defieldsfamily

Oops...I meant 3 feet deep not 1 foot

I'm going to build a large outdoor flight for my birds to use during the warm months now that the gorgeous days are upon us (I live in Canada) until I can afford to build the whole outdoor aviary. What is the best kind of mesh to use for this? And what kind of store do you buy it at? I went to a large building supply and they didn't know if what they had would be safe for birds. It was galvanized...is this safe or no? Does it need to be of a particular metal type? Can you buy it in rolls? My flight on my deck will be 6 feet high, 6 feet wide and 1 feet deep. (2m X 2m X1m) and I'm hoping to build it tomorrow Your expert help is always appreciated!

I found several references that said it was safe before I gave it to them...must give them lemony fresh budgie breath!

I just filmed this video of my birds enjoying some bunches of lemon balm the kids picked in the garden. Sorry it’s on it’s side but I can’t figure out how to rotate it…lie down when you view it???? http://tinypic.com/r/16c53rm/5

I don't think Joel was interested in breeding with the budgie!

Thanks for the kind words everyone You're a great lot! It did cross my mind that possibly this was done after she died but it was too gruesome a thought at the time. It was one side of her head that was very messed up, feathers plucked, half her face missing including the eye. ***shudder** They can be a pretty macabre group then can't they? Maybe it's the flock mentality. They make my little group of cockatiels look like innocent little lambs in comparison!

Some of you may remember I got my first show budgies a number of months ago (seven of them) and today I came home to find sweet little bluebell passed on but she had been brutally savaged by one (or more...who knows) of the other budgies. This was my bunch that were so docile they bordered on dull! I've never seen them squabble at all...they seemed to get along just fine. I won't go into detail but what was done to her was brutal. Did I cause this to happen by having 4 hens with 3 cocks? I am not doing any breeding this year and would never colony breed ever but she did seem closely bonded to one of the males. Perhaps the "odd hen out" went into a jealous rage? I'm heart broken ...she was the cute little one who draped herself over the perch like a wet noodle to sleep. May she rest in peace :rofl: It's been a hard month as I lost two other birds a couple of weeks ago for no obvious reason. Anyway, I'm hoping those more experienced than I am might be able to shed some light on this for me. If I did inadvertently cause this, I don't want to ever make the same mistake again.

NO..........they do this when relaxed. Being relaxed in a show cage is part of show cage training. Really? WOW I have 7 exhibition budgies but wouldn't even begin to know how to show one but when Bluebell (my favourite of the 7) relaxes, she looks like an overcooked noodle hanging on a clothesline! Guess no blue ribbons for that my little girl huh???? :rofl: :rofl:

Are they trained to adopt that pose on command? How do they know how to do that during show judging?

Putting her back with the others would be best longterm. Some hens lay like this because its in a small cage sometimes. I'm just concerned she will attack another one. She's so nasty.

I have one budgie (an adult) who has one small brown feather on one wing...no other brown. Could this be a hint that it's split to cinnamon?

Thnks KAZ ...do you think it's likely that if she stops laying I'll be able to put her back in with the other birds or will she always be a risk to them? Could it be all hormonal? All of my other birds get along great so this is new to me.

Well, this hen continues to be nutty! I have kept her in a cage by herself since I took her chicks and put them in the kindy cage in the hope that she'd settle down, stop being hormonal and not attack any more birds....but she continues to lay... eggs over the last 10 days or so... all infertile obviously since I had to remove sunshine many weeks ago...I've been taking each egg away but she keeps laying!!!! I'm not sure what to do with her. Do I let her sit on them all so that she might stop laying or should I keep taking them away? I'm worried about her because I have no iea how old she is (came to me as an abandoned bird) and I never had any intention of breeding her in the first place. She's too vicious to put in with the other birds. Anyone else ever been in this situation?

Welcome Dong I'm not sure if "dong" means the same there as it does here but I don't think I could call someone Dong even as a nickname My ex had an uncle who was actually named Honkey Dong....no lie! All these years later I still giggle when I drive down the street he lived on Anyway..it's nice that you've joined the forum and I think it's sweet that your kids are involved with your birds too. My daughter and her friends help me a lot with all our birds and it's great. Maybe we need a section on the forum for our junior budgie enthusiasts to post. It would be a good mentorship program! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your aviary and feathered friends.

I don't thik I'm going to breed any of my birds this year (yeah....famous last words ) as my aviary isn't built yet and with 32 birds in the house it's getting a bit crowded..and messy! But for next year, what season is considered the best for putting down pairs? I would assume spring (it's almost spring here now) but is that correct?What do most breeders do?

Hmmm...that must be one very very tiny cat!

I just wanted to say that I think it is great that you are taking the time to set up your cage in the best possible way. It's easy to see your are committed to doing the best for your birds! Trial and error is a good way to do things too....I still continually move things around in my cages when I can identify a problem and find a way to fix it.

Maybe we could say "more angular heads" :rofl: And anyone who calls a pet type a "pinhead" should be stripped naked, covered in honey and rolled in millet and left in a cage of 50 pet type budgies

Ratzy...the chicks are so beautiful! And I think it's so sweet that Marigold and Skye are such lovely parents Is one of the babies mauve? the first baby picture looking out the nest box of this last lot of pictures looks mauve. My last four chicks were all mauve (3 normals and 1 ?rec pied) but both parents were DF (hen mauve, cock YF1 Olive dom pied) It would be so lovely if you are able to post nice clear pics of the babies outside of the box...have you named them yet?

You know how these things are KAZ...."it all comes out in the wash" :rofl: :rofl:

Sounds like it might be horribly pastey to eat with all those ground flours. A bit like thick wallpaper paste *blech* I have recently purchased an organic wheat free multigrain hot cereal mix at a local health food store (had about 8-9 different grains very coursely ground) and I will be mixing it with cooked carrot and peas and mashed egg...I'm going to try it with the birds tomorrow. I hadn't ever thought about cinnamon though...what does it do for the birds?

I'd say Yoshi is male...and very very cute!

You know, everywhere is nice! It's when somewhere is different from what we think of as home that it becomes an interesting place to visit. Where your friend is in Banff is absolutely gorgeous but very different to here. Maybe there should be a world tour for budgie enthusuasts so we can see budgies around the world!!!!

I'm still learning too but I'd suggest female YF sky blue opaline dom pied. But above all else...a very pretty bird :rofl:

More in the saga of Elly and Sunshine..... Some of you may remember they were the two who started nesting on the cage floor and went on to have 4 gorgeous chicks. Elly brutally attacked Sunshine when the chicks were very little and did some serious damage and bloodied Sunshine's face very badly. I separted them of course and left Elly to raise the chicks by herself which she did quite admirably. After Sunshine's face healed (with lots of care from me and keeping his wounds clean)and somehow without infection but permanent damage to his lower beak, I put him in with a group of very gentle birds and monitored the situation very closely...all has been okay with him and the others. But to my horror I saw yesterday that Elly must have fought with one of her male chicks that day too and did some damage to the side of his lower beak. Right away, I moved the four of them to a kindy cage (they are feeding themseles fine so no worries there) but here's where my heart broke for Sunshine... His lower beak is ow only held on by one side!!!!! Now...what I don't know is if beak material grows back like finger nails and so the old damaged part has to slough off or if he is seriously maimed as this has finally healed completely. I can't see how he is able to eat like this but he seems to be managing and I'm very worried it will catch on something and tear. Do beaks even grow back????? If not, what is likely to be his fate??? What about the baby with the damaged beak? I have no idea what I'm going to do with Elly as I can't have her systematically killing my other birds! Please help!!!!!