Kiwigal67

Hi Thanks - that was the other term - going light. What can be done to help/fix this please? Does charcoal help? NO Go to an avian vet. Get him tested. Megabacteria is serious and generic remedies wont help in this case if its mega. VET is the answer you need in this case. Thanks - I have let her know plus other articles I have found regarding megabacteria.

Hi Thanks - that was the other term - going light. What can be done to help/fix this please? Does charcoal help?

Hi - Not sure what this is called but a very experienced English Budgie breeder has just had 3 budgies who have "gone thin". When you hold them you can feel their chest bones. Can anyone please advise what this is, what causes it and how it is treated. Her budgies died last week even though they were eating and looked fine. Many thanks for your help.

Yes, I know I don't need to crop feed because they are self-sufficent but these chicks aren't eating the mashed food. The weaker quail is just curling up it hasn't got to its feet. I have put their beaks into a teaspoon of water careful not to get them wet but I can't get any food into them. I've tried tapping the food but the stronger chick keeps snuggling into me and the weaker one just lies on the floor.

I am in a tiz so have put this on the other forum and copied it here too as I need help. I have just had a crash course in crop feeding 8 very young budgie chicks but now need to crop feed day old Chinese Pained Button Quail chicks. The long version... This is Sarah's second year breeding and she is a very good mum but for some reason this clutch of 12 eggs she kept putting eggs out of the nest and in again over the hatching period. Saturday 8 Jan I found 3 eggs in the bottom of the hutch and she laid an egg each day thereafter. She still had her previous clutch as they were only 1 week old when she started laying, earliest she has ever done. They eggs sat on the floor until she bundled them up and started sitting on the 9th egg on Friday 14th Jan so I made her due about Sunday 30th Jan when her chicks were 4.5 weeks old. She hadn't hatched by then I moved her previous clutch to another aviary (usually they get moved about 4-5 weeks as Timmy the Dad starts chasing them around the hutch, but Sarah was a lot earlier laying) On Friday 4 Feb when I was checking on them before getting the kids from school I saw one yellow chick in front of her. She moved off the nest and there was a little brown one too. I checked again later at 5pm and there were 2 brown and 1 yellow chick. Last time she hatched 5 chicks on Friday and 1 on Saturday from her 6 eggs so I checked again yesterday but no more chicks. Today is day 20 from the last egg was laid so they should've all hatched by now. When I went down this afternoon I found an egg away from the nest with a hole in it and could see a chick! I peeled a bit of egg away but no movement so threw it in a rubbish container. Since Sarah wasn't sitting on the eggs anymore I thought I might as well see what was in the other 9 eggs. The next 2 were chicks and the third was just yolk so I stopped opening them and ran the chicks inside. I looked on the internet and have made a quick incubator with a heatpad, flannel, lamp and put towels around the cage with water in a container for moisture. I rubbed the chicks trying to dry them with a tissue as their feathers were very wet and have only seen dry feather chick babies when Sarah hatches them. One of the chicks I hatched still had an egg sac attached and it died. One chick is very strong and the other is weaker. I can't see how to feed them. I have water on a teaspoon and carefully dip their beak into it and they drink but I read to put starter food down dry and tap it so the chicks learn to tap to eat but they aren't doing that either. I have a small syringe and putting water starter food on their beak but their beaks are so small it won't fit. I have tried a toothpick with the budgie chicks but the food scraped off before I got it in the beak. What should I do with the remaining eggs as I tried candling but the shells are very thick and I can't tell if there is a chick or yolk in them. Should I leave the eggs tonight (6.47pm now) and crack them tomorrow so I can feed them during my day? Any ideas please? Many thanks

Looks like an albino male to me too. I had one similar and his eyes were so dark that I couldn't see the red in them but he was proven by breeding to be albino Thanks for the confirmation Neville. I have found photos of the original birds the day I bought them. I also had an Albino female but the rat got her earlier this year. This is the photo of the albino female (1 year old) and Marvin as I bought them as a pair (If I had known genetics then I would have quite happily paired these two up!!!!!!!!!!) This is Snowflake and Ma when I bought them - also 1 year olds. The main problem being is the bird on the left is the now Albino male and the bird on the right (with deformed feet) is Ma, Double Factor spangle mum. So without knowing these birds histories - what genetics are these three white birds please? Sorry to keep going on about these white birds but I am confused as to when this Albino male came along. He had a brownish cere when I got them as you can see but in later photos I have he is definitely an Albino male as his cere is same as now. Are these birds younger than 1 year when I got them or is something wrong with the Albino's cere? Many thanks

My daughters said yes please for the rat forum. Many thanks. I don't touch the rats myself - but the girls are right into them, walk around the house with the rats on their shoulders or sit on their bed reading with the rats running all over them! I got some mice for the girls younger brothers to look after but they weren't interested and I wasn't too keen and the girls too busy with rats so that didn't work out. One of my boys helps out with the rats though.

No........female Thanks Kaz - Guess the bluish cere threw me!

Now I am really worried thought perhaps I had taken photos of the wrong bird and got confused so hubbie and I went out to the Aviary this morning to check all four white birds. Snow is supposed to be the Albino male (he came with a white legring on him), Ma and Snowflake were 2 of 3 females I bought from the same aviary (I put a yellow legring on one left leg and a yellow leging on the others right leg - looks like Snowflake has lost the legring) and then baby is the fourth one. Photos of all below. This is Snow the Albino male - I swear his eyes were red but today when we took photos he and Snowflake look exactly the same, except Adam reckons Snowflake has a colour to the cheek patches - both have eyes that aren't black but a darkish colour - could it be dark pink? Do Albino's eyes change colour through the season? SNOW SNOWFLAKE MA (not a good photo but I definitely know that she is a she!!!) And this is her baby - boy, I presume? And a Double Factor Spangle male? So there they all are together! Just when I thought I knew the obvious birds and what genetics they are - I am thrown a curve ball eh??? So what are your valued opinions please?

Hello - No red eyes. They are dark - not sure if plum or not as I can't tell the difference but as you can see has white around the eye. Many thanks

I thought she is a Double Factor Spangle but she hasn't come into season and her cere hasn't changed colour, at all. I got Ma (Double Factor Spangle) and Martha (Cobalt Violet Opaline) at the same time and they both have brown crusty ceres and have had chicks.

Thank you - what a relief. I just thought - now what!!!

I have been reading and searching for over an hour but can only find - I haven't had a problem with moths - so not sure if there is an answer anywhere or not! I just cleaned out the untreated Rimu/Matai Wood Shavings from the Cockatiel nestbox and found one moth in it. I put the wool blanket over the nesting box on colder nights as I lost 2 chicks during a cold snap just to keep them warmer. This is an outside entrance to the house up one side of the house and for some reason the wind comes straight in on the cage - the winds roar from the back of the house and go past the door or rage from the sea side front of the house (2 blocks away) and go past the door. Not sure if the moth came from the wool blanket or not but it is inside the nesting box. The chicks fledged a few days ago and noticed the mum wasn't about today so decided to change the nesting material. Any tips on what I need to keep the moths away. I saw a thread with ideas for seed bins and breeding areas but this isn't the same. Many thanks

Cool - thank you. I will put the icecream container in for them tonight. Emilia and Roxie are due to fledge very soon as they are sitting in the hole of the nestbox. Then I can get the nestbox out before Coco lays too many eggs!

Thanks. Now I need to have patience and wait for next breeding season hmmmmm. Just going through the stock and seeing what we want to keep and then what we can pair up. Thanks to Neville we have got right into the genetics.