clearwing

It is not all that unusual particularly in this variety. Clearwing

Hi Libby, welcome. Looks like you [like most of us] love the many and varied colours the budgie comes in, this is a great hobby where you also meat some great people. Cheers Clearwing

Thanks Nubbly, I think its great for people to read as you have said it is a case of horses for courses. It is indeed the birds that must dictate when we breed, not us or the show calender. I have two short breeding seasons Autumn and spring, too hot in summer temp upto 45 degrees, too cold in winter down to -5 degrees, so I have no choice. But you would be amazed at how many breeders still try to breed to the calander. Cheer Clearwing

I would stop feeding the mixture for a while and see it the birds improve. Then when you beggin feeding it again feed only a small amount, which can be consumed quickly. To help further would need to know how many birds, how they are housed etc. best of luck Clearwing

Thanks clearwing great advice I am in the mist of putting all my birds back on the budgerigar program because I can't retrieve them from my old computer because it had it. What a big job. But i am taking the oportunity to record feather size shoulder ect :rofl: Glad to hear it! Now after you pair visually you can refer to your records to check compatability for feather length atc.

There are no hard and fast rules about breeding ages, just as with people each one is individual, Charlie Chapplin was quite old and still fathering children. But there are optimum times to breed with budgies, for me that is from one year to four years of age. Cheers Clearwing

Not trying to be rude, as I know all states of Australia are vastly different, but why do you breed in the hottest part of the year? It would appear to defy nature. Here in central Vic. I wait till after the first late summer rains, the birds natural instinct tells them to come into condition as the rain means the grass will grow and provide food for the offspring. Question not criticism. clearwing

Personally I don't care where a bird goes once I've made a decision to cull it, I'm always happy when someone says to me " I bred that out of one of yours," But as for recording who buys what, I just ask why? why do you care? Put your efforts into the burds you are keeping to breed with, keep extensive records of every feature of every bird and as a begginner you'll improve your pairings. Clearwing

I am about to set up my breeding room for the Autumn breeding season. I'm doing all the normal stuff setting up the cages, the thought occured to me will I or won't I use concaves inside the nesting boxes. I use a lot of sterilized sawdust in each box [ about three inches thick ] so maybe I won't bother with concaves at all this round. Thoughts?

The young grey looks great looking forward to seeing him mature. clearwing

Yes Kaz thats about it, I have an incredable memory for birds [not for anything else] but I still keep detailed records of every mating, details of features such as spot size, shoulder width, feather length are invaluable. You may have a reasonably short feathered bird, but when you check your records you find it was bred from long feathered cock so you know the gene for long feather is in the bird you just need a long feathered mate to bring it out.

Keeping records is not important, unless you want to win, or linr breed or advance your stud. Clearwing

That should raed national standard sorry blame the typist ooops thats me.

Ckeck the natioal standard for dominant pieds, I remember us making a law in Victoria that said a pied must have at least one pied flight, but I don't know what the national standard currently reads, I haven't judged for a few years{retied}

Some of you may not know that the origional Spangles also had a spot on the back of the head. Clearwing

Bring her to my place and we'll have a close look it may be as simple as an infected feather folicle. clearwing

Totally agree Kaz, I use whole oats purchased dirrectly from the farmer[cheap as] the birds love them and as I'm a big fan of the deep litter system they chew the husks into a fine powder. Now I am told when i buy bred whole grain is best so maybe that tells us something. Clearwing

Good luck at the club, I judged at Orange some years back, it was a great weekend and I met some really great people. Cheers Clearwing

Thanks I'll try both. Clearwing

Sorry to hear about your loss, the warning is timely. I had a friend in Qld once who kept losing birds in his birdroom. When his sons came to visit they found a python living behind the breeding cages. Clearwing

Thanks Kaz, is it a peppermint Myrtle?

Call me stupid but if I went into the bush I wouldn't know which one was the peppermint bush. Clearwing

I stick to gum tree branches as some others are toxic and I don't know enough about trees to be sure which ones. For example beneath the bark of the willow tree is natural asprin and chewing it will cure a headache, what it would do to budgies I don't know. Clearwung

I prefer a fully enclosed avairy with a window to allow the sun to shine in, that way no problem with wild birds, hawks or vermin. Just food for thought. Clearwing

Yes, blue rings were not issued until 1/9/09 so anybird with the blue ring was bred after that date. Clearwing