defieldsfamily

Nevermind....I give up!

Well, I see your point but I wasn't looking for any scientifically accurate in depth study...just a general idea or opinion

How does the longevity/life span compare between budgies kept in an aviary with outdoor flights and those kept indoors in a large cage with time each day out of the cage? What accounts for any differences?

I would love to see those drinkers splat

:bump: Anyone?

I think I would hesitate to offer cabbage incase it's too gassy for them and I do seem to recall reading an article warning against cabbage for that reason.

I'm hoping you can all let me know what you think are the best ways to offer seed and water in my aviary. Any additional information such as why you like you set up and what has/hasn't worked for you in the past and why. Thanks so much.

I give my birds bok choy, spinach, beet tops, carrot tops, lemon balm, parsley, celery fronds, romaine, dandelion, thawed frozen peas, corn on the cob, chard, bean sprouts, sunflower sprouts and pea shoots to name a few. Sadly, my birds eat more veggies each day than my two younger kids do!!!!

I stop at a local farmer's market about once a week and pick up a box load of carrot tops. I bring them home and give them a wash and hang them in the cages in large wet bunches...the budgies go absolutely crazy for them and devour tons at a time. The also play and bath in the wet fronds while they eat them. The do the same with lemon balm too. I do have a video of them so I'll try to find it and post it here.

Goodness...I never thought about them getting in at the roof...it's going to be sitting on my upper deck so I'm hoping it won't be a big problem but I'd like to cover all bases before I actually put the birds in it. No matter what I use as a roof, if they can get on top of it, they could probably jump off it and onto the mesh at any height. GRRRR...now I have to factor this into the build.

Would clear plexiglass work? Tin would definately spoil the look I'm going for.

The flight is meshed in 19 guage 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch hardware cloth. It is right down to floor level sitting on my deck. Having just read through some other posts I'm now of the opinion that mice may be able to get in. How do you all mouseproof your outside flights?

I have a hen "in solitary" right now because of similar behaviour...attacking the male to within an inch of his life and then the babies too once they had fledged. The babies are now about months old and doing well in the juvy cage and the male survived (althoug I still don't know how). The hen spent a good 3 months tipping out her seed cup over and over and over again and was laying about an egg a week but I think it has finally stopped now as her seed isn't being trashed anymore. I'm not sure she'll ever be sane enough to put back with the other birds (I have 25 budgies) but time will tell. Good luck with yours and congrats on the young ones!

Here is another one! It is physically impossible to lick your own elbow! Go on...try it....you know you want to!

Sooooooooooo cute!

Cute pictures Ratzy...thanks for sharing

I can actually do this without my foot changing direction but now my daughter and her friend are trying over and over and neither of them can do it..hahahaha...they look funny!

I'm going to try this with my birds...sounds like something they would enjoy. One thing we do is tightly fill empty toilet paper rolls with timothy hay (as tightly packed as possible) and let them play at getting it out of there.

Approximately how often KAZ?

I have always wanted a sheep! They are my favourite animal The local children's petting zoo breeds the most beautiful little pigmy goats each year and they are available for adotion for a small fee. If we ever fenced our property, two of them would be one of my first purchases!

I had thought about putting some to grow in a planter in their flight...is it safe for them?

I've searched high and low for non galvanized mesh to no avail so I've orderd a 50 foot roll 36" wide 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth. I'll obviously need to treat it with vinegar before letting the birds use it and I'd like some specifics on the best way to go about this. I thought that while it is still rolled up I might just completely submerse it in the vinegar but don't know how long for and should I scrub whilst submerged? Also, should I rinse it afterwards or does that defeat the prupose? This flight will be outdoors so is the vinegar treatment something I should be doing every so often or is once enough? I hope it arrives soon as I'm very excited about getting this first flight completed now that the nicer weather is here. I've also got a line on a potentially free poly carbonate 8'x10' greenhouse as a summer birdroom/indoor flight. Any thoughts and experiences along this? By September the insulated heated winter birdroom will be built so I think I'll have all my bases covered. All comments and advice greatly appreciated

It's been a long while since I've caught up on this forum but this has been exciting reading through this morning....very exciting indeed Ratzy. I think I read that they had started moulting...how far into it are they now?

Mt violets look really purple and my mauves look the colour of the cock in this picture but I have no yellow face mauves...so now I'm confused - again! I'm only a newbie at trying to figure out the mutations but the first bird looks mauve to me. The second bird looks way to complicated to even think about at my stage They are lovely birds though :budgiedance:

Anyone?