Shann

Hello everybody! I haven't posted for quite a while as I haven't had the internet since way before christmas and so I thought I'd update everyone. Fatty and George are still going strong, and Casper, Blacky, Kailani and Lucien are fine too. About two months ago Casper had to have a toe amputated becasue he somehow got it caught in the door of the cage and broke it (I told the vet it was broken but he said it was just a sprained ligament... boy wasn't he embarrassed when Casper's toe actually fell off. His bone was sticking out and so we had to get it properly amputated, poor thing.) Anyway, a bit before that Caspe and Blacky had a lot of babies, (by that I mean two) an albino and a pied. The albino had a splayed leg (god knows why though, I had them on suppliments, cuttle bone, and greens!) I panicked, thinking it was broken when I first saw it, having never had a baby with splayed legs before and so took the little girl (winnie) to the vet (a different vet) and he told me it was just splayed legs and so he tied them together to try and correct it. The problem was, the bent leg was strnger than the normal one and so having them tied together bent the other leg! I thought we were going to have to put her down but she was so determined... I've modified a cage for her so she can sit and sleep properly and she has become quite adept at landing on perches. My grandma is keeping her with her budgie George - who by the way is smitten; feeding and grooming her constantly. One of her feet is almost completely paralysed while the other one just points out at an odd angle, but she seems happy. I've got to keep a close eye on her though to make sure she is happy living how she does. Well, I think thats just about all... Here are some pictures of Winnie (a bit blurry but you get the picture.) I don't know whether you can see her legs but she can't actually sit on a perch normally. -Shann

okay, so my budgie Fatty has psittacosis and so does George, so theyre in the same cage because theyre both carriers so can't be with other birds but I figure they may as well be in the same cage so theyre not lonely seeing as they both have the same disease. They are male and female and, even though there is no breeding box in the cage with them (because if they have babies the bubs will catch it too and I cant give them away knowing they are sick... well, i could, but that would be wrong) Fatty still lays eggs and sits on them at the bottom of the cage. I take the eggs out and put them in very hot water to make sure they dont hatch, and that has worked for ages. I use to just take them out but she'd just lay more so I figured it was better for her to just sit on the infertile ones rather than be constantly laying eggs. Anyway, I know have a problem... I came home today and noticed that one of the eggs has a tiny crack in it, which wouldn't be a big problem apart from the fact that there is blood lining the crack, so I figure the egg must have been fertile. I candled the egg and there are dark blotches all over the inside of the egg, it looks like it has haemorrhaged or something. When I hold the egg I can feel something moving inside of it, but she hasnt been sitting on it for more than like, 10-12 days so its not even ready to hatch... Should I do something? or just leave it? Its really odd because if its not ready to hatch something must have cracked it but she and George are both really gentle with their eggs... Its sad cause they would make such great parents but I cant let them breed knowing the bubs will be sick... Anyway, any advice would be welcomed. -Shann

The round cage is only for quarantine and travel. I don't keep birds in there generally, I have an avary outside where they usually live and if they are staying in that cage I let them out for a fly every afternoon (which is great up until the time I need to catch them, :ausb: ) But yeah, its just a convenient cage for that sort of thing - not a permenant residence for the little guys.

Since I haven't been on in a while I realised that I haven't introduced you to my new(ish) budgie, I got her to even out my numbers so that everyone had a couple, but then my lovely Rover got sick and died so I now have uneven numbers again... it happens every time I finally get even numbers, I just don't think I'm meant to have even numbers, (Laughing out loud). Anyway, Here she is! I've named her Kailani, which means Sea and Sky I think - I thought it was appropriate. She loves to do loops of the perches ^ there she is in action. She's a feisty little thing, but bites REALLY hard. I'll be putting her with the other birdies soon (within the next couple of days) so she can meet everyone. -Shann

Does anyone know what powered bismuth carbonate is? because one of my budgies (Rover) is sick - all fluffed up and has diarrhoea and his crop in empty ie. not eating - and I have a feeling its enteritia (I think thats what its called) and apparently powered bismuth carbonate is the cure for it. I'm going to take him to the vet once Mum gets home but thats in 5 hours and I dont know what to do in the mean time... Ive tried to hand feed him with watered down egg and biscuit mix cause hes not interested in seed and I have some broad spectrum antibiotics which says it treats bacterial enteritis? Would that help? Ive got a heat pack in the cage with him (I dont have a heated cage so i had to improvise.) Is there anything else I can do in the mean time? I'm really worried because Ive had birds with this before; seen them in pet stores and taken them home to try to nurse them back to health, but they never last long... Any advice would be appreciated. -Shann

(Laughing out loud), what is it with babies and food bowls? Mine do that too and they get yellow heads from it (they normally have white heads) -Shann

