budgiefinchfinatic

Sorry i forgot to add i've sold nearly all of the birds i've bred probably have about 1 ive kept. Ive picked up mature ones from different petshops and people who were selling them privately, from the markets and a couple from a breeder - who wasn't to keen to share his knowledge which i can understand. Should've been more specific. I haven't been breeding bloodlines IE. brother and sister etc. well as far as I know. Tax time can't come quick enough and the bird room and other aviarys are on top of the list. Convincing the WIFE now thats another matter -I think I'll just go ahead and build them then apologise and take my punishment. At least theyll be there. WOW! Blown away! GB. That was inciteful and very helpful - THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I'm so grateful for the information I don't like doing things in halves. I've now got direction YEEHAA! THANKS!

Hi everyone a new member here - I'll try to make the post/question as brief and descriptive as possible. okay just brought a house -- it had to happen birds are in my blood. I have two aviarys so far 1 for budgies 1 for finches + about three more aviarys to come. Wasn't going to breed budgies again but i suddenly wound up with a pair and now i have four breeding pairs and have bred numerous babies but have ran into some problems. I have just about read every forum and researched every website plus read a lot of books too but want some hard and fast advice from people who live birds just not breed them cause I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the information. As we all know budgies dont breed by textbooks and given orders they breed how they want to breed. LOL okay heres my aviary description 1.5 metres by 1.5 by 1.8 high cement base. More than double the amount of nestboxes than the pairs i have ie. 10 all about the same height with all the entrances facing away from each other about 40cms apart. Aviary gets plenty of sunlight. Nestbox size H 15cm x W 15cm x L 21cm with a concave in the middle. No nesting material provided. Food provided so far and supplements. Budgie mix from local produce place Iodine bells Calcium bells Cuttlebone Aviance science liquid calcium supplement put in drinking water Avi-Drops - multivitam concentrate put in drinking water Shell Grit Heres my questions. 1. Ive read a lot on the internet that just feeding budgie mix is bad. If so what vegetables/pellets/ adatives do you feed your budgies??? If i get a definite list of actual foods members feed there budgies I can try all the recomended till I find ones they eat. 2. Egg and biscuit mixture? YES or NO - i give it to my finches they recommend on the packet to mix it with water but my finches wont touch it mixed with water they only eat it dry. 3. Is there anything special needed to feed the parents while they a rearing the young? 4. I have an average of about 2 - 3 grow to fledge out of the nest. Sometimes a few birds have died in the nest - chicks about 5 days old. The mother feeds them there is food in the crop but theres always one budgie that ends up being about twice the size of the others due to the fact they lay about every second day so hes got a head start. Could it be that the larger budgie is being greedy and demanding all the food? Could it be the baby is being squashed by the larger one? The birds as far as i can tell have not been harmed by the parents in anyway. I have read somewhere when I was younger I think in a book or somewhere that breeders would take out the eggs and replace them with fake eggs until the hen was sitting on the eggs then put the real eggs back in the nest. From what I have read this is quite common among canary breeders so they all hatch and grow at the same time taking out the dominant greedy bird is it a good idea???? YAY or NAY. 5.Nesting material? YES or NO - if so what type shavings - sawdust???? I've read mostly nothing with a concave bottom so that eggs don't roll is the best and heard negative comments about sawdust. Whats the general concenus on the forum. 6. Whats the best size nestbox? From what i've read mine is an average size just wanting to know if anyones had better results with smaller one. I think thats about it. Sorry to post all the questions but I think you can get consumed with information and it confuses you to the point you think your going crazy which clearly I have. PS. I also have an egg candler and candle the eggs and remove the infertile ones. Also all my birds are unrelated as far as i know. As soon as tax time comes I am constructing another aviary to house upaired birds/juviniles and down the track I am going to make a bird breeding room in my shed but for now the aviary has to do. Any constructive critisism and advice would be HUGELY appreciated MANY MANY MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE Aaron "I haven't failed I've just found a 1000 ways that don't work"