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Drogo

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Posts posted by Drogo

  1. 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.

  2. It looks like every other Aussie native parrot is on the list.

     

    Budgerigars are on page 14, but like every other Australian parrot you can't import them because there are no importation protocols in place.

     

    I wonder what the 'real' reason is behind not being able to import.

     

    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

     

    A routine review of the live bird importation program was initiated in 1992, and completed in 1993. The

    review raised some concerns that the importation of live birds presented an unacceptable risk of

    introduction of particular exotic diseases of parrots and related species (psittacine birds) and BRS was

    commissioned to undertake a review of relevant literature in 1994.

    In light of incomplete knowledge on certain diseases of psittacine birds, and with a lack of definitive

    methods for testing imported birds for the presence of these diseases, AQIS suspended importation of live

    psittacine birds in 1995. The decision was generally supported by veterinary respondents and the Bureau

    of Resource Sciences.

  3. So if that didn't help, think about this. Although the parents are both lutinos, you could still have a Cobalt as that may be the dominant gene .....

     

    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.

  4. 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.

     

    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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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:

     

    Eggs.jpg

     

     

    And the hobby is split into different breeds with different shapes and sizes:

     

    Australian Plainhead

     

    ChampionPlainhead2013Nationals_zpsd02f167d.jpg?t=1370853939

     

    e06a60ed-583a-43f6-8ae7-0f0f9d5c5248_zps0203dff5.jpg?t=1370786273

     

    13f6cf91-19a4-4ea0-bd1b-355001f0811b_zps615ea3e7.jpg?t=1370770260

     

    Border Fancy

     

    Noviceborder_zpsa2955251.jpg?t=1370849034

     

    Crest

     

    Crest2_zpsf8675325.jpg?t=1370848588

     

    Crest_zpscd3d109c.jpg?t=1370848747

     

    Crestbred

     

    Crestbred_zps5d70ded0.jpg?t=1370853140

     

    Frill

     

    Frill_zps56753faa.jpg?t=1370857151

     

    Gloster Corona

     

    Corona_zps229a2142.jpg?t=1370852442

     

    Lizard

     

    Lizard-2_zps314a6563.jpg?t=1370849460

     

    Red Lizard

     

    RedLizard_zps2c721e65.jpg?t=1370853386

     

    Mosaic (Dimorphic)

     

    Championmosaic_zpsd68adf18.jpg?t=1370852140

     

    Norwich

     

    Cinnamon2013_zps8ef6fb8d.jpg?t=1370788140

     

    Silver Opal possibly Silver Opal Agate

     

    Opalsilver_zpscd322a80.jpg?t=1370771352

     

    Red Black

     

    RedBlack_zps5f31c2a9.jpg?t=1370849352

     

    Red Factor

     

    220ce97f-2d92-4de5-85d8-acc9d7e33be1_zpsb02fa6e1.jpg?t=1370852938

     

    Rose

     

    Mutation_zpsbb6af9c6.jpg?t=1370854715

     

     

    Stafford

     

    Stafford_zpsc5341474.jpg?t=1370847501

     

    Yorkshire

     

    ClearYorkshire_zps9cdb763e.jpg?t=1370853671

     

    I hope you liked the pics.

  9. 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.

     

    Taken together, our results support a Cretaceous origin of Psittaciformes in Gondwana...

     

    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.

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