Finnie

Welcome to the forum, Barry! What kind of dogs do you breed?

Seeing how long this list is might be a good way to illustrate how much is involved in breeding budgies, it's not just a matter of, "Hey slap two birds in a cage and give them a nest box". Sorry that the items aren't listed in any organized manner, it's just random as I thought of things. Anyone who wants can add things they use, that I may have left off. Here's the list: Breeding cage with two perches Nest box and cup hooks for attaching it to cage Nesting material (Carefresh, pine shavings, oatmeal, etc.) Mason jar feeder Plenty of good seed Pellets, and food cup to hold them Bird charcoal Oyster grit Mineral powder 3 finger draws or small feeders to hold the above Carrots Greens (Collard, spinach, swiss chard (silverbeet) etc) At least 2 clothes pins to hold carrots and greens Water drinkers (1 per cage, plus spares) Liquid calcium Good quality vitamins with D3 Cuttle bone and holder Mineral block and holder Oranges Budgie egg biscuit Oat groats Saucer on floor of cage to feed the above Newspapers for lining the cage floor Toys and swings, if desired (Cocks can get bored, they like swings, and toys are in place for chicks when they fledge) Note cards and pen Candling torch Sharpie marker for marking eggs (something non-toxic) Triple C Probiotics Doxycycline Hand rearing formula Pipettes Syringes Small dishes and measuring spoons for preparing formula Wash cloths and paper towels for cleaning chicks faces Baby applesauce Leg rings Millet sprays Brooder tank set up Heating pad Thermometer and hygrometer Notebook and record keeping charts Kindie cage set up Boxes for sold chicks to ride home in Soft toothbrush for cleaning chicks CFL and full spectrum light bulbs Digital scale Lightweight plastic bowl for holding chick on scale I'm sure there are things I forgot, and it seems like I'm always adding more ideas. Like, I didn't write camera for recording chicks progress.

I agree, that is a big task. But one time I wished I had a check list for all the stuff I needed, and I wrote one down. So now, if I feel like typing it all out, I could do a topic on it. okay, here is the link to the list: Breeding Supply List

These crumbles you are talking about, are they pellets? Or are they a crumbled egg-biscuit type food? Either way, I would not hold back giving them seeds every day. If you gave seeds 4 days and crumbles 3 days, and they decide they don't like the crumbles, you will be effectively starving them on the 3 days per week. If your hen (or any of your other birds, for that matter) is deficient in calcium, I would consider giving a liquid calcium supplement in their water, like Calcivet. I would also give a vitamin D3 supplement, because if they are deficient in Vit D, then they can't absorb calcium properly. Another fairly inexpensive way to boost calcium intake is to make a homemade egg-biscuit mix. I haven't worked out how much it costs me to make mine, but I'm sure it's a lot less than $60 for 10kg. There's a thread around here somewhere with egg-biscuit recipes, I'll go see if I can get a link for you. Here is a link to the FAQs area with a whole lot of recipes listed: Recipes

I haven't hand fed very many chicks, but most of the ones I have hand raised weaned themselves. I would provide all the usual foods that my birds normally eat, and the chicks experiment and learn to eat the various things. (Seed, millet, oat groats, oranges, biscuit, carrots, greens, etc.) Eventually, the chicks are eating all of those other things, and they stop being interested in the formula. So then when I see that I'm wasting my time trying to get them to eat any formula, I just quit. I did have one chick who was a big baby and kept begging for the formula way longer than the others. I finally just started cutting back on the formula until I was barely giving her any, and then I quit. She was about 10 weeks old then. But I would think that most of them would just stop eating the formula when they are ready. About the poos, yeah, the hand formula makes them runny. The more they eat regular foods, seeds and vegetables, the more their poos will form properly. You don't need to cut back on the formula, just make sure you offer lots of healthy food choices.

You can also find them in the reptile section of the pet store. Pride, at the bottom of each post, on the right hand side is a button marked "multiquote". Just click on that and then you can type your reply.

Can you post a picture, so we can see what it looks like?

