Maddy

They have a constant supply of vitamins in their cage, and I'm pretty sure there is calcium amongst other things in it...I'm just not sure of the quantity. But an extra dosage won't kill them

I did feel for an egg, but there was nothing there. I don't claim to be 100% sure on what happened. But I had no other explanation for it. However, to ensure it doesn't happened again I'm getting me some cal-civet and everyone is getting a dose. Can't hurt right? I know its not nice to lose birds, but I'm lucky in this case as the two recent deaths were no where near my best birds. So its giving me a chance to learn. Its just funny that they were both young hens, neither old, and neither over-used. *scratches head*

Thanks Kaz

Another unexpected death today. The hen from Pair #5 was found on the bottom of the cage this morning. I'm no expert, and I can't remember the actual term for it, but I think she may of had an in-laid egg. So thats a real bummer So thats minus another hen. I did a count today of usable hens and cocks to get an idea of numbers and what I need to replenish them. These are whats it the flight at the moment: Hens = 8 (1 hen has proved useless, and 3 are on the small side and won't produce anything show worthy) Cocks = 7 (4 cocks are on the small side and I really don't want to breed with small cocks.) As with the breeding cages, I don't expect anything real special from pair #4 or #7. They are merely experience pairs so that I can learn a bit more. So as you can imagine, this is getting really frustrating and taking away some of the joy of it all However...Pair #3 produce their first (and probably only) pinky today. So fingers crossed it lives. But in saying it may be their only one, the hen laid 2 more eggs after the initial 4, so there may be more later on.

I feel that the vet won't be able to do anything more than what I can do. Its not like you can put a cast on a birds leg. It would be a disease as she is acting perfectly fine otherwise. I just wish to know whether others have had this happen to them and what they did. However, it seems to be getting better. Instead of hanging out to the side she is putting a little bit of weight on it as she walks. She still hobbles but its an improvement. And GB, this is a different chick. That was my chick with the bad leg. But he couldn't fly either.....until I opened the door and away he went

Well, long story short, one of the chicks of this round came inside after I felt bad for it being alone in the kindy cage. She's been quite happy in the warm air con, and despite being very timid, has become a lovely little friend who likes lots of snuggles She is now being kept tame as a birthday present for my grandmother. However, less than a week ago, I noticed she stopped using one of her legs. She would perch on one foot and the other one would be held out (not like a normal perched bird, I know they perch on one foot usually) It was held out in a very awkward kind of way. I figured she must of hurt it. Well, it hasn't gotten any better. There is no sign of injury or broken skin and she has completely given up sleeping on the perch and taken to squeezing between her food dish and the side of the cage. I'm getting worried, because its gone from not being used, to completely limp. When I hold her she sits on my palm with the good leg and the other kind of hangs mid air, but any time it touches me I feel no movement from her. Does it just need more time to heal? Or does she have a useless foot?

Yes fair enough. Remember to only check the nest twice a day nathan, and PLEASE read the article kaz gave you. If you have, read it again. I still read it every now and then. It has everything you need to know.

I dunno Kaz, I've had a hen lay an egg two days in a row

Well I probably wouldn't use the same cream again for that reason anyway. Plus there is a huge chance that I would lose the tube so that when the problem arises I can't find it anyway lol But I will look at the tube closely and see if it is the same stuff, as the water antibiotics I could get from our club supplier no problem.

No thats up to you to decide. Get yourself a candling torch so that when the eggs reach the 6 day old mark you can check for fertility. I use a cheap little LED book light I got from the $2 shop. The hen will continue to lay eggs every 2 days until she decides its enough like Kaz said. But that is stated in the article she linked you. Are you sure you read it?

How do you know they are fertile? She only laid the second one today correct? It takes about 6 days of the hen sitting on the eggs until you can tell whether they are fertile or not. Hens will chuck eggs out that are way overdue to hatch sometimes. But they don't really know if the eggs are fertile or not. Hens will sit on infertile eggs.