Well I haven't really been keeping you all updated as to the progress of my little babies (or rather, Blacky's bubs) what with school work and my computer crashing and such so here are some piccies of them now that theyre all grown up! Most of these are taken in my bathroom, they were all really tame but the second oldest and the youngest have gotten all frightened lately... Thats okay, I'll win 'em over again Look how much theyve grown! ---> I'm selling them soon I think for about $15 to $20, do you think thats reasonable? I don't want to but I can't keep them all... Ah well. Hope you enjoyed them! -Shann

Yeah, I think they are going to all be pieds like their daddy. So far two look like they're sky blue pieds, and the other two look like a darker blue... maybe violet pieds, can you get them? I dont know, I'll see and post more pics when they all get feathers. -Shann

Well, the babies are now probably about three/and a half or so weeks old and the oldest 3 have pin feathers and fluff. Mum's taken to guarding the outside of the box- only going in to feed them and keep them warm at night. And since the bubs are getting older Ive put up a 'safety net' of sorts to make sure if they decide to venture out before they can fly they wont fall to their death as you can see in the next photo, shotty I know, but it does it's job. Last time two of the babies got kicked out by another female and fell to their deaths Here they all are The youngest The oldest And all of them again I'm handling them everyday because I want them to be tame and used to humans... but the middle two always make a racket when I have them out . I hope they don't end up all flighty and timid... Ah well, till next time -Shann

Here are my little ones :hap: I was right though, no albino's but oh well, I'm thinking that Balcky may not be albino after all. She has clear red coloured eyes and is white, but every now and then it seems like she's got a few really really faint lines on her wings. Does that mean she could be a clear wing? I think thats what it's called... That's her^ And that's Dad^ I'll post more when they get a little older and start to get feathers. -Shann

Well, I now have three babies hatched!!! And when I last checked (about half an hour ago) the baby in the last egg is tapping at the inside of the shell so I'll have a fourth bub by tomorow! Here's a picture of mum and the babies-

Casper's the daddy, so I suppose I'll get blue and white ones, but Im not great with the whole genetics thing so yeah. None of them are albino's though ( I wanted another albino) cause theyve all got little black eyes, but there's still another egg to go so we'll see.

They love seeded grass, summer grass I think its called, so that what I mostly give them. I give them veggies too though; celery, carrot, parsley, brocolli, beans, snow peas, corn and peas. But they wont touch boiled egg....

Here are some pics I too today. George and Fatty, theyre together now cause they both have recurring bouts of psitticosis and cant be with the other birdies. Meeko and Rover, Meeko hasn't laid any eggs yet but is constantly in the box so yeah... fingers crossed. Rover

Hello again! I was wondering whether it's okay to give your budgies greens while their babies are really young. Cause I found a site that said it wasn't good to do so, but mine seem to want more greens now that they have babies. I've given them heaps of grass and celery in the last two days but they still seem to want more. Should I keep giving them grass and veggies or should I wait until the babies are a bit older; the oldest is a week old, and the youngest is 3 or 4 days old? I thought since they probably wouldn't have access to dried millet etc in the wild it would be okay to give them greens but I'd rather have some outside advice. -Shann

I went out this morning to feed the budgies and I checked on Blacky to make sure she was okay, and guess what I found? I tiny little pink jellybean (Laughing out loud). I didn't think the eggs would start hatching til Sunday, even though I had them written down for today to start hatching, but I didn't really think that they'd be fertile. I havent gotten a chance to take photos as I didn't want to disturb them too much, because it didn't look as if Blacky had given the little guy his first meal yet. I have babies again!!!!!! -Shann

Im colony breeding. Ive got two hens and 7 nest boxes. It wasn't the other hen's egg Meeko attacked, it was her own. I know you can have problems with colony breeding but I figure if they are both occupied looking after their own chicks at the same time and are happy with their own nest boxes, they shouldnt interfere with each other too much. I have enough cages to separate them if need be, but Mum wouldn't be especially happy with that, (Laughing out loud). I am prepared to separate them if problems arise, but if they dont, Im quite content keeping them together.

