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Silver Cheeks

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Posts posted by Silver Cheeks

  2. Posted

    Hi Emmy,

     

    This is a really interesting post been trying it out myself on Picasa 3 with a few of the image processing settings, the only thing I'm having trouble getting my head round and I'm hoping you can explain is I candled eggs this way with new born chicks and eggs in the nest the heat map shows red on and in the eggs which indicates un-hatched chicks but it doesn't show red or heat from the new born chicks.

     

    This is a really good method though as I don't like to touch things in the nest with these big clumsy hands

     

    Andi   

  4. Posted

    Thanks Andy,

     

    Im totally with you on your thoughts, maybe I do too much reading. what i'm reading is that birds find it hard to absorb the calcium from cuttlebone and that a supplement is required. Do you think that if I use it once a week that if they don't need more calcium they wont eat their cuttlebone.  The lights do give out Vit d as you say but the cod liver oil is supposed to help prevent egg binding, again just what I've read. 

     

    Do you think that if I just use each product once a week as a precaution it will help them or should  I just carry on with out them.

     

    Andi

     

    I don't know anyone else that is in to birds so my only source of information is what I read on-line but that can be very conflicting, At least with this forum I talk to real people with real experience and its always appreciated. 

  5. Posted

    Hi, was wondering if anyone has had experience with these 2 additives,

     

    I have a lot of birds breeding and laying in my bird room right now (Zebs Budgies and tiels ) and Im concious about their welfare, I have purchased and plan to use the calcivet three times a week and the cod liver oil once a week added to their seed, My main concern is not to overdose the birds. I use the SAD light when it gets dark till about 10pm they have both cuttle bone and mineral blocks and I also feed them salad leaves daily along with eggfood with added wheetabix and digestive biscuit , all of which should help with VIT's and calcium.

     

    Any advise you may have will be appreciated.

     

    Andi 

  6. Posted

    It seems this is for the treatment of protazoa which to my understanding is a parasite that affects the gut in birds, Whilst I agree with Dave about stated doses it does on most websites that sell this advise as you say up to 5x dose initially,

     

    The only comparison I can give to this is when I had an abscess the dentist gave me a penicillin dose 4x the stated dose to get things going quickly then revert to standard dose.

     

    You can only follow the makers instructions but as Dave said these are tiny birds so it is very easy to overdose extra caution when measuring the dosage.

     

    Do your birds have this parasite or is it just precaution.

     

    Andi 

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    Thanks Andy, being a nervous first time budgie breeder and cockatiel breeder I decided to not mark the eggs and candle them. I didn't want to chance putting her off or having an accident with an egg. I've noted the date of first egg and will count the days down.

    I've had success recently and in the past with Zebra finches (more by luck than judgement) and so I'm a little more confident with them even if not very knowledgeable. 

    The second budgie to lay threw her first egg out of the nest and broke it but a few days later laid another egg and now has 2 eggs with no incident so being very discreet around her. 

    I think once I've been through 1 breeding season and hopefully had some success I will be more confident.

    Please keep the advice coming though Andy It is always welcome as I have a lot to learn with all my breeds of birds. I'm concentrating on caring and breeding at the moment as the mutation thing is very complex and is something I can learn more when I have the confidence that I'm looking after them right. 

  8. Posted

    Had a busy weekend but happy to report 2 pairs of budgies now laying eggs 1 Pair with 4 eggs and 1 pair with 2 eggs, Hoping this winter breeding in the bird room works then they can rest and enjoy the summer in the out door aviary's

  9. Posted

    Thank you everyone there's a lot to think about, I think I will keep all unrelated pairings to start with and then see where it goes, at least this way I can take time to see what attributes I have in each bird and then only inbreed if there is something specific I see and want to achieve.

     

    My life is to busy to get involved in exhibitions at the moment but I still want to achieve some really exciting mutations. I think they are pretty little birds and a joy to watch.  

