Finnie

They are very nice, Sunnie! I think the fallows look cool. They probably don't have fallow pet types, though. And probably not in the U.S. Oh, well, I will just be happy to look at the nice pictures on here.

hi, She's not out of condition & i suppose if their crops are empty then the cock isn't feeding them either, as you said maybe they have sensed something is wrong. I've never had this happen before and usually i have lots of chicks to add them to a foster nest but this time i don't. Oh well as they say that's how the cookie crumbles! Do you think it's possible that the hen is preventing the cock from being able to feed them? Maybe if you took the hen out, then the cock would take over? Also, do you have a plastic syringe, the kind for dosing oral medication? It might get the hang of eating from that sooner than it would the spoon. You can squeeze a little over the back of its tongue, and force it to swallow at least a little that way. After a couple of days, they usually begin to realize it is food, and accept it more readily. (I hope it can make it that long. I'm so sorry you lost the one. ) Crop needling would probably be the best, quickest option of getting some food into him. (But I must admit, even though I have a crop needle, I am too scared to use it, and all of my parentless chicks have had to learn to eat from the syringe, or just starve until they could eat seed.) I feel bad for you. I know how hard this is. I hope he comes out okay.

Here's what I do, although I'm not necessarily saying it's the best method, but I like it well enough. I leave the grate in, but then I put several layers of newspaper on top of the grate. Then when I think enough poop has fallen on the newspaper, that I don't want them to be picking at it, I remove the top layer of newspaper, to reveal the next, usually cleaner, layer. A lot of the seed hulls and other debris will make it's way to the edges, and fall through, to underneath the grate, so I pull the slide out tray and dump that into the trash. Occasionally I will take a clean paint brush that I keep just for the cages, and brush even more of the chaff down into the tray, since some of it will seem to get stuck at the edges of the grate. One of the drawbacks is that there will also be chaff filtering its way in between the layers, so sometimes the next layer is already full of seed and stuff. Then I will shake the papers out a little and use the paint brush again. One of the main good points I like about my method is that the birds can feed off of fallen seed on the floor of their cage, and it doesn't get wasted, as it would if it fell through the grate. How frustrating that would be for a bird who played in his dish emptying it out, only to have it all sitting there under the grate, just out of reach! And I do think it's nicer on their feet to walk on the paper, and not the grate. I usually put in a good 20 to 30 layers, so it is quite thick, and lasts a long time. It's funny to hear them crackling around when it gets down to the last 1 or two layers, and it's thinner! I think this topic is a good idea. I'm looking forward to seeing what other people do.

Well, I am in suspense here, what are the parents? From your comment about split lutino, I'm guessing one was ino?

If she only has two fertile eggs of her own, she may turn out to be a good option for fostering, IF she turns out to be a good mother, in the first place. I think I've heard that it's better to foster chicks after they hatch than to move eggs. Something to do with different hens incubating at different temperatures. But then I read where a lof of people move eggs around to other nests, so yeah, waiting for advice from more experienced people is a good idea. It sounds like you don't have to rush to decide just yet anyway.

Hi Snoopy, I'm not really qualified to give advice about this. But I think I may have read somewhere that if the eggs are due to start hatching, you might be able to trick the mom into thinking the foster baby is her first hatchling. Someone with more experience will know whether this is true or not. How many eggs does that hen have anyway, would one more be a burden to her? It sounds like it is okay for now with the 7 chick mom, and maybe once the first one hatches from the other mom, then it can go with her, if it can't go there yet. But one thing I'm pretty sure of, if the parents have pushed it aside on purpose, and you put it back with them, they will push it out again. Either they know they have reached their limit, or they can just sense that something is wrong with it. I'm really hoping you have good luck and lots of success with all these chicks and eggs!

Thanks, guys. I was just commenting this evening that it's been 3 weeks today, that I've been hand feeding them, and my daughter said it seems like a whole lot longer than that!

The chicks I am hand raising are growing, and getting feathers. I got some pictures today, so I thought I'd share: Aidan and Aveline's chick. For now I call him BR29 (B for black eyed, R for the ring is on the right leg, and 29 because he is the 29th chick I've ever rung.) Someday I will give these chicks names. This is the first time I've had a green series chick where the pins came in blue, instead of green. Maybe that's normal? I really haven't had very many green chicks, to date. (His pin feathers remind me of Alfalfa, from the Little Rascals. ) Here is Kevin and Teagan's chick #6, but I call her PL28! (I'm thinking light green cinnamon spangle.) Usually at this stage, I am looking for colored wing and mantle feathers, to get an early guess if it's opaline. I know you can usually tell by white down, but as I breed an inordinant amount of greywings, which also have white down, I've rarely come across a grey down chick. I'd like this one to be opaline, so I guess I just try to see green there. I've noticed that on the really young ones, the ceres can look ambiguous. (I get my early guesses wrong a lot!) This supposed hen usually looks like a boy to me, and the non-lutino cock always looks like a girl, in my opinion. I imagine that eventually they will look like they are supposed to!

You're welcome.

I'm so happy to hear that those two pinkies have arrived!

It sounds like you are making progress. If it will cuddle with you and eat sprouts from your hand in the other room, I would try to do that a lot. So what if he gets mad when you put him back, it sounds like he will get over it. Can you let him have time with his cage door open, so he can gather up the courage to come out on his own, and get used to climbing around on his cage? Just an idea for him to get used to being "free" around you when you are minding your own business. I'd say the more you interact with him, the better. Maybe the progress is so slow, you don't notice it, but it sounds like things have progressed a lot, since you started this thread. Keep up the good work! By the way, do you have any pictures of it? Maybe we can help you figure out if it is a boy or a girl. Oops! I just looked and saw your thread where everyone said she is a girl! I also noticed that you have started a new topic about this bird, the same questions, but when I read it, I thought it was a different person, and I was thinking "wow, that sounds just like the same problem that other girl had!"

