Finnie

Did the eggs ever hatch?

Funny bidet story! As for raccoons, Robyn, I have a feeling they wouldn't attack the budgies. They are usually more of scavengers, raiding people's trash, bird feeders, and cat/dog food dishes. Of course, raiding a budgie nest or seed dish would still cause havoc and upset the birds. But if they were able to get in, there would be a bigger risk of the budgies escaping. I think the story of the dog getting drowned may have been because the raccoons needed to defend themselves. Around here, the raccoons are more of a nuisance because of their daring persistance. You can chase them off, and they just go around the corner and wait for you to leave, and then they come right back. My cats co-exist with them. I have caught raccoons eating from the cat's dish while the cats just laid in their cat bed and watched. You learn to bring the cat food in at dusk. But right now I have one that got smart. He's been coming by in the middle of the day to eat. Geb, let us know how your electric barrier deters them.

Hi Kurt, welcome to the forum! Look forward to reading all about your budgies. And seeing pictures.

Hi Rhiana! Welcome to the forum.

Hi fusion, welcome to the forum!

Your plan sounds good. Maybe one of the surprise recessive genes will turn out to be greywing. If so, then you might get your goal chick in the first generation.

If the bugs had wings, I would think perhaps they just came in to scavenge on the dead bodies. I don't think the mites and lice that birds get have wings. But do you know what caused the deaths of the four?

I thought he looked like a greywing spangle, but that might just be a trick of the thinner lines of the spangle marking, that can make a black line appear lighter.

Squeak, a budgie can be a single factor or double factor violet, but it cannot be split for violet.

Mucus coming from the nostrils is not good. Do you think there might be anything in her environment that could be irritating her respiratory passages, but not to the point of making her physically ill (yet)? Or she could be coming down with something and this is the first sign?

Hi Geb, welcome to the forum! It looks nice. Ought to be nice to see/hear your birds when you are on your deck. You should give us some photos once the birds are in it. Oh, and I want to hear this bidet story!

They are in separate cages, but are the cages in separate rooms? Because you will want to make sure that if Johnny does have an illness, that he can't transfer it to your other bird. It's not too late to move the second cage away from the first, it can still minimize whether pathogens get spread. Perhaps the first bird hasn't gotten exposed to anything yet. Appearing to eat non stop, but without actually swallowing any food is a sign of Megabacteria. But I don't know if swallowing whole seeds goes along with that. The fact that the poops have firmed up would indicate that he is actually eating, and so maybe it's NOT Megabac. (I'm not qualified to diagnose, if he has any other worrisome symptoms, you may need to get him to a vet.) If the poops have gone from green and runny to normal consistency, that's a partial improvement, at least. Do you know what kind of environment he came from? Perhaps he hadn't been given much good food lately, and now at your house he is gorging himself to make up for it. Runny poop is a sign of not eating, so maybe he hadn't eaten in a while before you got him? Does he seem fine otherwise? I see this post has gone unanswered in a couple of days. How is he doing now?

Yes

Normally, budgies are not an animal that you generally pet. They can be taught to like scratches on the head and neck, and usually a hand fed chick will accept any type of handling it receives, that it is accustomed to. Once they learn to fly, they put up with less, though, and handling them becomes more on their own terms. So I'm not sure what you mean by him not letting you "pat" him. How long have you owned him? Do you think your son has been doing something habitually that has taught the bird to be afraid? If so, the first step is to figure out what is scaring him, and stop doing that. You can use millet as a treat, to teach him that coming to you willingly is enjoyable.

I agree with BJ, I don't give anything with spots on it. Whatever caused the spot, whether disease or insect or what ever else it could be, the brown spot is a dead, rotted part of the leaf, so I consider that part of the leaf spoiled. Now, if you could remove the leaves with spots, would there be enough good leaves left worth using?

He looks great! You would be surprised how resilient they can be. I had a chick get its leg ring caught once, and found him dangling, and bloody. It looked like the leg was dislocated, and I was afraid I would have to put him out of his misery. But his demeanor was so healthy appearing, that I just had to give him a chance. As the day wore on, his leg went more and more back into proper position, and in the end, he healed up 100%. I'm glad yours has healed up.

It is okay . Here are some of the other ones if you want to see some of people's pets: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=31235 http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=24159

Hi Kiwi, welcome to the forum!

Did the vet check for any signs of lice or mites on him? Or perhaps an in-grown feather follicle? It sounds more like something is irritating that specific spot, to cause the plucking. I would romove the mirrors. A mirror can actually be a cause of a behavioral problem, not the cure. I find it odd that he isn't interested in the other budgie. In my experience, a budgie will be very stongly drawn to the presence of another budgie. They recognize their own kind. And if one has been kept singly for a long time, they are even more interested, maybe too much, in meeting the other bird. So I wonder if Sammy is sick with something.

I agree with BJ, and if you're planning to colony breed, you will need at least twice as many boxes as you have pairs. The boxes are supposed to all be at the same height, or else they will fight over the highest ones, and the boxes have to be far enough apart to minimize fighting. Is your aviary even big enough for that many boxes? Also, you need to make sure of your birds ages, before adding nest boxes. Breeding them under 12 months of age is bad for their health, and for the chick's health/survival. We have quite a few threads on here about the pitfalls of colony breeding. Although some people have a measure of success with it.....at first.

The only female I'm seeing is B

Hey, that's great, Birdluv!

I don't think regular worming is necessary for a bird that lives indoors, to answer your question from a while back. I think it's the ones who live outdoors that run the risk of picking something up. For some reason, I had thought Chip was a lutino, but if he's getting a blue cere, then he must be a double factor spangle, huh? I love the cute pin feather look!

Well, so far I have had three hens hatch with plum eyes, but who colored up as greywings, with no visual cinnamon that I can tell. So I figure that they must be both. One has no opaline, one has yellow face, which muddies up the color, and she's not so pretty, although as she is molting, she is starting to look prettier. The third one is actually a sky blue opaline (cinnamon greywing), but she doesn't really seem to look like that breeder's description. I am going to try to get one in cobalt, to see if that makes it more blue. In the process of doing this, I produced one that was a cobalt opaline greywing spangle (no cinnamon), and she was an absolutely stunning bird! Her owner saw her photo in my ad and just had to have her. My next goal now is to try to get one like that only in violet, to see how that looks.

Well, welcome back, Jodie! Your budgies look very nice, and your pictures aren't too large at all. Photo bucket has a setting where it will automatically resize your photos as you upload them. Choose 640 x 480.