Banshee and Budgie

[Jen144]

I put Banshee in with Budgie 3 and 1/2 weeks ago. After they'd been in for 3 weeks Budgie laid her first egg. (on the 11th) She's now got a second, since Friday the 13th, and her third is due tomorrow. For a first-time mum she is doing great, incubating the eggs from the very first day. I would have made this journal earlier but I wanted to be sure they were going to breed. I candled the oldest of the eggs today, and though it is 3 days old there is a big difference between it and the youngest egg, laid yesterday..which leads me to think it is fertile. I did catch them mating twice before the egg was laid..and I'm sure they've mated more that I haven't seen. Anyway, enough history..here's a pic of Banshee, the father. He is only 10 months old approximately, (this is a slightly old pic) and I know that is young. But, I haven't decided yet whether I will let him raise one clutch, and the second be raised alone by Budgie, or let Budgie have only one lot and raise it herself, with him just fertilising the eggs. I'll see how he goes.
He is the one on the top right-hand corner, the Cobalt SF Violet Clearfligfht Pied..Split for Opaline.
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Camerapics046-2.jpg


And Budgie, the mother. She is a first-time mum, about 2 years old. I've got her temporarily from a friend, so I can breed her, and my friend has one of my girl budgies to breed with her male. She is a Cobalt DF Violet DF Goldenface. Parents etc of her is unknown.
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Budgie.jpg

And the two little eggies!
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/BudgiesSecondEgg.jpg

Sorry about soo much writing, just wanted to give you all the history etc.:) I'll keep a daily (every two days, for when eggs are being laid) journal of this..with pictures every day, for those of you who like pics. ;)

[Robin's Nest]

All of your budgies are beautiful!! But congratulations on the eggs, and I hope they hatch happily, and are very healthy. I am positive they will be beautiful babies! You must be so excited! :D

[Jen144]

Thanks! :)
I'll have 50% Clearflight Pieds, all of them will be SF Goldenface, (so look like YF2's) 50% of the girls will be Opaline as well, and half of the boys will be split for Opaline..
So most of them will look like 'rainbows'. Which are Dominant Pied YF2 Opaline Greywings, I think. :D

[Zeena]

awww your flock looks so happy and healthy :)
can't wait for more updates on the eggies :)

[Jen144]

Well yesterday the third egg was due but it hasn't been laid yet. Strangely, she has been incubating the eggs since day one, but last night (for the first time) she slept out of the nest..in the morning her eggs were ice-cold. Hopefully it won't damage them at all, seeing as she might not have been incubating faithfully for the whole time..but she has never bred before so I was expecting something like that to happen.
Still no third egg today either, though she may still lay it in the nest few hours. I've candled the oldest egg and it looks strange...(I have never actually candled before, just let the eggs hatch or not hatch as they would) the yolk is larger, over all the egg now, and I can see a very faint air bubble at the top. In the middle of the yolk is this little red dot and some bits of red around it, but nothing I can actually recognise as veins though, from the pics I've seen. It's definetly not DIS though. The second egg is 3 days old and showing signs of the same thing the 5 day old egg is. Can anyone tell me what this is? Does it mean it is fertile and developing?

[Jen144]

Ah well never mind, I asked someone else and this means the egg is fertile, which is great!! Means the second egg is as well, as it is showing signs of developing the same signs the older one is. Aaand, Budgie decided to skip Sunday and lay on Monday, so the 4th egg is due tomorrow now.
Here are some adorable pics of Budgie and Banshee preening, and of Budgie being a good protective little mum!
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/BB3.jpg

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/BB4.jpg

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/BudgieInNest.jpg

[Guthwulf]

I hope her night away from the eggs didnt harm the first egg that had shown signs of fertility. Ice cold is not a good sign if your description is right. If you are able to continue candling, you will soon see if any egg fails to develop further.

Good luck!

[Jen144]

Yes I hope so too, but I have been told that usually they don't actually start incubating for a while after a few eggs have been laid..so hopefully nothing to worry about there. I will candle the 3rd egg when it is 5 days, then I will be able to see if the other two are still fine.

[Rebeccaveggie]

Good luck! Banshee and Budgie are utterly beautiful!

