The Black Doctor

Well, the last egg got smashed as well. I think it was the young male, but I'm not sure. Both birds are now in the aviary and I'll wait for a month or so before trying to breed again. Hopefully some of my females will be ready by then, the memories of recent unsavioury events will have faded and my interest in breeding again will be renewed.

Thanks for the comments guys. It's certainly been a testing week or so. I haven't got many females left and most are too young to breed with, so this year might be a very frugal one as far as breeding goes.

Well I've had the most disastrous week! After the first 'accident' with one of the eggs, 5 more were laid, however, another 4 ended up broken. I noticed some rat droppings on top of the breeding cabinet, so I'm guessing the rats may have spooked the birds and caused this. I've now put some more talon in the area where the breeding cabinets are and had intended to seal up some of the very small holes in my aviary and breeding area this weekend. Then I went to check on the birds yesterday afternoon and discovered a carpet python curled up on the shelf in the aviary. I did a qucik check of my birds and noticed one of my best cocks, a gret spangle was missing! I caught the snake and when I was putting it a bag, I noticed two lumps in the snake not one. I did another check of the birds and much to my dismay the snake had also got my cobalt violet opaline hen. My kids were in tears! F*&($* snakes!

GB - I think it was an accident. She doesn't seem stressed or anything, just a bit jumpy intitially when we were first checking the eggs. We're not checking as frequently now either, just every 2 days, and taking care when we do so. I also took the violet opaline hen and the dminant pied skyblue cock out of the breeding cabinet a week or so ago, as I realised she's not 12 months old (try again in April/May, as she was born in March last year). I got her mixed up with another hen that was born in November 2009!

Kaz - yes I always gently tap on the nestbox before opening it - the hen is now getting used to this. My daughter is doing most of the feeding and cleaning now and may have startled them. We're both much more cautious now when we're checking the nestbox. Dave - you could be right, he quite a character and is younger than the hen. Hopefully, the rest of the eggs remain intact.

Thanks GB. Over the weekend and we found a broken egg and a new one (unless the new one broke?). The hen does get rather flusted when we go to check the nest - maybe she got a bit edgy and cracked one. I haven't candled any eggs yet - waiting for the next one. They have been continuing to mate, so hopefully there are more fertile eggs on the way.

Thanks Amy - both birds are from GenericBlue. The cobalt cock bird is a real character too. They now have 3 eggs.

Following on from the topic I started a while ago : http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=29725&st=20&p=359490&hl=rocky&fromsearch=1entry359490 , I thought I'd just start another one in the right section of the forum - so here it is! I put this pair down on 9/1/11 and they now have 2 eggs in the nest: I'll keep updating the progress of this pair and others I put down this year.

I found this thread very informative: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=9447

Throw away the shovel.

I was told to keep the breeding cabinets outside the avairy as the breeding pair will get disrupted/distracted. I sectioned off an area of my avairy in order to have a breeding room. The avairy is now smaller, but still has plenty of room and I now have a breeding area that the aviary birds can't get into.

Thanks Kaz.

Thanks guys. How long do you normally leave the cock bird in with the babies? I put the last lot of babies in the nursery cage about a week after the last baby fledged, without the cock bird and he and the hen had started their 2nd round. The babies from the 2nd round have all now fledged and are feeding themselves. Do I leave the cock bird in with them, put him back in the flight or put him in a separate cage for a couple of weeks?

If the green normal is spilt blue then you would expect to get greens and blues - approx. 50% would be spangle and 50% normal. However, the cock could also be split for a sex-linked variety such as opaline or cinnamon, so you could end up with some of these if he is split for that variety. You would also get some YF birds as well.

okay - thanks Kaz. So should I leave the cock bird in with her or take him out?

I presume you mean a YF blue spangle? If so, I believe it would then depend on whether the green normal is split for blue. This is not a visual thing, it is something you would have to establish from the parents of the green normal (unless you've bred this bird previously).

I removed an albino hen from her clutch as most of the babies (6) had fledged, due to the fact this clutch was her second in a row and I wanted to give her a rest and stop her from laying any more eggs. She was fine when I moved her. I left the cock bird in with the babies to keep feeding them and put her straight into the flight. The next day she looked to have had a rough night and since then she has not improved. All the other birds in the flight are fine and happy. This may sound wierd, but she looks very sad. Yesterday, I moved her into a hospital cage yesterday and she was very thin - I suspect she has not been eating much. I put the hospital cage next to the cage I have the cock bird and the babies in (which is next to the fligt). I put some brocolli and corn in the cage and she was eating this and some (but not much) seed. The babies are now all fledged, so I have moved the cock bird into the hospital cage with her. A few questions: Has anyone else had this problem? Do you think she may've been missing the cock bird and her babies? Has she gotten so used to having the cock bird feed her that she's just not fed herself? Have I done the right thing in putting the cock bird back in with her? Should I have put her in a separate cage prior to putting her back in the flight?

Good to hear GB. Look forward to seeing some photos.

Well said GB. Osman - as a relative novice myself I can tell you that you REALLY need to READ through all the advice here and only then should you start asking questions. And do A LOT of research before you start breeding.

Hopefully RIPbudgies can fill us in on that Nerwen.

Dave - thanks for the EXCELLENT answers. That really assists me in understanding the genetics better.

Apologies for the size of the photos Dave - I'll have to go back and check my photo reduction settings. Yes, they are recent photos. I thought you had to wait until the cere was dark brown (which has only just happened). I think I'll leave her in there and see how it goes. I'll get the violet hen in the breeding box ASAP. Thanks for the advice. Also, can any confirm the following regarding my first pair (dark green opaline cock x albino hen): I believe the cock must be split cinnamon and the hen is masking grey and opaline. As it appears there are no dd dark factor babies (or I guess the grey greens could be?), would it be reasonable to conclude that the hen is also a DD dark factor, or is this too difficult to work out? I assume all the cocks will be split albino and if I breed them to normal hens, any resulting hens would be albino. Also, the cinnamon baby must be a hen. Is this correct?

Thanks GB. Although, she's already investigating the nesting box after 3 days. Is it too late to swap them around?

So is Jim Hutton incorrect in what he says or was his use of the term 'reversed' merely a simplification of the visual aspect of spangling, due to the fact his explanation is directed at 'beginners'? Anyway, back to the melanin issue. So I presume the amount of melanin produced in a spangle is much less than in a normal and the ground colour 'fills' where the lack of melanin occurs (which I presume is only on the wings)? I guess then in say, a greywing, the level of melanin present is the same as a normal - it's just diluted and is grey instead of black (or brown in the case of a cinnamon)? And the spangle's melanin is reduced to the extent that it remains in a unique pattern around the edges of the wing feathers? Am I close or way off track? So, is it then a fault if a spangle has to little or too much melanin? The bird my daughter bought appears to have very little melanin compared to the other spangles I have.

RIP - so what you're saying is that the amount of melanin (or lack thereof) that creates the 'spangling' effect? And also that the opaline has no effect of the visual 'spangling' of the wings? So in the 'Colours for Beginners' thread (http://forums.budgie...?showtopic=9447) the following about Spangles isn't correct? : In the Green series they have a bright green body colour, however, the wing markings differ from Normals in that the black and yellow wing markings of the Normals are reversed in the Spangle, they are yellow and black instead.