I know this subject will be contentious for some people, but its worth thinking about if only to reaffirm your current view. I know very little about AI and have never seen it performed before.

 

What got me thinking about AI, is there an advertisement on the SQBBA home page for a DVD made by Mario Capasso from Canberra. There is also a Kit that can be purchased to help. http://www.mariocapasso.com/

 

On the cover of the DVD its suggests that through AI fertility of cock birds can be quickly determined. I am really interested to know how effective this is and if breeders use this technique??????

 

Do many people use AI? and in what situation would you use AI?

We were fortunate to be able to watch a demo on A.I at our club meeting once. Interesting to say the least. I can honestly say I have never, before that day, sought out a budgies "nuts"and felt them like I did that day Interestingly as I recall we were told, there can be differing parts of the day or week where a budgies "nuts" can be felt due to sperm being present or not. no sperm and there will be nothing to feel. Well thats as I remember it anyway. Our lecturer is a member of this forum

 

I know of the DVD and will be purchasing it myself with a view in mind to trying the process to assist where normal methods cannot take place.

Edited May 14, 200915 yr by KAZ

my club did it last meeting and thay show it all it was good you can breed to 7 hen at a time

we are geting the dvd

 

i have got sume thin to do it

Kaz you certainly need to show me where my birds nuts are i can't say i've ever found them before haha i wonder if it would work to finally sex Leroy haha!

If I'm not mistaken, I bet it will be for sale in Burnie next wekk

i am really interested in AI too, but i have not tried it yet. i am interested in the dvd

I've already bought the DVD and kit. Very interesting and extremely well explained. I tried feeling for nuts on a couple of birds with no results .... will continue to persevere!

I haven't the kit but a while ago I had this young bird that I thought was a hen the cere never looked blue and then suddenly this bird started looking great I thought wow what a head for a hen and then in a couple of weeks the cere started turning blue and I was telling Kaz about it and she told how to feel for testicles and yep sure enough it was a boy 2 little small pea size lumps, it was really easy.

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

 

Anyway, you don't need much more than a male bird, a female bird and some capilliary tubes.

 

I've been using AI on some of my birds for some time now (5 or 6 years or so I think) and have never needed all the extra lights, camera & action that's shown on Mario's DVD, although this is where I originally learnt how to AI birds.

 

Heathrow, I use AI selectively and find that it's really useful for "dumb" cock birds that just don't mate well. Or if your birds has an injury that might prevent him from mating properly. As a specific example, I purchased a CW cock from auction that for the first 2 rounds didn't fill eggs (well I found out why he was sold!!!) but when I checked for sperm, I found he was fertile (produced a good sperm sample) so I used AI on him and have bred about 20 chicks from him over the last 2 years. So even after buying what would appear to be a dud, I've successfully bred from him. AND even more impotantly, a couple of his chicks that I used this year bred well and unassisted so he did not pass on his "dumb" genes.

 

I also use AI techniques to see if cocks do or do not produce a sperm sample, if a bird is in great condition but consistantly does not produce a sperm sample I cull that bird. I would do this if the bird failed to fill eggs on the first round. You have to check more than a few times though as what Kaz said - cock birds can be intermittantly fertile.

 

It's useful but not a silver bullet - just another technique that can be helpful.

Edited May 15, 200915 yr by nubbly5

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

Yes you did...I have you on film :rofl:

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

Yes you did...I have you on film :rofl:

 

:doh:

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

 

Anyway, you don't need much more than a male bird, a female bird and some capilliary tubes.

 

I've been using AI on some of my birds for some time now (5 or 6 years or so I think) and have never needed all the extra lights, camera & action that's shown on Mario's DVD, although this is where I originally learnt how to AI birds.

 

Heathrow, I use AI selectively and find that it's really useful for "dumb" cock birds that just don't mate well. Or if your birds has an injury that might prevent him from mating properly. As a specific example, I purchased a CW cock from auction that for the first 2 rounds didn't fill eggs (well I found out why he was sold!!!) but when I checked for sperm, I found he was fertile (produced a good sperm sample) so I used AI on him and have bred about 20 chicks from him over the last 2 years. So even after buying what would appear to be a dud, I've successfully bred from him. AND even more impotantly, a couple of his chicks that I used this year bred well and unassisted so he did not pass on his "dumb" genes.

