That's not fair Renee, first of all I or we have to make the mistake first and I did say earlier moving young around does not always work. I have had 2 babies last that I was confused over because I put them in a nest where I was quite sure all birds would be green but they all turned out blue. Those birds are now in the cull cage but luckily they were not much good. Had I checked the records I would of relised that both birds were split for blue (MY MISTAKE) BUT I do not want to make the same mistake next this year.

Please stop taking everything I say as personally directed towards you, it is not.

We all make mistakes. Its up to us to learn and try and be smarter than our budgies.

Precisely I am in the process of reassessing whether I will move chicks around so much as I did last breeding season, but that has more to do with the outbreak of French Moult I had and how I ended up infecting nests with affected chicks than anything else.

here here Kaz

I think your food colouring idea is good. I once marked a baby budgie on the bottom of its foot with a black marker permanent pen....it was gone in half a day

 

The food colouring you still need to keep applying it but it does stand out and colours the down. I have a bottle there all the time . I mainly use blue but I changed to purple mixing red and blue it helps better.

here here Kaz

I think your food colouring idea is good. I once marked a baby budgie on the bottom of its foot with a black marker permanent pen....it was gone in half a day

Actually I did trial that but I was so concerned that I may inadvertently poison the newbies that I was very hesitant and tried just putting a dab on the foot (aimed at the claws ) but you're right, it does wear off ...

Edited January 30, 201015 yr by renee

It's food colouring non poison, I put it on their backs down the side of their legs on the top of their heads etc. Works for me, my mistakes this year was putting eggs into a different nest and not knowing who they belonged to but I culled them anyway so now it doen't matter but I won't be doing it again.

I have a sheet of paper which has number of eggs date layed, date should hatch, date hatch, date grow feathers, date fledge and date weaned. Well, I would, if Marigold's eggs had actually gotten to those stages. But that is the plan.

I have a sheet of paper which has number of eggs date layed, date should hatch, date hatch, date grow feathers, date fledge and date weaned. Well, I would, if Marigold's eggs had actually gotten to those stages. But that is the plan.

Well done Ratzy! But a word of wisdom ~ always have a back up or Plan B just in case.

That sounds good Ratzy, like I said every one has different ways of keeping records, mine works for me but it doesnt mean it would work John Smith

my husband does all my breed records and he is great with them we run both computer and book plus cards on boxes date eggs laid when hatched on occasions we have lost chicks but very rarely as I mark if moved chick when dated and from which box and to were I do try and move normals to ino or vise versa but doesn't happen always but good record keeping is a must even when we sell a bird it's marked in our records to whom it was sold and if culled and sold to petshop as for the computer we have one dedicated to the bird records only

my husband does all my breed records and he is great with them we run both computer and book plus cards on boxes date eggs laid when hatched on occasions we have lost chicks but very rarely as I mark if moved chick when dated and from which box and to were I do try and move normals to ino or vise versa but doesn't happen always but good record keeping is a must even when we sell a bird it's marked in our records to whom it was sold and if culled and sold to petshop as for the computer we have one dedicated to the bird records only

Ooooh, I like the sound of that! I am hoping Tony takes a more active role in the Breeding room this year Currently he poopy bum spotter par excellence, and topper upper of seed, and aviary cleaner, and branch sourcer ... methinks I will have to come up with further inducements to encourage his expanding participation!

my husband does all my breed records and he is great with them we run both computer and book plus cards on boxes date eggs laid when hatched on occasions we have lost chicks but very rarely as I mark if moved chick when dated and from which box and to were I do try and move normals to ino or vise versa but doesn't happen always but good record keeping is a must even when we sell a bird it's marked in our records to whom it was sold and if culled and sold to petshop as for the computer we have one dedicated to the bird records only

 

Your system sounds great Fran, I can take leaf out of that and learn something in the way I only record some of my culls to where they go but on the computer I do have more detail.

So from now on I will record who nthey go to.

Rarely lose track but have done once or twice - exactly as Kaz says, when I've been in a crashing hurry and forgotten to clearly write down the move. Mostly even when I've moved birds into nests where I might not be able to tell the difference features of the pairings stand out - moving chicks from a BES split pairing will always stand out in quality, distinctive looks from certain birds come through in the chicks etc BUT you have to be vigilent and observant AND most of all write it all down as accurately as possible otherwise it all goes to ****.

