Finnie

Awesome! I just spent an hour reading over the Standard, and I'm not even a show breeder! Or in Australia! I like the way the cheek patches are described with words in the first link, as opposed to the color charts of the link to our faqs. I also liked the historical part in the beginning of the Standard that described when each mutation first appeared. I kind of just skimmed it, though, so sometime I will have to go back and read it through. Cheek patches seem pretty straightforward, and I think I can learn them no trouble. But Tail feather colors are another story! I will leave learning those for another time.

this is true macka but id wait at least a week before removing any unfertile ones incase they are late bloomers Actually, she's been laying an egg every other day, and hasn't stopped, so I think it's likely that some may not show up as fertile yet, right? Plus, I thought I saw veins in some of the pink ones and some of the white ones, so I think I better leave them alone, in case I were to take out the wrong one. Sean, the father, has been spending a lot of time in the box with Colleen, so maybe he is helping her sit on them. I can try candling them again tomorrow during my check. Maybe something more will show up. At least I can count which ones are pink and how many are white.

I've noticed that a lof of times some of you can tell the difference in a bird's mutation based on the color of it's cheek patches. I was wondering if there is a list somewhere telling what color patch goes with which mutation. I started out checking the standards for the different mutations, but all I found were color bars, which I had a hard time interpreting what colors they were meant to be. Then I did a search for "cheek patches" and of course, I got a thousand matches! I spent about half an hour going through the posts that came up, and have been able to compile an incomplete list, but I was wondering if there was an easier way to learn. In other words, has somebody already put together such a list? What I've come up with on my own seems like most budgies have blue or violet cheek patches, and that some of the other mutations then affect the shade of this. Anyway, it would be nice if there was a cheat sheet to consult!

Same old, same old...everybody's got another egg...right on schedule....starting to get boring.... NOT!!

This is very handy information to know, Kaz. Is it pinned anywhere? It would make a great reference, because I think a lot of people don't think about how the different stages affect the timing when they first start out.

I could, but being it's my first time, I hope I can keep a "hands off" approach as much as possible, so I don't mess anything up. That's the nice thing about this forum. I've learned a lot of stuff from you guys, so if I have to foster, I think I could manage it. Plus you guys would be here backing me up if I run into problems! So, I tried candling Colleen's eggs tonight, and I think I saw veins in some of them. This is the best picture I could get, and it really doesn't show anything. I could tell that some of the eggs were whiter and some were pinker, but the thing is, I thought I saw veins in both kinds of colors. I guess I'm just not going to worry about it. I'm sure at least some of them will hatch.

Precious!

You know, they say possession is 9/10 of the law!

Hi Radien! Your video of Qwerty is cute! I think his colors show up pretty well, and he looks like cobalt to me. But then, I've heard that if you have a violet factored sky blue budgie, they can be hard to tell apart from a cobalt. But I was wondering, are you sure he's a boy? His cere looks awfully hen-like in the video. Either way, he looks like he's having a lot of fun with the ball. Lucky bird!

Souffle has a kind of nice ring to it. That could be on the list for the future

okay, then I will watch her to see how quickly it grows and how often it needs to be redone. Thanks

Well, I hope Finnie and Phoebe have more, but I don't want Colleen to overdo it. It would be nice if she stops soon

It's been about 3 weeks since I trimmed Sorcha's beak for the first time. I meant to do the second trimming a lot sooner than this, but at least I have done it today. I wanted to be able to compare how she looked 3 weeks ago with how she looks today, so first I 'm re-posting the pictures from before, and then the new ones from today. Last time: This time: Before And after today's trim: It's obvious that it grew quite a bit in the 3 weeks, even though I know I didn't trim it short enough last time. It's shorter this time, but I think I need to take it down a little bit more, still. It was hard to use the dremel, because she kept closing her mouth, and then the dremel would get the bottom beak as well. I'll wait a week or two and give it one more shot, and if I don't seem to be able to trim it well, then I will have to take her to the vet for a trim.