Hi Jimmy. I know nothing about iPhones and apps, but those are really nice budgies!

That's great news! A radio is a good idea, it blocks out the silence, which frightens them, because in the wild, silence only happenswhen there is a predator nearby.

Hi Papa Doc! Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your flock.

Hi John B, welcome to the forum! I really like your blue one, it looks a lot like my Finnie!

Chubba Chubs is a normal, right? Not recessive pied? I would think he would have a blue cere by now, unless he was one of the mutations that keep pink/purple ceres. I know that ino, dark eyed clear and rec. pied fall in that category, but I don't know what else does. Sorry I'm not much help.

What is all this talk about two heads? Is it some kind of expression for weird people?

Yes, that's true, I had a good idea, but I wanted confirmation. He is my first bred spangle ever! He stays!

Thank you, Sunnie and Black Doctor. So far I am hand feeding the chicks, but they have yet to learn that the syringe means FOOD. But at least they get some down, and I think they will get the hang of it soon. Patrick has looked in on them, but hasn't fed them yet. I expect that will take a couple of days. They have seed in their nest box, and the oldest is nearly ready to fledge, so hopefully they are learning to eat seed now, too. I did see the younger begging the older to feed him, so that is a good sign, if only the older had any food to give! Teagan is still alive. She doesn't look too happy, but I imagine she is still in some pain. I have millet clipped near her, so hopefully she will feel like taking a nibble soon. It puzzles me that Kevin would be the attacker. I agree, Sunnie, that it's usually the hens. Kevin has probably been wanting to mate, and Teagan was probably getting defensive. But if she attacked Kevin first, he must have retaliated something fierce. And Kevin seems like such a friendly bird. He was bought as a hand raised baby, and he has always like human attention. He actually learned to talk while he was in quarantine, but when he went into the main flock, he lost that. But he still comes to the bars to give kisses.

I knew it was opaline, but I also thought it was greywing. But now that you mention the smudgieness of the opaline spangle, I'm rethinking the greywing. It could just be that the black wing bars don't show up. I might be able to tell from the tail markings, when they show up a little better, but I don't really care if he's greywing or not. Being that he's my first ever hatched spangle, he's a keeper! Besides, I already know that his dad is split for greywing because of his brother, who is also opaline, but not spangle, and his markings ARE grey. (I sure wish I could find the emoticon with the grin. Most of them are showing up as red x's! Well, at least we have a few to work with, and I know they are working on it. )

Haven't updated in a while. I was all set to add pictures of the two chicks I'm hand raising, but the FORUM WAS OFFLINE!!! Now that it's back on, these photos are outdated. I'll have to get some newer ones. The hand raised chicks are the youngest one each, from two different nests. The older siblings were dying off one by one, and I finally pulled these last ones before it was too late. I thought they would die of some disease or defect, but they are going strong. It's been two weeks now, and they have down, leg rings, and some yellow feathers coming in on their tails. I guess the fault really was with the mothers lack of feeding, because feeding is all I've really done for them. These pics are from a week ago: The plum eyed chick is from Kevin and Teagan. It's eyes have turned black, but at least I got the leg ring on while I could still tell it apart from the other chick. (It is 12 days old in these photos.) This is Aidan and Aveline's black eyed son. (If it was a girl, it would have been a lutino.) He was 11 days old here. Before the feed: During the feed: Little Piggy after feeding: Finnie's chicks are fledged, and I think they're eating okay. The youngest one seemed to get pretty lightweight after it came out of the box, but I have seen him eating, so fingers crossed they all eat and grow well. Soon they will be ready to go to new homes. And Kevin and Teagan's two that they were raising themselves have been growing nicely. I hear the occasional sneeze, though, so I am keeping a watch on that. Also, I'll have to see how they get on, now that I've had to take both of their parents away. They are over 3 weeks old, so I think I can hand feed them the rest of the way, if I have to. I have their "uncle" Patrick in with them, because he seems to take on the feeding of other people's chicks pretty well. Oh, and it appears that Teagan is split to yellow face mutant 2, as both of those chicks are. And Kevin is split to opaline and greywing, because both chicks are also opaline greywing males. Chick #1: Chick#2:

Also, do you think male?

It is normal for a new budgie to not move or eat for the first day or two. They are very insecure in their new surroundings. You should try covering 3 sides of the cage with a cloth so that it feels more secluded and sheltered. Also, clip some millet to the bars next to it's favorite perching spot, to make it easier for it to nibble, once it starts to get curious. It is up to you, whether you want to own one budgie or two. There are pros and cons to each. Budgies are very social, so they really do need a companion, but that companion can be you, if you have the time and are willing to give your bird a lot of attention. Single budgies can bond closely with their owner, which is a plus. Watching two budgies interact with each other can be very fun, but then they will usually bond with each other, instead of with you. It all depends on how much time you want to devote to them. If you are wanting a second budgie in order to get the first one to eat, that may or may not work. Then it would be best to get the second one from the same store/ cage as the first one. Otherwise you should ideally keep them separate from each other until quarantine is over, and then they would just be sitting like statues in their separate cages.

Congratulations! How exciting.