Hey everyone. My sister and I had a large aviary of budgies as kids and I loved every single one of them. They used to colony breed.

 

Now my 11 year old daughter has fallen in love with them too and I have been bitten by the budgie bug again. I have six beautiful birds. If they pair up I am happy to build some separate breeding cages for them as I don't want any fighting like I have seen occur in colony breeding. Two of them seem to have paired up, but she is too young to breed just yet.

 

I have a fairly large flight aviary and find myself losing far to much time enjoying watching their antics!

 

I have recently acquired a stunning DEC white hen. I am keen to pair her up with a mate to produce more white budgies if I can. White males are a rarity though I know. If anyone can point me to a breeder in Brisbane with a white male for sale I would be very interested. Her name is Tinkerbell and she is under a year old, so no breeding for her just yet!!

 

I have the world's most obnoxiously happy boy. His name is Whizzbang the Terrible and he is a noisebox from the moment he opens his eyes. He comes over to serenade me whenever I am close by.

 

Being a novice at this, I am really not sure of what the other birds I have are. I know one hen is an opaline recessive as she has a white chest and mask and a sky blue belly and tail area, and another huge big green and gold pied boy. I also have a pure grey and white pied hen, and Whizzy is a very dark olive green merging to dark purple blue on his lower belly with yellow mask. The last boy I have is a lacewing with yellow mask - he is irridescent greeny blue (more greeny than blue) on his chest merging to a brilliant sky blue on his lower belly and tail area. He's a real sweetie, only quite small but full of yippee beans.

 

If anyone can help me with what kinds of mutations they are from my lame descriptions I am very interested. I love them so much!

Hi and welcome to the forum. Budgies are addictive aren't they?

 

If you could post pictures of your flock we'd be able to identify them much more accurately.

 

To get all white chicks from your white hen you'd need to be sure that her mate was the same mutation. If she is a DEC you would need to find another DEC to get all white chicks. If a white dark eyed clear is paired with a white double factor spangle you wouldn't get white chicks. If your hen was paired to a white albino you'd get white females & coloured males

Welcome, Moglet. Nothing like going in hard eh? I'm sure you and your daughter will have a lovely time together with your budgies. I love hearing stories like yours where the two generations are doing something together. Just make sure she doesn't leave you with all the dirty work!!! :D

They sure are. I had forgotten how much I adore them. I will try to get some good pics of them in the next day or two. Do I post them in the pics forum section? My white hen, Tinkerbell, is really stunning. She is snowy pure white and has big dark eyes with no white. I would love to find a suitable mate for her, but I have heard white males are really hard to find?? She is only young, so I have time to hunt for him I guess. She's still settling in and seems very playful now she has decided I am not an axe murderer!!!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum. Budgies are addictive aren't they?

 

If you could post pictures of your flock we'd be able to identify them much more accurately.

 

To get all white chicks from your white hen you'd need to be sure that her mate was the same mutation. If she is a DEC you would need to find another DEC to get all white chicks. If a white dark eyed clear is paired with a white double factor spangle you wouldn't get white chicks. If your hen was paired to a white albino you'd get white females & coloured males

 

Oh she wont get away with that.... evil laugh

 

She adores them too, though I think I am the addicted nutter. I spend ages cracking up watching them. It's like the Bold and the Beautiful with all the goings on in there some days!!!

 

Welcome, Moglet. Nothing like going in hard eh? I'm sure you and your daughter will have a lovely time together with your budgies. I love hearing stories like yours where the two generations are doing something together. Just make sure she doesn't leave you with all the dirty work!!! :D

Hey I worked out how to upload my photos.... if anyone can help identify what types my gorgeous birds are i will be very grateful. Thanks.

Hey I worked out how to upload my photos.... if anyone can help identify what types my gorgeous birds are i will be very grateful. Thanks.

 

 

Just thought I'd put a link over to where the photos are, for whoever might read this. topic with photos

Hey I worked out how to upload my photos.... if anyone can help identify what types my gorgeous birds are i will be very grateful. Thanks.

 

 

Just thought I'd put a link over to where the photos are, for whoever might read this. topic with photos

 

Thank you! I'm a bit of a gumby with this I think. I looove looking at all the pictures. They are all such gorgeous little souls. Since I gave up trying to pair Cosmo with Sparkles (she was sooooo mean to him!) I put him back in the aviary and he's been non stop hanging out with his best mate Whizzbang. They were little babies together and are really good friends. My son reckons they were going off to have a manly chat and a bbq last night to catch up. Idiot!!! I think Sparkles might be a bit nicer to Gilbert, she sure is a bossy boots!!!!

