Kristy123

Thankyou to everyone on Homer's well wishes, she is doing pretty good. A few days ago she was looking very tired and unhappy, but she has perked up more now, eating well and I sit her in the sun for a bit each day. Also been crop feeding her hand rearing formula at night, just 2mls so she can sleep with a full tummy I forgot to mention she is having hormone injections too, she got one at the vet, another one today and then one more next week. It helps her to stop cycling for awhile so she doesnt produce eggs, which is good. Moglet you have a good sense of humour lol, I had a laugh at a few things you said lol. The quail egg that was in there got crushed somehow, but she has two more now, laid them on the weekend in a corner of the aviary and she has been faithfully sitting on them haha. Wondering weather I will see baby quails anytime soon lol. I noticed you live in Brisbane, where do you get your bulk cuttlefish from, like which produce? Is it a big bag? With the grass seeds I used to mix seeds into potting mix and grow them but I stopped doing it, will have to get back into that as well. Finnie I saw calcivet Monday when I brought more seed for the birds, might look at getting it with next weeks pay. I brought a 'bulk' which didn't turn out to be 'bulk' cuttlefish bag for $5 haha but I got it anyway because they were out of that too. Also brought two bags of shell grit, so they now have three bags which should be okay for awhile. 20kg Panicum seeds. 7kg Red Panicum seeds. 4.5kg White Millet. 1kg Canary Seed (to see if they eat it) This is the seeds I mixed together yesterday, and today I will go get some more white millet and canary seeds. A few of my birds eat sunflower seeds too, but are they fatty? If they are I will cut them out, I've cut oats out now, there are a another few of my birds (fat ones) that eat so many oats. Is there anything else I can mix with the seeds I have that are not fatty?? I am wanting to balance it some more, like try and get even amounts of each seed, but I will need to buy another storage bin to mix and store lol. I am going to make Kaz's homemade egg and biscuit recipe off that website, it looks really good, hoping the birds will eat it in time....stubborn blobs lol. Ive probably asked this at some point but cant remember, but is cabbage okay for budgies? Mum asked me if I wanted some for them and I dont know if they can eat it. Oh and the stuff I brought from the vet is a 450g packet of Vetafarm 'Finch & Budgie Crumbles'....it stinks!!! I tired it on the birds for three days, with only a limited amount of seed too and they were all so hungry, I felt bad, I just can't do that, it doesn't seem right to practically starve them into eating something they dont want and something that is artificial.

Hello everyone. Kaz I am not sure how old Homer is, but I know I have had her quite a number of years. I rang the vet this morning and she had passed the egg during the night :D .... I was very relieved. I went and got her this afternoon, she is on calcium for 3 weeks, and Baytril and Metacam for a week. I am so glad she is okay so far, she is bleeding a bit but the vet said that's normal as she has strained a lot trying to pass the egg. It was soft shelled, so she was and is deficient in calcium. The vet spoke to me about crumbles and I brought some, but honestly, it is a very expensive food product, 10kg is around $60 dollars, and I buy seed in 20 kgs so basically $120 for 20 kgs crumbles. My 33 budgies would go through that SOOO quick. I can not see why giving them cuttlefish (bone), shell grit, lots of vegetables and less fattening seeds is not a good diet for them, as this is what they eat in the wild, not some fancy brought food. I mean no offence to those who buy it by the way, I just want to know your opinions, and what you guys feed your birds. I honestly know I have to work better on giving them vegetables everyday as well, not 1-3 times a week. I just had a thought. If I can get them starting to eat crumbles I can still buy seeds, and buy say 4kg of crumbles and mix them in with the 20 kg of seed. That way they are getting seeds, crumbles, vegetables, cuttlefish, shellgrit. is this an okay idea? And what seeds are fattening and should be avoided? Or I could alternate? 4 days seed, 3 days crumbles, everyday vegetables?

I took her to the vet this afternoon. It is not good. She hasn't passed the egg, it looks as though its in the abdominal area. She is staying there at the vet (Brisbane Bird Vet) overnight, and is getting pain killers and calcium to try and help her pass the egg. If she hasn't passed the egg by tomorrow morning the vet said she will have to have an operation that will cost between 500-600 without today's consult. I started crying at the vet, I am not sure I will be able to pay for the operation if she doesn't pass it. I am so torn, I feel as though its all my fault, I have had her so long. I'm so upset, I am really really hoping she can pass the egg, but the vet said it is unlikely. This episode has really made me think about weather I want to bread them or not. Things don't always go wrong, but if they did I wouldn't be able to pay for them to get expensive help, and that's not fair to them. I am seriously thinking of just enjoying them as is (which I do very much), without breeding them.

bahaha that is adorable, what a cutie.

