Finnie

Chrysocome must have changed her Photobucket account to Private, instead of Public. I remember watching those videos in the past. Maybe she will see this and change it back. Or you could try sending her a PM. They were good videos, too.

It has been 10 days since this happened. Teagan is healing well,and the chicks finally learned to eat on their own. Actually, Patrick never fed them, and they really refused any hand feeding formula, so what I fed them was negligable, so I think they must have been eating on their own all along. They did get quite thin at first, but now they are fine. And Kevin is bored and lonely in a spare breeding cage. Serves him right. Here are some photos. (They REALLY didn't like the camera!) Oh, and it was suggested by my friend, who is a breeder, that maybe Kevin wanted to start a second round, and was trying to get rid of the chicks, but that Teagan was defending them. If I had gotten there sooner, before she was injured, I could have taken only Kevin out, and left Teagan to raise the chicks. Assuming that I didn't just blame Teagan anyway, since we usually suspect it is the hen who is clearing the box for a second round. But this is a scenario I can keep an eye our for in the future. Sometimes it is the cock. Nobody said any of this was easy, did they?

PL28 is four weeks old today, so I took some more photos. You can tell they are quite behind in their development. Not nearly ready to leave the "box". And I am becoming more convinced as time goes by that he is a BOY, not a girl, as was assumed due to his being cinnamon. The only way that this can be is if his mother is also cinnamon. (But it is hidden on her, because of her greywing/dilute genes.) And here are some pictures of BR29, at 4 weeks minus one day:

Glad to hear that the mother is taking care of them! They are cute. We will like to see more pictures as they grow and get their feathers. (We love pictures here, even if they are blurry due to wiggling! )

O goody! More Fun With Genetics! I can't wait!:budgiedance: (If that emoticon ever shows up, I'm hoping it's the 3 budgies that move their heads/B) ) Hey Squeak, I searched "Dusk" on the forum, and a few things came up, but they didn't really explain it much. I think we will learn more here, as this thread develops.

Hi SandraR, welcome to the forum! I agree with what everyone else has said, too. You will get good advice here. And you can read a lot about budgie breeding, in general. I hope your hen does a good job with finishing raising these chicks on her own. If she turns out to be the one throwing them out, let us know, and people here will help you work out what to do about it. Oh, and nice to see another Hoosier on here. (Although technically, I am a Wolverine , living down south among all of you. )

Nice parents and chick! Looking forward to seeing more, GB.

Hi Stace, Others will know more than me about budgie behavior. but maybe he is crabbier right now due to moulting? Anyway, I wanted to say "Hi!" and welcome to the forum!

Agreed. My heart was in my throat, worrying that you were going to step on one of the missing chicks!

Must just be that those with a name beginning with D were due for a run of bad luck so it's easy to see how we get mixed up Hmmm, MY real name starts with D, too. I wonder if THAT could be the reason for the problems I have had. :hmm: I was riveted, as well, Dave. Very good writing! I'm really glad to hear that the chicks are warm and fed. One nice thing is, since the non-fostered chick was already rung, you don't have to worry about getting them mixed up. I hope things go smoother after this. About that nest box, you think the wood expanded? Would that be due to excess humidity? Wait, humidity and expanding wood would cause the pieces to become wedged together tighter, I think. Maybe dry air causing the wood to shrink and become loose? Was it only that one box, or are any of your other boxes in danger?

My twin daughters have named him " JAWS" Dogs have a way of living up to their names. I would seriously consider naming him something else.

That's so sad about your hen and her chicks, and about your dog. What happened to your dog?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Oh, Nubbly! You have hit the nail on the head! (I hope these emoticons will show up!) :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Hi Lilly! welcome to the forum! If you browse through the "Budgie Bonding and Taming" forum, you will find all kinds of information about how other people have tamed their birds, and also where a lot of people have asked what to do, and the advice they were given. Here are a few good ones to start you out: topic topic topic Have fun!

