Maddy

Welcome Art and little DP! He is certainly handsome If you are worried about his weight, pick him up and feel for his keel bone (bone in the front of the chest) If its prominent and pointy then he needs some more meat on his bones lol

Gesundheit lol

Wow, the old post is almost exactly the same. If you are still having trouble breeding them Hans then there is obviously something wrong with your setup and you should follow as much advice that is given to you

I agree with everything GB has said. I asked how much sunlight they get as budgies need 13 hours of sun to get into condition. Its how they would tell the right season in the wild. I think they may feel a bit exposed in the setup you have. Its like if you live in a glass house, and everyone could watch your life. Not to mention the constant movement they would see outside, not knowing what it is or whether its going to get them or not.

You can see the nest briefly in the second video GB, just a few glimpses. Those birds seem to be a bit on edge because of that loose one. Also, you didn't specify, but is it ALL of the pairs that aren't laying eggs? Or just one. How much sunlight do they get during the day? How long have there pairs been together with a nest box?

I'm going to try and even out the votes a bit by saying its a girl Mostly because the white i see in the photo surrounds the nostrils, and the pink seems a little to grey-ish to not still be his baby black cere. At the moment it reminds me of top deck chocolate lol But I too will wait for a better picture before having my 100% sure say.

What a lovely bird. I can't tell gender from that angle but it is a beautiful YF grey Dominant Pied (I think it might be opaline too?) YF dominant pieds make beautiful birds, I love them. It was nice of the pet shop to swap the cage for you. Thats a perfect cage for it and will suit it for the rest of its life. A suggestion would be to trim the perches so that they run front to back instead of side to side. That way, they have more flying space You're doing a wonderful job so far! Congrats on your new bird.

You post made me lol Welcome to the forum. I had a cage exactly like that for my budgie (when i just had one) and he was really quite happy in it. A wider one is suggested for flight and exercise, but if he/she is going to be a family pet outside the cage type of bird then it probably won't be much of an issue. Really the only cages that are super bad are the ones where the gaps between the wire lessen towards the top (strangle hazard) or the ridiculously small ones. But don't worry, I got caught up in the excitement and bought a whole lot of stuff for my bird too. A lot of it bad and now collecting dust in the shed. I feed my birds shell grit on occasion when I feel a calcium boost is in order. I get it from my local stock feed place. Its mostly oyster shell I think, but I can see small hermit crab shells and the like in there too. But if you feel like your bird needs that sort of stuff, you can always get those little pink iodine/calcium bells from pet stores or stock feed places. My birds love them.

When is wishful thinking a bad thing But it's all sorted. My mum is more than happy to accept this chick into the house as a loving pet She can't help herself as soon as she see's them. Me and her are so alike lol Today, I moved all the pairs into my new cabinet as well as add another one. So now I have more room to move and more breeding cages available. I'm starting to plan pairs for June, I'm thinking long and hard about them. I was a bit worried because it involved moving the two pairs with chicks. But they found the nest box hole and settled in quicker than I thought so all is well in the Pink Budgie Nest I got a bit discouraged today after discussing the chicks with my mum. I went through my files and found that my success rate for chicks is quite low so far. If the two (good) chicks I have right now live to adult hood, then my success rate is this: 5 chicks alive and grown 4 chicks dead 1 deformed But, I'm not letting it get to me as I'm only up to my third clutch. Plus its all a learning experience so I'm technically not losing much. Still...for a first time breeder it is a little bit disappointing.

Those are some pretty babies Looks like GB was right about that being a YF pied. And those YF spangles are definitely violet, though the other one looks to be a cobalt? I just read through the whole topic....what an interesting read it was lol

I covered the nest box hole with a bit of cardboard and she chewed right through it in a matter of days. But now I see the cock singing to her while she's in there, and I have the suspicion that maybe she gets out when I'm not around. I really want this pair to produce something as it has the same potential as one of my other pairs which are doing so well. For the cocks rest time, I've been watching him closely, and he's come into full condition, grown all his feathers back from the moult, and has picked out a hen I would love to pair him too He's nice and plump from having hulled oats that I feed the birds every week for winter, and so is she.

Its developing slower than its sibling.....but to me its going okay No slower than the chick in the other nest. I'll cross my fingers....it may just be slow developing muscle in that area and the problem may rectify itself. If not, then a pet it will be

Any photo I took of the baby just looked like the one above, so I did a little video of it walking. http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z474/Pink-Budgie/?action=view&current=MOV20110603_001.mp4 You can see that it looks the same as the other leg...just not right. However, it seems to have good moments and bad moments. This was a good moment, where it doesn't look as deformed as usual. You can also tell that it doesn't like being moved around by me

Boy

So I had a look at the chick again with the funny leg. I looked for all the things mentioned, but couldn't find anything. I think it might be a problem with the hip, as the foot and leg function normally, they just face the wrong way. She(?) is able to pull it under herself but it seems like she can't bring it froward as in a step, it just goes backwards. My hope is that she will at least be a good hen (if it is a she) so I can still breed her, as she can still stand up. I'll try and get pictures this afternoon or tomorrow, as I have to go to work right now