 

Possum is the sweetheart of the aviary. She is so big and soft looking and playful, I can see why Whizzbang adores her. Come spring I will set them up with a breeding cage as she will be over a year by then. Whizzy is 14months now, so they should be all ready to start a little family. Awwww.

 

Cosmo lost his beloved Lutino mate, Gizmo, this month. It was very sad. She just died so suddenly, the breeder thinks she may have had a heart attack. I will have to see if I can find him a girl other than the dictator Sparkles. She was bought for him, but that's life I guess.

 

I am saving Tinkerbell to see if I can find her an albino male which I know may be a bit hard. But I would love to pair her with one. She is very quiet and keeps to herself a lot. Plays by herself and doesn't seem to join in the usual riot going on in there. Of course Whizzbang is the darn ringleader. He is ALWAYS up to something with Cosmo backing him up.

Edited March 23, 201114 yr by **KAZ**

Sounds like you've got everything sorted out pretty well. And I love your son's way of thinking!! Da boyz have to have time to be boyz!!

 

Sometimes I think they are worse than babies for making time fly!!

Oh they are!! My babies are now lanky and taller than me at 11 and 13... so the budgies are biiiig time wasters. Watching them is hilarious. I will try to get a photo of Whizzbang the Terrible and Cosmo deep in 'man talk'. It is a crack up. They spend ages deep in conversation. Then Whizzbang will sidle up to Possum and chat her up for a while to keep in the good books. I hope I find a new mate for Cosmo soon. It was so sad when Gizmo died. He was on the floor with her talking to her for ages. I waited until he left before I took her away. We were all bawling by then. He just adored her. She was hand raised and loved to climb all over us. He is tame but not like she was so I would leave the door open for him when she was with us. He come and fly on and off our shoulders to keep an eye on his girl. She was only a little thing and he is so big and boofy, but if she got up him....

 

I love the way they get into a D&M with something like a bell or their reflection in the water dish. It gets very intense. Can anyone tell me what the head bobbing thing is?? They seem to do it when they are in the zone!

 

Sounds like you've got everything sorted out pretty well. And I love your son's way of thinking!! Da boyz have to have time to be boyz!!

 

Sometimes I think they are worse than babies for making time fly!!

The head-dipping is a readiness to mate, from what I can gather, so all head-dippers, go, go ,go!!! :D

 

Yeah, my babies are 15 and 11 and when my 15 yo was 10 decided he wanted a pet bird. I've always loved birds but my Dad wouldn't allow birds to be caged, so was a no-no as a pet for me as a kid, so jumped at the chance to dip my toes in the water with the budgies. I've been very restrained and only a year ago got the original budgie a friend - sure Bluey thought he was human (and a bloody good one at that) until I introduced him to the Hen-from-***, Smudge. She hasn't left him alone for a minute since, and I think thepoor old darling is still in shock!!!

 

Hope you find an great mate for Cosmo in the near future.

Well now I'm worried as Cosmo and Whizz head dip at each other, or by themselves to a toy or a bell, or at their own reflections in the water dish!!!!!!! That's funny. Budgie narcism!

 

I had a human (he thought) budgie as a kid named Hickory. He was a gorgeous light blue, almost pale powder blue. He used to come in from the aviary to hang out with me. He'd run all over the table stealing food before Mum evicted him from that, then he'd just settle for flying from curtain rod to curtain rod and skimming our heads on the way for fun. We had some quails in the aviary too, and the little horror would land on the back of Gertie, the female quail, and peck her on the back of the head to make her run with him on her back like a jockey. Was hilarious to watch, though we had to keep an eye on it as he made a baldy patch on her. Then he would have to come inside in the naughty cage and be with me for a while while her feathers grew back. It was probably his objective to get to come inside with us.

 

We had about 50 birds at one point and Hickory never paired up. I think he enjoyed being with us too much.

 

I agree with your Dad about the caged birds thing. When my daughter was desperate for a budgie I bought a big aviary on ebay as I was determined the birds should be able to fly and be birds. I'm glad I did, though getting the dratted thing home is a whole other tale!! Single mum, never driven with a trailer.... at one point my best friend and I dropped the thing in the middle of the road when we picked it up, with the biggest almighty crash on a quiet suburban street. The whole street was peering out their curtains at these two women lying on the grass laughing hysterically. My then 10 year old daughter just quietly got back in the car and hoped for a meteorite to kill her then and there.... I never knew you could jackknife a box trailer either until we got home and had to back it into the drive way. OMG it was a comedy of errors.

