Finnie

That was a big help, Kaz. I think he's definitely greywing, and after looking at all those normal down baby pics, I think I was just assuming grey down was a lot darker grey. My guy is probably not opaline, after all. Hopefully as more of the seven feather up, I will be able to get a good comparison of white vs grey down. I guess for opaline, I am going to start looking for a much brighter white. At this point, all my chick's down seems the same, and I think it would be just as unusual to have 7 boys as 7 girls, so sooner or later, I'm sure I'll notice somebody in there looking different. I can really appreciate all the time you spend posting pictures, Kaz. Do you know of some way to post them in bulk, because it gets time-consuming, doesn't it? But I'm glad they were there. Thank you, Kaz!

I can only answer a couple of your questions, based on what I've learned so far. In Canada, the ring colors will be different than in Australia, and also from the U.S., I think. That only matters for exhibition budgies. If you want to put rings on pet budgies, you can use any color and info on them that you want. The only source of leg bands I could find in the U.S. is L&M Leg Bands Inc. in California. You can google them. They probably ship to Canada. The lady on the phone was really nice and helpful. Metal bands have to be put on while the chick's foot can still fit through. Split plastic bands come with a tool that spreads them open, and any age bird can then cooperatively lay their leg in the opening, for you to slide the band off the tool and up their leg. Oh, and one more thing, when they sell you the right size band for your species of bird, it is the size that will fit an adult bird. It is loose on the baby, but the baby's big foot keeps it on. Somewhere on here Kaz has posted what Aussie colors mean what years. I don't know anything about that, though. Hope this helps.

Well, after doing a search, and reading all the info on the baby opaline post, I think that what I'm seeing as white isn't necessarily really white. It seems that grey down babies have white "down-pins", but the down isn't really white when it comes in. I will have to watch mine as they develop. Definitely a learning experience. DF, I could see CS#1 being a boy, if that is the case. Time will tell.

Thanks for posting those pictueres, Nerwen. Quite educational. Next time I check on my chicks, I'll have to see if I've learned anything. Amy, I really enjoyed going back over that old post of Kaz'. It was nice to see Santa as a baby!

Thanks, guys! There were a total of 21 eggs layed. 1 was clear (so far) and 1 DIS, and there are 2 left to hatch out still in Finnie's box. So that leaves...16 hatchlings at this point. Double checking...7 for Colleen, 4 for Phoebe, 6 for Finnie. See, it's a good thing to double check. I guess I have 17 chicks! (I have it all written down on notecards, too, in case I forget.) I got some more pics of Colleen's oldest this afternoon. I could swear this chick is greywing! That is a surprise, both parents must be split for it, then. Also, can anybody see whether this chick looks opaline or not? I twisted the lamp away, to reduce glare, and I still think the cere says hen. But it depends on the opaline part.

This is exactly what I am looking for too, except I am having trouble seeing if the down is grey when the chicks are still pink, and only the down feathers are coming in. All of mine look the same, the down pins look white. Does anyone have any pictures of a really young opaline compared to a really young normal, so I can see what grey down looks like when it is first coming in?

Thanks. So far every new little one has been well fed, but I will definitely be keeping watch! One thing I've noticed , is that all of my chicks seem to have white down! Surely that can't be. I must not be able to tell white from grey. I will be doing a search for baby pics, so I can compare other people's chicks for down color. Meanwhile, here is my morning report: Finnie and Patrick had an egg with a crack in it. It was kind of shrunken and shriveled in that spot. I noticed the crack last night, and was hoping it was about to hatch, but it didn't, so today I peeled away the shell to see what I could see. My first ever dead in shell chick. I could tell it had been dead, and it wasn't me that killed it, so I'm glad I opened it. Just looked really tiny, but normal, as far as I could tell. Laid it to rest in the trash, on a bed of discarded seed. I don't mind losing the ones that never hatched. I just hope all my pink hatchlings turn out okay. Now for some of yesterday's bucketload of photos. Finnie and Patrick's nest: FP#1 This kind of looks boy-like in the cere, doesn't it? That means it must have grey down. What do you experts think? FP#2 (I'm thinking hen) FP#3 (No pics of phoebe and bailey's, cuz they were still too little.) Colleen and Sean's nest: CS#1 I know I had pics of CS # 2-6, but now Ii don't know where they are. Probably deleted those from Photobucket. Well, I know they are still in my home computer files, so if they are worth uploading to photobucket, I'll do that later. As far as opaline and white down is concerned, The only way I will get any opaline's from Patrick and Finnie is if Patrick is /opaline. So I don't expect them to have 100% opaline hen chicks, even though stranger things have happened. so I will keep waiting and watching, and learning.

