Conference 7.286::pet_birds

    Hi Doug!  
    
    You are going over the edge!!!  Five weeks sounds a little
    young...if they are hand raised, they should want to come out to
    you as soon as they see you!
    
    Genetics...the male will most likely carry the genes for different
    colors...But for an experiment, I am going to set up Bianca with
    a blue pied male....at the very least I should get some very light
    colored pied babies -- with lots of white!
    
    The Cere - waxy band across the nostrils....a male is blue and a
    female is tan....a baby that has no colors yet will have tiny white
    circles inside the nostrils if it's a hen...The exception to this
    rule is a hen that is out of breeding condition or male/female that
    is suffering from vitamin deficiencies...breeding or deficient birds
    will have blueish/tan ceres; and it is not uncommon for a hen to
    have a blue cere when out of condition or just finished rearing
    a clutch.
    
    Make sure when you buy a new bird that they don't look puffy, sleep
    on both feet, have brown stains above the cere or dull looking
    feathers!
    
    I believe I have seen mention of Pet Land here in notes...I dont
    recall any negative replies!  
    
    Another thing about buying pet shop birds...most often they have
    yellow water in the cages...I always thought it was vitamins, cause
    my birds drink yellow water...Well, most pet shops are using
    tetracycline in the water as a matter of course.  Well, that's fine
    if the birds are ill...but the tetracycline will kill all the bacteria
    in the birds system and weaken resistance of healthy bacteria which
    strengthens bad bacteria, and when you really *need* the tetracycline,
    the birds will be immune to it!  
    
    Did this help answer some of your questions??
    
    J  8^}

    RE -.1
    
    	What does a brown stain over the cere indicate ? I have noticed
    	this a couple of times on my lutino cockatiel.  She is a little
   	over a year old.
    
    	thanks,
    
    	john

    re .1
    
    Are the cere colors the same on cockatiels?
    
    I bought a male and a female 2 years ago, and they have never laid
    an egg even though they have have the most incredibly active sex
    life that I have ever seen.  Soooooo, I am starting to wonder if
    maybe by chance i just so happened to buy a pair of homosexual birds.
    
    Is there a way I can tell sex besides listening to what the pet
    store told me?
    
    	-Nancy
    

    This is my first enter into this notesfile. Hope I do it right!
    
    My experience with cockatiels, (I own 70+ parrots, budgies, cockatiels)
    is that females show faint yellow stripes along the inside of the
    wing, at least all mine do. I have greys, pearlies, and a few cinnimon
    with ALL interbreeding as opposed to ME dictating who goes with
    who.   The other most common method (which incidently is NOT foolproof)
    is the coloration of the head, where females are usually duller?
    in the area of the yellow head and red patches. Sexing usually is
    difficult at best before the birds are 6 months old.
    
    	As far as "homosexual" tendancies, I really cannot say other
    than I have never seen a female who expressed the desires your birds
    seem to show without laying at lease one egg........but a philosophical
    point would be that seeing that males usually prefer the "top" they'd
    be changing positions constantly????  Just a thought.
    
    hope this helps. 
    
    Chet White        futur aviculturist and general bird lover.
    
    

    
    HI KIDS! 8^}
    
    John, the brown stain is indicitave of nasal discharges.  Birds
    should not have a discharge.  If they do, they most likely are
    harboring an upper respiratory infection that needs to be treated.
    Birds seem to defy gravity all the time.  Besides flying and having
    hollow bones, no blood platelettes and very little bone marrow,
    they also sneeze upwards.  Like, they get a runny nose, up - into
    the forehead!
    
    Cockatiel ceres are all the same.  A good way to tell is like in
    .4.  You check under the wings...hens have little yellow bars all
    the way to the tips of the feathers.  Immature males will have these
    bars, but only on the secondary feathers.  Those are the ones close
    to the elbow.  Sometimes hens have stripes inside the tail feathers
    too.  Trying to sex by facial colors is difficult...I have some
    cockatiel hens that have taken best in show over some real robust
    yellow cocks!  There is always surgical sexing, but that's stressful.
    Males talk, hens don't.
    
    Nancy....theres gotta be one in every crowd!  I have a gracious
    pair, Chet an Paul!  They are passionate lovers....no eggs, no babies,
    guys just can't do that with guys!!!  What a topic!!  8^}  ^0^ v0v
    (I'm bad!)  Females will do this too, but they will lay eggs!  Just
    won't be fertile eggs is all!  Becareful not to encourage this activity
    between females though.  The stress and excitement could lead to
    egg binding!
    
    J

    there is a difference between hand raised and hand fed.
    
    hand raised:  taken out of nest box frequently and petted by breeder.
    parents feed.  Budgies can be be tamer this way.  Burkes help them
    not to panic so much as they leave the box.
    
    Hand Fed:  pulled 2 weeks or sooner for some and fed by human means.
    these birds usally have no fear of people but if mistreated will
    revert.
    
    I would take eather of these methods than a bird that is wild. 
    nothing is more discourging than to see a bird trash every time
    you get near it.

    
    while birdsitting my mothers male budgie I realized that my male
    and her's got along "very well" these two were inseperable!  since
    he was severely and viciously henpecked by his mate, I decided to
    let Ma take him on a trial basis, which turned out to be permanent.
    I have to say I miss the little guy, he was probably the tamest
    bird I'll ever have. 
    
    

    I just bought two budgies , the pet shop informed that they are
    2 females.  How can you tell male from female,  you pet shops they'll
    tell you anything to make a sale.  Please help me out on this ,
    my two budgies are White with very little blue , one has a little
    black on the tail and the other has all white tail.
    Thank You for your time and hope you can help me out.
    Betty

    You sex budgies based on the color of the cere....the skin above
    the beak where the nostrils are.  Males ceres are blue, females
    are pinkish or "beigish".  They may don't be defined if they are
    very young.  The only exception I know of is a harlequin, where
    the males light rather than blue ceres.
    

    I have a question about budgie babies.  One of my pairs has raised
    their first clutch and have gotten an albino baby and a robin's
    egg blue baby.  My question is this: I have other mature budgies
    (four of them) that I would like to re-introduce into the flight
    cage.  How old do the babies need to be before I can do this?  It's
    a huge flight cage, so space is not an issue.  Thank you!
    
    deb  (P.S.  can't get the "Marie" out of the header..., so please
    		ignore)

    Hi Deb,
    
    What "Marie" in what header ?
    
    As far as introducing the adults  (until you hear from an expert), I
    would suggest you could do it as soon as they are weaned and not being
    cared for by the parents. I would probably be good if you could do it
    on a weekend when you were going to be around to monitor the behavior
    and intervene if necessary.
    
    Doug

    Hi Doug,
    
    It was just this morning that they actually have flown up
    to the "big bird" perches (where mommy and daddy bird sit).  Dad
    is still feeding them.  I will wait until I am sure they are
    eating on their own well, and make the move when I'm home to
    supervise.  I was worried about the new comers beating up/killing
    the babies.  
    
    ("Marie" used to show up in the header, but I remember now that I
    finally figured out how to delete it...)
    
    Thanks Doug!!!
    
    deb