Finnie

Maybe the move to a cage of her own will trigger her to stop laying. I've had some where this worked, and some where it didn't. But at least she's out of her old environment where she felt comfortable enough to try to brood. I think disrupting their life like that can throw them out of laying mode, although it doesn't always work Let us know if she quits, or keeps it up.

So.. if something is difficult, then it shouldn't be attempted? It's not very friendly advice if you are discouraging someone who has a 5 year old budgie that they want to spend more time with and give it more attention. Tinkerbell, I say go for it! Even if she doesn't become as trained as you might be imagining, you can still make progress with her bond to you, and you can certainly work on getting her to trust you.

So you think she DOES look opaline, Kaz? Then that cinnamon opaline chick isn't necessarily a girl.

I'm not a breeder of Fallows or Inos, so I don't know how the trends are for them, but I have had two ino chicks, when the dad turned out to be split for it. Here's one of them: You can see that she has down. But perhaps there are family lines that run to having little or no down. We'll have to wait to see what people who have bred lots of inos and/or fallows say.

Then you should have plenty of experience that tells you that 6 months old is not the end of trainability.

I think that since they are chicks you have bred yourself, you have the advantage of being able to take them out of the nest for a daily play time. Before they get feathers, I would only take them out briefly. And then when they have some feathers in, you can start having longer play sessions. Even if you house the two of them together their whole lives, you shouldn't have any trouble taming them both, since they will be used to you from a very young age.

How do you know this?! I completely disagree.

He doesn't look opaline to me, his markings look normal. Maybe his wings are blue due to what they call "opalescence". Well, he must be at least split to opaline in order to produce an opaline chick. And the only way an opaline chick can be a boy is if the mother is also an opaline. But I couldn't tell about her, becasue she has so few markings at all. The faint ones on her head look a little bit like opaline, but I'm not experienced enough to tell based on that.

Are all the photos of the same chick? Based on these two photos, it appears to be a dominant pied.

Is that dad an opaline? The hue of the photo makes his wings look blue, but his bars look normal. IF he is opaline, then your non opaline chick is a boy and your opaline chick is a girl. Do you have a photo of his back?

Well, Captzork, I would say to just not let him get away with it. Every time her starts, make him stop. Move him somewhere else, or put him back in his cage. He is smart enough to figure out that whenever he does that, it means the end of all the play time. And if you allow him to do it, it becomes an ingrained habit. Just nip it in the bud.

Great pictures! I agree with Twisted.

I agree with BJ. The younger you start taming them, the easier it will be. I think when people say you can't tame older ones or multiple ones, it's because they gave up too quickly. Are you really planning to hand raise them yourself, or did you mean tame them after they are weaned by their parents?

Just ran across this thread again, and thought I would bump it. I finished my Taylor and Warner book, and am now on to the John Scoble one. I think I'll refer to this thread when I go to pick my next book, too. I thought it was interesting to read a 50 year old book, and see how things were the same yet different then. Like, there were no spangles back then. Anybody else read any good budgie books lately?

Oh, that is just so sad. I can imagine how upset you would have been. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Yes, but the girls in my hen cage "get vulgar" with some of their toys as well. Oh, and when I said he sounded like a fun bird, please don't think I meant that part! :lol:

We never found that out sadly. Though she died of old age That's nice. I think the longer you have them, the more special they are.

Based on personal experience, knowing a few people who sent their budgies to live in another house while they were on vacation, they sometimes don't ever make it back home. I'd say that the stress of "visiting" can be pretty hard on them, and I would practice regular quarantine like you would with a newly purchased budgie. Separate room, separate air space, four weeks. If your Grandmother is gone longer than that, then let them be together at the end. We pretty much have a responsibility on the forum here to never recommend ditching the quarantine.

I would like better pictures, too. But from what I can see so far, the cere looks to be blue and white, not pink and white, so I'm going to lean towards girl. Unless you tell me that the bottom half is actually a lavender pink, and not blue.

They look good. Glad they are doing well. I'm sure they are learning to eat on their own. Is the mother a cinnamon opaline?

Hi Tinkerbell, welcome to the forum! BJs articles on taming are good, and there are also good ones in the FAQ section. I don't think any of them recommend grabbing her and holding her against her will to make her get used to it. That would just make her really distrust you! And if she gets loose outside of her cage while she is fully flighted, you will have the devil of a time getting her back. (Unless she already knows to go back into it to sleep at night, if you left her out until then.) A net would be required to catch her, and chasing them around with a net really sets back their trust in you. Since she loves the millet, that's going to be your best tool. Once she will take it through the bars, then graduate to putting your hand in the cage and feeding her the millet that way. Once she will do that, hold the millet farther away from the perch so she has to reach for it, and then far enough so that she has to put one foot, then two feet on your hand to reach it. I think it's really hard to tame them when they are fully flighted, because they know they are independant of you. My preference is to clip their feathers and work with them a lot, so that when the feathers regrow, they trust you enough to fly to you on their own.

I have had some first timers lay the first egg on the floor of the cage. I put that into the box. Sometimes they throw that egg back out, and then proceed to lay the rest of their eggs in the box. Sometimes they leave that egg in there, and lay the rest with it. Those are the good ones. I've had others that keep laying on the floor of the cage, or alternate between floor and box. So sometimes they just do everything all wrong, but most of the time, they get it right. Let us know how yours goes.

Zack sounds like fun.

I think this looks like a boy. What's a little poop in the hair? It flicks right out if you let it dry first! And if you don't want to go through 9 shirts a day, just have one that gets poopy when you play with him, and one clean one that you switch back and forth, depending on whether you have him out or not. I think it's great that you are teaching him to play games. That will give him something to do other than climb on your head. He sounds like a fun bird.

I'm sorry for your loss. You mentioned it was a rope toy. Did it have loose threads for him to get stuck on? The problem is that even when we check toys over for safety, sometimes we can miss things. I once had a bird get its leg ring caught on an s-hook that a toy was hanging from. It never ocurred to me that the S part was a little bit open, or that the silly bird would have it's leg way at the top where the toy was hooked on. (Yup, they do that, they perch and sleep up there.) That bird got injured, but it survived. But it taught me to examine all the hooks and things that my toys hang from, and now I don't use anything that a leg ring can slip over. But there will likely still be the odd shaped toy or gadget that presents a danger that we just don't forsee. As for toys in the breeding cage, I always put them in. Mostly that's so they will already be in place when the chicks fledge, and then they can play with them. But I also figure it gives the cock something to do when the hen is incubating. It's not like he has to feed her every waking moment. I figure they can get bored. I also make sure each breeding cage has a swing. But I almost wonder. If your cock was so attached to that toy, maybe that interfered with him and the hen breeding? Anyway, I'm sorry he died. I hope you are feeling a little better now.