Gerald Binks it the author , expensive to buy , i dont think you will find it at a library.

If you join your local club, im sure a member will have it, or clubs have a library section.

That pics up top , can I see an ear hole?

 

 

 

You mean this one?

Yep thats a little ear hole

 

The challenge is about $150 from some online shops (not including shipping)

My local club has their own library and I borrowed the book for the month for $1

It includes everything from diet to breeding to getting ready for a show and judging a show.

It has helped me quite a bit already when I'm looking for good traits in my birds (lots of illustrations)

 

 

 

You mean this one?

Yep thats a little ear hole

 

The challenge is about $150 from some online shops (not including shipping)

My local club has their own library and I borrowed the book for the month for $1

It includes everything from diet to breeding to getting ready for a show and judging a show.

It has helped me quite a bit already when I'm looking for good traits in my birds (lots of illustrations)

Yeah, so cute

Lol

 

Isn't it $150 for a SIGNED book.

I've seen it cheaper, Daz apparently got it from eBay for I think just under $50

second hand yes I'm sure its cheaper. But its not easy to find for a price like that

Its a really big book, not only that but really handy.

If you have some friends interested in it you could always split the price

second hand yes I'm sure its cheaper. But its not easy to find for a price like that

Its a really big book, not only that but really handy.

If you have some friends interested in it you could always split the price

True, there is always Christmas.

Yeah i might get that. my birthday is coming up soon.

Well this afternoon I discovered a little pinky in pair #4's nest.

Its about 3 days pre-mature, but its wriggling around with its big head and I just did a check and it has food in its crop

so fingers crossed

 

I actually candled them today as I have noticed that hen isn't very careful when she leaves the nest.

I thought it was a dud as I saw a big black spot and some yellow, but I actually think that that was

the baby inside preparing itself. Its fascinating to think that anyway.

 

This is the nest where the cock has filled every egg, so lets see if the hen can do her part well too

Edited August 15, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

I didnt know that budgies could be premature. only humans. i was premature as i have a twin

Edited August 12, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

Well the egg was due to hatch in 2 days, and that was if the hen had sat on it straight after laying, which is not always the case.

Usually its not until the 3rd egg is laid, then they start incubating...so about 4-6 days after it was laid.

 

 

But as long as they live there is nothing wrong with them hatching pre-maturely

 

I was going to take one of my babies to the clubs table show tonight, but hesitated as I had my usual

'I'm not good enough yet' thought.

However, now I wish I did take him, he probably would of won lol

 

yeah its always the thought of there will be someone better me but i think even though i dont show budgies yet that you should just

take one or more of your birds along just so are part of the atmosphere.

Little premature chick didn't make it.

Found it in the nest, seems to have died of yellow belly.

 

Disappointing but something in the back of my mind was telling me to not hold my breath for this chick.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope the other 3 eggs hatch.

Egg number 2 is 18 days old today, egg number one was laid 2 days prior so it hatched right on 18 days.

Not even with my diligent hen that sat from day one had that result which is why I wasn't holding out for it.

 

The other chicks are doing great.

The chick in my DF spangle and cinnamon spangle nest is looking to be a DF like her dad.

I say her as she has white down, and indication of opaline, which I think the dad is hiding (I don't have his background)

But the previous chick I had from that nest is an opaline and a hen, so thats the conclusion I came to.

Which is great, I need more hens

 

The 2 chicks in my dom pied and normal grey nest are also doing great. 2 hens out of 2 eggs.

This male so far has only given me 1 male, so I like him. He throws hens lol

The oldest looks like a grey opaline dom pied hen.

The youngest I looked at for a while and I couldn't determine whether the yellow on its head was food or yellow feathers.

Either way, it will be a normal grey opaline, but I'm hoping its a YF as well. I will see when the feathers come through more.

 

My cinnamon grey and normal grey nest I've been having problems.

She seems to be laying (to my knowledge, which isn't much) soft shelled eggs.

She hasn't let me check in a while as I open the nest and she just stares at me without moving, even if I nudge her.

But last time I saw them there were 2 soft shelled ones and a normal looking one. The normal looking one I think is after I dosed all the cages with calcivet.

Learning curve

 

And silly me, I must of left my candling torch (aka book light) on over night as the batteries are dead.

So now I have to go on either a battery hunt or another book light hunt (which is okay because it only cost me a couple of $)

Maddy sorry about the premature chick but looks as though the majority of your hens are doing well.

cute little ones, great work maddy

 

sorry about the one you just lost

This is my first year breeding budgies and I have prepared myself for things like that. Breeding budgies isn't going to always be fun and games and a lot is going through rough patches like chick deaths, escaping birds and illnesses.

 

I am thankful for forums like these and their people!

Well said taylor

Okay so I'm not holding out much hope for Pair #4's remaining eggs.

I cracked open one today that didn't look right under the torch and there was nothing in there but a dried membrane and a bad smell.

Another of the eggs which I thought was fertile is now a dark yellow so thats no good.

And I have a feeling that the other egg is going the way of the one I cracked open.

 

However, I'm not going to let it get me down.

I'm assuming this has happened due to the lack of experience of the pair (first timers).

It probably wouldn't of happened had the hen not kicked out all the nesting as the eggs would of had cushioning when she would scurry out of the nest and kick the eggs....but what can you do.

