robyn

Hi Gunny, If you have checked him for disease, french moult etc. maybe it's a result of stress and he may be pulling his feathers out etc similar to Cockatoos that are stressed. Has he moulted out since you have had him? Have you observed him preening to see if its just normal preening or maybe he is responsible for it, if the follicles have been damaged they may not grow normally. He could have been plucked by parents when in nest? It's very hard to say whether it's genetic, disease or caused by some other outside influence. If you rule out disease I think a test breed with him could be worth it to see if it's passed on to any young or not, if you were planning to use him for breeding that is.

Great conversion. Only thing is, if your wall planks are timber, with budgies being the worlds best at shredding wood etc. just keep an eye out for them chewing any holes in walls etc to escape.

Some major success with your breeding programme Rachelm. Lovely healthy looking chicks well done.

Chick looks okay. Is this a first time Mum? Maybe the chick didn't call for food etc so Mum ignored it, if she's a new Mum sometimes they don't know what to do at first. See how she goes when next one is hatched. Is she the only pair you have down with eggs/chicks? You can foster chicks if you have another nest with chicks the same age.

Welcome back, I've been pretty slack myself of late, once Christmas etc is over a new year will change things for the better I hope.

At 5 weeks the chick should be feeding itself, maybe the others as well, if they are the normal 2 days apart. I think I'd remove larger chicks to kindy cage and leave Dad to finish feeding youngest 2. Mum could be okay on her own to recover before trying her again. Sounds like Mum is out of breeding condition while Dad is still raring to go. If Dad get aggressive to youngest you will have to remove chicks from him, Mum may also attack them if she hasn't had them with her. Alternatively could you remove nest box altogether from cage and let the chicks free into cage with parents and see if that helps. (if youngest is fully feathered that is.)

Hi, I don't show birds but I have bought some show stock birds, they were more "subdued" if that's the term compared to my other pet types. On the other hand they were very placid breeders and bred beautiful chicks when paired with a pet type. I'd say yours may be the same, if there is no sign of illness. Keep an eye on them to make sure there is no underlying illness and they should be fine.

It doesn't really look like it's a duster when you see it next to it's siblings. I bred some with similar feathering and advice said it was a type of long feather gene. The ones I bred, they said, because I had both parents with that gene/mutation, I got a double wammy with long feathers. Advice was breed either parent with smaller pet type birds to reduce the affect in later clutch's. Show breeders should be able to advise more info.

Good luck with it Paulie. As we have decided to move house ourselves I will have to give my little mates away for the time being. As we don't know what the new home will have, it takes time to prepare an aviary etc, I shall have to bide my time before I can get back into budgies. Hopefully by the winter months we should know more.

I'm not up on mutations but if depends on his mutation whether he gets an iris ring or stays black. Other more into genetics may advise more info.

If it's a brown staining above his nostrils he could have a respiratory infection which would need to be treated a.s.a.p. I'd get vet advice if poss.

Are you caging them or trying colony breeding? I know people on W.gong who colony breed and their birds seem to breed any time, so if you are colony I'd say just leave nest box's in and wait for them to come into breeding condition. If there is only one pair at this time it shouldn't be a problem, if conditions are right they will breed when they are ready. Sorry you lost your first birds, such a disappointment after the family's hard work. Don't give up it will happen when the time is right.

Well I guess it will be when he gets "flirty" with female and she responds? l.o.l.

Hi, if you place the pair of them in a separate cage (without nest box), and see how they respond to each other, then add a nest box once they start to show breeding behaviour they should be fine.It may take a while for them both to come into breeding condition, before adding box. Good luck with it.

Some beautiful babies there Rachelm. Also beautifully clean nest box's well done. Good luck with your duster, it looks great at this point. Hope you have it for a good while yet.

Look like some variety in those birds Rhiannan, is the last one the purple? He's a very strong colour, cobalt or violet opaline I think. Pied's spangles and violet I think I'd grab them if you can for a good mix of mutations. I have the opposite version of your yellows, mine are white with patch of blue or mauve between wings from my Albino hen.

Hi Phoebes, How about ready for take off l.o.l.

Hi Jaff, If you look on page 5 of the same seller's other items about 15 items down there is a cage which looks wider and lower, which is better so they can fly between perch's placed front to back in cage so they don't just shuffle along perch. The item no was JK413 for $59.00. It might be a better option. although the choice is yours. Width rather than height is the best for exercise, if they are to be in cages rather than an aviary.Good luck with the search.

Lovely bird, is he true violet? The blue/violet colours don't come out true to colour on pics. so it's hard to tell. Love the play gym.

No 6 for me also, great work Rachelm.

Hi Budgie_Mad Found these on net,t if you can use them for Dec. don't know about copyright etc.

Hi Jaff, second or either option would be good for breeding cages, providing you could get one with the right spacing for budgies so they didn't escape. For one pair of breeders yes, as a full time cage there isn't much room for exercise. Do you let birds out for free flying, indoors or do you intend having an aviary or flight for them? Personally I don't like to see birds in small cages without the chance for free flight each day, I guess it's making the best of what we have.

Sorry you lost your chick. You can still learn heaps on here though, so keep reading and you will be better informed for when your birds breed again. You can add pics of your little birds with one foot to show how they have adapted. Do you know if it was genetic or caused by attacks of other birds?

Good luck with your show birds Paulie, I won't be going into them I'm afraid, I just stick to pet types for my own enjoyment. Your breeding season sounds really good on average. I afraid I'm not that efficient with my notes l.o.l., I also have finished breeding for this year may start again around March or so.

Depends if you mean as a permanent cage/aviary set up or as a breeding cage. Second cage would be my pick for an indoor setup. Just scrolled down to bottom info on 2nd option and you would have to look closely at size of gap as I think budgies would get through the size described. It is more for parrots I think. First option looks good for breeding but don't know about it as a permanent cage, how many birds were going into each cage?