 

I also use AI techniques to see if cocks do or do not produce a sperm sample, if a bird is in great condition but consistantly does not produce a sperm sample I cull that bird. I would do this if the bird failed to fill eggs on the first round. You have to check more than a few times though as what Kaz said - cock birds can be intermittantly fertile.

 

It's useful but not a silver bullet - just another technique that can be helpful.

 

I'm starting to worry about you WA girls!!!

 

When you say sperm sample are you saying that if a cock produces a sample he is automatically fertile? or can the sample be readily analysed to determine fertility i.e. "are they firing blanks"

 

I have a cock bird that is probably "dumb" but is a super bird in every other respects, 2005 bred and only 3 chicks. This particular bird seems too eager and doesnt know what to do. I really dont want to waste a breeding cage and hen if he is not going to produce chicks so i'm looking for an alternative.

how long dues the sperm say alive for ?? sorry but it will help to no

Probably not a lot of semen in a budgerigar but do you think this may be an answer when someone perfects it to the current ban on importing birds.Import semen instead.I believe it is done with animals

 

how long dues the sperm say alive for ?? sorry but it will help to no

 

With animals and even humans they freeze it in liquid nitrogen and it lasts quite a while.

Edited May 15, 200915 yr by Derek

okay thank you

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

 

Anyway, you don't need much more than a male bird, a female bird and some capilliary tubes.

 

I've been using AI on some of my birds for some time now (5 or 6 years or so I think) and have never needed all the extra lights, camera & action that's shown on Mario's DVD, although this is where I originally learnt how to AI birds.

 

Heathrow, I use AI selectively and find that it's really useful for "dumb" cock birds that just don't mate well. Or if your birds has an injury that might prevent him from mating properly. As a specific example, I purchased a CW cock from auction that for the first 2 rounds didn't fill eggs (well I found out why he was sold!!!) but when I checked for sperm, I found he was fertile (produced a good sperm sample) so I used AI on him and have bred about 20 chicks from him over the last 2 years. So even after buying what would appear to be a dud, I've successfully bred from him. AND even more impotantly, a couple of his chicks that I used this year bred well and unassisted so he did not pass on his "dumb" genes.

 

I also use AI techniques to see if cocks do or do not produce a sperm sample, if a bird is in great condition but consistantly does not produce a sperm sample I cull that bird. I would do this if the bird failed to fill eggs on the first round. You have to check more than a few times though as what Kaz said - cock birds can be intermittantly fertile.

 

It's useful but not a silver bullet - just another technique that can be helpful.

 

I'm starting to worry about you WA girls!!!

 

When you say sperm sample are you saying that if a cock produces a sample he is automatically fertile? or can the sample be readily analysed to determine fertility i.e. "are they firing blanks"

 

I have a cock bird that is probably "dumb" but is a super bird in every other respects, 2005 bred and only 3 chicks. This particular bird seems too eager and doesnt know what to do. I really dont want to waste a breeding cage and hen if he is not going to produce chicks so i'm looking for an alternative.

 

 

Heathrow, so far every cock bird I've obtained a sample from to use (not just to check fertility (to see if they have sperm in other words)) has been fertile. I'm sure that there can be fertility problems with cock birds that still produce a sample but I've not found one yet. It's way way way more common for a cock bird not to produce a sample at all. I have looked at birds sperm samples under the microscope and seen movement generally without actually being able to see the individual swimmers. Some samples are more motile than others but I have not found any that I've actually bothered to look at to be non moving. Mostly I don't bother checking anymore coz I've never been able to see anything that might help other than general movement.

 

Sperm sample size of a budgie varies (and I can only go on the width of the capilliary tube of 1.5mm which is what I collect the samples into) with a good sample being around 2cm long and an average of around 1cm. In this form you can't keep it much longer that it takes to get from the cock to the hen as the sperm dies on contact with air. I have not heard of anyone experimenting with liquid nitrogen storage of budgie sperm. There's probably not enough commercial interest in budgie sperm to make it viable anyway......

 

Your 3 chick bird sounds like a good candidate for AI so long as he produces a reasonable sperm sample. Seeing as he has produced some chicks already you might assume he would be fertile.

Sounds very interesting, and useful.

 

Ive got a couple of hens that im about to give up on that have bad hipps and cant mate.

might be an idea for them i guess.

Heeheehee, did I actually say "you can feel his nuts?".......

