Hi I'm Budgielover13 otherwise known as Carolyn,

This is just my second entry and I am busting because I only have one pair of budgies breeding and the first egg in a clutch of 5 is due to hatch today, no sign as yet, fraustrating because I have at least another 6/7 pair in breeding condition but until I finish my breeding boxes and breeding room I can't do anything about it, and it all seems to take to long.

Welcome to the BBC. I hope your breeding experience is enjoyable. Please post pics of your babies. Are you breeding pet type or show budgies?

[it's so exciting just to get this reply thank you , well I only just joined ED budgie club 2 months ago so I will hopefully in the near future be breeding with intention of showing but really at the moment it is more the the rewarding experience of breeding them and learning to pair the birds up correctly and understanding what may come of the pairing and how to try to improve in-perfections, there's just so much to learn it's crazy, but fun in a my head is going to explode if I try and learn the genetic pincipals, colouring and variety for too long .

 

Trail and error will probably be my best option. The two budgies I paired where bought from the United Budgerigar auction in May some I'm happy they bred so readily for me.

Thanks Carolyn otherwise known as Budgielover13 :hap:

Hi *waves* thanks for calling me sorry it was hard to hear I was at a firends with lizards crawling all over me

 

I know how fustrating it is, I FINALLY have my breeding room, I have the cages and I have the birds but half of them are sick so no breeding for me for a while!

 

Glad to see you sorted the forum out.

Well, the first egg hatched and had been fed by hen but only a little, but I had no other pairs to foster her to and was hoping she would get the hang of it, being this is her first ever clutch (she is a fantastic sitter, me having to gently push her off her eggs to check how things are going) and now this morning I discovered the chick dead under her but another chick has hatched, so I was hoping that she may have been having trouble getting crop milk for the first chick which I reading about and then the hen generally goes onto feed the rest of the clutch normally. I can only keep my fingers crossed, I so want the rest of the chicks to do well. Any ideas of anything I can do to help, I don't have any older chick to swap so don't know?

PM melbournebudgie I know she has some sitting and hatched at the moment you might see if you can do a chick swap if nothing else works. I would loan you my foster pair but they just came back from laon and rasing a clutch and i want to give them a rest before I give them any more babies.

I think the problem is with small breeders is they spend to much time looking at the chicks & it disturbs the hen,just look

at them once a day for the first week,or if you have to morning & night & let the hen look after the chick,All the pokeing

& proding upsets the hen.

Av, Gotta be careful with fostering Too especailly if they are at different places.

Budgie lover, how is baby2 doing? Are they in an outdoor avairy or breeding room??

Yeah neat agree that is why I said if nothing else works

Thanks to everyone for your responses so quickly, checked the chick about 20mins ago and has some food in crop and it appears to be a little more than for the first chick, so here's hoping. Will not disturbed her again today.

 

We are right now in the garage making up some new breeding cages and already have the nest boxes, so I think I will put up more pairs up within the next week which will made things a hole lot easier.

Hi and welcome. Sorry about your first chick. I hope your second one makes it okay, and a morning and evening check should be enough. What are you feeding the parents. I too had only one pair breeding and there is always those risks... I fed mine hardboiled eggs (shell and all), carrot, corn, peas, bok choy, and egg and biscuit... all mixed up finely in the mixer. They downed it very quickly and it gave them plenty to give their babies. This was given mornings and taken out at night. I also made sure my hen had some millet in the nest box so she could snack also. Good luck and please keep us updated.

Yeah neat agree that is why I said if nothing else works

 

If worst comes to worst Carolyn send me a message, it's a risk I'll take if you need me to

Given a reasonable amount of time for the hen to feed her babies, you can give them a few top up feeds ( at the nestbox ) as well to help the baby gain strength to call loudly for its dinner.

If in doubt , try putting an older baby from another pair into the nest. The older chick's cries for food will stimulate the hen to feed her clutch- This is why it is a Good idea to have at least 2 pairs going at the same time,If i lived closer I would lend you a chick, but i don't think that Australia Post would handle a babies cry for food ...

Hey Neats that great!! :hap:

I can just see it now, the postman's at the door stating he/she is overdue for his/her next feed so where the h-ll are these foster parents.

 

Checked this morning and chick still alive but still with only a small amount in its crop. Gave fresh corn, silverbeet and egg and biscuit mixed with boiled water, hopefully this is enough soft food to keep them going. Will not interupt them again until tomorrow morning.