 

 

The head-dipping is a readiness to mate, from what I can gather, so all head-dippers, go, go ,go!!! :D

 

Yeah, my babies are 15 and 11 and when my 15 yo was 10 decided he wanted a pet bird. I've always loved birds but my Dad wouldn't allow birds to be caged, so was a no-no as a pet for me as a kid, so jumped at the chance to dip my toes in the water with the budgies. I've been very restrained and only a year ago got the original budgie a friend - sure Bluey thought he was human (and a bloody good one at that) until I introduced him to the Hen-from-***, Smudge. She hasn't left him alone for a minute since, and I think thepoor old darling is still in shock!!!

 

Hope you find an great mate for Cosmo in the near future.

Head bopping behaviour is also about being confident and happy and not solely related to being ready to breed.

Hi, moglet. Kaz beat me to it, that's what I was about to add (with the head-bopping thing) - I realised after I had sent my post last night that I was probably being misleading but my hubby was standing over my shoulder wanting to use the computer to pay bills (of all things, as if that is more important than talking budgies!!!) :rolleyes:

 

Mine come out to play for a couple of hours each day and have a lovely big flight cage (I call it the penthouse - some-one suggested I could start charging rent!! ) and a fair few toys that I rotate each week, so I feel better about them not flying free. At least with me they don't have to worry about predators so can lead a ffairly stress-free life.

 

I can just imagine how embarrassed your daughter would have been - you just shouldn't take your parents some places!!!, - I can just see her hiding under the dash in case there happened to be someone she knew in the neighbourhood. I had to have a lough at your expense!!! :D

 

Take care

Bill paying over budgie talk! What was the man thinking...

 

Yes, I am a constant source of embarrassment to my kids... but isn't that why we have them??

 

Then Whizz and Cosmo must be verrry happy with life as they are always at it. They all seem happy, just lots of different personalities. Tink is a shy sweetie who plays by herself while Whizzbang the Terrible terrorises us all enjoying himself in every way possible. He's such a card. The aviary is in my office at the moment (more aviary in there than office) and he looooves it as he has me as a captive audience as I work from home. He comes over and fluffs his head up and serenades me for ages.

 

I was thinking of moving them onto the verandah as I have to move to another room when talking to clients on the phone, but I'm a bit worried about them being outside even if it is just the verandah right next to where they are now.

 

 

I was thinking of moving them onto the verandah as I have to move to another room when talking to clients on the phone, but I'm a bit worried about them being outside even if it is just the verandah right next to where they are now.

 

 

Not unless they are supervised. Too many are attacked through the bars of the cage by all kinds of predators

Thanks, that's exactly what I was worried about. Butcher birds and maggies are all around here. I like them with me in the office too, though it is very easy to be distracted by wanting to watch them!!!!

I put mine out on the balcony to get some sun as often as I can, but even with me there I've had miners and magpies try to get at him.

 

I work from home as well and have all sorts of problems when talking on the phone to clients. He's obsessed with phones - even more so when talking on one – and is all over me chirping and squawking like a mad thing. He likes to hang down from the top of my head over my forehead as well, clasping onto a strand of hair for ballast, so all I can see is this enormous upside-down budgie head in my eye. It can be really embarrassing, as I know clients can hear all the commotion at the other end of the line.

 

Taking notes while on the phone is a nightmare as well. He hangs off the end of the moving pen, flopping around like a dead weight with every stroke, kissing, chatting and bobbing his head at it.

 

And of course, when the phone rings, there's absolutely no way on this earth he's going to go obediently back in his cage.

 

He's a little budgie-ball of nuisance.

.....and I am totally in love with him!! He sounds just gorgeous.

 

I had a little guy who was obsessed with my mouse hand. I would put all sorts of cool and interesting things on the desk to interest him but he was so obsessed with preening my mouse hand and chewing me. He used to climb all over me to get my attention while I was working. Failing that he would jump on my laptop and run all over it to make me deal with him. He was supposed to be my daughter's pet but he decided I was the love of his life and would open his cage door to fly to me. We had to peg it shut for his own safety.

 

Unfortunately he was still a very young when he died. Sometimes the brightest stars shine for just a brief moment. I was totally messed up for days after he died.

 

You sound like you have a one in a million that chose you. There is a reason for that! You are very lucky.

Blue has discovered a shiny bit on the mouse where he can see his reflection and gets annoyed with my hand whenever I have to use the mouse. Hops only the back of my hand and gives it a little peck!! Not enough to hurt, just enough for me to get the message!!! ;)

 

Mine are out on the deck, by the way. I know the problems with butcherbirds and while they do show interest sometimes, they have to come in under the roof too far and too close to the house for them to EVER be a problem. Most of the time they aren't even game so sit on the rail. It's much cooler there as they get a breeze most of the time, rather than cooped up all day inside. The house can get very hot if it is shut up for a while - I'll take the (in my case) small risk of a butcher bird rather then an over-heated bird.

Hey moglet, welcome to Bbc forums