Rich

The mutation is grey, the only thing affecting the shade of grey is the dark factors carried by the bird ie. none, one, or two. If the bird carries no dark factors then it would be a light shade of grey. If it carried one dark factor it would be a slightly darker shade and if it carried two dark factors it would be the darkest shade of grey. Same for green or blue birds. No dark factors=Skyblue or light green, one dark factor=Cobalt or Dark Green and two dark factors=Mauve or Olive. The cinnamon-wing factor also reduces the body colour to a paler shade which I think would be the case with your light grey hen.In your case, unless you know the parents of your birds it makes it hard to categorically say one way or the other, you will have to breed them back to normals and see what you get in the nest. I'm sure others may have easier explanations or can even add to this but I hope this helps and doesn't confuse you even further!

A few more photos of some of my birds, geez it's hard to get good photos, they don't sit still for long enough!

Hi Kaj, for what it's worth I have had a cock bird suddenly die for no apparent reason before while in the breeding cage and the hen successfully raised the four chicks on her own without a problem. I agree, just wait and see. I don't think there is need for panic at this stage. Keep the food and water available and just keep a close eye on them. I too would not suggest introducing other birds, this would just cause problems. Good luck!

First one is a greygreen spangle, second grey cock (really need to see his wings) looks like normal grey and yes hen is skyblue, the third light grey hen is cinnamonwing, number 4 looks like a normal grey hen and the lucky last yes looks like a lutino, the eyes will tell the story, they should be red. Does anyone else have any opinions???

Robyn, unfortunately the father of these chicks isn't split ino so I haven't got any red eyes but any cocks will be split so I will have to wait until I can breed with them in the future to see red eyes in the nest . Thanks Budgie-Mad, I love them at this stage too!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. Thanks Robyn, I am aware of toxic plants and have chosen to select plants in any case that when fully grown shouldn't get any closer than around half a metre to the mesh itself. I still want to be able to physically get around the outside of the aviary for maintenance purposes and cleaning. In any case I intend to keep it clear all the way round while still having the garden surrounding it. That's the plan anyway!

I have built a few aviaries over the years and tried to improve on each one as I worked out what were good and bad points as well as what it was I was after as far as ease of keeping clean and how it looked asthetically. To me an aviary is more than just a cage with a few birds in it, I wanted something that was somewhat pleasing to the eye and fitted in to the whole garden picture or was part of the garden so to speak. This is a photo of my aviary which I completed about a year ago now. In time when all the plants grow up around it I am hoping it slowly becomes part of the garden as intended. It measures 4metres long x 2metres deep x 2.2metres high.

Chicks from Normal Cobalt cock x Lutino hen

Hi and welcome Rob and Sarah! You have a lot to look forward to with these little birds. They are amazing little creatures that's for sure and they can bring so much enjoyment to your life. At least you have a head start having Robyn as your mum, she'll be able to provide you with plenty of tips as will many members on this site. Best of luck and enjoy!

Last egg hatched this morning in the Lutinos nest, all 5 hatched successfully!

Hi Nadene, I have one hen in particular who has plucked the feathers of every chick she's had! To date every one of them (which is about 10 so far) have grown all of their feathers back no problem to the point you would never know they were without half their feathers upon leaving the nest. She continues to raise them to fledging without a problem so I just keep a close eye on them, otherwise she is a good mother. Hopefully yours turns out to be the same! Good Luck!

Thanks Robyn, today another chick hatched from the Lutino hens clutch so that's four from her at this stage with one more egg still remaining. Hopefully you get some chicks from your Albino, with 8 eggs you've got a pretty good chance anyway! You'll have to keep us posted.

Thought I would document the progress of the most recent chicks in my breeding cages this month for the first time. I have in cage no.1 a Normal cobalt cock x Lutino hen and in cage no. 2 a normal light green/blue cock x greygreen spangle hen. The cobalt cock is a bird I purchased about 2 years ago but have not bred until now. The Lutino hen is a chick from 2010 which I have not bred before either, so looking forward to some split ino cocks that I can pair with blue series hens in the future as I have no albino birds in my aviary as yet. The light green/blue cock and the greygreen spangle hen are chicks from previous years that I also haven't bred with yet so I am looking forward to what appears in the nestbox. Both pairs have successfully hatched 3 chicks each so far and all is well, with the oldest of the chicks being 10 days old. I will try and post a few photos here over the next few weeks if I can get the hang of it to show their progress.......bare with me!