  10. Posted

    I always use EMP dry straight from the packet some of them eat it and others just leave it, my other breeds of birds are just the same,

    I might try the honey mix.

     

    I had trouble with greens as well in the end I found broccoli worked best on one of those clips that holds it up off the bars, just cut off a floret at a time and see how you get on it might take a little while but they cant resist a look.

     

    Best of luck

     

    Andi

  12. Posted

    Thanks Paul

     

    Ok, so this is quite a complex subject, or I might just be thick, LOL

    I currently have 3 pairs that are unrelated in their pairs. 1 pair has chicks that are about a week away from being seperated from parents. I am currently waiting for the other 2 pairs to breed.

    so assuming these 2 pairs have chicks, when they are mature enough say 9mths i can pair up from the 3 sets of chicks and make all unrelated pairs, but surely after that all chicks produced will be related, so do I then need to bring in new stock or is inbreeding at that level considered as safe.

     

    Sorry its taking a lot for my head to get round this,

     

    Thanks

     

    Andi 

  13. Posted

    Thanks Ricardo,

     

    I was having a real brain ache with this and yes I was over thinking it and along the human lines, think from what your saying I will try to keep siblings and parents apart and breed from there onwards, so effectively cousins and a like.

    Was worried about short life span and deformities.

    I know what you mean about the colours already being there as my latest brood of 4 chicks have quite a variation and 2 don't even resemble the parents at all. I wont be exhibiting my birds as that is too time consuming but I would like to breed and collect some show quality birds just for my own collection.

    Your help with this has really helped thank you very much it's so much clearer now.

     

    Thank you

     

    Andi 

  14. Posted

    Woo Hoo at last budgie egg No:1 been waiting 6 months for this to happen, fingers crossed all goes well. 

     

    Decided to breed birds indoors through winter so I can enjoy them in the summer months in the outdoor aviary and they can enjoy the better weather out there to. 

    Now looks like plans are coming together.

     

    I'll keep you all posted 

  16. Posted

    Hi,

     

    Hoping someone can help me out with a quite confusing question, 

    My Zebra finches are breeding and Im keeping them separate from others so I know who mum and dad are and who their chicks are.

    I've  put same colour split ring on each of chicks so I can keep track of them.

    At a later date I may want to pair up different mutations with each other so as not to always have the same results in the chicks.

     

    Now I do know that it's not good to pair related birds for all sorts of reasons but what I need to know is there a point for example that if you have say two pairs that have breed unrelated and their chicks are paired so still unrelated but the next generation of chicks will be related all be it say 2 generations back but can they be paired or is that still related and not a good thing.

     

    Sorry if this sounds confusing I'm just not sure how far the genetics go.

     

    Trying to put it in human terms its accepted for cousins to marry and second cousins but not siblings.

     

    Hope that makes more sense, so where do we stand with birds. 

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Thank you all for a warm welcome,

    I keep all my birds as separate species I did have them all in 1 aviary to start with but found the finches just took over every nest box and one or two of the budgies were a little aggressive towards Zebras and the cockatiels.

    I had a 10x6 green house I wasn't using and removed all the glass,boarded the back, the back of the roof and half the side to form shelter and meshed the front sections and fitted twin wall plastic sheet like for a conservatory to the front section of roof.

    I divided this in to two 4ft x 6ft areas leaving me a 2ft x 6ft safety entrance.

    Only draw back is I have to go through Zebra finch enclosure to get into budgies enclosure but you learn a few tricks to make it quick and easy. If someone would be kind enough to explain how I upload/add pictures I will happily post some pic's of the aviaries and birds.       

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Everyone,

     

    Im from Havant in Hampshire, I've been keeping birds now for only 6 months and I am fast gathering a nice collection, I have 2 aviaries and have converted my old model room to a bird breeding room. Its a nice room but next year I will fit it out more professionally. I currently have 8 Budgies, 4 Cockatiels and 10 Zebra Finches. I have bought them all into the bird room now for winter.

    Anyway thats me so hi and hope we can all share some knowledge and experiences.