Well, I could hardly get a turn on the computer yesterday, cuz school was cancelled due to freezing rain. Plus I had a probem with Photobucket called "operator error" I accidently uploaded 30 pictures, 3 times, and into the wrong albums, so I had to spend my whole turn figuring out which 60 picture to delete! so yesterday's update is: Phoebe and Bailey have chick number 4: (I'm pretty sure that last egg is clear, so I don't expect any more in this nest.) It looks as though Finnie and Patrick have skipped hatching out egg number 7, so I think it was clear, and I expect egg number 8 to hatch today. It's time to go look, so I will update this again, later on. (And I have 30 pictures of babies to post, too! )

Oh, Hello Edie .... ummm I mean ultra0x *ultrav0x and, shhh! OOOh, talk about user names with bad connotations! Better no leave off the "v" !

This reminded me of one of the quirks of my hen Colleen. When they used to have out of cage time, (before breeding cabinets), she would spend the whole time by a small spider plant picking up pieces of dirt and dropping them on the floor. Watch it fall, then go back for another piece!

Time of day and natural light available to you will come into it of course I've been taking pictures without flash and they come out blurry, and my husband always tells me to move the lamp closer, so there will be more ambient lighting. I guess the trick is to get bright enough light to speed up the shutter speed, but not so much light that you wash out the subject. (Did I mention I got a D in a photography class in college?) Here is a (bad) name suggestion. It just popped into my head when I saw the picture: Tweety and Sylvester. (But I would feel bad for the one who got the Sylvester name. ) Besides, Tweety is pretty cliche.

SO Beautiful!!

This picture show his blow and beard great! He is TOTALLY a "Santa" - great name!

She said she didn't use flash, but the ambient lighting looks really bright to me. I, too, think it looks female, but it confuses me how she mentioned it looks purple, so was wondering if the picture just looks washed out. Lealotta, can you get a picture in a very slightly darker atmosphere? Or maybe just have her/him face away from the light? (But prob not necc- it does look female. :grouphug: )

It means that mum and dad are spangles. 1+1=double :grouphug: It also means that one spangle factor removes some of the wing markings, and doubling the factor removes the rest of the markings, leaving a clear white or yellow bird. In your case, some of the body color got left on, thus the suffusion.

That's pretty cool, you whole yard is like a safety door! :grouphug:

Well, DF, I can't believe more people aren't answering this. Maybe if you bring it up as a separate topic, you will get more advice. My concern is more that the hen will abandon the chick if she starts calling for her partner. But maybe this is groundless.

Yeah, I didn't think we were really being disrespectful, more like just having fun. But I think Birdluv's answer is about the best one Jeddo is going to be able to get. Here's to diversity and freedom of opinion! :grouphug: Not to mention our senses of humor!

I don't know what to tell you. Maybe someone more experienced will come on. At first glance, I think you should leave them together, and keep an eye out. Maybe it is an isolated incident. Plus it's getting late now in Canada, and this probably isn't a good time to move the father around to another cage. With only one chick, the mother would probably be okay feeding it, but maybe not if her mate leaves, and all she cares about is getting him back. Maybe you can just leave it as is until morning, and by then, others with more experience might have better advice for you.

Hear that, Jimmy Banks! You have a budgie named for you!

No, it would be Di. But I get your point Renée is such a beautiful name in French and Spanish but in Australian it turns into Rinaiiiii. (yuk!) I do like your name, and I don't think in an Aussie accent, so that never occured to me! I still don't like the idea "Di" projects.....

I don't think I care for this idea, Diana would become DIZ or DIZZA. Hmmm...... not the image I want to project!

I am a full 25% Scottish, myself. The other 75% being very mixed up with a lot of stuff! So I am partial to Gaelic things, especially books written by or about Scots. It is my dream to go to Scotland someday. And, in fact, my oldest son's name is Scott. (But that's just a coincidence- and a long story. ) Someone in my mother's family did a search, and I think we go back to the McCleods.

I love how cranky the feathers make her look. Like: "IS MY FOOD. YOU GO AWAY!"

Congratulations!