Hamster Girl

I know.. I got "frozen" in a refresh cycle.. this isn't my computer - I'm at school, and we're lucky if th ecampus computers are having like 15 MB for speed and ram and such.. Like...4-6 hundred computers on the entire campus, not counting ones student brought to the dorms. Unfortunately, I think I have to nix the moat idea, I live in the desert at the nexus of California, Arizona, and Mexico. If only I still lived on the East Coast, I had a whole brook I could take from not four yards from my house. Was great to watch the local wildlife stop and drink at, I.e. White tail deer, moose, and the occaisional black bear or flock of turkeys.

In essence, make a moat about my birds' cages? I like that idea. Unfortunately the water evaporation rate would take a toll on our water bill. I will though, look into some super-soaker water guns and such.. I like that plan quite a lot. @ Blackjack ; thank you for the idea, but I doubt I could use an electric fence, since it would be a two-edged sword. Both our dogs patrol the yard, and were I to string up an electric fence of sorts, the half blind one would likely get tangled in it - let's just say she's not the brightest bulb in the box.

My neighbors have an outdoor cat - which gave neither of my previous two birds a problem - however they have recently adopted a new one. Both cats are the indoor/outdoor type, and so the people only have so much control over them.. My problem, though, is that their new cat has decided to sit on the top of my cages and harass my birds. My dad told me that when he went out back to check the yard for some tool or the like, our German Shepherd ran around the corner and chased the cat away, in effect, saving my birds. Are there any ways you know of that I can prevent the cat from coming over - short of causing harm to it? (I am too nice to animals for my own good.. When my rabbit and show bird died, instead of burying them, I set them in the desert so that the other animals could have something to get them through the rest of the worst part of our summer.) I've thought of asking my neighbors to do something - but what can they do to an outdoor cat? To keep it indoors would make it wonky, and I don't want them to lose their animal, but I am worried about my birds.. They (all four) are ybs around six to eight months old, and two of which I intend to sell, two of which I intend to breed out and eventually start a dove release with fo rlocal parties/weddings/etc. Please, any and all help is appreciated, these birds are destined to be show birds, and I don't want to have highstrung critters while trying to compete. It reflects poorly on the handler if their animal struggles with them the entire showing. - HG

Currently a Valencia Figurita, Domestic Show Flight, and a pair of Homing Pigeons.. Eventually I want to go back to the man and buy his pair of Magpies.. They were young and seemed a little small at the time.. But I figured after a year's growth they should be large enough... And they come from show quality parents, so with luck I'll have some "exotic" {at our county fair atleast...} birds!

Eew. That's pretty skeevy, in my opinion.. Especially since it could result in a loss of patronage. I mean, I wouldn't trust a company that didn't tell me everything. If I dind't find out about it, and they kept pulling me down with extra charges etc. I'd be finding a lawyer to review everything that happened. I'll stick with my boring, cable-net connection with Internet Explorer/ Yahoo. n.n

I know this isn't helpful in any way - but what is Orange Broad Band? Is it an ISP or something?

Bwah.. Thank you very much, beautyhomer! I intend to begin as soon as I have a loft large enough - and hopefully I'll get photos to put up on the site.

The man whom I bought my four new birds off of had multiple breeds, some Magpies, Brunners, Parlor Rollers, Mookee, Domestic Flight, Fantail, Owls, Homers, Runts etc. and Modenas. Most were all mixed together in his large aviary - but it was divided in two, one half for his Fantails and (mostly) Brunners, and the male Magpie and the other half for everything else.

The man whom I bought my four new birds off of had multiple breeds, some Magpies, Brunners, Parlor Rollers, Mookee, Domestic Flight, Fantail, Owls, Homers, Runts etc. and Modenas. Most were all mixed together in his large aviary - but it was divided in two, one half for his Fantails and (mostly) Brunners, and the male Magpie and the other half for everything else.

I'm sure, if the effort was put into them that you could. I personally do not own any and so cannot run this as a test - but that is something I wouldn't doubt. Most creatures respond well to constant positive actions, so it would stand to reason that a modena(evil) would become kind enough to settle nicely with a human(nice) who was taming it.

They are mighty pretty, especially when they are Grizzle, Gazzi(?) and Splashed.. Especially Opal ones.. Brilliant for show if you can manage to handle them. I just don't have an affinity for birds that will whack you with their wing-joints. Not anything I willingly enjoy, especially after having suffered it from multiple geese over the years. For something so small, all the modenas I have "met" are all so... bleh. I think it's the general disposition though. And even though they are mean (I know I contradict myself here), they can tend to be fun to try and hold, and to watch.

Thank you both beautyhomer for the explanation, and PigeonClarke for the image to add to the description. Anerable yb, right pretty looking. ^^

Thank you all - What is the "+ modifying gene spread"? ^^; Sorry for the questions if they seem repetative or annoying!

Many thanks Steve0!

Glad you got them out! I've been reading along silently, since I had no idea how one would get a bird out of a chimney myself.. But, I'm glad it's out alright.

Diver? Oh boy.. So many things to remember! Thanks Wiley for explaining dropper and flirt to me!

What's a dropper? For that matter, what's a "flirt bird"? {saw that in another thread}. Thanks for all the replies - I'll be taking the colors suggested to the local bird-man and asking him next meeting we have.

What exactly is PMV?

If I do follow through with my plan to give releases, (later on when I have built up a small flock),: What would be some suggested medicating shots I should give? When I get the birds their shots, would the parents pass it on to the egg/squab or would they need ot be seperately injected? And, would it be best to have a vet handle this? Thanks all for your help!

Luck to you, Mr. Duncan! From what I have read, I wouldn't hold my breath on them being the 6 white Logans, but, for the sake fo sanity I hope they are. o.o

I only wish I lived closer... Like.. Across the Atlantic. D:!

Best of luck to your son! It ought to be fun for him - having someone who knows the ropes to turn to for guidance. ^^

Thank you both! I will go ahead and send a pm Beautyhomer's way. @Steph - brain-thumping site you gave me. I had to think way back to Biology 181 to figure some of that out!

I thought when I posted this topic in another thread it went through - but I guess not. Maybe I hit the backspace instead of the submit button. o.o If it shows up randomly, sorry.. But anyhow.. Onto my question.. I have two paired white homers I intend to keep for breeding and such, and to eventually rent out a number of their offspring for such things as releases at weddings, etc. etc. I also intend to show some of their ybs at upcoming Fairs. So my question's are: - What would I have to introduce to the lines to create a Blue Almond? - How do I go about making a Pedrigree/Bloodline log for the ybs to be? - Will there be any problems initially if the original mated pair are brother x sister, or will the introduction of other lines lower the risk of any issues? - Are there any other color suggestions that are little seen - if not rare?

Doade, Grim - Thank you both for the links!