*Nerwen*

Slate is a name for a grey mutation and is different from Mauve but looks almost the same. I think Tweety is only a mauve which two darkfactors on a bird. Your Right that Blue is Opaline Cobalt. Opaline is a sex-linked gene which means males need two of the gene (one from each parent) to show the gene and females only one. This is why all opalines from this pair will be female. The males will carry the gene and be able to have opaline females offspring as well. Females can not be split for any sex-linked genes. With the dakrfactors your hen will give one to each of her kids while the male will give either a darkfactor or none. This means you can't get skyblues.

Unless both your birds are split blue (which isn't that hard to be true) all the babies will be green. All will look like dad which different patchs of patterns ont he wings, but that is a dominant gene and the babies only need one to appear as such. All the babies will carry (split) the recessive pied gene from mum.

dilutes is a gene that lessen's the strength of colour the bird is doesn't have anything to do what dark factors. Mum will give one dark factor to all her babies, making cobalt the lightest blue you can get with that pair. You asked about about a blur bird with yellow wings, it can happen they are called yellowfaces. This acts like the blue gene (recessive to green) but doesn't remove all of the yellow from the bird. But if both birds are green it's more likely he is a green bird.

they all look great Karen, so soft and silky looking. And a stunning colour of yellow.

I'm not sure on this one, the male uses his wings to balance on the hen and 'hug' her while breeding. I think with out full wings this would make the task harder.

I feed my bird Finch mix only after been told by the vet this is heathly for them with out the hulled oats which are like mars bars to our birds. My five babies where raised on this seed. One day I ran out of seed and the store was closed, since I'm looking after connie and she is on normal budgie mix I used some of that to tie over Scuttle (the others still had some) and he in fact ate around the oats, not having had them before he didn't trust them.

YAY for Riebie :offtopic: He is a cutie and sounds like he will love being part of the family already.

Opaline for sure. How old is this bird? The cerre looks like a young hen or one out of contindition. THe colour is looking to me in the pictures as blue, maybe a cobalt.

There are all sorts of ways to stop them. (not in order of best) 1. Removing the eggs when found from box so none are brooded and hatch. 2. fake eggs. 3. as you said removal of hen. 4. Removal of box. I removed my hen to stop them breeding agian but the farther had a fit not being with her and took it out on the babies begging for food from him. I returned the hen and ended up doing as daz said and removed the box, moving the one out of it and offering a small place for them to hid into for protection. But mine where around the 4 week mark and ready to fledge.

aww I love them You get some great action ones.

aww look how much he has changed

Yeah it could and could mean it's related to nesting/breeding, The males can get a bit agro in their courtship behaviour sometimes.

She can't reach that spot her self so someone else int he cage is doing this. The top or back of head is a normal attack spot when birds are been picked on or 'put in their place' Make sure there isn't an infection starting. You need to either remove Jewel to recover from the attacks or find the attacker and remove them.

please clouds is this little one okay still?

okay I thought you where meaning a normal grey with your 'blue grey' My aunt is completly colour blind. yes Skeeter looks mauve too.

Other things that aren't a plus for colony breeding is you don't know 100% who the farther is, sometimes a hen will mate with more than one male in one clutch. This behaviour can lead to inbreeding with out realising. It's less spae consuming and some say less hassle of care with the boxes all in together. As another stated hen can and will fight over boxes, either when empty for with eggs and chicks which can be broken and killed, they also can fight over males. With paired breeding you can pick the parents for colours or size/shape, if your into showing later. Can watch them more closly for signs of trouble that need vet attention and can keep a strong record on who is who's children and if they are related. The only fighting would be between the two birds which you can break apart quickly and try another pair. If they bond in the avairy and your happy to leave them like that simply move the two into a breeding cage alone.

Your first cage is a bit logner than the one I used as a breeding cage: That would work fine, and you can use the small black one as a go between or simply move the parents back with the others and leave the babies in the white cage. If you're only doing one clutch, it easy to remove the box and leave the family together.

Well It was when I saw angel that I really knew/felt she was mauve. Daz was lucky I didn't try and hide her in my hair

Sorry I can't help. I think Terri or someone once stated what the believed cuase is but I can't remember. Mine do this also and now I worry about broken necks . Giving the birds a soft night light has helped others.

you have to remember both of these birds will look a bit different than a normal white faced bird becuase of the yellow that bleeds into the body. Daz what are you meaning a Blue grey?? To get the grey colour of a bird you need the blue gene as well or else you have a grey green. I've always believed Angel is a mauve.

Sorry to hear that Karen No I had to go back and see the parents, it's dad who is split for it here, he might have given his hidden cinnamon gene to a son but he might not have. about 50% chance for each son that he is split for it as well.

Yeah I was thinking a Double factor spangle or a DEC. Both of these look like a Ino bird with out the red eyes. I believe, not sure on it, that both mutations can still have a blue tinted blody when involving the yellowface gene as well. You will have to wait to see iris rings to see which one it is, the DEC doesn't get any while the DF spangle does.

If you where told the hens where of breeding age that makes them 12 months plus. Good breeders know the age of their birds. I would remove the boxes for now and wait until the males are over a year. Some state that you can breed with males from 10 months. I tried it and my male just didn't understand what the deal was, about three months later he got the picture. Waiting a while will give ou time to learn what is normal for this flock so if something is different while breeding you can get help faster and give the males and femals time to bond together and find partners. Since you are colony breeding. If I remember correctly I was told to let my 10 month male have only one clutch.

and paired to a lutino you will get lacwing girls I'm glad we have an answer. Well dont Luso for getting some extra help. This really shows that simply looking at the bird isn't enough. and most times when we hare asked it comes down to a guess becuase we sometimes don't know what the parents are. Just looked back at my answer ( Dutch dominant pied Violet Cinnamon) I was close. I keep thinking Dutch and Clearflight are the same pied gene just called differently around the world.

As daz said there isn't a way to tell, the colour of leg bands can give you a year of date. The breeder SHOULD know the ages correctly if a good breeder and if they state 10 months then it's a good bet it's right. If they don't have rings in the eye it's becuase of two things, one their mutations does get them (recessive pieds, DEC umm is there more?) or they are young. Oh just read your post again and see they don't have rings, but the info might help a lurker out there.