Linda_S

I have a pair (or at least 2) rainbow lorikeets, their not really tame but aren't wild either. They were given to me by my cousin from Sydney who had to get rid of them because they were too noisy. Shortly after they arrived one of them got clenched claw syndrome (apparently only effects lorris between Newcastle to Sydney). It got pretty bad to the point where he was almost completely parylised (could only move his head) and since there's no known treatment for the condition I finally decided that I'd have to put him down, next day went down to his cage to do the deed and he was showing signs of improvement so I left for a bit longer and by the end of the week he was pretty much back to his old self again. That was months ago now and you'd never even know there was ever anything wrong with him If I do in fact have a pair I hope to breed them and hand raise the babies, they're great birds full of personallity and very colourful, the only thing about them that can get on your nerves is their constant licking!!!

Extract from other topics on this forum Originally posted by Kaz in ‘Breeding Expectations Tables’ . 　 THE DARK FACTOR by Keith Leedham taken from April 1992 Budgerigar World An excellent subject for discussion is the pairing of two dark factor birds. Before we do this let us restate what we know about colors. The two basic colors are Green and Blue plus their dilutes. Yellow and White have three shades. Light Green, Skvblue, Light Yellow and Skyblue White have no dark factor. Dark Green, Cobalt, Dark Yellow and Cobalt White carry one dark factor whilst Olive Green, Mauve, Olive Yellow and Mauve White carry two dark factors. The above colors can be modified by the Grey or Violet genes, although the three shades still exist within the modified colors. A practical consideration is that from experience and observation the continual pairing, generation after generation, of two dark factor birds' results in the reduction in size of the resulting program. All budgies have a level of "dark factor" ranging from no dark factor, one dark factor, or two dark factors. Wild budgies have no dark factor. Dark factor basically darkens the blue in the body feathers. (In budgies totally lacking normally colored feathers, such as albinos and lutinos, the budgie's dark factor will be present but unknown). A green (yellow-based) budgie with no dark factor will be the original very bright green; this variety is called "green" or "light green." One dark factor will result in a darker green; this variety is called "dark green." Two dark factors will result in a deep olive drab green color; this variety is called "olive." A blue (white-based) budgie with no dark factor will be the original bright sky blue; this variety is called "sky blue." One dark factor will result in a slightly darker blue; this variety is called "cobalt." Two dark factors will result in a deep grey bluish color (more grey than blue); this variety is called "mauve." Within each level of dark factor is room for some variation in darkness. One sky blue may look a little darker than another sky blue and one olive budgie may look a little lighter than another olive budgie. But usually there is no mistaking which dark factor category a budgie falls into, and the pictures below can be used as a guide. Basic Genetics: Dark factor - semi-dominant Normal - recessive There are only two alleles that determine the darkness of a budgies body color: the normal gene and the dark factor gene. The dark factor gene is semi-dominant to the recessive normal gene. This means that a budgie that has one dark factor and one normal gene looks different from a budgie that has two dark factor genes. A skyblue has no dark factor, a cobalt has 1 dark factor and a mauve has 2 dark factors. A violet is a blue with 1 dark factor (cobalt) plus the factor for violet. Table of expectations The following table shows the theoretical expectations from various pairings. KEY: Lt=No Dark Factor, D=One Dark Factor, DD=Two Dark Factors Pairings Expectations Lt x Lt =100% Lt Lt x D =50% Lt, 50% D D x D =25% Lt, 50% D, 25% DD Lt x DD 100% D D x DD =50% D, 50% DD DD x DD =100% DD The offspring in this table can be of either sex irrespective of the dark factor genes carried by either parent. It is also noticeable that in general the progeny carrying two dark factors are smaller than the birds carrying none. Of course there are always exceptions to this type of observation. Many fanciers may well recall various exceptional birds carrying either one or two dark factors. If the aim is to produce birds that have a single dark factor, I have found it to be more beneficial to pair a single dark factor bird with a bird carrying no dark factor. This will produce a theoretical 50% of the progeny carrying the single dark factor, and normally without reducing the overall size of the bird.

And only 4 to go!!! :boogie: Omelettes' nest box must get pretty crowded as her babies get bigger. Any updates on her daughters eggs?

As stated above I'd like to know what the strengths and weaknesses are of my birds. When I look at a budgie I think I can tell if it's okay looking or not but I'm not great at actually listing the faults etc... I think this is one of my better hens all round, interested to see how she stands up to show standards. I didn't breed her so won't be showing her or anything just using her as a stock bird as with all the birds I own at the moment. Grey Green Opaline Hen. Early 08 bird. Also I'm not sure if you can tell at all just by looking at a green series bird but her mask is very yellow and I thought that this might be an indicator of Yellow/golden face???

Pair: Grey Green/Lutino cock, Sky Blue Hen. Pair: Grey/Albino Cock, Albino (possibly lacewing hen) Hens are sisters

Took some more pics today n thought I'd share. What kind of pics would I need to take to have them assessed for their showability/stock bird qualities and faults? Pair: Grey Spangle Cock, Grey Yellow Face Cinnamon Hen. Pair: Sky Blue Opaline/Albino Cock, Albino Hen. Think I might have to put her on a diet more pics to come...........

No worries That's what this forum is all about, only glad I could help out.