If I'm right about this last egg than I'll remove it, put more shavings in and let them go again. They are both in excellent health and weight so...fingers crossed.

 

On the bright side, the Grey normal hen that is coming out of Pair #6 is a YF.

That makes me happy, it should be a real good looking baby.

 

I've also been deciding on pairs for when I get my shed up.

In the next day or two I will remove the hens I think are ready and put them in a breeding cabinet for 5 days.

Why? Because it seems that all the birds know that spring is approaching and the hens have been making 'visits' to all of the males.

This is just so that I don't get a nest from 2 or more different males. Especially since some of my pet cocks have been getting pretty rowdy.

Sad about pair 4:(

But pair 6 sounds hopefull.

Take some pics when older

Looks like you have good and bad news maddy.

Edited August 15, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

I'm so mad today.

 

I went out to check on my birds today and found the YF chick dead in the seed dish.

Wait, did I mention it had been attacked? Yeah. Not only that but I think it was dad.

 

Is it a coincidence that the last nest the cock had had one chick attacked and killed too? Probably not.

 

Why can't my birds keep their chicks alive?

 

I cracked open the last of the fertile looking eggs in Pair #7's nest.

The contents were a half developed chick (DIS) and green liquids.

Grrrrrrr

 

And one chick might not seem like much, but seeing as I only had 3, thats a third of my chicks dead.

Bad news Maddy. Sorry to hear that

So sorry to hear about the deaths maddy.

Update.

 

Some of you may know that I've had a french moult scare recently and it put a bit of a pause on this journal till I figured it out properly.

Well, I may be coming to a conclusion about it. Heres the story so far:

The nest I've having trouble with is the DF spangle and grey cinnamon spangle nest. Their first chick ( a grey green cinnamon spangle hen) dropped all her tail and flight feathers the day she fledged. It was extremely sudden and there was blood in places around the cage so I suspected the parents. It took ages for her feathers to grow back and they would grow back weak or crooked and she would just pull them out again.

The next chick from this pair turned out to be another hen, and quite suddenly, it too lost most of its feathers. But it wasn't just its flights and tail, it was body, head, tail wing tips...just patches of skin everywhere on this little one. So naturally, I've panicked thinking "Oh gawd french moult" and posted a topic on here to confirm. Everyone thought the same as me and that put me in a bit of a slump because I'd just put new pairs in.

Anyway, everyday I would check on this chick, it didn't seem to be getting any better, but it wasn't getting worse either. Fretting FM, I removed the hen a few days ago (because I don't want to breed more FM chicks if it is coming from the parents) and put her in a separate cage and left dad to feed the chick. On the same day I rubbed a mixture of baby oil and Detol onto the bare skin of the chick to rule out plucking (the birds don't like the taste of the Detol and the baby oil soothes them)

Well today I went out and the chick seems fluffier. Down is growing back. So either I've found a solution to FM (lol doubt it) or it was indeed plucking and the mixture has stopped it, giving the feathers a chance to grow back. There was blood on the baby's tail, but I didn't rub any of the oil on the tail area so that could be why.

 

So now that I'm getting some hope back about my breeding plans, I've decided to post back in here

 

Anyway, I put 3 new pairs together in 2 of the empty breeding cages and replaced the cock in another.

 

Pair #1 is now a YF sky blue cinnamon hen and a Grey opaline cock. Last time I tried this hen she had no interest in the nest. The same seems to be happening again despite catching her in 'the act' just before putting her in.

 

Pair #5 is a Light green cinnamon hen and a Grey green normal cock. Already bonded. The hen paced the front of the cage for a while but seems to have stopped. I put the cock in after a day of her being by herself. The cock went straight to her and started to sing in her face, but she was still pacing so was not interested lol

 

Pair #7 I replaced the sky greywing cock with a cobalt normal cock with spectacular width and mediocre everything else lol The day prior the hen had chucked out all four of her eggs (all infertile) and when I introduced the cock she was singing to him straight away lol She has laid 2 rounds of duds so far, so I blamed the cocks inability to fill.

 

Status of the pairs I have:

 

Pair #2 chucked her eggs out (infertile), and I'm going to let her try one more time before seperating her. She has technically only raised 2 chicks, then laid a round and a half of clear (she laid one egg, chucked it, then laid 3)

 

Pair #3 is the one with the plucked chick. Hopefully all is well.

 

Pair #4 had one chick die of yellow belly (hatched pre-mature) 2 DIS and one addled, But I blame the fact that the hen kicked them around a bit. Waiting for more

 

Pair #6 the chick is doing well and close to fledging. I catch it halfway out the nest hole before it sees me and darts back in. I've called her angle because of how clear her flights are, and her light grey colour.

 

And thats what I have so far.

I will take photos of the new pairs when I have time.

ARRRRGH why is this happening?!?!

 

I had my biggest hen (body wise) die on me today. Egg bound.

I don't understand though. They have a finger tray of vitamins and calcivet in their water.

 

*Goes off into the corner and cries*

A lot of hens die trying to lay eggs through wintery weather ( cold ) as their muscles to expel the egg dont seem to work so well when they are cold as well as the levels of calcium varying throughout both hens and diet.

I think you will find in talking to people that a lot of breeders lose hens around this time too. Many breeders I have talked to recently speak of losses of hens.

Edited August 28, 201113 yr by **KAZ**