[Jen144]

I'm going to add Storm and Cinder (who have been in a breeding cage for about a month now..they always take while to breed:rolleyes:) as they've laid their first egg today. Storm has been incubating it all day.
Still no fourth egg from Banshee and Budgie, and it was due yesterday...Budgie doesn't even look like she has 'egg bum' though I could be wrong. So maybe she's going to stop at 3!
No doubt about the fact the first egg is fertile and still developing, second appears to be fertile as well...third is too young yet.

[Jen144]

Alright. No fourth egg and I'm convinced there won't be one..3 is a good number for a first-time mum, especially since all three are definetly fertile! The first will be hatching from the 1-4 of March, though it could be earlier..one of my other birds hatched after 16 days of incubation, so who knows!
Storm has a second egg. I won't be candling hers as her mate tends to panic (she is a lot tamer and lets me pick her up, etc) and knocks the eggs around.

[noodz]

omg, your budgies are absolutely adorable, i love to read the journals of breeding, i will be bak everyday gettin your updates.. thanks for the pics!!

[Jen144]

Thanks!:)
Bad news..Storm threw the first egg out of the nest, I don't know why. Second egg has been laid.

[Jen144]

Storm has laid her second egg. (really her third but since the first was thrown out of the nest..)
And I don't know how but the third egg of Budgie and Banshee's is broken...I checked on them this morning and there was only 2 eggs (the two oldest) and half an egg shell with some yolk..:(

[enicol6]

Boy you have quite a bit going on over there. I hope you get some budgies out of the mix. The parents are beautiful. I am glad that her night out did not damage the eggs. The eggs will keep for up to 10 days without being laid on but once they start brooding it usually is not a good turnout if they stop. I am sorry you lost some eggs between your two sets. Sometimes they know something we don't and sometimes accidents happen.

I look forward to seeing what little babies you end up with :):)

[Jen144]

Yeah I know..strangely, with Storm she tends to throw out the first egg or two (or lay them off the perch, in the case of some) of her clutches..I have no idea why so any clues as to why she does that would be appreciated!
I'm thinking perhaps Banshee accidently hopped on top of the egg or moved and stood on it..it is possible, he is inexperienced so I was anticipating some problems. Hoping not to have any but I wasn't suprised that some did. Budgie also seems to be going to lay another egg to replace the broken one..They were mating with eachother right in front of me this morning, and she appears to have 'egg bum' so maybe she is going to lay another third egg lol.
The first egg of Banshee and Budgie's is due to hatch in exactly one week..so I'm excited!! :D

[Jen144]

Great. Bad news. Budgie has decided she likes the taste of her own eggs.....So yeah I found out what happened to the third egg, and she ate the other two this morning...I've put in a marble (she is due to lay again today and really looks like she will) and I don't know what else to do...If she is disouraged from eating her eggs by trying to do so with the marble I'll let her raise her two clutches, if not I'll foster the eggs to another pair I think.

[bobismyturtle]

Awww im sorry.Thats not a good way to start off.:(

[Jen144]

Yes I know it is very sad..
Thanks for the reply though I was beginning to think I was all alone on this thread lol!
I've fostered Budgie's next egg to Storm and Cinder and let her keep the one she laid today, to see if she has calmed down yet...
So altogether, Storm and Cinder have 5 eggs (5th laid today, 1st is due to hatch from the 11-14 of March) and Budgie has one. (the one she laid today.) Here's hoping I won't have to update saying she ate that one too!! If so I'll just remove the nest and let her have a break!!

[Jen144]

Storm and Cinder have 6 eggs and have decided to stop at that number I think.
Budgie and Banshee have 3. All is going well now so let's hope it continues to do so!

[Jen144]

Scratch that lol. Storm now has SEVEN eggs. Wow.:eek:

[Jen144]

Budgie has stopped at 4 eggs. I took Banshee out because he was addling eggs while trying to mate with her in the nest! So I think 1 is addled...:(
Storm has stopped at EIGHT eggs, all of which are fertile and alive. Including one of Budgie's that a fostered. :)

[Mikey666]

can you give us pictures soon?

