Finnie

Aha, I see. Learning something new all the time. In that case, Kaz, can we see a couple shots of this one in the future, as it's feathers/down comes in more? (You were probably planning to post pics, anyway, right? :cake: )

So if the foster eggs were to hatch, you would be able to tell by the eyes? Or is the cinnamon hen expected to have normal boy chicks?

Nubbly is a budgerigar JUDGE .......does that help ?? I was gonna say. Dount count my opinion, this is just my way of learning. And like Dean said, from pictures, at that.

As far as I can tell, there is only one club here. It is for all caged bird species, not just budgies. And I don't think there are any "shows" like you guys have, just what they call "bird fairs" where they have a lot of vendors' tables set up and also breeders have tables with cages of their various babies/adults for sale. The club here holds 3 of these per year, and some of the breeders I have found will use this as a way to stock up on their seed in bulk for the year. (With more birds, I am considering doing this, too.) I've been to the American Budgerigar Society website, and it is obvious that there is a serious side to the fancy in the U.S. But I just don't think it finds it's way to the more northern states.

Oh, yeah, I can see what you mean. You know, that one tucked underneath the chick's head there, looks a little darker than the others, but it could be shadow, couldn't it? Maybe it is fertile, too. The one behind the chick's butt does look kinda pinker.

okay, I would say lighter blue-violet cheek patches would indicate greywing, not clearwing. :hug:

Very cute, fero. Congrats!

How many days old is this chick? It does look big. Nine days old I thought they got their down by this age?

How many days old is this chick? It does look big.

I am not so sorry, he was a wild bird and no doubt full of nasties as well as the fleas I saw. :rofl: He was a bag of bones and obviously very dehydrated, who knows how long he had been out of the nest? We have had very hot weather lately .... he certainly drank up the 4 tablespoons of water I offered him ... I think he was just too far gone by the time I got him. Have spoken to the vet and should I be dumped on with any further wild birds he has agreed to take them off my hands. He has an interest in wildlife, so that is good. I prefer wild birds to be a pretty addition to my evening skyscape .... that is in the trees over the road. :hap: I agree with you here! I once picked up a fallen nest, and got tiny little creepies all over my hands. YUCK! Gave me the willies for days!! The thought of you having that bird in your house made me worried. Thank goodness for that vet, you could get the next foundling waif right over there without contaminating your home/aviary.

Long before I was on this forum, I had never heard of the term dominant pied, but I had heard of Harlequin. A harlequin was what I now refer to as a dominant pied. Harlequin is meant to be recessive pied isnt it. Like I said, I always understood dominant pieds to be harlequins, and I believe that pet shops actually sold dominant pieds as harlequins. It was not until about 3 years ago that I had even heard the terms recessive and dominant pied. As we all know, there is often a lot of misinformation, misunderstanding, and even misconceptions about pieds. Seems this term is just one more of them. Well, if the term was used a long time ago, and then became unpopular and used less often, maybe it started being used incorrectly. Therefore confusing it's meaning in the minds of Pakistanis and Pet Store workers. (Never believe pet store workers. Many of them have no idea, and will believe whatever color you tell them it is, especially if you sound like you know what you are talking about. Then they will pass your load of blarney on to the next customer who walks in and asks. ) Note: Not meant to be so harsh on pet store workers. I know there are those out there with knowledge who care. It just seems there a lot to whom it is just a job.

I agree with GB. It seems odd that it would have gotten away from it's nest :rofl: Which is unlikely to have been in the great outdoors. And you have no way of knowing if it was "discarded" due to some kind of health issue. So, just hope for the best and keep trying, but don't beat yourself up if you are unable to save it. It was nice that the finder knew who to take it to. :hap: Unless, of course, the finder didn't really "find" it. How well do you know this person?

GB, when I was studying cheek patches, I noticed that the standard for clearwing stated "bright violet" and the one for greywing was "pale violet". So I came to the conclusion that the clearwing gene affected the cheek patch the same way it affects the body color. However, in the above pictures, a flash was used, and I cannot tell what shade of violet the cheek patch is. (It looks pretty bright.) DF said cheek patch was a very faint grey, which would indicate grey factor, but bird doesn't appear grey-green. So maybe a picture without flash would help us see the cheek patch, but I think Dean is probably right anyway.

So, in theory, "Stupid Fathers" is a trait we would be wanting to select away from, if possible?

You could get away with Alfie as a girl name, if you like it. Or maybe Elfie. My girl Finnie started out as Finn, and by the time I discovered "he" was a "she", I couldn't get my tongue around changing what I called her!

Not being present there, I've never been to club meeting or auctions. I was having a little trouble following this part of the debate. Now it makes perfect sense to me. So, these club auctions you have, they are more for fund-raising and helping newbie fanciers, rather than unloading the "rubbish", huh? And quality would be more important than quantity. In fact, a huge influx of "rubbish" birds that just come in and go back home would just cause a lot of work and headache for the club volunteers running it, without generating any funds, wouldn't they?

I've seen this one on the internet, and wondered what the design was like. So you like the features on it, it's convenient? I did a search for Marchioro U.S., and found lots of items, but none of them was Kaz's nest box. I so far have only found those on their European site. DF, I'm guessing that in Canada, you don't have the heat issues they would be having in Australia. But do you have cold issues? Does it stay warm well enough?

5 for 5, huh? What are the odds! I read somewhere once (it was about dog litters) that even though the odds of female/male are 50/50, you would rarely get a litter like that. But I think it is also true that you would rarely get a litter (or a nest) with all same sex. But here you are. Our neighbor's cat once had 5 female kittens, and no boys. Are there more eggs to hatch in there?

Look! Siblings!! This time I wasn't sad when I saw the empty egg shell. Well, they are 2 days apart, as GB predicted. I know it's a little early, but I'm going to get on record my guess as to their genders at this tender age, so I can look back later and see if I was right. Cere on chick 2, above, looks very very pink. Cere on chick 1, below, looks quite pale in comparison, so I'm saying: Chick 1-girl, chick 2-boy. (I'm not saying I'm right, this is just to test myself. Once we know what they all turn out to be, I will check my accuracy. ) You can even see the egg tooth still on the beak! At two days old, it looks like I can see tiny down feathers coming in. Would this be correct timing for that? Cuz when I was checking them tonight, it looked like Chick 1's down will be white, which is what I would expect from a girl who has an opaline father. (Of course, with down this short, I could easily think grey down looked white anyway. Time will tell.)

Maybe in Europe there is more indoor breeding, due to cold winters, like my situation. Then temperature might not be an issue. I'm sure Kaz will let us know how it works out when she uses hers- I can't wait to hear! :hi:

This is a good feature, too. I have been struggling with the cup hooks, and then I needed to wedge in some shims, to keep it straight. I think I'll check out that website and see if they are available in the U.S.

GB, this made me laugh- I love it! :hi: For mine, which are pets, that's my plan, too, cuz I don't want to lose track of which greens are split or not split. I want them all to be split

So it looks like you could use the lid to keep the mother from coming back into the box while you are checking. Not a bad idea.

Jujube is very cute! Do you think Jasper will see her playing on your shoulder, and want to copy her?

Your pictures are beautiful, Liv!