 

Anyway, you don't need much more than a male bird, a female bird and some capilliary tubes.

 

I've been using AI on some of my birds for some time now (5 or 6 years or so I think) and have never needed all the extra lights, camera & action that's shown on Mario's DVD, although this is where I originally learnt how to AI birds.

 

Heathrow, I use AI selectively and find that it's really useful for "dumb" cock birds that just don't mate well. Or if your birds has an injury that might prevent him from mating properly. As a specific example, I purchased a CW cock from auction that for the first 2 rounds didn't fill eggs (well I found out why he was sold!!!) but when I checked for sperm, I found he was fertile (produced a good sperm sample) so I used AI on him and have bred about 20 chicks from him over the last 2 years. So even after buying what would appear to be a dud, I've successfully bred from him. AND even more impotantly, a couple of his chicks that I used this year bred well and unassisted so he did not pass on his "dumb" genes.

 

I also use AI techniques to see if cocks do or do not produce a sperm sample, if a bird is in great condition but consistantly does not produce a sperm sample I cull that bird. I would do this if the bird failed to fill eggs on the first round. You have to check more than a few times though as what Kaz said - cock birds can be intermittantly fertile.

 

It's useful but not a silver bullet - just another technique that can be helpful.

 

I'm starting to worry about you WA girls!!!

 

When you say sperm sample are you saying that if a cock produces a sample he is automatically fertile? or can the sample be readily analysed to determine fertility i.e. "are they firing blanks"

 

I have a cock bird that is probably "dumb" but is a super bird in every other respects, 2005 bred and only 3 chicks. This particular bird seems too eager and doesnt know what to do. I really dont want to waste a breeding cage and hen if he is not going to produce chicks so i'm looking for an alternative.

 

 

Heathrow, so far every cock bird I've obtained a sample from to use (not just to check fertility (to see if they have sperm in other words)) has been fertile. I'm sure that there can be fertility problems with cock birds that still produce a sample but I've not found one yet. It's way way way more common for a cock bird not to produce a sample at all. I have looked at birds sperm samples under the microscope and seen movement generally without actually being able to see the individual swimmers. Some samples are more motile than others but I have not found any that I've actually bothered to look at to be non moving. Mostly I don't bother checking anymore coz I've never been able to see anything that might help other than general movement.

 

Sperm sample size of a budgie varies (and I can only go on the width of the capilliary tube of 1.5mm which is what I collect the samples into) with a good sample being around 2cm long and an average of around 1cm. In this form you can't keep it much longer that it takes to get from the cock to the hen as the sperm dies on contact with air. I have not heard of anyone experimenting with liquid nitrogen storage of budgie sperm. There's probably not enough commercial interest in budgie sperm to make it viable anyway......

 

Your 3 chick bird sounds like a good candidate for AI so long as he produces a reasonable sperm sample. Seeing as he has produced some chicks already you might assume he would be fertile.

 

Okay so if sperm is present assume he is fertile!

 

Thanks Gina - Your response's has been of great benefit.

I am not sure but I think.for a better word,the colour of the sperm,One of the breeders I know Iam sure,he mentioned,something about colour,I don't know if he was meaning clear or clourdy.

I am not sure but I think.for a better word,the colour of the sperm,One of the breeders I know Iam sure,he mentioned,something about colour,I don't know if he was meaning clear or clourdy.

 

The darker colored sperm, the better. Mario says sperm can last for up to 1/2 hour but recommends you do the insemination as soon as possible.

Thanks Renee - is the DVD and Kit worth getting??

I think I need that kit too as I have 2 cocks that I really want young out of and one thinks by putting his foot on the hen that's the job done, the other has a wonky foot.

I think I need that kit too as I have 2 cocks that I really want young out of and one thinks by putting his foot on the hen that's the job done, the other has a wonky foot.

and I have a one legged DF dommie pied cock

 

Maybe it matches Renee's hen

I think I need that kit too as I have 2 cocks that I really want young out of and one thinks by putting his foot on the hen that's the job done, the other has a wonky foot.

and I have a one legged DF dommie pied cock

 

Maybe it matches Renee's hen

 

Well I would assume clear would be a problem as that would indicate no swimmers at all I would guess.

 

White or creamy coloured (no smart remarks).

 

I've found colour ranges from a darker colour to a creme white.