welcome Laura Hope you find lots of things of interest here.

That one seems to have brownish markings.

I would lean to a boy as well, simply becuase of the evenness of the pink colour. Although its hard to tell with a blurry picture. Sailor I don't see any white.

I haven't read anything about explaining why the depth of colour can be different ( light or dark) so I would lean to thinking it is a random thing that accords like the patterns on pied, you can't be certain how they are going to turn out. Great question