I agree Nubbly, I try not to move them around but sometimes you just have to and with my birds I don't have much that is different but the df sp nest work very good. But yes need to write exactly where they have gone

Personally I don't care where a bird goes once I've made a decision to cull it, I'm always happy when someone says to me " I bred that out of one of yours," But as for recording who buys what, I just ask why? why do you care? Put your efforts into the burds you are keeping to breed with, keep extensive records of every feature of every bird and as a begginner you'll improve your pairings. Clearwing

Personally I don't care where a bird goes once I've made a decision to cull it, I'm always happy when someone says to me " I bred that out of one of yours," But as for recording who buys what, I just ask why? why do you care? Put your efforts into the burds you are keeping to breed with, keep extensive records of every feature of every bird and as a begginner you'll improve your pairings. Clearwing

 

Thanks clearwing great advice I am in the mist of putting all my birds back on the budgerigar program because I can't retrieve them from my old computer because it had it. What a big job. But i am taking the oportunity to record feather size shoulder ect :rofl:

Personally I don't care where a bird goes once I've made a decision to cull it, I'm always happy when someone says to me " I bred that out of one of yours," But as for recording who buys what, I just ask why? why do you care? Put your efforts into the burds you are keeping to breed with, keep extensive records of every feature of every bird and as a begginner you'll improve your pairings. Clearwing

 

Thanks clearwing great advice I am in the mist of putting all my birds back on the budgerigar program because I can't retrieve them from my old computer because it had it. What a big job. But i am taking the oportunity to record feather size shoulder ect :rofl:

 

 

Glad to hear it! Now after you pair visually you can refer to your records to check compatability for feather length atc.

yep with someones watchful eye :rofl:

But I do have some ideas, I have been looking at the birds aand already working out what's going with what. :rofl:

For you Shannon

This is what my record book looks like pretty hey, and the one out in the breeding room has little one old chicks on it

 

This is a page out of my record book,

 

this is a page from the back

 

This is a page from the book in the breedroom that then gets tranfered into the main book

 

At the start of my book I allow around half the book to record the nest maybe more and at the back about 3/4 back I start putting all the birds I have bred.

 

thank you splat looks pretty well done

Edited January 31, 201015 yr by shannon bird breeder

I use the old breeding box card thingo. I use the small system cards available at office works etc. And clip these to the top of the door of each cabinet using a mini bulldog clip. Very simply on these I record the pair, the date the pair started the round (or when i put the pair together), the box number and then have 3 columns 1 for eggs laid, date of hatching and ring no. I put any moves on the cards to and from so I have a double record if you will. If the nest is a straight forward nest, I record ring numbers immediately onto a record file or often if it's a mixed nest and i have to wait until their feathered I'll plonk them into the record file when I move them into the nappy cage.

 

At regular times every few weeks, I take the sheets inside and record details on computer and update my "Alive's" record list which I keep at the front of the file for reference. All my yearly breeding sheets are retained in the file in case of computer problems. Box cards are retained until the end of the season and any notes like feather plucker etc are added to the computer records at the end of the season and then cards are discarded.

 

 

Card showing 2 added babies prior to ringing. This is a normal nest with a DF grey bird so all chicks are grey or grey green. The chicks I've added are a clearwing and a chick from a nest of 2 normal greens (no greys) so it'll be simple to tell these guys apart come feathering. You can see I've moves one chick out of this nest to nest #18

 

 

This nest card shows parents date of round and box number at the top. Even where chicks already have ring numbers I'll still record their hatch date and parents on the box card that they have been moved to.

 

Chicks record sheet. The ones highlighted have already been added to the computer records. At the end of the season I complete any bits missed like sex which I often leave until I'm 100% sure.

 

This file lives in the aviary. It contains as up to date list of computer records as I have. I always print out a new one when I've put in new birds. And behind that are the chick records for several years.

wow nubbly5 you have got a good thin to it look like it works for you

Breeding card http://www.bcv.asn.au/Breeding%20Card.htm

 

Nest record http://www.bcv.asn.au/Nest%20Record.htm

Breeding card http://www.bcv.asn.au/Breeding%20Card.htm

 

Nest record http://www.bcv.asn.au/Nest%20Record.htm

 

 

I use these ones Kaz, I like the one with the records on the page, I print out heaps and put them on the from of my breeding boxes and all details are filled in and also into my breeding book out in the aviary then the lot is brought inside and recorded in my record book and computer.

My problem is not so much the record keeping but keeping track!

 

I routinely have a couple of nest starting to hatch at the same time, minimum 2 but it has be known to reach 5 within a 7 day period, and because I move the chicks around all the time - a day old chick from a non-feeding maiden to a more experienced hen for a couple of days and then back to the original nest or another maiden AND I group all same age chicks together so they all fledge within days of each other, well I get very confused. Fortunately for me my hens don't, I do believe you can train them.

 

I am wondering what other breeders who have a similar experience do?

I think you would be aware too Renee that one of the top breeders over here, a Nationals breeder, ( who shall remain nameless ) has admitted on more than one occasion that he also shifts chicks about so much that he also loses track. Its the shIfting about so quickly with no written record and losing track that causes future surprises and missing splits not recorded to assist moving forward in breeding and this hobby. It wastes a lot of time and birds.

