Perequito

Hi there So long since I posted on here - back for some more valuable advice on mutation please. I purchased this red-eyed baby from local pet shop & would really appreciate any help you can give. There are a few cinnamon coloured tail feathers - it was so difficult to get (her) to sit still long enough to get photos. Hope these will suffice. Many thanks!

Thank you so much for your help Much appreciated!!

Hi there, May I have help to sex my white budgie please? Many thanks in advance!

Thank you SO MUCH everyone, I'm very grateful! It's becoming quite a wee character and getting quite cheeky...definitely must be a male then lol. Now I can hunt out a suitable name for him :) Thank you again!

Thank you Budgie Lov3r...The photos were taken in natural aviary light, no flash. I originally thought female, right up until this last week...Hmmm...then started to swing towards male I've been fooled with a few pieds before - sometimes only breeding season clinches it hahahaha. Even looking at them at different times of day in differing light just brings more confusion - seems I will never be confident in accurately sexing some of these cuties, even after many years. Really appreciate your opinion, thanks for taking the time

Hi everyone My little pied youngster is really confusing me...the cere colours have been so changeable for many weeks. Would love some help please!

Yes I've heard the feather trimming thing too - will be interesting to see what happens next season. I guess I'm a bit biased towards the little pet quality birds because they are all I've had for the last 15 years. I have found them to be pretty hardy even when we have cold snowy winters, and I admit to loving their lovely little sweet expressive faces too This big 'showgirl' has a VERY grumpy looking face hahahahaha, although is sweet natured. Thanks so much again for the great advice!

Thank you for the great replies....much food for thought, I'm most grateful to you Finnie & Maz7! Yes I'm sure you're both right, that it must have been the foster hen doing a little gentle plucking...she had been very frustrated with her first round of infertile eggs, and totally loved these little ones to bits (almost literally hahahaha)! Re the infertility, the male is a lovely sky pied boy we've had for quite a few years, fathered heaps of gorgeous chicks over that time, but sadly his previous older hen died. I had some difficulty finding a new hen for him locally, so ended up purchasing one from a show breeder, and she is a very much bigger bird than my so called "pet quality" little male. I think in NZ they tend to call these big 'show quality' birds "english-type budgies". Anyhow, I'm not sure that this very large hen and my smaller little guy are really quite 'getting their act together' ....maybe their synchronicity is not quite in sync! hopefully next season they might get things sorted. I have tried to make sure the perches are all pretty stable, so can't do much more to help them along. It might be that fostering the chicks will trigger the hormones as suggested, which would be great! Maybe he just prefers gals the same size as him I will certainly be on the lookout to make sure this hen doesn't start in on the youngsters real feathers. Many thanks for your great thoughtful advice!

Hi there, haven't been on for a while, but have a question I would just love the answer to. Recently had a hen with eight fertile eggs which I knew she could not manage to rear in her nestbox, so popped three eggs in with a foster hen who had been laying infertile eggs. (Foster mum was amazed how quickly she acquired live chicks!!) Both mums proceeded to feed and nurture their babies as they hatched. The original mum's chicks all grew their thick soft down feathers first, followed by their coloured body feathers...but oddly (to me anyway) the foster mum's two successfully hatched chicks grew their body feathers first, with the down feathers only coming in very slowly later on, meaning they had some cold bald patches without the underlying down. I could see no obvious evidence that foster mum had been plucking the down feathers out (no little blood spots where they might have been pecked) I'd love to hear ideas about what might have caused this, given that the eggs came out of the same nest...both sets of parents are housed in the same aviary with all the same food & nutrition supplies, given the same greens, carrot, apple, cuttlefish, vitamin nibbles etc. Is this difference in feathering likely to be nutritional? Could it be the foster hen fed "her" two chicks a different combination of everything available to her? Or do you think she may have actually plucked a few early down feathers out in her enthusiasm for having live chicks? PS. All the chicks have now left the nests and progressing well; the two foster chicks still a little slow to get their full down feathers but getting better every day. Many thanks for your time )

Hi Everyone! (These pics taken with no flash - but have shown up lighter when posted on here) I thought these two budgies are male - even though they look to have white rings around nostrils, the cere is starting to look generally bluish/pinkish..but may I have confirmation please? Many thanks in advance! Also if possible, may I please have a description of mutation of both budgies please....?both violet pieds? Budgie No.1 Budgie No. 2

What a gorgeous wee chick Budgerigar Boy!!!! :rolleyes:

Many many thanks everyone!!!! your comments are much appreciated :)

Hi there, may I please have some help with sexing three budgies that are fooling me? Ive included pics so you can see their full body markings too, so hope that helps. I did not use a flash for these pics. If anyone would like to add a description of the mutation Id be ever so grateful too thanks. Budgie No.1 Budgie No.2 Budgie No. 3 - is this a normal lutino, or classed as creamino when it is this pale?