If you click on those photos, you can see them much bigger, and they look male, to me. Welcome to the forum, Bugdiebra When I first saw your username, I thought you were combining Budgie with Zebra!

YF 1 ? Cobalt? and opaline greywing

Oh, well then that was some pretty serious scaly face then! I'm glad Mo's getting better.

Am I the only one who thinks that Mo is a hen, not a cock?

How is the chick coming along, Maddy?

Hi Ellie, Other people with more experience may have more advice for you, but when any of my chicks get to be about 4 weeks, if I see any sign at all of the mother hurting them, I take the mother away. The dad can cope with the whole clutch at that point, is my feeling. And with just one chick, I should think no problem. Based on their behavior, they probably want to start the next round, so that is when they might decide to turn on the chicks, to clear the way for the next batch. Actually, at four weeks, you could even move the chick out by itself, and watch it to see if it eats on its own. But it would be better if it could stay with Dad, who will show it all the ropes. It depends on whether you want the pair to go for a second round. Or, you could put it with the other non-breeding birds. One of them might take pity on it and feed it. At the very least, it can learn to copy them.

How is it going with the eggs now? (I'm no expert, but I think you did the right thing.)

Now all you need is a mini fridge, and you will never need to go back in the house! I have a similar problem with water, working in my basement. So I have bottled water down there, and I just use a little to rinse out the drinkers, and dump the rinse water in the trash. For any real cleaning, I have to take stuff upstairs to the kitchen, or outside to the hose.

The cinnamon gene lightens the body color, and it also lightens the cheek patch color a little.

Each chick has a 50% chance of inheriting the spangle gene.

Aww, no fair- you didn't tell us there was dilute involved! What does Blue Type II mean?

Looking good! Having running water is awesome!

I'm just now seeing this, as I've been away on vacation. Is chick 1 a yellowface mutant one normal? Is chick 2 a green clearwing?

Splat's advice is good. I would also add to look around at all of the birds to make sure they are all healthy. Because even if you pick a healthy one, if it is housed with sick birds, yours could come down with something later on, as well.

Hi Wild Rose. I was thinking the same thing as Birdluv. If he hasn't started moulting yet, he is about at the age where he will soon. The first thing you will notice will be that all of a sudden there seems to be a lot more loose feathers in and around the cage than normal. Then he will start getting pin feathers on his head. Moving things around in his cage is a good idea, to mix up his "territory". It's also a good idea to take him to someplace away from his cage when you work on his taming. When he's near his cage, his cage is his security, and you are the "scary person". But when you take him to an unfamiliar place, then you become the security.

I think your idea is great. If I were just going to have two budgies, I think I would like to be able to play with at least one of them. You should quarantine the new one for at least 30 days, and that will give you time to bond with him or her. Then when you put them together, the tame one should still like you, even if he does bond with the other budgie. Plus, budgies do copy off of each other, so there is the slight chance that the old one will learn to be less afraid of you when he sees that the new one isn't afraid. I have one budgie that I hand raised from the day she hatched, so she started out very tame and friendly. When it was time for her to go live in my hen cage, she did lose some of her tameness. For instance, she won't sit on my hand any more. BUT, she still really likes me and comes to "chat" with me at the side of the cage. Well, after she was in with the other girls for a while, and they saw her coming over to see me all the time, some of them got curious, and they also learned to come over to see me. There are now four girls in that cage that will come over to see me, and compete for my attention, and give me kisses through the bars!

Hi Krista, I'm sorry for your loss. I think it would be normal for Cloud to go through an adjustment period where he misses Sky. But that doesn't mean that he won't get over it and be perfectly happy being an only budgie. It would be perfectly fine to wait a while and see if that happens. Besides, even if you do decide to get him a new friend, you should quarantine the new bird in a different room from him for at least 30 days, to make sure it doesn't bring in any illness to Cloud. So he would have a period of time to get used to being alone, anyway. I would say, don't feel like you have to rush right out and get a new budgie. Give yourself some time to think about it.