Hyogo region of Japan

His first contact with budgerigars was while he was in junior-high school, when he was introduced to a hand tamed budgerigar named “Shiro” (Japanese for White).

This stimulated his interest in birds in general and he kept Love-birds, Cockatiels, Parakeets, Bengalese, Java sparrows, Zebra finches, Canaries etc.

English Budgerigars

While at college he discovered show-type Budgerigars, which were called “English Budgerigars” in Japan and this lead him into the hobby that he is passionate about today.

As Nobuyoshi says:

I started to breed English-type Show Budgerigars in 1978.

In those days, here in Japan, the studs of show-budgerigars were mainly from UK champion breeders – Roberts, Secombes, Ormerod, Moffat and Binks plus others.

In 1979, the first birds from Harry Bryan were introduced into Japan.

I was very interested in these quality birds and have bred the Bryan bloodline for almost 30 years.

However, as time went by, quality Harry Bryan birds were no longer available and so Nobuyoshi decided to breed Bryan bloodlines on a “closed colony” basis to intensify his stock.

Jo Mannes and Nobuyoshi Takenaka

Jo Mannes Budgerigars

More recently, Nobuyoshi has sought to get new blood to improve the quality of his birds and once again this has come from outside of Japan.

His search ended up with a meeting with Jo Mannes from Germany – and he has now visited Jo on four occasions: in February, April & August 2007, and September 2008.

During these visits he acquired a total of 60 quality birds.

Nobuyoshi says:

At the beginning of my search, I planned to introduce new blood into my Bryan bloodline.

However, following the visits to Jo Mannes and seeing real live birds from him, I decided it would take an enormous effort to rebuild my existing stud by crossing them with the Jo Mannes birds.

I tried to cross Bryan with Mannes in a few pairs, but they were not successful.

Nobuyoshi changed his plans and since 2008 has concentrated on building a stud of high class budgerigars based on 100% Jo Mannes bloodlines.

Nobuyoshi now keeps more than 200 Jo Mannes bloodline budgerigars in his birdroom.

Photographs

All photographs below were kindly supplied to us by Nobuyoshi Takenaka.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Best in Show 2011

A

B

C

D

E

2011 Baby (1)

2011 Baby (2)

2011 Baby (3)

2011 Baby (4)

2011 Baby (5)

2011 Baby (6)

2011 Baby (7)

Breeding Cages

Flights

Trophies

  ]]> http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/a-japanese-birdroom/feed/ 0 http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/putting-nature-to-the-test/ http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/putting-nature-to-the-test/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:00:50 +0000 Adrian Dunning http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/?p=6455 In recent years I have been giving thought to the idea of how natural instincts of the budgerigar affects our exhibition type.

You read often from breeders, mostly from the UK and Europe, about how the colony instinct and the habits of wild birds are great indicators to breeding condition.

These ideas have spawned the idea of using all-wire breeding cages, especially here in Australia. They create a colony style breeding environment – but don’t get misled here, one of the real reasons for these cages are the easy to clean factor. You just take them out to the lawn area and hose them – job done.

I do have concerns about debris from adjacent cages contaminating other pairs, as very little is stopping the litter etc. falling out, but this is outside the scope of this article.

I have read about how some fanciers use the wild birds’ activities as indicators for pairing up, but, just because wild birds build nests, this does not indicate it’s time to pair-up. This to me ridiculous! I have strong doubts our birds carry enough of this kind of instinct to pair them up this way.

Wild birds have many and varied reasons to breed during different seasons.

Take the emperor penguin that breeds during the winter in the South Pole. The hen goes out to sea, feeding during the winter, while the cock balances the precious egg on his feet incubating. They gather in a huge circle taking it in turns facing the winds on the outside and taking cover in the centre. The cock has to survive on his fat reserves. Just as the chick hatches, the season changes, and the hen, full from good feeding grounds many kilometers away far out in the oceans, returns to take over, allowing the cock to go off feeding. Why do they do this?

The answer is simple – the sea will be bountiful to raise the chick during the summer months much closer to the nesting site. Breeding at any other time would miss this cycle, limiting the success rate of raising young. Would this work with budgies – not likely!