Thank you SO much everyone, Im very grateful for all your help!! :)

Hi there, may I please have help to sex these youngsters? I have someone wanting a couple of females but I think the following may all be males. The little grey normal has some white around the cere but I have been fooled with one of these before that looked quite white, so have lost confidence now. Many thanks for any help you can give me! (pics 3 & 4 are the same birds)

For Dave...Hi there, here you go, I managed to get angled-up so I could get the whole lengthwise look - here are pics from both ends. Almost finished now, just got perches & shelves to go, & get the shelter organised. Trying NOT to be impatient, but am 'busting' to get some birds in there hahahaha :) :

Hi Dave, will give it a go & get back to you

Hi everyone, SO EXCITING!!!!....we are in the middle of building an extension on to our current two flights - the new part is attached with a safety area, placed so that it serves 1 of the old flights too, which will be marvellous! Current aviary... With new extension... We have an extra little smaller enclosure in the back there too if I need to separate birds or put spare youngsters in there temporarily. Hopefully will get the last of the double wiring finished this weekend, get the roofing material on, & then work on building a simple shelter plus shelves for the nest boxes etc. This lovely extension means I dont have to sell any of my pretty birds :) & Im really looking forward to giving them a lot more room to enjoy. Soooo lucky & grateful that my husband is a carpenter!!!! It would be a pretty rough job if I was doing it on my own.

Snow all gone, having lovely spring weather now....birds are So happy to be feeling warm, like the rest of us! We are just in the throes of adding an extension to the aviary - ie, so I don't have to sell the pretty birds I can't bear to part with (was trying to keep it all under control, but we are spilling over a little bit!!!)

I just LOVE all your babies Robyn!!!! They are so beautiful! Ive got a huge soft spot for spangles, and the wee pieds too! Im so very sorry to read about the loss of your spangle baby though, its so heartbreaking isn't it? So often these things seem to happen to a gorgeous one too eh? So so upsetting, I do feel for you :( I had been trying to breed or buy more spangles & wasn't having much luck, so last year I told my husband Id decided to downsize to keeping only 6pairs of budgies. However it seems the moment I said that out-loud, we hatched some very nice babies that I couldn't bear to part with, plus I recently found some lovely spangles for sale - Oh Oh...now we are going to add another little flight extension so there will be enough room. This birdie breeding stuff does become addictive doesn't it ?! Good luck with your gorgeous birds!

Thankfully its starting to clear; having the big thaw now with a few hail showers thrown in...the wind is sooooo cold. We should have some lovely settled 'spring' weather once this is over, hoping it will clear the air!

We are having a bitterly cold & snowy time here (South Island of New Zealand) with an arctic blast that is covering most of the country for several days. Last winter we discovered this wonderful plastic screening that I made into 'roller blinds' using long sticks of bamboo & strong tape. Worked great all last winter, & is proving to be excellent again now. The worst part is having to peg the sides down thoroughly in the strong winds (even though the blinds are tied down at the bottom) - makes it look a bit tatty with all the pegs, but does the trick. So easy just to roll them up to whatever position we want when the weather clears. These blinds let all the daylight through, & when you step inside the aviary it is so warm & cosy & the birds seem to be so happy! I've just peeked out the window now, & even though it is fair 'bucketing down' with freezing sleety rain, I can see budgies playing on their swings! Our cats just could not resist trying it out?!!! Our aviary without snow! A corner of our garden yesterday...

Many many thanks everyone...so very grateful for all your help! :D

Hi there, sorry Im back again so soon with more sexing questions, new spangles this time. I've been looking for ages to find some more mauve/violet birds & was delighted to acquire these two young ones! They have got to be the quietest calmest babies I've ever bought in, but when trying to get pics of their ceres....OWWWWW!!!!!...boy can they BITE!!!!! Not sure if No.1 spangle is male or female - 1 day I think female, in another light I think, Oh no, think its male. Hmmm...confused again! I think No. 2 is a male? (also not sure that 1 is just a very pale-marked spangle or a clearwing) Many thanks everyone! No 1 spangle No 1 spangle No 1 spangle No. 2 spangle No 2 No 2

Thanks so much for the very interesting discussion notes folks....Love it!!!! Helps newbies like me to try & understand a little more! Yes the hen I want to pair him with later is a normal violet, so Im hopeful of some pretty wee chicks to come in the future :)