Finnie

It sounds like you have thought of every angle! I don't like the house I live in, and if I had the chance to throw everything away and move to a house that really "grabbed" at me, I would do it! And you don't even have to "throw it all away"- it sounds like you could reasonably re-create all the things that are important to you. Which brings up the question: How far away would your grandchildren be?

If I ever mark any eggs, I am planning to use a Sharpie, too. The packaging claims to be non-toxic.

What about your leadlight business? Would there be enough work for you in that locale? Or would you be retiring as well? (Actually, I wouln't think of running a bed and breakfast as retiring, by any means! )

okay, I will order a crop needle, and when it comes, maybe I will be able to get up the nerve to learn to use it. I'm pretty sure they are available from the company that I get my rings from. I looked up some videos on YouTube, and though the guy makes it look easy, I'm still afraid. I was trying to practice the way he said to hold the bird, and I just couldn't get my thumb under the mandible. Maybe I will be able to find someone around here who can show me in person. But I have good news! I just went down to feed the chicks, and they all had full crops! I had decided to put Patrick, who is a really nice bird, and the only one with chick experience, into the cage with Donovan and the babies. Now, I don't know who did the feeding, but I don't really care. As long as both males are happy together, I say "Whatever works!" Patrick is very easy going, so I'm sure there will be no fighting, and I doubt he would listen to hungry chicks crying and just sit there staring at them, like Donovan. Also, earlier I saw one of the chicks eating millet! Finnie still looks only so-so, but she is eating some, and moving around a little. And I have seen her working at the doors of the cage, as if trying to find a way out. So maybe she just needs some rest and some building up.

Hi Jen, welcome to the forum! Your budgie sure is a cutie! And what a nice huge cage you got for him. He is a lucky bird! You will have lots of fun with him.

If you do a search, you will come up with lots of topics where this is mentioned. Here is a recent discussion on bedding materials: Click here

He seems to be feeding them now. I went down around 9:15 pm to feed them one last time before bed, and they all looked like they had decently full crops. I fed them a little anyway, just for practice, since I am hoping to get them used to the syringe, as a way of helping Donovan out. The one with the least full crop seemed to actually eat. The others were I think too full. Finnie is holding her own for now. I've seen her eat, and she has moved around a little bit. I will re-evaluate her in the morning.

Hi Sunnie I don't have a crop needle, at this time. I know I should get one and learn how to use it, but I am afraid I will kill a chick if I try. I've done four syringe feedings on the chicks so far, and I feel a lot better about it now, than I did the first time. But not because they actually eat. I just don't feel as inept. I can tell they eat a little. Some of them are starting to show a little interest in the formula. I have emailed a breeder friend, and she said it takes them 4 or 5 feedings before they recognize it as food. She also told me to check Youtube for feeding videos. But those chicks all seem to already know what they are doing. Anyway, Donovan has been in the nest box at least once, that I saw. And so this last time I went down there to feed the chicks, they all had at least SOMETHING in their crops. There does seem to be a favorite, who looks well fed. I'm hoping that between Donovan and myself, everything will be okay. It won't be too long before they can learn to eat seed, anyway.

Thank you for the well wishes, Amy. Finnie's chicks are too old to foster to the other nests. They are quite big and almost fully feathered. The other nests only have chicks 1 week old and younger. I found it fairly easy to get a pinky chick to eat from a syringe/pipette, but the older ones struggle and fight. But I will keep trying. I think maybe I just have to be more firm and hold their heads still better.

Thank you, Sunnie. How things stand this morning: Aveline: That sixth chick did make it's appearance overnight, and it has food in its crop, so that is good. Only two more eggs to go. (Oh, and #6 is another red eyed ino hen.) The iffy chick still looks iffy. It didn't appear to have any more food than it did last night. Its crop looks saggy. So I mixed up some hand rearing formula, and using a small pipette, I worked on getting some food into it. I could see it sucking and swallowing, there is at least some food inside, so I am hopeful, but it's crop is now also full of air. Either I squeezed the pipette incorrectly, or the chick just swallowed air on its own. Anyway, it was quite an ordeal, and I am a more messy feeder than Aveline. I had to do a lot of face-wiping of the chick. At least all the struggle caused its skin to pink up some. Hopefully I have given it enough to make it more lively, and then get more of Aveline's attention. Teagan: All of her chicks look clean and fed. Finnie: Donovan doesn't seem to go inside the box. So the chicks are not being fed. I tried to hand feed one, but I made a real botch of the job. One of the reasons for my logging on this morning is to search and learn better how to hand feed. Getting food into those chicks is my top priority for today. Finnie seems to be holding her own in the hospital cage. I didn't think she'd make it through the night, but she looks more stable to me this morning. I have gone from thinking this breeding stuff is a piece of cake, to being worried about a lot of things. I knew stuff was likely to come up, I just thought I'd be better at handling it.

