u/FrozenBr33ze

Onix is just a month old and is turning out to be beauty with brains. He gently leans into my fingers and tries to pull them towards himself when he wants face rubs. How can I say no to that?

Did you know that Anthracite budgies are very rare, and a handful of people in the USA breed them? I'm one of those few, and have coveted this variety since 2012, when I was still in high school! Onix is one of my very few Anthracites that I have. And I'm very smitten with him, as I am with his father Nox who he looks like.

It's been almost a month since we've lost our Avon. I saved a few of his feathers and his leg band before he was laid to rest. Took me some time but got around to preserving his remains.

I wish I had saved his throat spots. I got that idea a little too late. So I've got donor throat spots from each of his three kids who mean a lot to me. And I think it turned out beautifully as a sentimental memorial piece.

This was my first time working with resin too. A significant loss led me to learn something I can use moving forward. I'll hang this on Avon's awards board after it's fully cured in a few days.

Been on a cruise the last weeks, visiting Greek islands. There are cats everywhere, and most of them are extremely friendly!

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This little hen is only 11 days old today, and is the only one in her nest. Her older brother (full sibling) was also the only chick in his clutch. I don't typically decide to hold onto chicks until they're about 3 to 4 weeks of age, and wait afterwards to name them unless my spouse or I form a special connection with one earlier on.

But she may end up being the last chick I get from her father Avon, who's come down with a severe infection at this time and is in a hospital unit. We're doing all that we can to help him pull through.

But this little lady has just opened her eyes recently and hasn't seen her father yet. She's being raised by her mother Fairy Dust alone with my oversight. I'm really emotional about the situation, and want to strongly hold onto possibly the last gift from Avon. So she's most likely staying with the family.

Anyway, not really seeking for name suggestions, as what I choose for her will be sentimentally impactful. But I figured others may find such emotions relatable, so it's worth sharing. It's strange how they tend to draw us in in unexpected ways.

l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on Reddit, TikTok and Facebook.

Breeding and showing Greens and Australian Dominant Pieds (ADP) wasn't my plan when I got into my blue Clearwing exhibition budgies project around 4 years ago, but my first good show bird (Avon, the grandfather) just happened to be Grey Green. And that colour has grown on me. His brother Goose also happened to be the nicest one of the following clutch, also a Grey Green. I threw an Opaline Dominant Pied hen in the mix just because I liked her face over all the other hens I had at the time.

And 3 generations later, I've got this trio of siblings who also turned out to be Grey Greens and ADPs, and nicest ones of their clutches. The timing was also funny when they hatched, because I had just graduated to Intermediate rank from Novice. These three continue to wow me at home with each passing month, and at under a year of age, all three of them have placed on the top 5 Intermediate bench quite consistently. Funny part was seeing a judge and a judge trainee debating placing Akira, the sister, as best Intermediate for a little bit.

While Sparrow happened to be the least preferred of the three by the judges this weekend, he's the one I'm liking most visually, while Akira continues to tug at my heartstrings with her personality. Pimi, the awkward middle child just floats around in my head, still being among my favourite hatches this year! ❤️

Honorable mentions who also placed in top 10 were their uncle Birch, a Dark Green, and their uncle Vincent (and my Dove's son), a Cinnamon Violet.

The Labor Day show weekend was a good one for my kids, as it was for my friends and fellow competitors who have done very well.

At home, Avon, who started this all for me, isn't doing very well at the moment. We are nursing him through his illness and hoping for full recovery. This hobby while fun, does come with the fear of losing my good birds, and I'll never be ready enough for it. But I take solace in seeing bits and pieces of them continuing to thrive in my expanding flock of budgerigars.

I've been showing my kids in the intermediate division starting this year, and have retired my older birds from showing who have helped me advance from Novice.

These 3 Australian Dominant Pied siblings are from 3 different clutches, who are descendants of my line of winners from the last 3 years. At the first show day of this weekend,

1. Pimenta (Pimi) placed 2nd Best Intermediate

2. Akira placed 3rd Best Intermediate

3. Sparrow placed 4th Best Intermediate

Akira is the eldest and Sparrow is the youngest. I feel Sparrow will develop a lot more nicely over the next year and beat his sister. Time will tell. They're all under a year old at this time. They're not fully developed until about 1½ years of age!

Interestingly enough, the judge and judge trainee debated whether Pimi should be placed as the best intermediate, or my dear friend and fellow competitor's Spangle - who ultimately won the division. The decision was purely subjective because the judge team liked different features of the two very much, so the winner was decided based on what style of Exhibition budgie the head judge preferred today. Which is a huge compliment to Pimi.

They've really praised these siblings during their closing comments for their look and showmanship. All those years of strategic planning with their pedigrees and training truly yielded good results.

Tomorrow is the final show day of this weekend, under a different judge, and the results could very well be the same, or different! The three siblings here are so close in their presentation that I fully expect the order of placement to shift a bit.

Overall, it was a good show day for my kids, and I'm so proud. We're resting at home for the night and drive over early morning to get to the venue again! 😁

Adira, our miracle child budgie, was being stupid like her older sister Dove. She was supposed to be practicing showing at the competition this weekend. Instead, she decided her show cage was the place for a self-pedicure. She had one job, and she does not give a duck. 😂

Dove was disqualified from a show for being stupid one time. Will Adira have the same fate too? That would be another funny scenario I wouldn't honestly mind. 😂

If you're not familiar with Adira's extraordinary story, check out the video tagged here and catch up!

Adira, our miracle child budgie, was being stupid like her older sister Dove. She was supposed to be practicing showing at the competition this weekend. Instead, she decided her show cage was the place for a self-pedicure. She had one job, and she does not give a duck. 😂

Dove was disqualified from a show for being stupid one time. Will Adira have the same fate too? That would be another funny scenario I wouldn't honestly mind. 😂

If you're not familiar with Adira's extraordinary story, check out the video tagged here and catch up!