 

tell me about it kaz having some very unexpected times of loftiness i shell call it

i have somehow lost track of some very good birds genetic heritage

this means for me

1 that not only do i need to pair my birds once to find out what they may be split for if cocks (but )

two... being an albino and lacewing breeder ...well trying to enter into it ,it means i need to have free a normal hen that is grey so that the pairing to find out if their albino or lacewing split is at least worth the time also

 

im just luck i have only breed one breeding session before this one and managed to ring and write down breefly where first 3 chicks from nests are and i put some very different mutations down at once

ive only ever gotten chick mixed once before this and it was due to same reason

 

i decided to solve this problem for me as its not to do with book keeping more so than health issues which can come quiet unexpectedly

to only breed as splat said a handful of birds at a time and to do maybe all pairings that will have visual differences

in case this ever happens again

i have lost track of two nests heritages however i do know what the colour and mutation expectations should be as i paired for both their for it will be not to hard to work out luckly as i have breeding papers of one cock i know he is not split to anything and as both peronts were opaline all his chicks need to be opaline and the only way i can get it wrong is if i get a dark green hen opaline as the other cock is split to opaline so...im crossing fingers

im just lucky im not into my plan yet just trying to breed some good stock hens really

 

i chose books over com

but i have millions everywhere and need to find a structured plan of atack lol before i get to serious for now im still playing around with pairings

 

but records are to me a must i even keep them for my pets

the reason why we make note is the bird is in the computer well budgie program so when you click on sold you can put in from whom it went too those birds sold stay on the program just goes into the sold part it takes two seconds we do put in alot of info on the birds we keep it all works very easy but it's habit so thats what works for us and the other reason is if someone rings to find out about a bird it's easier to track down

I use the old breeding box card thingo. I use the small system cards available at office works etc. And clip these to the top of the door of each cabinet using a mini bulldog clip. Very simply on these I record the pair, the date the pair started the round (or when i put the pair together), the box number and then have 3 columns 1 for eggs laid, date of hatching and ring no. I put any moves on the cards to and from so I have a double record if you will. If the nest is a straight forward nest, I record ring numbers immediately onto a record file or often if it's a mixed nest and i have to wait until their feathered I'll plonk them into the record file when I move them into the nappy cage.

 

At regular times every few weeks, I take the sheets inside and record details on computer and update my "Alive's" record list which I keep at the front of the file for reference. All my yearly breeding sheets are retained in the file in case of computer problems. Box cards are retained until the end of the season and any notes like feather plucker etc are added to the computer records at the end of the season and then cards are discarded.

 

 

Card showing 2 added babies prior to ringing. This is a normal nest with a DF grey bird so all chicks are grey or grey green. The chicks I've added are a clearwing and a chick from a nest of 2 normal greens (no greys) so it'll be simple to tell these guys apart come feathering. You can see I've moves one chick out of this nest to nest #18

 

 

This nest card shows parents date of round and box number at the top. Even where chicks already have ring numbers I'll still record their hatch date and parents on the box card that they have been moved to.

 

Chicks record sheet. The ones highlighted have already been added to the computer records. At the end of the season I complete any bits missed like sex which I often leave until I'm 100% sure.

 

This file lives in the aviary. It contains as up to date list of computer records as I have. I always print out a new one when I've put in new birds. And behind that are the chick records for several years.

 

WOW! talkin about organisation!!! it seems hard to understand thoough....

Edited January 31, 201015 yr by daniela

call me simple but for the life of me i could not get that budgie program to work

id put birds in family the lot but i couldnt work out how to do anything ellse way to complex for my brain

 

so here is a small example of what i do for pets and thinking of doing something sim for show birds

 

 

Ring number;

 

 

Breeder;

Phone;

Address;

State; hatch month :

Left nest :

 

 

Mutation:

 

Colour ~

 

GRANDPERONTS :

MOTHERS SIDE:

COLOUR: COMMENTS:

MUTATION:

YEAR:

FATHERS SIDE:

COLOUR: COMMENTS:

MUTATION:

YEAR:

 

MOTHER:

COLOUR: COMMENTS:

MUTATION:

YEAR:

FATHER:

COLOUR: COMMENTS:

MUTATION:

YEAR:

 

CLUTCH BUDDIES:

 

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS:

 

 

this is just a small example of what i kind of do its got picture of bird and as much comments or background as i can if theirs a bird with more history i just staple its papers to the sheet i made for it each birds then filed on com this way and in a folder

when i breed bird it has a seperate paper for chicks breed and info on what year cluch and ext

wooks for my brain

Edited January 31, 201015 yr by GenericBlue