bird lady

Hi all, I went into a pet shop today while visiting another town and was asking about there budgies. The young girl there must of assumed that I was after a baby and pointed me toward some budgies in a cage wich she told me were very young. I knew that they weren't that young as the hens ceres were quite brown and already starting to get crusty (so to speak). I then told her that I was after some that were of breeding age and she told me that they would be fine to breed with!! I just walked out indisbelief, one minute they were babies the next they were mature hens WHAT THE ???? I think that SOME people need better educating before being allowed to sell animals! To bad if I had no experience, who knows what I would have walked out with!!!!

Thanks Dave, I'm using 'Avione' hand rearer. I had to take the chick from the nest as the parents rejected it and it was nearly dead (very pale). I'm prety sure it has splaid legs but will wait a few more days to be sure before I try to fix it. Apart from the delay in development he seems to be doing very well and loves his tucker!! Will send some pictures when I figure out how to. I know That I'm not as good as a birdy parent but am already soo atatched to him, his like a real baby to me :budgiedance:

That's fantastic news!! It's hard I know but sometimes we need to just sit back and be patient. Congratulations :budgiedance: I'm looking forward to updates!

Hi all, is it normal for hand reared chicks to be slow at getting fluff? By fluff I mean that downy stuff. I've never hand reared a chick this young before and it's going really well but I'm sure that my aivery bred chicks fluffed alot sooner than this. The chicks about 9 days old now.

My opinion (as horrible as it sounds ) is that I would have to agree with Macka. You need to look at the quality of life that the bird would have and think of the bird before your emotions. I personaly think that you should send the birdy to birdy heaven now before you get attatched to it and make the decission harder.

Yes Kaz you are right!! Sorry I should have read it properly, I didn't mean the little face that rolls it's eyes I ment just SOME of the answeres make you feel rather stupid for asking that question! I do realise that most of the breeders here are unbelievably experienced more than I can ever dream to be (yourself included) I just wanted to let people know that there questions are all important no matter how silly they sound! As I always tell my children "You don't know unless you ask!)

We use ceramic saucers or you can also get bird baths from the cheap shops which are great for that. They are oval in shape and about 1 1/2 cm deep.

Hi smudgie, I agree with you. I joined the forum a week ago and I have ssked alot of questions and been given some great answers and have learnt alot! But from reading other answers I have been hesitant at asking certain questions as I don't want the eye rolls that you'r talking about. You don't learn unless you ask, we all have to start somewhere and this is a great site to start. I think that some of the more experienced breeders here just assume that everyone should know what they know and tend to forget that they were once beginers too!

I have another question (I have alot sorry) Do I need to wait for the chicks crop to empty before giving it it's next feed? He seems to be hungry all the time and cheeps alot for a feed!

So even though it's ment for pigeons it's okay to give to budgies?

I went to my pet shop today to get some hand rearing formula and they alson tried to sell me some calcium syrup by the Australian Pigeon Company, is this okay to use as a calcium sup?

okay I will do, thanks for that

What about weetbix?Also, when I fed the chick before the crop seemed to fill with a lot of air, is this normal?

Hi, I went out to my bird room this morning and found that a baby in 1 of my nests (about 5 days old) Has been pushed aside. He was very pale and cold and his crop empty. I brang him inside to warm him up and noticed that his legs are splayed which I will fix. My question is can I use "egg and biscuit mix" to hand rear him until I'm able to get into town tomorrow to get the real hand rearing formula?

I agree with Kaz, they are FANTASTIC!!!! You have a real talent there! Looking forward to seeing the next lot

okay, not sure if it will work though because infertile hen has been sitting for about 2 weeks and fertile only started laying 1 week ago roughly!! so infertiles eggs would have been due before fertiles eggs (If that makes sense?) I'm confusing myself here!!! Maybe I should just leave it.

I only breed in Autum and spring! Too hot in summer and too cold in winter. My bird room is a shed outdoors that my husband has insulated for me but it still gets cold in winter. I give my birds a good rest ( and have one myself) during the other months.

I think so, I've never really looked at them that close! looks kind of strange doesn't it!

Thanks for that Pearce, I wasn't sure if it would be to much on the other hen if she had to keep laying eggs but I really want to give my infertile hen a go. The fertile hen always has beutiful babies so I will get 2 lots of her babies ( sort of)

Hi, I have a question, I have a pair of budgies that I've tried to breed but I think that the hen isn't fertile as none of her eggs are. I tried to breed her twice last season to no luck. I tried to breed her again this season again to no luck! I'm very emotionaly attatched to my birds and really feel sorry for her as I feel that she should be a great little mum if she had the chance. So my question is, could I take the eggs of one pair who have already laid 3 eggs and are still laying, and put them under my infertile pair to raise? And will the pair that I take the eggs from keep laying to make up a clutch for themselves to raise? Confusing I know (sorry)!

I think that she will be fine, just let her be and only take action if you think she gets egg bound. I agree with Kaz, she probably wasn't egg bound but you did the right thing by taking her to the vets. If your concerned then you should act, as you said " better safe than sorry". If you did want to keep them together and not have them breed, just remove the nest box.

From my experience, my hens have always shown when they are about to lay an egg as they have the lump there. The hens don't always sit on the egg straight away, sometimes they wait until the second egg is laid before they start sitting. I would just leave them be for now. When she does lay her next egg it's usually 2 days latter, maybe then keep checking to see if she's laid it. If she hasn't by the next day then I'd probably be concerned.

I'd be putting the 2 oldest chicks in with the nest with the 3 older babies! At least they have more of a chance at getting fed than a new born chick.

I used the name "Bird Lady" because that is what all of my friends and family call me. They all think that I'm obsessed with my birds (Which I am)!

Thanks Kazzy, Can you let me know if and where they have bird shows near us? (East side of Melbourne)