It could quite possibly be cinnamon. I do not have the info for either parents though. All I know is the cock came from two DF spangles (which could be hiding cinnamon) And the hen is definitely a cinnamon. But I just followed the outcome I had for the first pair which was normal hens and cocks split cin. However, I would be very happy if it were a cinnamon as I love yellow cinnamons With the leg, I thought that when it was young something was wrong...it just wouldn't sit right. Then it kind of went away, and now its back, I can move the leg to where it should be...it just doesn't stay there. It doesn't seem to be causing the chick any pain though which is good. He is happy, well fed, and very noisy like any other chick But I didn't pay attention to length so I will do that. I didn't get to check him today as I was cleaning out one of my new cabinets to put in the bird room (as i got 3 and only two would fit in the shed) And I was trying to do so before I lost light, but I ended up finishing in the dark anyway

Photo spamming time We have had really horrible weather lately around here. It flooded the roads and the yard...and my bird room! Strangely enough, the flight was bone dry. You can see the mess it made. This happened overnight, and as you can see...the bottom nest box is drenched. It also ruined my torch, my diary (its dry now) and leaked a little into my seed (seed is okay) This pushed me into overdrive as I figured out how I could fix it. The problem was the sheer weight of the water on the roof had caused it buckle in and had made some leaks. Well I drove over to the scrap meal yard in the pouring rain to get something to prop it up. I spent a total of $4 on a piece of rusted steel to hopefully hold the roof in place. This was the result All cleaned up luckily for me I had spare nest boxes so I was able to swap the wet one for a dry one. Also lucky was the fact that I didn't do anything to that piece of metal. It was the exact size I needed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today, I checked the nest box. It seems the dilemma I was having about the youngest chick from pair #1 having something wrong with its leg is back. I'm not sure if this is a new problem or its managed to hide itself. You can see how the leg is backwards. This is not just an awkward photo...this is how the chick walks. It pushes itself along with that leg and grabs with the other one (which is fine) I'm not sure if this is splayed legs or just a genetic condition. Some insight of someone with experience in this would be great. Chick #1 is doing fantastic however. I tried to get him/her out, but he was taking refuge in his bomb shelter. So I just took the whole thing out. What really surprised me...was that Gandalf came with it I don't know what got into him, but all of a sudden he is my best friend lol Finally Champ came out and I managed to get a face shot (sort of) The gender is getting to me a bit But I'm guessing at female. What colour is visible on the beak so far is a whitish blue (this photo is true colour) You can also see the lovely colour he/she has turned out to be. I thought champ had an attitude against me like his/her mum....but then chick #2 started doing it and it looked remarkably like he was trying to get food out of my finger. Now I have been neglecting the 4th nest picture wise, but I have named the singular chick in there Pancake Its the first time I've ever had a chick with down. Its so fluffy From the dark in the wings I'm guessing at a yellow spangle. All the parents are doing great and are looking in the right condition to go for a second round so far. I'll be getting some new cabinets today to hopefully replace this one, and the wire one (as well as an extra for when I upgrade the birdroom) The nests don't stick out and are a drawer system, so I should have more room for manoeuvring. Just a quick question regarding them however. If I were to move parents and babies into the new cabinets...would it disturb them too much to breed again? Its just a question for future reference as I was going to wait until they've finished these lots before transferring them.

I need to find me a mentor

Hey I did pretty good lol

I have heard of people 'sharing' males with two breeding females. However I am unsure of the procedure and can't tell you much else about it But yes it is possible

Agreed. Excellent post

Post a picture of the bird if you can and we can determine the sex for you. (clear close up shot of the face, with no flash) Hens actually have blue cere's when out of breeding condition, though its no where near as bright blue as the males, it often cause confusion with new budgie owners. If the bird is eating and drinking fine, and the poos are 'normal' as you say then I would say the budgie is just misbehaving a bit. What kind of squeaking is it? Is it a kind of talking squeak, as if the budgie is communicating? Or is it a really loud exasperated squeak? I also notice you made 2 topics the same. Though its understandable that you are worried, try not to double post here. A forum mod will be able to fix it up for you.

What I'm getting from this, is that people try and buy birds from the same people. At the moment I think I have the combination of 4 breeders birds, as well as the odd bird from elsewhere. One group of 8 from one breeder, 2 from another (both of these groups I paid for) 4 birds from my club's chairman and 3 from another member (freebies) And the odd bird I've found in pet shops. Going off other's advice, I know I may have two much mixing going on. But live and learn. However I shouldn't have to outcross now until I know I need a particular feature or fresh blood.

Oh? Are they more vibrant than a normal grey? I have a violet spangle that I can compare it too if need be. And a normal Grey cock. I'll have to go have a look. But the pictures don't do champ's colour any justice, especially since it has been so miserable and wet lately, the lighting in my photos aren't great.

I'm just looking at positives. I know I don't breed at a scale as you do GB, but one chick that has the makings of a winner would still bring on a positive outlook. Like you said, the beginnings of your albinos improving maybe