I've changed the numbers on the pairs as I added one, but the pairs are the same. #1 Normal Cobalt hen x Opaline Cobalt cock The second egg she laid off the perch that i put in the nest was broken the next day. I've problems with this hen eating her eggs. But now she is up to 3 and sitting on them (somewhat) so fingers crossed #2 Cinnamon Grey hen x Normal Grey cock Took all four eggs out as they had nothing in them. She has yet to lay more but she is in the nest. I got a bloody finger getting her out for the photo #3 Cinnamon Grey Spangle hen x Yellow DF Spangle cock Had 5 eggs with 2 fertile, now has 4 eggs with one fertile. I have a sneaking suspicion she ate one of the fertile ones. #4 Grey Green Rec Pied hen x Dark green Opaline cock This was the pair I added in. They were already bonded and I decided to give them a go. She's lacking in backskull, mask and a bit cut off at the bum. But I'm hoping his features will mix in and I'll at least get some big chicks. No eggs yet, but she's kicked most of the nesting out. I was actually worried she wouldn't fit in the nest box hole she's so big lol #5 Cobalt Opaline hen x Normal Cobalt cock She lacks backskull, but they both have a nice outline and decent masks. No eggs yet, but I think she's getting a bit of an egg bum. #6 Normal Grey hen x YF Dom Pied Opaline Cobalt cock Had to get separate photos as she seemed to be concentrating on her eggs This pair I'm excited for as she is a really good quality hen with length, blow, width and mask and so is he. They have 3 eggs with 2 fertile. #7 Light Green Cinnamon hen x Sky Greywing cock I didn't realise my camera had focused on the bars and not them, so blurry town. They have 4 eggs, none showing fertile. But they are both first timers so I'm cutting them some slack. He lacks in width but has awesome backskull. They both have decent length but she has the better outline (when she sits straight) I paired these 2 mostly for experimentation with colour though Now my plan is to remove the white shelving I have in the bird room side and put in my other set of cabinets. The white shelving I will keep but for now will be used to hold my bird stuff in my dads shed to give him some of his space back. So then I will have 5 more cages that will be ready for pairs, but also able to hold chicks and hens when they are done. I also took on of my 3 show cages and hung it up in the aviary. This one I got for free when I was just starting out, so its missing patches of paint. The birds treat it like a little cubby house, flying in and out of it all day long. I was a bit worried as one of my hens started to treat it like a nest, but she's lost interest.

Well, uh, Bloo is doing good. However, the hen I bought the same time as him dropped dead this morning. I'm not sure what to make of this except that now my Hen to Cock ratio is dangerously low. No unusual signs on her, apart from a slightly poopy bottom. Good weight and no signs of mites or the like. I'm so confused. I save one, another dies

Well, I took Bloo to the vet this afternoon. Turns out, the orange build up over his eye was pus. He had a case of conjunctivitis/eye infection. Once the pus was off though he looked much better. He's now in his own cage with his own water dish that has some antibiotics in them. He also has a cream that needs to be applied twice a day. All this cost me $77. But the vet, despite not being an avian vet, knew what he was doing and didn't need any time at all to know what was wrong (he did need some time to get the **** off though) But he explained to me that bird pus (as well as rabbit pus) comes out quite thick which is how it accumulated so quickly. So I don't feel as neglectful as I did before After all this though, I know exactly what it is if it comes up again and may even be able to find a cheaper home remedy solution. Live and learn.

Well as you can imagine its quite hard getting photos of the bird that close without having to catch him up and hold him....which i think is more stress on the bird....plus I havn't had time. But I feel the best thing to do for him is to take a trip to the vet It can't hurt right?

I did my morning check on my birds and got a glimpse of something on the eye on one of them. It was only a quick glimpse but I thought it warranted a closer look. When I got closer to him I found a large.....I don't know what it is actually. A growth? It completely covers his right eye, he can only see out of his left. Which is probably why I haven't seen it till now as he has had his head turned so he can watch me with his left eye. Its a large mass, orange in colour not unlike this. I can't use the search function as it does not like words with only 3 letters. And if I don't use the word 'eye' than whats the point. I did a quick google image search and can't find anything like it. I couldn't take any pictures because I had to go to work. He looks completely fine other than this, which is why I didn't pick it out. Anyone have any ideas as to what this might be?

