I have the radio going 24/7 in the breeding room

if the is a sign of feather plucking.I put in a spray

of Millet,that seems to work.

I have the radio going 24/7 in the breeding room

if the is a sign of feather plucking.I put in a spray

of Millet,that seems to work.

Me too Macka...radio is on 24/7 and hens who show signs of plucking get millet and or a block of wood to chew. Sometimes these things happen quickly and for no good reason.

The five plucked babies

 

Two in one foster nest

 

and three in this foster nest

 

UPDATE

 

 

 

 

Big improvement in chicks Kaz. Would they normally recover fully or could it leave plumage damage?

Edited October 5, 200915 yr by KAZ

Big improvement in chicks Kaz. Would they normally recover fully or could it leave plumage damage?

 

It really depends on if the feather follicles were damaged and only time will tell with that.

They look like they are recovering well. I really do hope that they turn out well, and there is no folicle damage. Do you retire that bird now? Or do you breed her and use that egg dropping invention of Daz's?

They look like they are recovering well. I really do hope that they turn out well, and there is no folicle damage. Do you retire that bird now? Or do you breed her and use that egg dropping invention of Daz's?

I was going to retire her BUT..........her original breeder has a habit of pulling hens out of nestboxes at chicks aged 2 weeks and lets the cocks finish raising the chicks. I believe the hens are then conditioned to not proceeding past the two week old stage. The hens breeder said to put her down for another round and his belief is she wanted them out of the nestbox for another round. I may try that but I will be watching her very closely if I do.

Edited October 5, 200915 yr by KAZ

Funny how some breeders are so keen on success they do not think of the welfare of the bird. Now I am sure that this breeder is a much more successful breeder than me, but that "pulling the hens out at 2 weeks" just seems wrong to me. Understandable in a breeding factory, but ethically not right to me.

Funny how some breeders are so keen on success they do not think of the welfare of the bird. Now I am sure that this breeder is a much more successful breeder than me, but that "pulling the hens out at 2 weeks" just seems wrong to me. Understandable in a breeding factory, but ethically not right to me.

 

Actually pulling the hen out early is a tip if you want to preserve the health and well-being of the hen, most cocks if conditioned correctly are quite capable of raising the chicks to fledgling stage on their own.

 

This year I have been doing it the other way round and pulling the cock bird out at week 3 and then when the chicks are ready to fledge, moving hen and chicks to kindie cage together and allowing the hen to keep feeding chicks. This has successfully cut down any attacks on chicks, which was the original goal. But this also means the hen is having a full 3 months turn around time. However, I have found that the hens have been going out of condition after a stint like this and another very experienced breeder has pointed out to me that the hens will take longer to recover because they continue to be harassed by the chicks in the kindie cage. So I will be reveiwing this system and will probably do things differently next year.

Edited October 5, 200915 yr by renee

Funny how some breeders are so keen on success they do not think of the welfare of the bird. Now I am sure that this breeder is a much more successful breeder than me, but that "pulling the hens out at 2 weeks" just seems wrong to me. Understandable in a breeding factory, but ethically not right to me.

 

Actually pulling the hen out early is a tip if you want to preserve the health and well-being of the hen, most cocks if conditioned correctly are quite capable of raising the chicks to fledgling stage on their own.

 

This year I have been doing it the other way round and pulling the cock bird out at week 3 and then moving hen and chicks to kindie cage together and allowing the hen to keep feeding chicks. This has successfully cut down any attacks on chicks, which was the original goal. But this also means the hen is having a full 3 months turn around time. However, I have found that the hens have been going out of condition after a stint like this and another very experienced breeder has pointed out to me that the hens will take longer to recover because they continue to be harassed by the chicks in the kindie cage. So I will be reveiwing this system and will probably do things differently next year.

 

Top breeders may do it Renee, and you may think this is the way to go, but ethically I still have some concerns about it. There are things done in different arenas to "improve" some animals and I disagree with it. Cutting the tails off dogs is a great example. I think this practice of removing hens early to allow them to breed again with another mate, is a problem in the budgie world and it will obviously lead to learned behaviours that are negative. Simple as that. Now, you or others may continue this practice, or your own variation, but in no way is it something that I will ever do as I believe that ethically it is wrong. I suppose it comes down to what you want out of breeding birds - the best show birds or the best all round birds. You choose.

I think in most cases those breeders remove the hen for the rest she will have before being put back in with the same cock once he is done raising the chicks.

I think in most cases those breeders remove the hen for the rest she will have before being put back in with the same cock once he is done raising the chicks.