 

Now I also have a querie do nest boxes have to have a entry perch and if so can they come out of the side wall of the breeding cage which will made it parallel with the entry hole of the breeding box?

okay. So becareful with that Bub i just lost one when I was going to feed it but thought I'd wait till morning ...

Have you got a hand rearing mix incase you need to ???? It may just be at that time when it is being digested so yeah re check in the morning - I breeders trick is to use brown bread too or weetbix as a soft food

 

not one of my nest boxes have perches I have a Branch that lines in front of it and they are on shelves

 

yes I colony breed i know .....but you have the Avairies and spaces to do this safely ( i have 2 hens per avairy with 6 boxes in each ) ... Some cabinets and nestboxes have a dowel perch on it ???

what is your set up ???

Edited August 5, 200816 yr by KAZ
edited for shortcuts

Good news guys,

 

Check the nest box this morning and second chick still okay and third hatched both with some food in crop so here's hoping everthing is still okay tomorrow and I will feel at lot more at ease with the fact mother hen is learning her calling in life to be a mother hen.

 

Will keep you updated with the clutches progress. 3 Eggs hatched, 1st chick died, 2 chicks going okay (wouldn't say strong just yet) and 2 eggs left to hatch not should whether they are fertile or not. I will also add that he did lay a 7th egg but threw 1 egg out of breeding box (I thought this may be because she knew it was inferitle or maybe being a new mum she knew that 7 may be too many for her?) So all in all so far so good with the exception of the first chick.

 

Will update tomorrow about lunch time.

Did you see her throw th last egg out? She may have simply layed it off the perch, I had one do that the other day

Remember not to interupt her too often

Yeah, i'm going good with the not interupting her too much once or maybe at most twice only no more, it depends on what time of day I have checked her the first time as to whether I check them again or not, and yes I got an early morning check in this morning and both 2nd hatched and 3rd hatched chicks are going okay and the the 4th has now also hatched and so now only have one egg to hatch with so far (knock on wood) only 1 chick, the first hatched not making it. Feeling much more confident in hens abilities now.

Yepeee.

 

Male - normal light green and female - normal sky blue from appearances not sure of their parents, so I'm not sure whether they will throw anything but normal light greens and normal sky blues?

 

Anyway only time will tell.

Yeah, i'm going good with the not interupting her too much once or maybe at most twice only no more, it depends on what time of day I have checked her the first time as to whether I check them again or not, and yes I got an early morning check in this morning and both 2nd hatched and 3rd hatched chicks are going okay and the the 4th has now also hatched and so now only have one egg to hatch with so far (knock on wood) only 1 chick, the first hatched not making it. Feeling much more confident in hens abilities now.

Yepeee.

 

Male - normal light green and female - normal sky blue from appearances not sure of their parents, so I'm not sure whether they will throw anything but normal light greens and normal sky blues?

 

Anyway only time will tell.

You will only get blues if the male light green is split for blue. Otherwise green is dominant and you will get all greens.

Just to keep you all undated, The 3 chicks are all going strong, first at 10 days is nearly ready to ring, tried yesterday and it fell off instantly so I will have another attempt tomorrow as I know how quickly the ring can go from being way too big to way too small. The last egg was infertile and has gone see through. Should I remove this egg or not as the hen is sitting on it with the chicks she hasn't removed it like I thought she would? I am hoping to post some photos real soon just finding the time to work out how I know you have a post explaining what to do but I am useless when it comes to computers. I can't even find photos I've downloaded directly from my camera to print let alone downloading them onto a defferent site. i tried and I thought I'd got them into the photobucket but only one photo seemed to come up and then i thought there'd be an icon for photobucket come up on my main screen but nothing so I'll give it another go tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks Kaz for the info about the colouring of the chicks, I think the male must be split for blue because 2 of the chicks have yellow feathers appearing and 1 of them has white which I'm assuming will be a blue or grey chick and the others green. I will do my best to work out this photo thing because I would really like to post some photos of both my chicks and breeding units I in the process of making up.

Thanks Carolyn alais: Budgielover13

Thanks Kaz for the info about the colouring of the chicks, I think the male must be split for blue because 2 of the chicks have yellow feathers appearing and 1 of them has white which I'm assuming will be a blue or grey chick and the others green. I will do my best to work out this photo thing because I would really like to post some photos of both my chicks and breeding units I in the process of making up.

Thanks Carolyn alais: Budgielover13

I look forward to your photos. Good news about the split to blue