Drogo

Nice looking cages Ange. I keep canaries so I know how useful those drinker holes in the cage fronts can be. I wish all my cages had them.

Welcome to the forum Ange

Cheers Jimmy

How long have you been a member of the forum for? About two years. How long have you kept budgies for? About 10 years but then I stopped. Right now I am considering whether the budgerigar show scene is for me. What is your favorite mutation? Dilutes. I used to be really into Clearwings but heavily suffused Dilutes are now at the top of my list. Blue or Green Series? Blue but Dilute Light Green is such a beautiful variety. How many birds do you keep at the moment? About 50 show canaries, no budgerigars. What do you prefer Pet or Show type? Show type without contest. I remember when I first saw the "English" budgerigars in the 1990s. Eventually I started to upgrade my birds to the Exhibition type but study got in the way and I didn't have the time or the facilities. I sold the lot, but no regrets. What got you into budgies? I always have been into birds. I read a few books and budgerigars looked like the best beginners bird being colourful, easy to keep and breed.

Budgerigars are on page 14, but like every other Australian parrot you can't import them because there are no importation protocols in place. Isn't keeping our native parrots safe from exotic diseases a good enough reason? The daff paper below gives an explanation as to why the imports were stopped: http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.daff.gov.au%2F__data%2Fassets%2Fpdf_file%2F0013%2F12046%2F99-090a.pdf&ei=h4yxUrSJEsKekQW_k4CADg&usg=AFQjCNHTS14mGlphym22rklsXBetvZ5oug&sig2=1C9c19g_E1I3PK5GAlAAKA&bvm=bv.58187178,d.dGI

No you can't. Lutino is a sex linked trait, not recessive If you breed two lutinos together you will only get lutinos and possibly some albinos as well if both the lutinos are split for blue.

Where did you learn this? I have never heard of an opaline clearwing being called a self. I believe I picked it up in conversation but as far as book references go Budgerigars by Cyril Rodgers explains the term.

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Ha ha, I think the name "black eyed self" should be scrapped because "self" is also a name for opaline clearwings, which also have black eyes.

Because no matter how many new names are invented I will always call them Light Yellows.

Congrats Wayne

Might be worth seeing if they will air freight them to your nearest airport. Be generous, the Melbourne branch of Australian Air Express is a long drive from Pakenham. http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/pakenham/birds/champion-bloodline-black-eyed-yellow-club-rung-budgies-splits/1023815184

All I can say is good luck with your search. I am a little surprised no-one has anything to say on the possibility of creating a cinnamon dilute strain. I don't show birds so I don't know if it is currently acceptable to have cinnamon in black eyed selfs. Ordinary dilutes are much easier to find than blackeyed selfs as clearwing breeders often have them. A British author of the 1950s (Watmough) mentioned that cinnamon made the task of breeding whites of light suffusion much easier. Unfortunately he found that cinnamon took away from the depth of body colour in light yellows. Grey cinnamon whites had the least suffusion followed by cinnamon skyblue whites. Obviously at least two breeding seasons would be needed when starting with grey cinnamon cocks and white dilute hens.

Didn't know there was a Buxton in NSW.

So you mean the varieties I call "Light yellows" and "Whites of light suffusion". I have never kept them, only dilutes (heavily suffused whites) in pet quality birds. I think you already know that you need to start out with a pair of dark eyed selfs. It is very unlikely that any of your birds are split for the dark eyed self. Even if they were, historically, outcrossing to normals split for this variety produced suffusion on the body, which is not what you want. You will have to put the legwork in, ringing up budgerigar clubs for contacts and be willing to travel to pick up stock. There is no easy answer, sourcing rare varieties often involves considerable effort and expense. Perhaps you will get lucky and find a breeder in your local club.

I add aviclens to the water.

Hi amum4children, I have bred a male Exhibition budgerigar to a small pet type hen without problems. Egg size is controlled by the female's body not the male's. The size of the male is irrelevant. Regards

Hi A'SHAAR 1. Build or buy a transport box. 2. Weigh and measure said box with birds inside as well as seed on the floor and water in a secured drinker. 3. Ring up Australian Air Express and check flight availability. Book a direct flight only. Book a day that is good for you to drive to the Brisbane airport and whoever is picking the birds up from Sydney Airport. 4. Drop the birds off at Australian Air Express. There is always an extra 10% charge on the day.

Hi Pernambuquitos, There is no ban on keeping budgerigars in Australia. No license is required to keep budgerigars under any Australian law that I am aware of. Regards

Great set-up and pretty looking birds. I like the gumtree branches, I find they are a great way to keep budgerigars entertained.

Thanks Birdlove and Budgie_Mad

Hello all, I have really enjoyed reading about the budgerigar show scene on this site so I thought I would share my other hobby. I hope you enjoy the pics, there appear to be some fun differences between Canary Showing and Budgerigar Showing. For a start the eggs are different: And the hobby is split into different breeds with different shapes and sizes: Australian Plainhead Border Fancy Crest Crestbred Frill Gloster Corona Lizard Red Lizard Mosaic (Dimorphic) Norwich Silver Opal possibly Silver Opal Agate Red Black Red Factor Rose Stafford Yorkshire I hope you liked the pics.

Edited to say there are actually two species of Vasa parrots.

The link between birds and dinosaurs has been explored elsewhere. I am interested in the origins of the Budgerigar, Australian Parrots and when parrots seperated from other seedeating birds. The Budgerigar appears to share a common ancestor with lorikeets. Here is a phylogram, look for Melopsittacus undulatus: http://www.ncbi.nlm....85/figure/fig2/ Here is a quote from the same article on the origins of parrots. The ancestors of parrots are currently thought to have been a generalised tree dwelling species of bird. One living parrot species, the Vasa parrot, still has some primative features. The Australasian part of Gondwana seems to have been the ancestral home of early parrot species.

I know they are too far away, but you might appreciate the pictures: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/vermont-south/birds/english-budgerigars-for-sale/1021113425