Oplaine Sky Blue Cock on the left. Check out some of the pinned topics in 'Budgie Mutations, Varieties and Genetics' it'll help a lot with colours etc... These one's are particularly good when starting out: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....showtopic=14564 http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=9447

Sorry but you'll be breaking strict copyright laws if you use anything even close to this design, in fact the rectangle in all forms is in owned by me and I’ll be having words with some of the people in this forum about their blatant use of MY rectangle Ps: Feel free to use and improve my design. Yours will probably turn out better than mine anyway, my carpentry skills are poor to say the least.

Two eldest chicks are both sky blue, 2nd eldest opaline. Cute little guys

Thanks Pearce, I like to draw the pics so I can get a better idea of what they'll look like when they're together. I only hope they actually turn out okay when they're finished (hopefully over the weekend). I'll probably post some pics of them when they're done.

I'd say a minimum would be about 60cm wide, 50cm high and 40cm deep. The length is the most important so if you can go bigger on any of the dimensions length would be the the place to add to. If it helps this is a rough design I did in adobe of the breeding cabinets I'm making at the moment. You can tweek the measurements to suit your needs but bigger is better.

The design of them is okay. What are the dimentions? Slide out trays would be good to make cleaning a bit easier, Using ply instead of chipboard would reduce the risk of them warping/getting mouldy etc, Also if your stacking them in pairs (like in the picture) you could mount the nest boxes on the side of the cabinets instead of the front for easier veiwing.

I'd like to paint the inside of my breeding cabinets, figured I'd try and get the same paint they use for painting show cages but I don't actually know what type of paint that is?

Link to Spanglle pics http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....&hl=spangle Do the parents look similar to some of these?

Normal Sky Blue. Also looks to me like it could be a hen but I'm not 100% might just look that way because of the flash, the one looking at the camera straight on is a hen though. Odd you don't seem to have any spangles out of two spangle parents.

That's odd there are so many posts on this forum that say black sunflower seed. I wonder if the black sunflower seed may be the cause of some peoples moulting/feather problems of their young because they're feeding black sunflower seeds to their breeders. The stock feeds place said the same thing about the black being for horses, the extra oil keeps there coats shiney. It's also in the scratch mix I buy from there for my chickens. I did a google search to see what the net turned up and from what I've read black is grown for oil and the grey or striped is grown as a food seed for people as well as birds. I think I'll stick to Grey/stripped, in moderation of course.

I went to a local seed/farm stuff supplier today to get some seed and when I asked about getting a bag of black sunflower seed they said no problem but wanted to know what I was feeding it too, when I said budgies they advised against it saying that the black sunflower seeds are too oily for budgies and that it can make their feathers fall out, they said the grey would be better. On this forum it seems that whenever sunflower seed is mentioned it's recommened to use black sunflower seed. Just wondering why people here preffer the black over the grey and what the difference, pros and cons for the two of them were? Thanks

Sorry about taking so long to post a picture but better late than never.... They learn very quickly how to use them, mine came over to investigate as soon as I hung it up and soon learned to drink from it. You need to make sure the hole in the cap is small enough so the water won't come out constantly but big enough so that when they touch their beak to it some water will come out. I make the holes in mine usually by hammering a nail into the lid. You need to make sure the wire hook is around the right part of the bottle otherwise it will spin onto it's side.

My Dad gave me a budgie that landed on his shoulder one day while he was at work (no one responed to Found posters) and we called him Shakespeare because he could talk so well. It was funny when I'd occasionally take him down to the aviary to visit the other budgies I had he'd walk up to the other budgies and greet them with a "Hello" and ask them "How you doin?" and the like, the other budgies would give him the strangest looks.

I haven't seen budgies with their black barring going into their chest so far as Jaspers does except for in the pics I've seen of black faces (where the black barring goes all over), could make a interesting 'black budgie project' perhaps. Or maybe it's common and just something that I happen to have not seen?

I took a few pics of the planned pairs together (thought looking at them together might give me a better idea of the match), I'll be seperating them into their pairs and putting them into the breeding/quarantine cages this weekend. Pair 1: (These two were very hard to get a picture of they instantly started acting like a pair feeding each other etc..) Cock- Grey Spangle, Hen- Yellow Face Grey Cinnamon Pair 2: Cock- Yellow Face Blue Oplaine Hen- Double Factor Spangle Pair 3: Cock- Grey/Albino Hen- Albino Pair 4: Cock- Grey Green Cinnamon Hen- Sky Blue Yellow Face Pair 5: Cock- Lutino Hen- Grey Green Oplaine Pair 6: Cock- Dark Green Recessive Pied Hen- Lutino Pair 7: Cock- Grey Green/Lutino Hen- Sky Blue Pair 8: (Both Oplaine) Cock- Light Green Dominant Pied Hen- Light Blue Spangle Pair 9: Might be putting this hen to a light grey oplaine I purchased today instead, not sure.... Cock- Sky Blue Oplaine/Albino Hen- Albino (maybe lacewing) Might put the last hen with this guy instead (light grey oplaine)

$25 in total, $10 for the cage Good to know I didn't get ripped off or anything and to know what price I should expect to pay if I want another one. Thanks.

Got this guy today, Thinking I might pair him with one of my Albino hens instead of the Blue Opaline/Albino I was going to pair her with. Also purchased the cage he's in, $10 good price for the cage?