Hi everyone a new member here - I'll try to make the post/question as brief and descriptive as possible.

 

okay just brought a house -- it had to happen birds are in my blood. I have two aviarys so far 1 for budgies 1 for finches + about three more aviarys to come.

 

Wasn't going to breed budgies again but i suddenly wound up with a pair and now i have four breeding pairs and have bred numerous babies but have ran into some problems. I have just about read every forum and researched every website plus read a lot of books too but want some hard and fast advice from people who live birds just not breed them cause I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the information. As we all know budgies dont breed by textbooks and given orders they breed how they want to breed. LOL

 

okay heres my aviary description 1.5 metres by 1.5 by 1.8 high cement base. More than double the amount of nestboxes than the pairs i have ie. 10 all about the same height with all the entrances facing away from each other about 40cms apart. Aviary gets plenty of sunlight.

 

Nestbox size H 15cm x W 15cm x L 21cm with a concave in the middle. No nesting material provided.

 

Food provided so far and supplements.

 

Budgie mix from local produce place

Iodine bells

Calcium bells

Cuttlebone

Aviance science liquid calcium supplement put in drinking water

Avi-Drops - multivitam concentrate put in drinking water

Shell Grit

 

Heres my questions.

 

1. Ive read a lot on the internet that just feeding budgie mix is bad. If so what vegetables/pellets/ adatives do you feed your budgies??? If i get a definite list of actual foods members feed there budgies I can try all the recomended till I find ones they eat.

 

2. Egg and biscuit mixture? YES or NO - i give it to my finches they recommend on the packet to mix it with water but my finches wont touch it mixed with water they only eat it dry.

 

3. Is there anything special needed to feed the parents while they a rearing the young?

 

4. I have an average of about 2 - 3 grow to fledge out of the nest. Sometimes a few birds have died in the nest - chicks about 5 days old. The mother feeds them there is food in the crop but theres always one budgie that ends up being about twice the size of the others due to the fact they lay about every second day so hes got a head start. Could it be that the larger budgie is being greedy and demanding all the food? Could it be the baby is being squashed by the larger one? The birds as far as i can tell have not been harmed by the parents in anyway. I have read somewhere when I was younger I think in a book or somewhere that breeders would take out the eggs and replace them with fake eggs until the hen was sitting on the eggs then put the real eggs back in the nest. From what I have read this is quite common among canary breeders so they all hatch and grow at the same time taking out the dominant greedy bird is it a good idea???? YAY or NAY.

 

5.Nesting material? YES or NO - if so what type shavings - sawdust???? I've read mostly nothing with a concave bottom so that eggs don't roll is the best and heard negative comments about sawdust. Whats the general concenus on the forum.

 

6. Whats the best size nestbox? From what i've read mine is an average size just wanting to know if anyones had better results with smaller one.

 

I think thats about it. Sorry to post all the questions but I think you can get consumed with information and it confuses you to the point you think your going crazy which clearly I have.

 

PS. I also have an egg candler and candle the eggs and remove the infertile ones. Also all my birds are unrelated as far as i know. As soon as tax time comes I am constructing another aviary to house upaired birds/juviniles and down the track I am going to make a bird breeding room in my shed but for now the aviary has to do.

 

Any constructive critisism and advice would be HUGELY appreciated

 

MANY MANY MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE Aaron

 

"I haven't failed I've just found a 1000 ways that don't work"

Edited July 3, 201113 yr by budgiefinchfinatic

hello and welcome

wow let me get my head around all that

first of all

you can not say your birds are unrelated if you are breeding colony as you have no clue as to whom fathered whom

so you can forget about the im not breeding related birds to start as you may of started off with none related birds however depending on if you have been breeding for a year or more than your birds could possibly be already inter breed and you really need to remove all chicks from flights that have breeding boxes until they are one year old or you will be encouraging birds to breed to young like starting at 6months or younger a bit bit no no for them

 

okay now lets start with food

oranges /lemons once a week

carrots every second day

silver beet or spinich every third day

egg n bicky mix dry (yes they love it just put in bowl next to water )

personally if your going to make a breeding room then id just rest the birds till then stop the breeding take out the boxes

and re start breeding when its all set up

then the questions about the chicks can be answered properly as to be disturbing colony breed birds is really just asking for issues if they are not killing eachother or fighting or killing others clutches let things be till you build your breeding room

you wrote so much i need to look at it all again

but id just stop everything and rest them then start with breeding them in the bird room

seems your giving them all thats needed maybe just not any greens why chicks are dieing of being under fed or other mums stopping mum goinging in to fed could be any number of things to be honest so not even going to go their as if its not controled breeding you cant have a clue what couldbe wrong

sorry

but sounds like your going in right direction with building bird room

 

Hi everyone a new member here - I'll try to make the post/question as brief and descriptive as possible.