I took one out today that had a crack in it. I dont think they are all fertile anyway. I do have another hen who laid her first egg today in the food bowl (I have 7 boxes for two couples and she chooses the food bowl!) and then just left it and when I put the egg in the nest box she'd chosen she attacked it! So much so that there is egg splattered around the whole nest box... its like the site of a grusome murder, (Laughing out loud). I caught her licking it off the walls though afterwards, kind of odd really, I suppose she needs more protein. So im not really game to put Blacky's (hen with 7 eggs, 6 now) eggs in with Meeko (my little murderess.) Ill try to candle them again, see if I have better results this time round. But we'll se what eventuates. -Shann

Hey everyone! I've decided to let by birdies breed, as they have been trying for the last couple of months even without boxes. Anyway, one of my females has already begun to lay her eggs. She started last week, the first egg she laid outside and it cracked, the second in the box, but she didnt sit on it, the third outside (it cracked) and the fourth one in the box but she still didnt sit on it. Only when she laid the sixth egg (the fifth one was laid outside too) did she realise she had to actually sit in the box with her eggs for them to hatch :bluebudgie: At the moment she is sitting on 7 eggs! That means she's laid 10 eggs (if my math is right, (Laughing out loud)) all in all! I cant believe they all fit inside of her. I dont think they are all fertile but am not sure how to tell if they are or not... Last time I bred budgies I tried candling them and they all looked clear... but then they all hatched so yeah :ausb: Four of the eggs are an opaquish white colour and three have a pinkish tinge to them. Can you tell just by looking at them? (ie, with colour?) Any advice would be appreciated

I've decided to call him Lucien, meaning bright. My grandma wanted me to call him something welsh (cause she's welsh), and my brother wanted me to call him Boof-Head :grbud: and I don't think its really the name that was in the back of my mind, but I like this one so that's what he will now be called!

I know, I personally would have been happy to have him back! But thats just me... I don't know much about the names of colours in budgies, so I wouldn't know the 'technical' name for him. Anyway, heres a bigger picture of him- http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y204/-Sha...dy/P1010180.jpg I think he is an english budgie, cause of his big head. He's a lot gentler than my other birds too, aka, he doesn't bite! thank goodness! Moderator’s Message to user oversized picture turned into a link. Remember the picture size of 450 X450

Hey all! I haven't been online since like... before new years or so, so I thought I should update you all on what's been happening. Well, a couple of days before christmas we had a new arrival to the aviary. I went out to feed the budgies one morning and I found a little (or rather big) budgie clinging to the outside of the cage talking to the others. So I caught him and brought him inside. I put up posters etc and we found the owner, but they had already given up on him and gotten a new budgie and said they didn't want him. So thats how we found him... A nice chrissy present I thought! Plus I was going to buy one anyway! I still haven't named him, he looks like something in particular but I can't for the life of me think of what that name is... anyhoo, here he is, He had a bit of diahorrea when I first got him, but that cleared up in about a week so yeah. I'd never actually seen a budgie that colour and he's always raising his head feathers like he's got a crest and I think he's a bit slow, but beautiful none-the-less! -Shann

I could put her in the lounge room I suppose, I would put her in my room if it was bigger, but its really quite tiny so yeah... But she frets if she's away from Rover (her mate) which I don't like. But I might bring her inside for now... Its a shame that she and the other hens arent old enough yet, I really wanted babies this year, but oh well, bring on next summer!!!!

okay, heres my problem... Fatty, one of my hens who is about 10-11 months old (cant remember off the top of my head) last month laid an egg in the food bowl. That wasn't a big problem, I just took it out because she wasnt sitting on it and she didnt have any more eggs. Well, this morning I found another egg in the food bowl (she was trying to incubate it ), I shooed her away cause I dont think I should breed her just yet, and took the egg out. I picked her up to check on her and I found that she has more eggs inside of her! She's stressing and trying to find a suitable place to lay her eggs (when I walked in she flew onto me and was making herself comfortable in my crossed arms...) She has pin feathers and I dont think she's in peak condition so am reluctant to breed her. Also I have other younger birds in the avairy who I don't want to breed at the moment. I don't want to stress her so am tempted to put the breeding boxes in just long enough for her to lay the eggs, but Im afraid that if I do that then the other birdies will come into season and start to mate... I don't want to bring her inside either because George (who has recurring bouts of psitticosis (sp?)) is inside and I dont want him to get excited about seeing another budgie cause he'll get sick again. What should I do? Should I just let her stress about where to lay her eggs or put breeding boxes in? I'm so confused -Shann-

Well, I could have.... but it would have taken me a few hours, with lots and lots of hills and trees... This morning I checked on Rover and he's fine. His droppings are back to normal and he's alert and happy now, not fluffed up at all! Is it possible he could have had a 24 hr bug like humans get? but anyway, on closer inspection I found that Fatty has quite a tail bob, she's got her psittacosis (sp?) back, same simptoms as last time, so I'll have to put her back on the antibiotics. Ive decided not to breed her, ever, to save stressing her. Its sooooo frustrating when they get sick! Ive decided not to breed them at all and not to buy any new birds, because I cant in my right mind first, bring babies into this world knowing theyll probably end up with psittacosis, or expose other budgies to the disease, even if it is accidental... that stress on top of exams and stuff, I just cant cope, so thats what Ive resolved to do unfortunately... I'll let let you know if anything else eventuates...