The Black Doctor

LOL - thanks GB. I might have to get my kids to share a room while my cousin's here so he can sleep in one of their rooms or, as you said, he'll have to deal with it!!

I have a pair with 4 chicks ranging in age from 17 days - 9 days old. The birds are in a room which gets used by my kids to play/watch TV etc., but is pretty quiet in there during weekdays. I have recently changed my avairy so I have an area sectioned off for my breeding cabinets (no other birds in this area). My cousin is arriving in 8 days to stay with us for a couple of weeks and we were going to put him up in the room the birds are in. Between the parents and the chicks, they are quite noisy now! I'm wondering if I should move the birds into the new section in the avairy or whether this will upset them too much. So far I have had no beahvioural issues and the parents seem to be doing a great job raising the chicks. Everything is going really well, but I'm wondering if I'll upset the apple cart if I move them. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If you're buying from a pet shop, then I wouldn't pay more than $30 - $35, but depending on where you are, you may be able to get one for around $15 - $25.

Thanks Robyn - someone mentioned the same thing re: the gunky feet - all good now!

Thanks Kaz - can you elaborate on which mutations you can identify early on by the colour of the tailpins?

Welcome to the forum Ixion - hope you enjoy it.

Not sure what happened with that link Jimmy, but yes you're right, it's Daz's thread. Try this link: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=11715

Thanks everyone. So, Kax, how do you know it's not blue and what's with the white down = opaline? As I asked previously, is there anywhere I can find out what I need to look for (i.e. colour of down, pin feathers etc.) in order to work out what colour and variety my chicks are?

Thanks Dave - the nesting boxes are 250mm high, 220mm deep and 220mm wide. I went off the specs on this thread: What size do you use?

Thanks Dean - yes, I though I might get a comment about that, but I removed it after taking the photos! Will post some pics in the next few days when they colour up a bit more.

LOL - Well then you've done six years more than me!

I posted this on the 'Breeders Chat' forum, but haven't had any responses, so I'm trying again here! I think this is a female and is blue series (maybe mauve) - parents are: dark green opaline cock and albino hen Thanks in advance. Also, I notice quite regularly people referring to the colour of the middle two pin feathers as an indication of what colour/variety the chick is. Is there anywhere on this site that lists what the different colour pin feathers mean in relation to the various colours/varieties?

Lentradirect is where I got mine - $12.95 each. No postage to pay for me as they're located about 5 mins. walk from my work - very handy! Thanks Buick_87. I ended up attaching a bit of 2 x1 to the side of the boxes and used horseshoe nails and staples to attach them. It worked out quite well, although I only got one finished. The screw and washer idea soungs good though - I might try that on the next boxes, which I will do this week. I moved the completed one into my shed before taking any photos, but I'll put some up when I make my next one.

I think corriander especially might have too strong a flavour for budgies. Welcome to the forum Papa Doc Duvalier - good to see another 'Doc' here!

No worries at all Buick_87. I cut my timber for my breeding boxs yesterday and I'm about to go and put them together. Just a couple of questions if you don't mind. How are you attaching your wire fronts to your boxes? (I've got exactly the same cage fronts as you by the way!) I bought some staples and thought I'd try and nail them on. Hopefully this works and I don't have to go back to Bunnings and buy the staple gun! I'm also using some sheet metail to make the trays - what are you using? I'm not actually going to use a 'border' around where the bottom of the cage front is - I'm just going to bend the sheet metal to make a big lip at the front, then do smaller lips at the back and sides. I'm going to set my cage fronts so they sit above the top of the box, so I can then attach my nesting boxes to them (I'm using small hooks screwed into the front of the nesting boxes. How are going to attach yours?

I hope your hen recovers and your chicks get fed okay Finnie. All the best.

Here are some pictures of the nesting boxes I made As I mentioned, I used 9mm plyboard for the base and the sides and 7mm plyboard for the sides and top. I just used PVA glue and panel pins (small nails) to piece it all together. I cut the hole using a 50mm drill bit, drilled a smaller hole a stuck the dowel through so it rested about half way, so half the dowel is inside the box and half outside. I've used MDF for the sliding back door, but I'm going to replace it with 4mm plyboard as I've since discovered MDF is not safe I then cut a slide-out piece of 19mm pine board which I cut a concave into. I still have to attach a piece of plyboard at the back to provide a safety so the eggs or chicks don't fall out if they're up against the back door. I cut down some old fly screen frames to use as my sliders for the back door. This allowed me to use thinner, lighter wood for the sides, as I didn't have to go to the trouble of routing the sides. Anyway - that's how I did it! Next task is to build my breeding boxes.

Took some pics this morning of the chicks. I think the oldest is a cock bird, but it's my first attempt at sexing a chick at this age, so feel free to shoot me down! I also think the two eldest chicks are blue series, but once again any advice would be appreciated! I cleaned out the nesting box and put some oats (I think there the instant ones so I'll check and see if they're okay), some seed and millet in there. Here we go... By the way - my dogs fine, running around like a lunatic!

Buick_87 - have a look at this thread, I found it useful when designing and building my breeding cabinets and nesting boxes http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=11715 The nesting boxes on page 2 are a bit of overkill if you ask me. I used 9mm plyboard for the base and the sides and 7mm plyboard for the sides and top. I then have a slide-out piece of 19mm pine board which I cut a concave into. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I bought the timber for my breeding cabinets and nursery last weekend and will start construction this weekend.

Thanks Sunnie - hopefully she's okay when I get home. Sometimes the poison kicks in after you pull the ticks out. They start panting heavily and get a bit wobbly in the back legs.

Robyn - I had 6 eggs, 5 fertile, then lost one chick so I now have 4. Ran out of time this morning to take photos as our dog had 2 paralysis ticks - one is her ear and one on her bottom eyelid. Got them out okay though. She had one last year and we ended up having to spent $$$ for anti-venom - bast&*d things!

Surely that's a double-yoker!

Another chick arrived a couple of days ago. The oldest and second oldest chicks are both ringed and have dark blue/purple coloured feathers coming through on their wings. So the dark green cock appears to be split blue. I'll get some photos up shortly.

Soory to hear about your fallow hen Sunnie, but congratulations on your fallow chick from the two splits.

Another chick arrived yesterday and all three had full crops and were healthy this morning. I attempted to put my first ring on on Saturday, which took some effort (I didn't want to hurt the poor little thing!). Getting it over that shortest back toe is difficult! The chick was only 5 days old, so I believe that's a good sign, as I might have a good sized chick - unluess it was my inexperience! Anyway, I checked later that afternoon and the ring had come off. So I put it back on again yesterday and it was still on this morning. All appears to be going well and hopefully there'll be another chick tomorrow.