 

Quite so, I had omitted to mention that in the above reply.

I think in most cases those breeders remove the hen for the rest she will have before being put back in with the same cock once he is done raising the chicks.

 

Quite so, I had omitted to mention that in the above reply.

 

I would be very worried if a breeder removed the hen and then put the hen with another cock within a short period of time.

I think in most cases those breeders remove the hen for the rest she will have before being put back in with the same cock once he is done raising the chicks.

 

Quite so, I had omitted to mention that in the above reply.

 

I would be very worried if a breeder removed the hen and then put the hen with another cock within a short period of time.

Why?

 

I know of some top breeders who put their top pairs together and then foster out all the eggs so the pair in question don't even raise a round .....

 

Or of cases where they let a pair lay a clutch, foster the eggs, close off the nest box, and then re-pair ....

 

I have no particular opinion on these practices but I acknowledge that their priority is to breed a National winner as often as possible.

 

However, I do understand that as a beginner breeder of show budgies the likelihood of projecting human emotions onto budgie breeding is higher.

So is the desire to treat birds properly - damn novices!!!!!!!!

So is the desire to treat birds properly - damn novices!!!!!!!!

 

Well said!

That could be the case Kaz but any other year I would have one or two feather pluckers and they did it every time but this year I had every nest do it which I don't blame stress or boredom as these are normally good mothers that have never plucked before.

Since the salt they have stopped almost 100% . Every year up until now I have always put in a salt and mineral lick block with molasses that cows lick which the birds seem to love and this year I i haven't so I do believe the salt has something to do with it.

 

hi sorry to be slow in the action convo about salt

but ..just want to say i been soaking my silver beet in a bucket of water with a table spoon of salt

for some years now i also never had plucker untill this year when i stopped it

(exception of one ***** hen )

u do need to make sure the silver beet does not turn brownish yellow or it has to much salt in the water this is important

you can soak any leafy greens in salt water over night lack of salt is a big reason many birds stay out of condition too

The babies are looking better in their foster nests...the redness has gone from their skin and new fuzz is already beginning to appear where they lost their feathers. They are being very well fed with new foster parents too.

 

 

 

By The Way the yellow chick seems to be a lutino as I first thought and not a lacewing.

 

looking better already kaz

the little yellow one i thought his dad was split lacewing it is split lutino okay same same as far as sex linkage goes its still a hen

lute nice should be well worth looking at when it feathers up cant wait

 

Well, I was wrong. The yellow chick is a lacewing after all

 

 

 

her feathers over her wing butts havent regrown yet and they may not...

Edited October 11, 200915 yr by KAZ

Shame some havent grown back. Gorgeous chicks all the same and congrats on the lacewing...

Lacewing hen is out of her foster nest now with some adopted siblings

 

 

and here is her four true siblings that also were plucked....

 

 

 

 

Siblings look like they have generally grown their feathers back well

Siblings look like they have generally grown their feathers back well

Yeah...just two still trying to win back their feathers....one green and one lacewing.

Ugh. I had a hen pluck her 3 chicks down feathers completely off at the end of this week. I figured as long as that was all she did it would be fine, but I was suspicious. So have been checking up on her lately, this morning all was fine, crops full all happy. Came back about TWO hours later and opened the box to find she had started plucking pin feathers. I am soooo mad!!!

 

Fortunately she had just started doing all 3 heads, some less than others. One has a little bit of blood in its ear and she had a mouth full of pins so I (gently but angrily) moved her back into the main flight. Now she is calling constantly to the cock bird but I could care less. Argh! I hope the feathers grow back. Theres an albino hen, a YF cobalt or violet sky blue (not sure which yet) and a violet cobalt in there. They were GORGEOUS. Pics tomorrow

Ugh. I had a hen pluck her 3 chicks down feathers completely off at the end of this week. I figured as long as that was all she did it would be fine, but I was suspicious. So have been checking up on her lately, this morning all was fine, crops full all happy. Came back about TWO hours later and opened the box to find she had started plucking pin feathers. I am soooo mad!!!

 

Fortunately she had just started doing all 3 heads, some less than others. One has a little bit of blood in its ear and she had a mouth full of pins so I (gently but angrily) moved her back into the main flight. Now she is calling constantly to the cock bird but I could care less. Argh! I hope the feathers grow back. Theres an albino hen, a YF cobalt or violet sky blue (not sure which yet) and a violet cobalt in there. They were GORGEOUS. Pics tomorrow

Who's looking after the babies ?