Nomadic Evolution

Over millions of years of evolution, the budgies developed into a nomadic bird that chases the rains.

They arrive to build nests just as the rains come – producing an abundance of food – allowing many clutches to be produced.

In good years they breed by the millions, but during bad times they die in the millions. I doubt this instinct works with our birds.

In only 100 years or so I believe we have removed many of the natural survival instincts from our exhibition birds. I gave this a lot of thought. Does the colony instinct really exist? Do the rains bring them into condition? Do wild birds going through their natural pairing and mating cycles stimulate our birds into action?

I tested several ideas.

First I tried artificial rain, using sprinklers on the roofs – but that didn’t stimulate anything. There must be a smell that comes with the rains that helps to trigger things. Am I right with this?

Next, I gave the wire breeding cage colony type environment theory a go. If they see others doing it, if they hear others doing it, then everybody will do it right? Wrong! It gave me nothing but trouble and poor results. So where to go from there?

I gave the colony style a little more scope. I put 3 pairs into a flight serviced with 2 nest boxes per pair, all at the same height, feeding them the same as those in the breeding cabinets.

The result was interesting. I know Doug Saddler used the flight method alongside the cabinet method – that was with one pair per cage – but I had taken this one step further.

I found the hens started to develop cere colour and increased interest in the nest boxes. Pair bonds developed normally, all going well, maybe the theory is right. But as much as the cocks tried to encourage the hens to lay they just didn’t.

The normal feeding of the hen by the cock happened, she just did not let him go any further. I thought patience and it will happen? Well it didn’t. They paired, they got the food, water, greens etc. as those in the cabinets, but no eggs. Why?

They Went to Nest

After 3 months of trying, I transferred these pairs into breeding cabinets and guess what? They went to nest and produced clutches of healthy young. What does this mean to the colony theory?

My thoughts were on a lack of colony instinct, so I purchased three pairs of commercial small pet type budgerigars. The results were far different – chicks everywhere!

So why was this? Does this mean I am right? Do my birds not like breeding outside of cabinets? I think it may pose more questions than answers.

I do have another theory. I believe hens particularly like to breed in the same type of cage and nest box to the one they where bred in. Familiar surroundings appear to be what stimulates them. Is it a case of any-old nest box won’t do?

Does this mean so-called natural wild type instincts no longer exist in our birds? Is this why sometimes purchased older hens don’t breed, because they don’t like their new environment?

Let’s face it our birds are far removed from their wild cousins. Some hens show no inclination to breed, never going into breeding condition. Some cocks appear to have homosexual tendencies – when paired to a hen they avoid any contact what-so-ever – but put them into the flight and they chase other cocks around trying to pair bond. What does all this really mean?

Still looking for the magic answer? Me to!

However, I have proved to myself that our birds have many mixed breeding instincts and it is up to us, the breeders and only the breeders, to bring their birds into breeding condition and leave nature to look after itself.

He had a “gut” feeling that the level of lighting some have randomly installed, could be more important than we think. However, being an amateur when it came to understanding the physics of the variable sources of such lighting, he was still in the process of researching the matter more fully.

On a personal basis, I also have no experience at all on this subject. I have read that all forms of ultraviolet (UV) light, whether from the sun or an artificial source, can trigger the formation of Vitamin D when it falls on our bare skin. But what about the effect on our birds? Perhaps some experienced fancier can advise me?

The matter was dropped until I was spoken to by a leading Red Eye breeder. He had built a new aviary and installed UV lighting – such as has been described in magazines around the world and is normally used by those who illuminate their aquariums containing reptiles or related species.

To his dismay, he found some red eyes going blind with these lights. Significantly, with three rows of breeding cages, there were more cases of blindness in those sited in the top row, than those in the bottom row. To date 13 high quality red eyes have gone blind and long term there could be more. Perhaps some still sighted birds have sustained some visual damage. Who knows?

This news of course relates to lutinos and the like and perhaps cinnamons. I stress I am no expert, but my feeling is that many fanciers in their rush to breed better birds with greater fertility, could run into serious problems in using this type of lighting. Here we have a fact of serious damage and loss of birds as a result of going blind. All I can add to the hobby worldwide is to be careful in the use of sources of UV lighting before such effects have been thoroughly researched by those who know far more about this subject. The normal black eyed varieties, so far, seem to be unaffected but one cannot be totally sure about such a statement.

