Kaj

Yesterday morning when checking a clutch of 2 babies and two eggs, much to my horror, I accidently damaged one of the eggs with a fingernail. Initially I left the egg with mum after the pure horror of what had just happened. I was left in a quandary - what to do. The egg was expected to hatch at some point over the net three days and in my experience whenever an egg had previously been damaged or dented the baby failed to hatch. I considered 1. leaving the egg with mum (so she could discard it if she considered it would not hatch). 2. Hatching the egg prematurely in case the baby was in distress by the damage. 3. Repairing the egg. I decided on the later so began searching the web for a solution. I only seemed to be able to find repairs for chicken eggs but figured it was worth a try. One suggestion was to use nail polish over the damage but was a bit concerned about the chemicals in it. Another option was to spray on a human band-aid solution that I had, but after a test spray on paper decided the smell would probably knock out the mother and other chicks, so I went for the candle wax option. I was concerned that it maybe too hot for the egg (baby) so did some test runs on my fingers first. Eventually with finger covered in wax, I managed to get few drops on the egg to seal off the damage. This was about an hour after the original damage. I then made a half hearted attempt at candling the egg (looking through the egg in a dark place with a bright light -nothing to do with wax), but saw no movement and so sadly returned the egg to the box. This morning I tried candling the egg again, and in the process discovered it chirping-much to my delight. I returned it to the box and a few hours later it hatched. I'm not sure how much the wax helped or how important the repair within the hour was but I sure plan to use it for any future damaged eggs. Wish I had taken a before photo of the egg but was not expecting it to work. Here is the after hatching photo of the waxed egg

Thanks for joining the discussion Nubbly5 - your expert opinion is very much appreciated. Just to clarify - no.1 was from a clutch of 8 last year 1 female albino 3 female creaminos I female sky blue opaline 1 male Yf2 dominant pied 2 male (what I now believe to be fallows) - no.1 shown and another similar in colour to no.3(which was sold) The other 2 babies were from a recent clutch of 6: - 2 female albinos 1 male and 1 female Yf2 dominant pied No.2 female fallow No.3 male fallow

Thanks Finnie and Budgielov3r for taking the time to reply and discuss my post - much appreciated. The parents have previously produced together albino and cremino offspring. Also the grandfather (dad's dad) has produced albino and cremino offspring. Also there is no colour on the rump of the albino (opaline?) lacewing (or fallow) Thanks for the tip on PMing the genetic experts-will do and I have posted talkbudgies also as Nev can no longer be PMed on this forum (although after posting I noticed he has not been active since mid 2014) BL - thanks or your suggestion - I will looking the cinnamon fallow option. As I am so convinced that the last one is a male, I think it will turn out to be a fallow. If this is the case, what type - German, etc? In regard to the albino lacewing (or fallow), as the parents have produced both ino and now cinnamon babies combined with the lack of body colour, makes me still inclined to believe that it is a lacewing.

Glad to hear that you have it all sorted. All the best with your future breeding.

So if the white-faced lacewing should be called albino lacewing opaline then is the yellow-faced lacewing a cremino lacewing? Or could this lacewing actually be some type of cremino fallow which would then explain why it is male? Unlike the albino lacewing, there is some cinnamon colouring on its back - but not tail. Here is another picture and zoomed in

okay so means that females can be split for fallow also and not just masking it? However I never new that a female could be split for a sex-linked gene such as lacewing. Is lacewing an exception in this regard? It will be interesting to see if the yellow faced lacewing in the last photo changes to female-at this stage by both behaviour and cere he presents as male but is only 10 weeks- the pictures were taken about 2 weeks ago. Dad is split to opaline (as they have also produced opaline offspring) and his mum was a violet opaline and dad a recessive pied. (I do not the parentage of the dominant pied mother as she was a purchase.) Unless opaline is really obvious, I don't see it. Are you able to explain in this case. Thanks also for taking the time to reply to my post.

I only cage breed - there are no other birds in the cage (and no wired sides to other budgie cages) - which why I am so intrigued by this offspring. Also I have no other fallows at all. Are you able to shed any light on what type of fallow the first male baby is? Also are you able to explain why the yellow faced lace-wing is a male - aren't lacewings sex-linked. So if dad is also split to lacewing and mum is not a lacewing (or can she be masking this), shouldn't lacewing offspring be only female?

If the antibiotics don't work and the vet is not an option, consider trying organic apple cider vinegar - I put a few drops in my (healthy) birds' water every so often- but I think I read 15ml per litre for a sick bird somewhere.

So budgie mad - I notice your profile does not include a state/city. Due to the butcher bird attack, I was wondering if you are in my city - Melbourne?

Sorry to hear about Audrey and Tank. It is always a bit of a shock to find the eggs broken in a clutch. In my experience, a cracked egg won't hatch. Assuming it is fertile (which it probably isn't because all the others weren't), if an egg is damaged the chick will usually die in the egg. You could try candling the egg to check for fertility. (google candle budgie egg) You would be looking for red glow or movement. If she is looking a bit ragged, then maybe you could give her a break - particularly after laying nine eggs. Although if it was her first clutch, you could leave her to try for a 2nd. Once you remove the egg, she will probably resume laying in a week or so. If the 2nd clutch is infertile, I would definitely rest her. I have had hens lay infertile clutches before and after the 2nd or 3rd clutch manage to produce offspring. I usually try to breed at least two pairs at the same time, so that if one has a lot of eggs and another has infertile eggs, I can foster.

This is dad- a normal cobalt, split to ino and opaline. This is mum - yellow faced dominant pied. These two have produced albinos and creminos. The next three pictures are some of their offspring - all with red/ruby eyes. The first I initially thought was a female lacewing which I now believe to be a male fallow. I don't know much about fallows but because the long tail feather is a dark blue and it is male, I believe it cannot be a lacewing. Can anyone offer any help regarding type of fallow and what this means re the parents genetics? The next one, I believe is a is a white-faced female lacewing. Again can anyone offer any explanation re genetics? e.g. mum or dad carries cinnamon gene??? The last offspring is a yellow faced male lacewing. This I don't understand because I thought lacewing was a sex-linked mutation suggesting that the baby would need to be female. So how can this be? Can anyone offer an explanation of how the mum and dad were able to produce these offspring? What should it tell me about the genetics of the mum and dad and the offspring? Do I have the mutations of the babies correct or am I wrong? Please help because I am intrigued.

Great colors and range. Very sweet. Do you bother keeping records with so many( upto 30+) colony breeding.? Did the yellow face in the 3rd photo have red eyes? If so what to believe it's mutation to be?

Are any birds of opposite sex related? Which of the pairs are you planning to breed in separate cages?

She sounds like she is a bit of fun- a big personality, lots of curiosity & likes to play. Probably just trying hard to get the others to join in How old is she? Which of the "A" budgies is she? ......and is Hugo a ring-in?

A yellow pied budgie that was saved from some attacking minor birds. The bird as been vet checked and seems fine. Also appears a bit tame. Found 22 December 2014 in Braeside area.