Emma

Yep, I knew that as soon as I saw it. My other birds are triangle 7, X8, etc.. so I knew that this one was some-symbol-I-didn't-immediately-recognise+0 :rofl: I just wanted confirmation. He doesn't look like an elderly gent!

I don't think it's a 0, I think it's Theta. θ0 I really wish it was a 6 though :rofl:

Gorgeous bird Linda - I really love light green pieds, the colour seems even more vibrant.

I swear I just went to look and not touch. Is there such a thing as a voluntary restraining order? :hap: Anyway, I just went to see if they had any new birds, and this guy just grabbed me. I had a feeling the leg ring year was 2000, but in the end I didn't care if he was older, I just wanted him because he was beautiful. I couldn't remember the ring colours, and squinting at it in the store I wasn't sure if it a 0 or a 6, I knew it couldn't be an 8 because I knew that was black. Etc. I have my pairs mostly sorted now and I'm not really looking for extra males for breeding, so I wasn't too worried if he was too old. I couldn't walk away from him. I'm not kidding when I say that he is HUGE. He's the same size as the cockatiels they had. Hence the name Hoss... he's a big boy :rofl: This looks like "Theta 0" to me - can someone confirm 2000? I'm pretty certain that's correct. He's in quarantine, singing and whistling. If he's a retired gentleman, then in a month he will move into his luxury apartment with plenty of pretty young girls to look at for the rest of his days. What a life!

At the risk of being lynched :boogie: I will put my hand up and admit that although I have followed quarantine with my other birds, I broke it with Max and Maurie for the same reason as above. I'd had Max a few days and he didn't seem to be doing well, seemed miserable, and wasn't eating at all. Normally I would chalk that up to the stress of coming home, but when I picked him up I realised he was all bones, and I was worried that he might actually die if he didn't start eating very soon. After a bit of soul searching I decided to take the risk. It wasn't a decision made lightly, considering I was putting an unknown into a cage with my favourite bird. I didn't do it because I thought they would be adorable little friends, or because I couldn't be bothered setting up a second cage, or because I was lazy.. it was because I really thought he wasn't going to eat without a nudge from another bird. Unlike libby I couldn't be sure that Max came from a healthy flock, but I took the risk because I thought he might die, bony little dab. Not 10 minutes after putting him in with Maurie, Maurie hopped down and started eating, and Max followed him down and started eating too. After a minute of that, Maurie hopped back up and started attacking his millet spray, and Max went to investigate that too. He was immediately happier and more perky, and between the two of them they stripped the millet completely, so I could relax about him eating. They are fast friends now and Max hates being away from his big "brother". Big fat no-no, I know a lot of people might waggle fingers, and I would never advise breaking quarantine.. but I guess sometimes you have to weigh things up. Honestly, I'm still uncomfortable with having done it. I know it could have ended badly. But I did what I thought I needed to do. I feel better now knowing that there is a real risk of birds dying from refusing to eat for a few days after moving homes. Thank you libby. I still don't feel good about breaking quarantine, but that makes my worry and my decision feel a little more justified. (still don't like that I did it though!!)

Here you go - hope this helps :hap: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus

Maurie has two girlfriends.. his red wooden swing, and the wooden building-block style parrot chew toy hanging in the corner. I keep telling him.. you're meant to love ME

Do you have any branches in the cage? Maurie spends hours stripping bark and chewing branches. He has a wooden chew toy.. but he's trying to court that, so that was a bit of a failure

Looks like Leucaena or similar. http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident....ll&card=T20 Very common weed, used for fodder, but spreads really easily especially through creeks and waterways.

I think I know why I was confused about the opaline/spangle combo. I looked at him this morning - the top part of his wing has lots of colour on each feather (so they're mostly blue rather than mostly white with a bit of colour). That's probably what I was looking at. It doesn't look like much, it's a bigger area of colour when he is perching. The other side is more pronounced but he wouldn't sit nicely and it's rather hard to take photos with a bird in one hand and camera in the other :rofl: So the top ones look like Dave's Dumb & Dumber's feathers.. but the bottom ones are obviously plain grey markings. I can see why I was confused.. but I get it now

Winnie, my big fluffy, cuddly girl. So pretty.

Ah, I think I see now. I see a bit of colour through the wings and think opaline, but I took another squiz at Dumb & Dumber and I see there is a stark difference. Opaline gives me trouble! But I see it now, thanks :raincloud:

I found my blue boys. I've been looking for two blue boys to round out my pairs for later in the year. I found these two today; they had only just come into the store along with a gorgeous little DF spangle that I really couldn't justify taking, but I know he will be picked up fast because he was gorgeous and friendly (he was actually nibbling my finger!). I'm pretty sure they are both sky violet(?) - the plain opaline especially has a lot of violet up around his head and shoulders. They're really docile, happy to be held, and were straight into the food when I put them into the quarantine cage. About 15 minutes later they were happily chatting away! They've definitely made themselves at home. Sky blue opaline: Sky blue dominant pied opaline spangle (what a mouthful): At first glance I thought this guy was just spangle/opaline (obviously) but then I realised he had a pied spot on his head, and then it dawned on me that he had white flights etc (I was distracted by his colour!). What a dope! But I don't mind the mistake, because it's like they took my favourite colour and mashed it together with my 3 favourite mutations! So happy! But now I have to rethink my pairs again!!!!!! But I need to stop thinking that all the pairs have to go down at the same time so every bird has to have a perfect match - I don't know why I keep thinking that way. I need to remember that I can have different rounds, it's not the end of the world if I don't put a particular pair down the first round. I'm silly. My obvious first choice is my violet dom pied opaline girl x this new dom pied spangle opaline, for colour and pieds. But I think I will have to sit down and have a good think.