As humans, we are continually warned today about long exposure to the sun – causing skin damage and cancerous melanomas arising at any age. This is because the UV strength has increased following the thinning of the atmosphere. We are also encouraged to use sunglasses to prevent eye strain and long term damage. So the dangers of UV are a fact we should all take on board – especially us as bird fanciers, who in some cases have rushed to install this type of lighting unaware of the dangers involved.

There are variations applied to this process by the fancier.

In some way one technique is better than the other, but it has to be admitted that both should work to a degree, but which method is likely to give you better fertility is the big question?

It is not for me to sway opinion, but for the reader to choose which technique he or she prefers.

Change of Partners

Let us look at what happens when a pair is selected and both are put into the cage with the nest box open.

We hope for the best, but frequently the birds know one another within the flight beforehand and they could easily have “lost” the partners they chose themselves and have now been thrust together with a “stranger”, like it or not!

The likely outcome, more often than not, is that they both sit there and nothing happens. The cocks themselves are not so disturbed by this sudden change, but usually the hens are distressed even though it may not be obvious.

If they are cocks that have mated already in the flight that day, they will not be too anxious to mate again having ejected their sperm. As Napoleon said to his wife, “Not tonight Josephine”!

On the other hand our active male bird may well be very fit and wish to pair but the female may have other ideas.

Box-Bound Hens

Our hen will see this active male cavorting up and down and flying between perches, but she is affected by, to her, a disturbing new situation suddenly thrust upon her and is nervous, on top of which she is a maiden hen who has not a clue what mating is all about.

She may also be very young – by which I mean 7-8 months of age – and all she can see is this “mad” idiot flying all the place and she doesn’t want to know.

Such things can easily result in infertility even if the stud as a whole has been perfectly attended to nutritionally since the last season.

I should mention here that experienced hens that have previously bred, know the ropes and quickly spot the box and are interested very fast at exploring the site again. That also can allow her to be indifferent to the cock bird and she becomes what we call “box-bound” and she stays in the box for long periods. The cock, even if fit, is ignored and another clutch of clear eggs appears.

In The Wild

We, as fanciers, tend to forget what our budgerigars do in the wild and the conditions that have to be present before breeding will commence.

Let me enlighten you.

The two factors that are essential are water and seed and their being available simultaneously. When these are not present, budgerigar flocks will miss a complete season and not breed.

The other fact is, and few realise this in our hobby, that the wild budgerigar females fly ahead of the males and find the nesting sites they prefer. They thus get used to their breeding nests and all that is missing are the potential mates.

Several days will pass and only then will the cocks come swarming in to choose their mates which emerge from the nests like crazy birds, dying to be mated.

A Better Technique

So, is there a better technique than the one first described above, that simulates the natural wild procedures within our birdrooms?

This is the big question, but we have to copy the wild hens’ approach first of all by reproducing their habits and this made sense to me so many years ago.

By putting the hens into the cages first of all, they are given time to settle into a strange area which will eventually become the territorial area. Such hens now have time to explore, find the nest boxes without being stressed by a sexual male crazy bird and see where the water and seeds are situated.

How long should the period be before the cocks go in? I used to allow three full days, but in recent years I now allow 48 hours to pass.

I have the selected cocks – around 60 in my case – situated in the middle row of the stock cages which are surrounded by the breeding cages. Thus the hens can hear them, the nests have been explored and their hormones are racing round fast in their systems until they are bodily screaming for sex. Our male readership will be smiling at this thought!

Seriously though, the separated cocks will also be without females around them, with whom they mate with in the early mornings. Note: if you have dark mornings, such as we have in the northern hemisphere, make sure that your lights are on for two hours from approximately 07.30 hours.

After 48 hours, you will be able to drop in the cocks that you have selected for the hens and once done go off to work and leave matters alone.

The hens will emerge like rockets, tails up and eyes dilated, and you are off to the best possible start.

Yes, there may well be some infertile nests, but you have played your part and simulated what happens in the wild to the best of your ability.