[Jen144]

I'll get pics once the eggs start hatching. :) In two days, for Storm and Cinder!!:D
Sad news about Banshe and Budgie. 3 of the 4 eggs were addled, and the 4th was too young to tell but I chucked them all out..I didn't have a choice. :( Budgie has a pretty bad case of scaly face mites!!! I took out the nest and I'm going to buy some stuff to treat both her and her mate with..a week or so after the mites are all cleared up I'll put in the nest again and see how it goes.
Storm and Cinder are still fine. This thread will mainly be about them (and updates on Budgie's mites) seeing as the other pair won't be breeding for a while. :(

[Budgiebreeder11]

Good luck with Budgie and Banshe. They are both beautiful birds. I hope everything goes well with your other pair as well.

[pal0m1n0]

I thought that the eggs had to be shaken really hard to be addled and I find it hard to imagine that the male could do that. Care to enlighten me on this?

[Jen144]

Well the male was inside the nestbox with Budgie, and was just sitting next to her all the time. But he tried to mate with her inside the nest while she was on the eggs, and had been kicking the eggs around a bit.
You do have to shake them hard to addle them, but them being kicked around by the birds can alos addle them.
I've given Budgie the first treatment for scaly mites, I'll have to put 1-2 drops on the back of her neck once a week for 4 weeks..I'm dreading next week, she can bite sooo hard!!:D Here's hoping she'll be fine when it's done.
I checked on Storm and Cinder a few hours ago..and one of the eggs chirped at me! Lol. So I'm expecting a baby to be here, fed, etc, by tomorrow morning. :)

[Jen144]

Yup I am so right!:)
I checked this morning and there was a little baby, fed and everything..so I assume it hatched later last night. I tried to get a pic especially for you guys, but I didn't want to disturb Storm too much so it's not the greatest pic..you can see the baby, it's the little pink blob among the eggs! :D
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/SCFirstBaby.jpg
And the next baby is due tomorrow...ahh this is the mot exciting part, when they start hatching! :)

[Jen144]

And baby number two has arrived!! :)
Both are happy healthy little ones. :)

[axim09]

Nice female budgie and good luck with the babies:)

[Jen144]

Thanks. Here's two pics of the little babies. I won't have good pictures of them (ie, them out of the nest) until they are like 8-10 days old, that's when I will start taking them out to handle them.
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Baby12.jpg
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/B12Again.jpg

[sschlitt]

They are sooo cute!!It was a rough start, but looks like everything turned out ok

[Guthwulf]

What sort of nesting material have you put in place there just out of curiosity? Eggs look very clean either way, very nice to see :)

[Jen144]

I've put sawdust, actually. It works for me, and when the chicks start hatching it keeps the eggs clean..because when they poo it dries really quickly because of the sawdust. So a lot less cleaning needed.:)

[Jen144]

I checked this morning on the birds...and...I saw FOUR babies!!! I knew numbers 3 and 4 would hatch tomorrow, but I was not expecting them today! They are one day early so here's hoping they'll be okay..

[Guthwulf]

Its good for them to hatch so close together. I've had one chick hatch a few days earlier than any others, and when the third or fourth hatches, the first can be so big it crushes/suffocates the newly hatched baby. Very distressing for me :(

When there is only one nest i cant switch bigger babies out, but i am able to do that at the moment so all the newborns have been left on their own with one pair for a few days, then moved together to the other pair once they are big enough to cope. Once all the eggs have hatched i will equal it out so each pair has the same amount of chicks around the same age/size.

Looking good!

[Jen144]

Here's a pic of all four. Looks how much number one has grown!! I checked them this morning and all of them were fine, including the two new babies. I'll check again quickly this evening then leave them alone until Tuesday, when number 5 is due!
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/All4Babies.jpg

[Jen144]

And number five has arrived! :loveeyes: Welcome to the world little Sora!
I'll check them again on Thursday afternoon..take some pictures of the babies, and see if number 6 has hatched. Oh man they grow so fast!!!
Here's a pic of Neriah being held for the first time:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Neriah.jpg

And Rune:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Rune.jpg

[mistresslcharms]

your babes are so cute. good luck with the rest :)

[Jen144]

Very sad news..apparently Storm can't handle sitting on 4 eggs, plus trying to incubate 5 babies and feed them all..at once, really. And I'm not suprised, she has had only 2 clutches (last year) and the first had 2 babies, the second one. So 5 babies is quite a new thing for her...