 

okay just brought a house -- it had to happen birds are in my blood. I have two aviarys so far 1 for budgies 1 for finches + about three more aviarys to come.

 

Wasn't going to breed budgies again but i suddenly wound up with a pair and now i have four breeding pairs and have bred numerous babies but have ran into some problems. I have just about read every forum and researched every website plus read a lot of books too but want some hard and fast advice from people who live birds just not breed them cause I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the information. As we all know budgies dont breed by textbooks and given orders they breed how they want to breed. LOL

 

okay heres my aviary description 1.5 metres by 1.5 by 1.8 high cement base. More than double the amount of nestboxes than the pairs i have ie. 10 all about the same height with all the entrances facing away from each other about 40cms apart. Aviary gets plenty of sunlight.

 

Nestbox size H 15cm x W 15cm x L 21cm with a concave in the middle. No nesting material provided.

 

Food provided so far and supplements.

 

Budgie mix from local produce place ( good 0

Iodine bells (yep

Calcium bells (yep

Cuttlebone (yep

Aviance science liquid calcium supplement put in drinking water ( yep but only not needed all time )

Avi-Drops - multivitam concentrate put in drinking water (doubling up on vits bad move )

Shell Grit ( commendable great big hug )

Heres my questions.

 

1. Ive read a lot on the internet that just feeding budgie mix is bad. If so what vegetables/pellets/ adatives do you feed your budgies??? If i get a definite list of actual foods members feed there budgies I can try all the recomended till I find ones they eat.

 

2. Egg and biscuit mixture? YES or NO - i give it to my finches they recommend on the packet to mix it with water but my finches wont touch it mixed with water they only eat it dry. yes dry is good

 

3. Is there anything special needed to feed the parents while they a rearing the young? extra veg and hulled Otes

 

4. I have an average of about 2 - 3 grow to fledge out of the nest. Sometimes a few birds have died in the nest - chicks about 5 days old. The mother feeds them there is food in the crop but theres always one budgie that ends up being about twice the size of the others due to the fact they lay about every second day so hes got a head start. Could it be that the larger budgie is being greedy and demanding all the food? Could it be the baby is being squashed by the larger one? The birds as far as i can tell have not been harmed by the parents in anyway. I have read somewhere when I was younger I think in a book or somewhere that breeders would take out the eggs and replace them with fake eggs until the hen was sitting on the eggs then put the real eggs back in the nest. From what I have read this is quite common among canary breeders so they all hatch and grow at the same time taking out the dominant greedy bird is it a good idea???? YAY or NAY. leave as is you have been lucky if not broke dont fix

 

5.Nesting material? YES or NO - if so what type shavings - sawdust???? I've read mostly nothing with a concave bottom so that eggs don't roll is the best and heard negative comments about sawdust. Whats the general concenus on the forum. i put in sawdust shavings

6. Whats the best size nestbox? From what i've read mine is an average size just wanting to know if anyones had better results with smaller one. i just got pet shop ones

 

I think thats about it. Sorry to post all the questions but I think you can get consumed with information and it confuses you to the point you think your going crazy which clearly I have.

 

PS. I also have an egg candler and candle the eggs and remove the infertile ones. Also all my birds are unrelated as far as i know. As soon as tax time comes I am constructing another aviary to house upaired birds/juviniles and down the track I am going to make a bird breeding room in my shed but for now the aviary has to do.id rest birds as they will become related very soon and start breeding when you have room

 

Any constructive critisism and advice would be HUGELY appreciated

 

MANY MANY MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE Aaron

ps my birds are my life WELL NOT TOTALLY BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN and im quiet happpy to help out anytime any questions just pm me gb

 

"I haven't failed I've just found a 1000 ways that don't work" its all about finding your happy medium

Edited July 3, 201113 yr by GenericBlue

Sorry i forgot to add i've sold nearly all of the birds i've bred probably have about 1 ive kept. Ive picked up mature ones from different petshops and people who were selling them privately, from the markets and a couple from a breeder - who wasn't to keen to share his knowledge which i can understand. Should've been more specific. I haven't been breeding bloodlines IE. brother and sister etc. well as far as I know. Tax time can't come quick enough and the bird room and other aviarys are on top of the list. Convincing the WIFE now thats another matter -I think I'll just go ahead and build them then apologise and take my punishment. At least theyll be there.

 

WOW! Blown away! GB. That was inciteful and very helpful - THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I'm so grateful for the information I don't like doing things in halves.

 

I've now got direction YEEHAA! THANKS!

Edited July 3, 201113 yr by budgiefinchfinatic