*Nerwen*

I don't know about any differance to freah or dry but mine love it both ways. only thing with growning your own is the bugs that come along too to watch out for. I got HEAPS of red bugs and also tiny black ones that dig in between the seeds and they are hard to remove.

sounds like a nice start on the road of recovery.

WOW I get an O! Opal

wow lucky you I would love to see pictures of them. Do you know if they are related?

Yep that'a a good thread to read, there are still two thoughts on the good spangle marking some believe two spangles are best (you get some as DF but not all) and some think matched to a normal gives better markings.

There are two forms of all yellow or all white birds with black eyes, there are DEC (Dark eyed Clear) As Elly said they are a mix of the two pied genes not spangles. OR there are DF spangles also known as Black eye Clears. They way you SHOULD be able to tell which one you have is iris rings, the DEC don't have them while DF spangles do. I state Should becuase there have been some exceptions to this rule. If you already have a DEC (Dark eyed Clear) bird match it to a Recessive pied in the green line (it would be best not split blue) to get some yellow DEC.

She is a nice looking bird. Don't panic too much Neat about eggs, shorting their daylight hours as lovely said, but keep in mind it not so much the laying of eggs but the raising of babies that wear out the parents, you can remove egg if any are laid. Also rearranging the cage every week or so can help stop or lessing the breeding behaviour.

good for you for being brave, I'm with Elly once I have the bird I wouldn't be able to take it back. Your new hen looks to be mauve cinnamon. Possible a violet instead but I can't tell the check spots from those pictures.

Budgie can breed all year round, they do have low and high fertile times and that is judged by the cere, in hens they are in breeding condition when the cere is brown and crusty looking, while male have a deep blue (unless the bird is a mutation that keeps the baby pink). When out of condition the hen cere flacks off to a pale blue/ white and the males pales slightly as well. As to pregnant with some bird they get a swelling between their legs when they are about to lay and egg, but the better signs to look for a larger and runnier poops, a swollen vent and a lot of time spent in the nest box.

your learning heaps Sailor But why would a white face by yy ?? It holds no yellow gene so it should be ww. as with single factors it would have one yellowface gene and one white face gene which would be Yw.

It is okay to reuse names? Lily was put forth by Bea before. Ummm Yale

....... Yo Yo

Here in Australia we can get a pink or white bell, the pink is iodine the white is calcium and charcoal. These are different from a mineral block and the cuttle fish with coloured stuff around them (the pink on them are just a color not meaning iodine I believe.)

Am I reading it correctly that the young baby is still in the cage with the parents? If so remove her to a cage on her own, she could be cuasing some issues with the mating and even stressing the hen with her presance near her nest. Budgies don't remember family members, the dad might even start trying to breed with the young one, and it's been known for very young budgies to try and start before it is safe for them to do so. Make sure they are both in breeding condition (hen with brown cere male with deep blue) if not remove the box and rest them until you see the cere change. If they are make sure they are getting fresh food (veggies) daily and mix in a hard boiled egg as well (shell too if you want to is good but grind it up well) and watch for another week and a bit. I nothing happens I would removed the box for reintroduced it again a week later, sometimes the lose and return of the nest site perks the hen's interest.

Yeah I'm jealous of Bea's bird too that dig into it. Mine seem to love carrot over all else.

okay they must be out to get me Yoshi

What is with all the Y's??? Ummm.... Yoda

Love the pictures and story. Your lucky to get them to eat brocolli, it's the one thing mine refuse to see as food!

Ellie :ausb:

Agree with Elly on the colours and he is a dominant pied as well.

There are Iodine bells in most pet shops, they are the pink ones. I don't recall seeing any sort of iodine additive for water. But if you wanted to you could crumble/shave some of the bell into their food bowls or fresh food for the first little while if you don't think they will nibble on it themselves

Star

Still no signs of violet showing, I say she is a yellowface type 2 cobalt normal. Cobalts have 1 dark factor gene. And looking at Andante again I think Grey rather than mauve (yes I know I said mauve before)

so with everything there are exceptions to the rules

thank you for that info.