Hi Kiru, How old is the chick?? Sorry Kiru, my bad just realised the age of the chicks was in the heading of your topic.....sorry! Try viewing this for some useful tips, it may help. I feel your pain but unfortunately sometimes when this happens you just have to let nature take its course. I would recommend if you want to breed your budgies the best way to avoid these problems is to remove the nest boxes from your aviary and only pair up the mature pairs you would like to breed from in separate breeding cages. That way you won't get the young immature budgies breeding and the breeding pairs won't have their nests raided by other hens. Hope this helps. Good luck

Correct Dave, I pointed this out in my reply too. I think they are in an aviary breeding situation, is that correct June?

I agree with KAZ, if you have to be changing the nest box I would be removing the existing box altogether and putting your new box in the exact same position after transferring the chicks. The hen is always going to go back to the same spot looking for chicks. If this is not possible then I wouldn't be trying to change things now! Best of luck!!

Welcome June, it is impossible to get normal chicks from parents that are both opaline. Are they in an aviary with other pairs or paired up in individual breeding cages? If they are in an aviary together with other breeding pairs the true parents of the chicks cannot be guaranteed, someones been playing around!!

My thoughts exactly! We get so much pleasure watching our birds on the aviary floor, have wire to the ground and have never had a mice or snake problem. Maybe just lucky, but I think good hygiene practice is a big step towards keeping mice away and as far as snakes go, if they are a problem where he lives then he may have to think about preventative measures otherwise see how it goes. The best way to learn is to get out there and have a go, I dare say this will not be the last aviary he ever builds just a stepping stone to things bigger and better!

Is he locally bred ? I actually spotted him in an aviary at a local pet store while I was there getting some roudybush for a chick we are hand rearing at the moment. From the research I have done he is a bird from Mike Gearing, his leg ring is WA MG2- purple so is 2011 bird(please correct me if I'm wrong ) He didn't break the bank so I'm willing to try him out.

I knew that would get a mention after taking the photo , rest assured he is situated well away from my aviary stock. The other bird you can see has gone elsewhere and is in his own quarantine environment now. You have a keen eye KAZ!! Thank you and yes he is a lovely boy!

Couple of photos of my new big boy! Grey green opaline cock, Got him yesterday. He's in quarantine at the moment, getting used to his new surroundings.Hope these photos are big enough to see. Just learning photobucket. Maybe this is a bit better!!

Welcome Laurie-Anne, I'm new here too, lots of info on here about anything budgies! Your budgie is definitely a hen as she has a brown cere. Mutation.........maybe mauve greywing?? My guess only! Probably wrong......... Anyone else???? One thing is for sure you will definitely know by the end of this thread. There are some very experienced breeders on here who will be able to give you a more definite answer. Cheers Have fun roaming the boards!

Hi KAZ , it's a small world we live in! A couple of the names you mentioned ring a bell, I have bought birds from Wilma before in the past, few years ago now. I have known Wilma for years as I went to school with one of her daughters and used to hang out at their house in my early teens and younger. My brother still lives in Geraldton and dad did to till he passed away 2 yrs ago....we still have to sell Dads house on Brand Hwy. We've lived in Geraldton now for 10 years, we like it here and have no plans to leave any time soon. Houses haven't been easy to sell of late but hopefully things get better soon, same as a lot of places I guess....

Thanks Splat, looking forward to conversing with other budgie breeders and learning new things. With regards to my birds, my understanding is that my light green spangle cock would be the one masking the ino gene as it is sex linked and the hen cannot mask it. My hen is a yellow double factor spangle, not lutino as she has the dark eyes. If she carried the ino gene she would show it with red eyes?? In the nest we have 3 x lutino(red eyes), 1 x Yellow DF Spangle(dark eyes) and 1 x Grey green spangle. Whether or not the hen were ino, she wouldn't cause it to show up in the chicks anyway, she could only make her sons be split for it. So it is definitely the dad who is split to ino. Oops! Forgot to add: Welcome to the forum, Rich. Thanks Finnie.....as I thought.

I would agree with this..