Thankyou to everyone for your replies. I had another look at the egg this morning, and did a search on quail and budgie eggs, and I am pretty sure it is actually a quail egg. This was a surprise as I thought all four of my quails were male lol. I don't know what the first egg was (broken one) but the intact one has little tiny light brown spots all over it, its a little pointed at one end, and slightly off colour looking. Do budgie eggs look like this? Because from what I saw on my search, budgie eggs are white and more rounded. Okay back to the past: About a week ago I put some new drift wood and a nice hollow log in the aviary up in the fork of some branches. I didn't even really think about the fact that they might use the hollow log as a breeding area, just somewhere to play in, but a few days later I noticed a few of the girls getting very bitchy around it, and the males were egging it all on lol, and then I realized they all are fighting over it as a nesting area. I took the log out straight away, then the next morning that was when the first egg was broken on the ground. Not knowing what to do I put the log back in, in case there was more eggs to be layed. Checked again next morning, found nothing but bitchy girls around the log again so I took it out and it hasn't been back in since. After that I went to work and when I got home in the afternoon, there was the second egg on the ground, so took it out and put it in front of the lamp. I went into the aviary and checked on the birds a few hours later (night time) as I usually do (check their vents and so forth because they stay still a lot more at night) and I noticed Homer, my girl budgie, is missing feathers around her vent. I picked her up and checked her out, and when I put her down she started pushing, I looked at her vent with a torch and there was a little blood and the impression of an egg like shape and a sort of slit in her skin. I got all excited and went and set up a separate cage for her. I put her, the log, and her mate in there and they have been in the house since last night. Checked on her this morning, no egg, but she was still sitting in the log. Took them outside and she has been pushing a lot but still no egg, but its quite red and ucky down there. Is that normal? I think she is nervous because I am hovering around a lot and making sure things are okay. I brought some cuttlefish on last weekend (31st July) put it in the aviary they have all pretty much devoured it, but the left overs are now with Homer. I am hoping she has enough calcium and strength to get her egg out. Her partner is excited, he is feeding her, grooming her, tweeting to her, but she seems very tired. She squeaks when she pushes, is that normal either? She has never been pregnant before. As for the quail egg I put it in the aviary this morning too, the quails were hovering over it, trying to sit on it, so I am not sure what will happen with it either I am not sure if I am making the right decisions at all, I'm nervous and worried I am doing something wrong, or not enough, I have never had a pregnant budgie or quail. Kaz I read one of your posts last night about breeding, eggs etc and it was of help, but it still doesn't ease my nervousness. I have had Homer a long time, I am just worried for her. Also, forgot to add, her poo is quite abnormal as well, dark, runny and mucus like, normal or not? I was thinking, I have some good hand rearing formula from the vet, lots of nutrients etc, does anyone think I should crop feed her some of this to keep her strength up? Or is it too much added stress for her being handled? She is eating seed though. If not the formula, should I keep their veges up? Thankyou, really, for every ones advice and help so far, I very much appreciate being able to talk to people who know about budgies.

Hello everyone, I am in a bit of a tither atm....yesterday one of my budgies layed an egg, which was eaten by my quails. This afternoon I checked on them in the aviary and there was another egg in the corner. I gently picked it up and took it inside and its in front of a lamp. Should I have left it in the aviary wrapped up in a towel? I am not sure if the mother (not sure who has layed) will look after it, or if she has more to lay....should I place it back in the aviary up a little higher off the ground so the quails can't get it? Thankyou for the help, Kristy P.s never had eggs from my birds until yesterday.

Hahaha so Tick's defs a male, I thought so too by the way he always chases the females around and bobs his head, but I just wanted to be sure. Lol and Boomba well, it remains a mystery. I am pretty sure the cere is a full pink colour but I will have to have a look 2morro to be sure. And I am not sure if they are recessive pieds, I am a little green when it comes to that, but I will take photos of them not in my hands 2morro as well.

Lol I hope we are both right, thankyou Harry

Hmmm okay, sounds nasty, I want to be able to breed them well, so if I can avoid as many problems as I can it would be good. What are those big cabinet things called with lots of cages and a breeding box off each cage called? Lol sorry about my bad examples. I want to ask other questions but they are all breeding related so I will ask them in the breeding section after Ive had a look through the posts.

Holy moly!!! Hahaha soo many, and all so bright

Haha thankyou KAZ, I am quite fond of my aviary, a bit rustic but my budgies love the space, they fly around like crazy haha. 100-150 is a lot of budgies O_O I didn't think I would be able to have that many in there, not that I'm complaining ... I am trying to hunt down cheap breeding boxes because I want to start breeding, I've heard you need a box for every female, and I currently have more males then females, is that okay if I want to start breeding them? My dad has attached extra wire along the bottom, and down the bottom of the sheeting I have placed scrunched up balls of mesh in all the holes. I have noticed though that there is a 1-2 centimeter gap under each door and I am unsure about how to fix this, there are these long log things you can place along the bottom of a door to stop the cold coming in, I was thinking of buying those, just outdoor ones instead. Thankyou KAZ Hahaha aaaa I just re-read your reply, I didn't read the part about the mesh properly, yes the tin is a good idea, I shall have to tell my dad about it, i'll just grab some more aluminium sheeting, that's what the walls are.

Hello everyone, This is my new aviary, its 4m across and 3m long and is currently home to 27 budgies and 3 king quails. I was wondering if anyone could tell me how many I could comfortably house in it? Thankyou

Hello everyone, I am after some help with my 2 budgies, I am not 100% sure on their sexes Ive just been guessing. This is Boomba, I am guessing a female This is Tick, I'm guessing a male by the behaviour. Thankyou to anyone who can help me Kristy

Hahahahaha thats great

Okay....sorry I've taken so long to reply, been a bit busy. The other day I went and switched all my budgies around, the 4 quarantining are now in the small brown cage, and there is 9 in the big black cage, and 10 in the white. I took most of the old branches out of the cages and replaced them with new ones, and I placed them in a way that they have to fly to get to each branch, i.e running horizontal with eachother. It's improved their movement a lot, most of them fly from branch to branch, while a couple i.e the fat one, haven't worked up the courage to yet. But all in all theyr doing well This is the two fat ones, the grey and white and the blue and white beside him. I've recently named him Sir Chubbalot This is the salad I made for them, but it went funny rather quick, so I've decided to give one vege to them a day, i.e Monday Spinach, Tuesday Silverbeet, Wed Corn etc etc .