See, I looked this morning and Sora was severly dehydrated. I took her out and she was already too weak to even give a feeding response. (ie, bobbing her head)She hadn't been fed since hatching, (yesterday afternoon)having been covered by the other babies and therefore not noticed by Storm. I tried to give her a little bit of water, but because I can't crop feed and never have I gave it through her mouth. Turns out she was even too weak to swallow properly, and she asphyxiated. It was quick so she didn't really suffer but I feel so guilty...not because I didn't catch it earlier, because there was possible no chance I could have unless I got up and checked on them in the middle of the night..but because I suffocated the litte baby! :( Goodbye little Sora.

4 more eggs to hatch, 2 definetly fertile and fine, 1 is weird...fertile, yet very underdeveloped for its age. The other 1 is the one I'm not sure about. I took Neriah and have been handfeeding her with great success, and now Storm has 4 eggs left and only 3 babies, all fed now. Here's hoping things continue to go well after the bad bit with Sora.

[Jen144]

Number 5 hatched (formerly known as egg #6) yesterday and wasn't fed at all, as with Sora..and was severly dehydrated. BUT. I took the 4 siblings and put them in the brooder and gave him to Storm to see if she would feed him because she had no others to concentrate on. Didn't work. I then put the 4 back and handfed him. (force-fed, hoping like crazy none got into his lungs..he was too weak to even beg.) By the 3rd feeding he was strong enough to bob his head, thank God. So he is very much improving and let's pray he continues to.

[Jen144]

Storm has fed him the last few hours, with the others in the nest as well...so I'm thinking she will..phew thank goodness I saved the little bub...tomorrow I will check on them again for two reasons:
1- To make sure she continued to feed him through the night
2- Eggs #7 and #9 are due to hatch (#9 is fostered, #8 will hatch on Monday)

[sunna]

jen i see that you are doing an awesome job.. chick #1 mus be having its pin feathers now. i would love to see a picture.. only if you think it wouldn't disturb storm or the chicks..
my first chick (also hatched on the 11th) have pin feathers and is a yellow pied.. looks like a double factor dominant pied..

[Jen144]

Okay, a lot to update on. I am going to post pictures of the babies soon, hopefully today.
There was a suprise in their colouring, too. Seems Cinder is also split Cinnamon!! Here's a list of their colours etc:
1- Neriah, female Cinnamon Normal
2- Ari, female Cinnamon Normal
3- Rune, male SF Goldenface DF Cobalt Violet Clearflight Pied, fostered, is Storm's first grandchild.
4- Kato, female Cinnamon Spangle
All of the three of Storm's babies look to be Mauve, and Mauve violets. Their wings are fully feathered, and the pins on their body are opening up now so I can see their body colour.

[Jen144]

Here are some pictures of all four girls, taken yesterday. Neriah is now 30 days old!!

The youngest, Rune, at 25 days:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0596.jpg
This picture closest shows her violet colour:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0598.jpg

Ari, at 27 days:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0593.jpg
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0595.jpg

Kato, also at 27 days:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0592.jpg

And Neriah, at 29 days:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0587.jpg
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/PIC_0589.jpg

[Rebeccaveggie]

They are beautiful!

[sunna]

they are so beautiful :) what mutation is kato?

[Shy Bird]

awsome budgies.

[kimhosken]

lovely babies

[Jen144]

Neriah is a Normal Mauve Violet Cinnamon, so is Ari. Kato is a Mauve Violet Cinnamon Spangle, and Rune is a Cobalt double factor Violet Clearflight Pied.
Here are some recent pics of Ari and Kato. Neriah and Rune have gone together to a new home already.
They are in the aviary for the first time, along with my cockatiel and one other budgie who you can see there as well..Kyra, she's the one at the top of that stick, Kato is second and Ari is further down.
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Camerapics001.jpg
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Camerapics003.jpg
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/Camerapics002.jpg

[Jen144]

Anyone want an update?
Well, very sadly, both Rune and Neriah died just a two weeks ago from Psittacosis (sp?) but Ari and Kato are fine. Here are some recent pictures of them, almost grown up now at 70 days old..soon they will have their first moult!
Haven't they gotten so beautiful. :)
Kato:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/K32.jpg

Ari:
http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee330/Jen1404/A12.jpg

[stacey101]

What beautiful girls! if only you lived closer id budgie nap them

[huskymom]

send them over please!!.. so cute!!

[Heatherz2boyz]

Lovely little girls.

[FrankieGomez]

:Dhow sweet