A Variation

Some breeders apply a variation of the above “Binks technique” and close off the nest boxes when the pairs are both put in the cage together.

Others place a piece of thin cardboard across the nest entrance forcing the hens to chew through to gain access.

Both good practices, but they miss allowing the hens to be on their own for 48 hours and you now know what happens when you are patient and follow that practice.

Be Patient and have a Mental Marker

Fanciers tend to rush things when pairing up.

They should be trying to be pairing every pair with a purpose. “Best to Best” is fine to a degree, but you should have in your mind exactly what sort of bird are you trying to breed that can rival the best birds ever seen.

Les Martin’s Grey Green is a marker, as but one example to work to.

Budgerigars in the past 8 years have changed drastically and some would say to an alarming degree.

A few have, with the desire for length of feather, gone over the top resulting in an ugly appearance far removed from what Jo Mannes (pronounced Man-ess) describes as “charming budgerigars”.

Happily, there are very few like that but the danger is there, so the skilled breeders will be treading carefully with width of face, length of feather and a watchful eye on type and shoulder at the same time.

Not easy at all – so we all face another “Challenge”.

Square Perches – Not Round

Finally, I must mention that square perches are essential in the breeding cages, not narrow, round perches.

Budgerigars select their favourite places on the perches to mate and, with the big birds we have today, hens given round perches are unable to grip firmly, especially if the perches are slippery with constant use.

So square perches, including the perch on the nest box, are the order of the day.

Concluding Thoughts

In conclusion, let me leave you with this thought – one I cannot answer!

I have been breeding budgerigars now for 67 years and I have see them change from immediate post-war pets to the qualities we have today.

In all those years, I have noticed that it is the lesser quality birds one has, that are the ones that breed more easily than the top pairs.

That said, think about it.

The birds that are our lesser quality birds today, are far ahead of our best birds years ago, yet the same pattern applies. The lesser ones still breed more easily in 2011 than our best ones.

I don’t know why myself and that is why I frequently say: “I know nothing about budgerigars”.

Enjoy your breeding and have full eggs, perhaps with a different technique and patience!

As both UK and European breeders will know, this tax is applied by all seed distributors to seeds that are mixed by them – e.g. a 50 / 50 blend of canary seed and millet, as well as many other examples. Such a tax is applied to anything that is regarded by the tax authorities as involving a service.

David Turner, a recent applicant for a position on the UK Budgerigar Society Council, has pointed out that a considerable saving on the total seed invoices we receive, can be made.

David says:

When ordering your next batch of seed etc., avoid (as far as possible) buying mixtures – and instead, mix your own on delivery.

This is an extra chore, but well worth the effort if you want to save hard earned money, which can then go to other areas of sharp financial increases – such as fuel, gas and electricity.

It appears that the problem is our “old friend” Trichomoniasis (See page 233 in The Challenge), which has been carried by pigeons for years, but has now crossed into some species of our wild population.

The total number of different species involved has yet to be determined.

Budgerigars

It is well recorded throughout the hobby we enjoy, that for years we had no trouble from this protozoan disease which gives all the symptoms of “going light”, but additionally causes secondary fungal deposits in the oesophagus so that the budgerigar cannot swallow seed grains.

The sure symptomatic sign is birds crowded round the seed pots and the pots filling rapidly with “dust”. This is because the birds are grinding up the seed into tiny particles in order to get a few tiny grains down into their systems.

There will also be signs of wet areas around the beak and face in general.

Alleged Problem

A few years ago the European Union (EU) banned the use of Emtryl Powder which was used by the grouse breeders so that the gun “sport” has plenty of targets.

That caused an outcry at the time in that industry and of course in our “world”.

Pure Emtryl is unobtainable now, but there are various products containing Emtryl sold under various product names.

One wonders if the banning of such an effective product has caused an increase in trichomonas across other species, but that is guesswork.

What To Do?

By chance, Les Martin and I were invited by Tom and Andrew Luke to their excellent aviaries near Preston in Lancashire.

As we entered, Tom asked us to step on a very large 2 inch deep absorbent mat containing disinfectant – probably Virkon-S or similar.

This meant anything carried on our feet from other aviaries was immediately neutralised.