You guys could be talking about the show dog fancy! (Other than the auction part.) It is hard to bring in the newcomers, or to keep them in, if they feel insulted by the people who are well-entrenched. At our dog classes, people would come in with purebred pets they bought from pet shops, that look like mongrels, and the "real" purebred people would turn their noses up at them. But the smart ones wouldn't. They knew that if someone starts out with "just a pet", but are made to feel welcome, that person will buy a "show dog" next time, and become part of the future of the club. Kaz, I think its terrible (but predictable) that your club shot down your suggestion. Kudos for being persistant. Maybe one day there will be other forward thinking people who will give your idea a try. Sometimes people have to hear something over and over again, before they accept it. (Then, of course, they will think it was their own idea! ) As for Clearwing's original question about auctions driving up the prices, I think this is an area that is also much like the dog world. It is like there is a sport within a sport. You have the top-winning, big players who spend a TON of money on this, because they have the money, and they can throw it around and win lots of ribbons and trophys to show for it. Then at a lower down level, you have the hard-working grass-roots hobbyists, who throw their whole life into it, and they do okay, but they rarely get to be the top famous names. Like the dog world, it is unfortunate that the "amateurs" have to compete against the "professionals". A dog show is a major event as far as work needed to produce one. (Which I am sure is the same for a budgie bench show.) But what I think is lopsided, is that the dog shows are manned by hard working volunteers and club members, giving up their time. Yet these dog shows are the workplace of the highly paid professional dog handlers who make a living showing dogs for rich people. Those professionals don't pay any higher entry fees than regular hobbyists, but they would have no where to earn their money, if it weren't for the volunteers. So you have basically two different groups competing for the same prize. (Obviously, it's a little different than a budgie show, because you don't have to "handle" the budgies, so you don't have the professional handler aspect. But you still have the rich-person element driving up the prices.) (And I will stop talking about dogs now, because I realize this is supposed to be a budgie topic! )

Wow, Splat, your are the MAN! Well, er, WOMAN, actually.

Is this hen split to blue, by any chance? And what dark factor? I'm thinking this pair can produce quite a variety, can't wait to see these 4 chicks feather up!

So the Continental Clearflight, aka Dutch Pied, it IS found in Australia? And I'm assuming it's found in the U.S., too, right? I mean, it would have to be, if we have DEC in both countries. So who was saying we don't have them? Maybe that person meant something else altogether.

Which pair are you talking about? The one on eggs, or the other pair? If I recall correctly, the one on eggs was really thin, and doesn't she need a good long rest, to get into better condition? How is the condition of the other hen? Just make sure she is getting a high quality diet, with lots of vegetables, vitamins, calcium supplements, to make sure she has a good nutritional foundation. I don't know if 3 weeks is long enough to build her up properly, though.

That's wonderful! I hope you will be able to tell them apart later, since they will be so close in size. Or will his color be obvious once he feathers up?

Couple more questions: Do you have any idea what the background of the albino hen is? Is the DF spangle cock yellow or white?

Only one chick, and you got Dom Pied, AND Spangle! Bonus!

Very true - Lots of happy budgie breeders here! That's what I was going to say, this whole forum is chock full of happy, success stories. You can be reading about them for months, if you look back some! NO, no,no! There is no reason to handle the eggs! (Sorry, Delouisa, bad advice.) The germs and oils from your hands can contaminate them. Sometimes we have reasons for picking up an egg, but it is best to avoid this, if possible.

It sounds pretty good, Nubbly! Slow and steady isn't so bad. Your chicks look really nice. I love all the pin feather pics. Chicks this age are so cute!

Wow, there has been a lot going on in this thread while I have been asleep on the other side of the world! Welcome to the forum, Pride. I see you are getting links to a lot of helpful information. I wanted to jump in and add, that even though Dave and GB's advice seems harsh, to throw away all the eggs, it really is the least painful alternative to watching your thin hen run down thinner and thinner, and possibly die. Or even if she lives, watching the chicks die one by one. I don't know if you've made up your mind about that or not. If it helps, I can tell you that I have just gone through a disaster breeding season, because even though I thought my birds were well fed and healthy, I misread their condition. And as a result, I had hens who got sick or injured before the chicks were ready to leave the nest box, and I had a lot of fertile eggs, but they would hatch, and then die within a few days, due to the mothers' inability to feed them properly. By the time I knew I had a problem, it was too late for me to just throw all the eggs away and rest my hens. But believe me, they are getting a good long rest now, with as best nutrition as I can manage to give them, and I will be checking their weight and signs of health more thoroughly in the future before I breed them again. If you decide to let these eggs hatch, you will be setting yourself up for a lot of heartache, especially if you care about your hen. Good luck, it's good to see that you are taking our comments well and working on preparing yourself to be a successful breeder, eventually.