I'm pretty proud.. 20/20, not bad for a rookie eh

Budgie rack! That's awesome :offtopic:

A few weeks ago I was doing my usual pet store rounds (I just love looking at all of the birds) and i noticed this tiny little baby in a cage of much bigger budgies. It was a gorgeous little pied. Despite being about half the size of the others, it was trying to be the boss, which was really cute. I wanted to get it as a future friend for Maurie, because I worry sometimes that Maurie gets bored while I'm at work. Unfortunately though it looked to be a hen - bit hard to tell in the light in the store, but I thought I saw white on its cere, and I didn't really want a hen, I prefer boys as pets. So after a lot of soul searching I walked away. Fast forward 2 or 3 weeks and I went back to get some water bottles - and the little budgie with the huge attitude was still there. I thought the cere was more blue this time.. but as it turned its head I couldn't see whether it was iridescent blue, or white. Frustrating. In the end though, I decided that I was meant to take this budgie home, hen or not. When the guy at the store pulled it out of the cage and into the natural light though, I was pretty sure it was a boy (plus it didn't rend flesh from the bone, so...). Meet Max - short for "Maximum Attitude!" He is an incredibly bright yellow, so pretty. He inherited Maurie's first little cage as a cozy quarantine cabin. I pulled him out briefly to handle him after a couple of days and thought he had a caked up vent like my violet hen had (from stress) because I could feel a hard lump underneath him. But when I felt further I realised IT WAS HIS BONES. The poor little thing was sooooooo skinny But it didn't take long for him to work out where the seed was, and to voraciously attack a millet spray. I'm hoping he will put on some weight for me. He's adorable.. I think he and Maurie will make a cheeky little team. Maurie has just learned how to let himself out of the cage, ugh. I shudder to think what will happen if he gets a sidekick

Wow.

Interesting about the myco.. myco is something that rats are extremely susceptible to. Baytril & doxy is the usual treatment for it in rats - a smear of doxy paste with a drop or two of baytril, mixed together and then disguised in their favourite food.. used to go down a treat. I suppose it's not terribly surprising that antibiotic treatments are the same or similar for other animals, it's quite logical. I just didn't realise that myco was something birds had troubles with also.

I love Dumb & Dumber so much!!

He's a darling.. I wish I had time to tame all of them at the same time, I would love to have these guys out. For now though I can watch them moving around in a mini-aviary, which makes me happy. They have much more space. I'm watching Jin exploring the branches, while the other ones decide he must have something down there that they all want, so they all pile on there together while he chatters indignantly. I think he also has a crush on the lutino girl, he's talking to her and she is ignoring him. It's just so lovely that they have so much space! I also treated Maurie to a slightly bigger cage. The cage he had before was too small to be permanent - it wasn't too bad for a little while because he does spend a lot of time out with me, but I wanted to get him something larger, especially if one day I will get him a cage companion (which is the plan). He is confused by the new space, but I think it's great - he has space to fly from side to side, a nice branch to walk along, and space for his toys to hang without getting in his way all the time. Now I just have to wait out the quarantine to let my other two hens into the aviary cage.. I can't wait to see them all in together

Decided it was best to set up a thread that I could keep adding to, rather than posting new ones all the time. The 4 newbies moved into a new cage today. Still another few weeks before I can put my original two girls in with them, though. They love it so far! Especially the branch that I made semi-vertical, they seem to like walking up and down on that. The palace (note: forgot to put the large ladder in that runs from right to left at the back): The girls (note Winnie's wide stance and pigeon toes): My Winnie: Motley bunch: I'm so happy seeing them in such a big cage.. watching them actually fly instead of just hopping.

I love it

I don't want to write her off without at least trying. Obviously if it was painful or too awkward I wouldn't go any further, but she honestly does not appear to be in any kind of pain or discomfort, just unsure where to put her left foot at times. It's very hard to explain how she looks and sits. The picture makes it look much worse than it actually is! She normally sits with a slightly wider stance than normal, with her toes turned in a little. She's fine once she has settled and found a good part of the branch to sit on. If she shows any sign of pain or discomfort, or if it stresses her or is too awkward, I won't keep trying after that. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring the possibility (probability?) that she won't be able to mate properly. But at the same time I don't want to write her off because she stands oddly - it doesn't seem to have a negative impact on her moving around or perching, so I would like to give her a chance.

This is great information for me before I get started