"Avian veterinarians"

4 cocks and one hen here, and at just a bit over 5 weeks old, they've started going to work with me daily. It's an hour commute one way there. They watch me staying busy at my desk, and will sometimes ride my shoulder as I walk around the warehouse. They're adjusting to motion, all kinds of noises, smells and distractions, and people. This helps them develop better socially, and they grow confident and calm, which is imperative when I compete with them at shows, and they make excellent house pets.

After our drive home, they're reunited with their stepfather who finishes any supplemental feeding before they tuck themselves in their nest. As they approach weaning age, they're playing with a variety of foods more and picking favourites.

l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on Reddit, TikTok and Facebook.

As the family tree in my flock continues to expand, I get more and more funny relationships in clutch mates. The grey green is the youngest of the 3 birds pictured here, and he's the uncle of the blue sibling pair (Clearwing brother and Cinnamon sister).

How did that happen? Well, the green's father (Avon) is the grandfather to the blues. Avon and his daughter (Ador) were starting their new families at the same time, and all the chicks ended up in the same nest as I've shuffled my chicks around.

I couldn't stop giggling while admiring them and visualizing their pedigrees in my head. 😂

Enjoying the scenery and the cooler temperatures, far away from Texas heat 🥵!

I've not bred a Clearwing since 2012, and my excitement to see him in the nest this month was unmeasurable. I was only expecting Clearwing splits from the clutch considering there was only a 50% chance that his mother was split Clearwing. It's taken 4 generations since the first Clearwing I purchased in the US. He resembles his great grandmother Helena quite a bit, but the violet is stronger here.

He is a Clearwing Violet male, 23 days of age, and he got to meet his great grandmother today. Helena was less than impressed, but didn't mind him as much. With Helena being old and unable to fly, they got to enjoy the warmth of the sun for a few minutes.

Genetics are fun because they can either disappoint or surprise you, and in this case, the surprise was very much appreciated. Now I hope that Dreamfyre will develop into a nice show bird so he can join my team for 2028; if not, he'll remain a pet like the others.

^(l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on) ^(Reddit)^(,) ^(TikTok) ^(and) ^(Facebook)^(.)

Documenting the transformation of hatchlings to full fledged birds via photography is a task I enjoy immensely, and sharing my work with our audience is a privilege I consider very rewarding.

Getting parents and all chicks to cooperate after setting the scene for the shoot is no easy feat, but Salt and Vera did phenomenally, as did their son and their 5 foster kids.

My budgies bring me immense joy and I hope they bring smile to many faces too.

^(l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on) ^(Reddit)^(,) ^(TikTok) ^(and) ^(Facebook)^(.)

Excited to have our first yellow Lacewing fly into the chaos here. He's probably the tiniest exhibition budgie I've got, and he's just shy of 8 months of age. He's incredibly handsome.

Excited to have our first yellow Lacewing fly into the chaos here. He's probably the tiniest exhibition budgie I've got, and he's just shy of 8 months of age. He's incredibly handsome.

How did Vera become a supermom today?

For the current phase, I've had 5 pairs set to breed, where 3 pairs were chosen to be primary breeders, and 2 pairs were selected to prepare to be foster parents to the chicks of the primary 3, distributing the workload for all. Things rarely ever go as planned with breeding. I expect complications, and am rarely disappointed.

Vera had 8 fertile eggs with Salt, but only two made it through hatch, and her youngest was a case of failure to thrive and sadly, met her end shortly.

Similarly, Fairy Dust hatched one chick out of 10 eggs laid, and due to her anxiety about the others not arriving, I've given her a break to recharge. Meanwhile, Ador hatched 4 out of 11 eggs laid. Unfortunately, not one of Mariska's 10 eggs hatched, and she too, was given time off. All these numbers meet my typical expectation of 25% hatch rate with exhibition budgerigars.

But the complication arose from one of my foster pairs having domestic dispute and refusal to coparent, so Vera adopted their chicks. And then, the other foster mother decided to pick the middle child as her favourite, and wanted to punish the other two for being too hungry, so she was also returned to the flight cage. While the foster dad was willing to care for his charges, the chicks at this age need constant warmth which cocks don't typically provide as guardians of the nest. And thus, Vera ended up adopting those chicks as well. A mother's touch does wonders for adequate development. Sorry dads, y'all are special too, but in different ways.

As it stands, at this time, Vera has 5 adoptees along with her only child (the eldest one, the poser, who will magically resemble her too). And she is taking care of them all as her own, and fiercely protecting them from me too if I take too long with my nest checks. This is her first ever clutch, but she's already demonstrating motherly instincts that I've seen in her grandmother Helena, and her mother Dove.

I plan on assist-raising her army of 6 with minimal interference, while her mate, Mister Salt, is already helping her out as well. It takes a village to raise baby budgies sometimes. I've got my brooder ready just in case they struggle a bit and the chicks need their gramps (me) to take over - which typically is not a concern, but I've got to have Plans A, B, C and D ready for those extremely rare series of unfortunate events.

But for now, I'm extremely proud of how my little Vera went from that floofball to an award winning show girl, to her current role as supermom. She tends to ace everything she does. Her son appears to be taking after her too, as a serial photogenic poser.

^(l am an experienced aviculturist who specialises in budgerigars. I show these birds competitively in the United States. A lot of knowledge and specialised skillset are required to safely navigate through the breeding process. As always, I strongly advise against breeding without mentorship and veterinary technical skills. I document and share the good and the challenges with utmost transparency. I share our stories on) ^(Reddit)^(,) ^(TikTok) ^(and) ^(Facebook)^(.)