No pics yet Been failing with my time management lately. These pairs are in my new cabinets which are working a treat, much more manoeuvring room for me. #1 Normal Cobalt hen x Opaline Cobalt cock = Laid another egg off the perch useless hen. But this one wasn't broken and I put it in the nest, so she has 1 #5 Normal Grey hen x YF Dom Pied Opaline Cobalt cock = 3 eggs, 1 showing fertile. Very exciting #6 Light Green Cinnamon hen x Sky Greywing cock = 3 eggs, too early to show fertile yet. This was a hen that worried me as her second egg had blood on it. But egg number 3 is fine I will get some pics hopefully tomorrow. Day off WOOO!

Yea I started a new one, my other one was getting a little lengthy. Anyway, this is what I've got so far: #1 Normal Cobalt hen x Opaline Cobalt cock = Laid an egg off the perch today, hopefully she gets it right the next time. #2 Cinnamon Grey hen x Normal Grey cock = Second round, 4 eggs. None are showing fertile and has been about 10 days since the last one. Will take them out soon. #3 Cinnamon Grey Spangle hen x Yellow DF Spangle cock = Second round, 5 eggs, 2 showing fertile #4 Cobalt Opaline hen x Normal Cobalt cock = Nothing yet, if nothing in the next week will replace one or both of them. #5 Normal Grey hen x YF Dom Pied Opaline Cobalt cock = 2 eggs (maybe, she seemed to be laying when I checked on her this morning) #6 Light Green Cinnamon hen x Sky Greywing cock = 2 eggs, too early to show fertile yet I have two more breeding cages that can be filled. It seems to be the time of year where the boys in the aviary are getting a little rowdy. I just need to confirm the ages of four of my birds and I can get a couple more pairs in.

I have a first timer hen breeding for me. She's laid her second egg today but there is blood on the end (the thicker end) I'm just wondering if this is okay or very bad. Its not something I see regularly in breeding posts. They get a constant supply of vitamins as well as hulled oats.

If i suspect my birds being ill, the first thing I do is check the droppings. Then I refer to the two topics about poop identification in this section. But I've found that they kind of contradict each other. These are the poos I'm trying to identify the problem (if there is one) In this topic http://forums.budgie...showtopic=22914, it says: In this topic http://forums.budgie...showtopic=22376, it says: so I'm a little confused. Green good or bad?

Update I've moved champ into a new cage as I'm sure she can eat by herself. Mum has been pecking her off the perch and I don't want a repeat of last time. Sidewinder (what I've named the chick with the funny leg) has been kicked out of the nest. When I tried to put him back in mum kind of pushed him out. He was a slow grower so I guess mum thought it was enough. But he's doing well on the floor, he gets around okay. I've just been a bit worried as when I pick him up he feels really light, and I can feel his keel bone. I got some hand rearing formula and fed him some off a spoon. He ate a bit but stopped sooner than I would of liked. Next thing on my list is a crop needle. Pancake is doing well. I thought his variety was a mystery but it no longer is. He's a lovely little green cinnamon spangle. He falls out of the nest but has not yet been kicked out by mum.

I concur

I have a hen with a single chick, but she didn't toss out the eggs But I do remember people saying that if I could, I should foster out said chick to another pair to let her go for another round. That way, more chicks

Nope the chick is definitely not that deformed Has the right amount of joints, colour and movement. It just points the wrong way.

The chick with the bad leg had fallen out of the nest overnight. Was walking around calling for food from mum. The thing is he was following her. He was coping fine on the cage floor. He wasn't pushing himself along like in the video above. He just walked like a normal bird, though you can still tell which leg is the bad one, its no where near as sever as it was. The other chick I got from the spangle parents is looking lovely. I'm not sure if its a spangle though. In fact I'm quite confused on its variety XD It might turn out to be something simple that I should of been able to tell, but I'll post some pictures later when lighting in the aviary is better. They coped well moving into the new cabinets. And I even paired up some others that were in condition that I've been watching for a while. I paired a : Cobalt cock (opaline?) x and a Cobalt opaline hen YF dom pied cock (Pie) x Normal Grey hen. <-- This is the hen that has been really stubborn and not produced anything despite being in condition. I've been giving her different males to try and so far squat. So I've paired her with the father of my first chicks, hoping that some experience in the cage will go well. Sky Greywing cock x Light Green (cinnamon?) hen <--Her cinnamon is really dark so I'm not sure if she is one or not. She has so far kicked every bit of wood shavings out of the nest box onto the cage floor, and they already look bonded Once these pairs start to produce (if they do) then I will start a new topic