Kaz, I wasn't around the forum much last summer, and I must have missed this whole issue. I am so so sorry for you and Ken. And then everything else on top of it! I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything recently about the princess parrots, and this explains it. I hope Ken is doing well. Depression sucks. My prayers and thoughts are with you, even though it is well after the fact. -Diana

Kaz, you could use Benedict for his brother's name

Well, I have a little flashlight with a bendable neck, so I thought i would try to candle them, just because I would be excited if I could see anything, like veins or hearbeats. It's been about a week since Colleen started incubating, so I figure I might see something in her eggs. Finnie's only been staying in her box for a couple of days now, so I don't think I will bother candling hers for a while yet. I hope I can manage the light and the camera at the same time, because it would be nice to add that to this pictorial record I am making here.

Well, now I really want to see pictures of your birds, even if they aren't right colors. It would give us something to look at while we wait for newer ones. :doh:

I don't have any advice for you, NOWBUDGIE, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss. It must be heartbreaking to lose the chick when it seemed like it was going so well. :doh:

Phoebe has laid her first egg!! :doh: The funny thing is, it's been exactly 10 days since I first saw her and Bailey feeding each other. It appears that all 3 hens have synchronized themselves, because Finnie and Colleen have had their 4th and 6th eggs today, too: So now my total egg count so far is 11. Dave and GB, to me this looks like a lot of eggs! I was thinking that some of the hatchings might synchronize themselves, too. Things should be really fun around here in a couple of weeks! I thought I'd add some pictures of the community cage, too. These are most of the birds I bought during October, when I really added to my flock. Someday I plan to post individual pictures of them in the mutations section so I can make sure they are id'd correctly. Most of these are babies going through their first moult right now.

More than likely, Radien, it will bring up more questions than it answers. I have a few of these types of books, and I think they help new bird owners, but they aren't really complete. It's kind of funny about the term "parakeet", here in the U.S. The general population has never heard the word "budgie", but if you talk to anyone involved in breeding caged birds, they will make you specify which type of parakeet you mean, because budgies are way less popular among the fanciers than say, ring necked parakeets or rosey bourke parakeets. You learn to adjust which word you use depending on who you are talking to. There are lots of different types of parakeets, and when I've gone to a couple of bird fairs, I've been lucky to find even one person with budgies. In fact, several breeders I talked to said they used to do budgies when they were first starting out, but it was too fraught with difficulties, and they found other species of birds more rewarding. Maybe they didn't have this forum to turn to for answers! Go to the FAQs section, and read everything you can find. You will find out stuff you didn't even think of asking about!

its many when your new to breeding though fin but 6 to 10 some times twelve in nest is normal with anywhere from 6 to 10 hatching the last few unless moved nest dont normally hatch as get moved and pooy 6 to 10 is normal? Oh my, I've been telling people 3 to 5 when they ask! Well, Dave, I hope you get your four, and then some.

Well, my birds have given me Christmas presents today! Now Colleen has five eggs And Finnie has 3! Today I noticed Finnie spending more time in her box, so I expect that now she has 3 eggs, she will start incubating them. Let's see, 18 days from today is Jan. 12. Also, I think Phoebe is starting to show signs of laying an egg soon. I checked my records, and she and Bailey have only been "bonding" with each other for about 8 days, so I would expect them to wait a couple more days before doing any laying, if they have even started mating yet, which I haven't seen. But Phoebe does look egg bummish, so you never know. Well, I know most of you are a day ahead of me, but over here, Christmas is just starting to wind down. I hope you all had a blessed and enjoyable Holiday! Merry Christmas, everybody!

I see an iris ring starting to become visible. By the way, he's a cutie

Wow, that is a lot of eggs, Dave! I have a new appreciation for eggs in nest boxes, now.

More eggs tonight! Now the count is Colleen,4; Finnie 2! ">