Well, they have a finger draw with oyster shell powder, and one with bird charcoal. It's hard to tell if they take any, but if so, it's not enough for me to have to replace it. I add liquid calcium plus vitamin and mineral powder to their soft food, but honestly, I can't say that they ever touch the soft food. I thought they would start eating that a lot once they were feeding babies, but they don't. They also have cuttle bones, and lately the bored cocks have been chewing those to bits. They get no daylight, so I've tried to compensate for that by using fluorescent light bulbs and also full spectrum light bulbs, both kinds shining on each cage, and their water has vitamins which contain D3. She seems like she is always eating. That pair goes through a lot of seed, and they gnaw down their carrots and whatever vegetables I give them, but they don't touch the soft food. Donovan feeds her a lot, and up till yesterday, the chicks always had stuffed crops. I've never added salt to their diet. I'm not sure how much or in what form. She spent the night in the hospital cage, mostly near the lamp, judging by the location of the poops. (Which some were black and tarry, and some where just white liquid overnight, but now this morning they have changed to a reddish brown and are wet and gloppy.) She looks a little less stressed, but not okay. She seems to have lost some weight, not by the look of her, but by feel, and when she perched on my finger, her feet felt cold. (Even though she's been sitting by the lamp.) Also, she nibbled on some millet after I gave her some this morning. Here are some pictures: I'm also worried about the chicks, because Donovan won't go into the nest box to feed them. I tried hand feeding one, but it was too afraid of me to eat. It flopped all over, and even fell into the food. So now instead of fed, it is cold and wet. (I wiped it off as best I could.) I'm going to have to work on my feeding skills, because right now I feel like a total failure, and the chicks will starve if I can't do better.

Today's update: Finnie's nest: Finnie is not doing well. I have taken her out to a hospital cage. I also put the 2 foster chicks from Aveline back with their mother. It seems that since Finnie spent most of her time outside the box today, those two youngest had empty crops. Finnie's own four chicks seem to have plenty of food. The oldest is 23 days old. Donovan is left in charge, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will feed them properly. Aveline's nest: I was expecting an egg to hatch today, but it didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow. Aveline is a very messy feeder. The babies often have seeds and goo all over the sides of their heads and shoulders. I am beginning to get worried about their nostrils, and am working to keep their faces clean. All the beaks are fine so far. I gave Aveline back her two oldest ino chicks, as Finnie hadn't fed them. Aveline fed one right away, but not the other. After checking a couple of times, I removed all the chicks except the one that needed to be fed to a holding box, and after about half an hour the chick looked partially fed. Then I put the other 3 chicks back. The chick that needed the feeding doesn't look very good, so I am worried about it's survival. Teagan's nest: The fourth chick hatched today! (Finally, some good news.) It appears to have plum eyes! Three eggs left to go in that nest. Pics of the new chick:

Breeding and raising chicks seems to have taken a toll on Finnie. I've been keeping my eye on her, but today she has gone downhill. She has been spending more time outside of the nest box than usual, although she goes in to feed the chicks often. But this afternoon, I noticed that she seemed to be really tired, and was sleeping on both feet on the perch, kind of hunched down. When it was time to turn out the lights for the night, I just felt wrong about leaving her. My first plan was to keep a warm light on her where she was sitting, and check her in the morning. I figured that taking her to a hospital cage would put too much stress on her, and if she stayed with Donovan, he could feed her. But then she went into the nest, presumably to feed chicks, and I realized that she will get no rest if I don't take her out. So she is now set up in the hospital cage, with a 40watt light bulb near her. In the last couple of days, her cere has gone completely white, and today it looks like her beak is discolored, just below the cere. It kind of looks like a bruise. Also, she has been going through a LOT of water, and it has made her poops watery. I'm not really sure what else to do for her. It's Saturday night, so there won't be any vet available until Monday morning. I guess I'm hoping I can make her comfortable enough to help her pull through until then. Any advice would be appreciated. Oh, and I'm hoping Donovan will be able to manage feeding the chicks. They are all around 3 weeks old. Not ready to leave the nest yet, but getting closer.

