I wasnt a member of this board during the laying/hatching stage of this clutch, but it is still exciting for me as it is my first attempt at breeding. Here is the current stage of the babies:

 

Baby #1 - YF2 Opaline sky blue

 

Baby #2 - YF2 Opaline grey

 

Baby #3 - YF2 Opaline sky blue

 

Baby #4 - Opaline sky blue

 

Baby #5 - Opaline Grey

 

Hope you enjoyed

 

Will post more later

they are soo cute i hope the whole breeding thing went well for you and you birds

Very pretty babies.........both parents were opalines ?

Oh yes, forgot to mention that.

 

Father is a YF2 skyblue opaline split for ino.

Mother is an opaline grey (no dark factor) split blue.

Hi Dean NZ,

 

Beautiful babies there.

Just out of curiosity what have you got in the bottom of your breeding boxes, it looks like some kind of dirt or potting mix to me, am I right?

And if so why do you use this? Just curious, it's interesting to find out what people use and why.

Edited December 18, 200816 yr by Budgielover13

Gorgeous babies

I agree... whats the bedding in your nest boxes?

Oh yeah, the bedding.

 

Well first i was going to use nothing. Then i considered pine shivings, which are the norm generally speaking. However, one of the larger breeders i visited had problems with dry eggs / eggs not hatching and after she started using pete moss, hasnt had any problems. It also is really good for absorbing moisture and droppings, helping to form dry matter quite quickly keeping the chicks feet and feathers clean.

 

It's really cheap and works fine for me. When i introduce the nest box and concave, there is no pete moss. Only after all of the chicks have hatched do i take out the concave and place an amount of pete moss inside.

 

Im not totally set on it, but it is what i will use this breeding season. Next season i will try pine shavings and compare.

A big breeder near me uses chaff as nesting material as it increases humidity and can be used as a green foood, but there is always the risk of mites as it creates more desirable conditions for these little pests.

Dean, they look awesome the colors are nice too ...

 

I was told to use the breeding moss nesting material thingy, but i never did ... might give it ago next time around ....

 

So you got any photo's of their faces

They look great, nice colours. :question: Congrats on your first breeding expereince sounds like it went well :laughter:

I'm so glad I asked you about the nesting material, as I had never heard of pete moss being used before and it's great to get ideas of how other members breed their budgies.

The peat moss is most often used for larger parrot breeding so we have it in our parrots boxes here.

They are gorgeous babies. Opaline yellow face blues are some of my favourite mutations combined!

absolutely adorable babies. I knew some people using peet moss with good success. Never used it myself. I used either untreated pine, jarrah or a combination of these two and I have also used Bran. I had a a good supplier for the shavings never had a problem with it or the bran. I used copious quantities as I did have 60 breeding cabinets on the go during the breeding season.

 

Chaff is fine and will add moisture as it is cut whilst there is still some moisture in the hay. If not cut at the correct time it will not make good quality hay. Being into horses since a child I have never had mites in chaff but then good quality hay/chaff was always bought. Poor quality/musty chaff/hay will soon see a horse go down with colic and the hip pocket will suffer.

Chaff also smells delicious