Looking forward to following your chick's hatching and growing!

Some pictures from this morning. The chicks are 23 days old and down. (Finnie's) Chick #4: Chick #3: Chick #2:

You have a good point, Ratzy, because I am always thinking those spangles look like clearwings from a distance! I think we need a picture of the back of the bird, so we can see his markings.

Thank you, Squeak. Over all, it has been rewarding, so far. And I have a lot to look forward too!

That's a good article, Squeak. You beat me to posting! I was looking up a similar article that I read the other day, here's the link: Fallow Article By the way, sex-linked genes ARE recessive, so either way, all of the Fallow mutations are recessive.

Thank you, Kaz and Ishtarsands. It is rewarding. But as a new breeder, I haven't really had any big disaster. Until today. I have experienced the first death of a chick ever. It's not really a big disaster, just a hiccup. It's not like I expected to never have to go through the pitfalls that everyone else has to go through, sooner or later. But it does make me feel bad, every once in a while, when I think about it. The chick that died is the 3rd ino girl from Aveline and Aidan's nest. She was just 4 days old. I'm glad it wasn't an older, feathered chick. I think that would make me much more sad. I have no idea why she died. She looked like a perfectly fine chick, only dead. There was food in her crop, and she didn't appear to have a stuck shut beak. But my suspicion is that her mother tends to be a messy feeder, and I wonder if dried food could have smothered her. In that nest, I am constantly picking food off of the sides of their faces. But so far, their beaks have all been free and clear of dried food. And the dead baby was clean, so it's just a wild guess about smothering. I just hope the other babies in there will be okay. The funny thing is, that the previous day, I had fostered the two older chicks out to Finnie's nest, because I was afraid that so many babies would addle the remaining eggs. Those two babies are doing great, even though they get somewhat trampled by their HUGE foster siblings. I think Finnie feels they should be eating as much as a two week old, because she has really STUFFED their crops. So Aidan and Aveline now just have two younger chicks in their nest, and 3 more eggs to hatch. (I just realized that I never posted when the 2 youngest hatched, they are both black eyed boys.) And Teagan and Kevin had another hatchling last night. So they are up to 3 right now. I wish I could foster their older chicks out, to protect the younger eggs, but I have no more fostering options, so I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that a good percentage of the 4 remaining eggs hatch. (There were 8 total, but one was clear.) Will have to do pictures next time.

Here is a link to a taming journal that was done by forum member Birdluv. It's kind of long, but I found it really useful when I was trying to hand tame my first 4 budgies. Somewhere in there, Birdluv gives a link to a taming article by Elly. That's a good one to look at, too. After that, you can start reading through all the other topics in the Budgie bonding and Taming section. The main idea you will get from all this, is that it takes lots and lots of time, and lots and lots of patience. Don't be surprised if it takes you several months. I'm sure some budgies are more stubborn than others, they all have unique personalities. But I'm sure that if you are the only flock member he has, and you keep trying to work with him, he will start to make at least a little progress. Birdluv's article:Click here

Based on the first couple of pictures of the cock, I thought he was a light green, maybe greywing. (I can't really see his bars in that view.) But then I saw his baby picture, so now I think he is probably a yellowface mutant 2, maybe in mauve. The very last picture of him in the cage makes me wonder if he might be clearwing, instead of greywing. But that's not really a good picture for identifying purposes. Would it be possible for you to get a whole body shot of him, a little closer, and with no flash? Plus, wait for the opinion of somebody who knows a lot more than me. The hen looks like a grey opaline, to me. Their babies will depend on whether the male is a yellowface or a green, and whether or not he is split to blue. But all the chicks will be split for the greywing/clearwing, whichever he is. (And if the hen is also split for it, you could get visual greywings.) All the boy chicks will be split for opaline, but you won't see any visual opalines unless the father is split for it. You can expect 50% of the chicks to have grey factor, unless the mother is a double factor grey, in which case all of the chicks will be grey-factored. They are very pretty birds. That cock sure was a cutie as a baby

This is very interesting. I wonder if the separation will ever occur. In Ian Hanington's interview he says he has tried over 200 such pairings, and it hasn't happened yet. But I guess the odds would be a lot lower than one in 200.

I'm not sure, but it looks like she might have scaley face.

Yes, too cold, which means too expensive to heat.

If you are thinking this might be due to a sex-linked gene, then for it to pop up like this, the chick must be a hen.