However trichomonas was not the main object in mind, but a sound practice of practising biological disinfection from entering the birdroom.

Our hands were similarly sprayed – as one does in a hospital today. Hands are the greatest form of cross infection of any kind so be aware of that after handling birds between aviaries.

Tom and Andrew were quick to respond to a request from myself where to obtain such a mat and I now have one outside the aviary filled with disinfectant – and I use it all the time!

Why? Because we are surrounded by pigeons at home and droppings are all over the place and the pigeons excrete into the bird baths every day. Step into any droppings and walk into the aviary and the flights in particular – and off you go with trichomonas in the stud.

Uncovered outside flights are a big hazard – so be warned.

Related Links

• BBC News (video)
  • Disease causes greenfinch population to fall
• Zoological Society of London
  • Parasite threatens many of Britain’s best-loved birds
• Full British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Research Article
  • Emerging Infectious Disease Leads to Rapid Population Declines of Common British Birds

Many products come from ground-up pallets that come from trees that have been treated in all different ways – both when alive and subsequently in sawmills – and indeed sprayed with paints of different kinds. If used as flight flooring and cage floors, it is arguably a source of trouble for our birds.

In recent times I was helped by Les Martin – whose stud has proven itself to be one of the best in the UK – who recently won Best In Show at the London & Southern Counties Budgerigar Society Show.

At the time, he sent me several bags of super sawdust which I needed for the nest boxes and I found it perfect. That got my thoughts swinging towards the flights and cage floors. Was it suitable for these areas and how safe was it?

After contacting the suppliers, Lillico, I found that they supply a product called “Gold Chips” – where the sawdust is ultra clean and has been heat treated to remove contaminants. Added to that, it is great for us fanciers because it does not scatter as the birds fly – and furthermore, goes further than many other baled varieties and is far easier to lift each bag.

The upshot of this, is that I now have, as has Les Martin, only “Gold Chips” sawdust in use permanently.

From experience, no deaths at all from suspicious other forms of sawdust has occurred anywhere.

Lillico has now taken up advertisement space on Budgerigar.co.uk’s “Gold Pages”, and based upon my own personal experience, I can happily recommend the whole hobby to order this product, if they want to make certain there cannot be any deaths from this sawdust.

All details for contacting Lillico are on their “clickable” advertisement on this website.

His name? That will appear later! It makes a change from the alleged “gluing in of tails” incident a few years ago.

Our story starts in 1984. An aviary fire at the rear of the fancier’s property killed all but 3 birds out of 300! He left the hobby for a while to deal with the damage – both to his home and his hobby – and only three years ago, returned to building his new aviary with determination, and in his own words, “to do it properly”. Only this time he decided to install an automatic watering system.

The construction of this piped watering system required PVC pipes which had to be primed and glued – the former being a red priming fluid that apparently is highly toxic and required the pipes, after jointing, to be thoroughly flushed.

However, our unlucky fancier did not flush them thoroughly enough!

After full installation, in the following morning, he found 60 dead budgerigars on the cage floors and another 12 died in the days following.

Luckily, the rest survived, but it took another 6 months of dedicated care before breeding resumed. The outcome and success – or otherwise – of these breeding birds will be interesting to know at a later stage.

Our fancier has now returned to manual watering, although he has installed a one inch poly pipe that has compression fittings in one area – that, of course, does not use glue of any description!

This fancier has been kind enough to tell the hobby worldwide of the hazards associated with such piped watering systems. He and his family live in Roger River in the North of Tasmania. He wishes to pay tribute to his fellow fanciers and club members who have been totally supportive throughout. That has to be great and commendable or another good fancier would have been lost.

Comment from Gerald Binks

I have regrettably been around long enough to recall when these piped systems first arrived on the scene internationally. My personal opinion is unchanged on their use for the following reasons:

1. They are real dust traps and make maintaining cleanliness a nightmare
2. They have to be flushed ,but you cannot be sure that bacteria are still living in the system
3. It is easy to get lazy, or forgetting when you last flushed out the system
4. In a warm climate, bacteria will multiply rapidly, unseen of course by the fancier
5. You cannot administer vitamins in solution, particularly a vitamin that has syrup base within which bacteria can grow alarmingly without you realising it

In my opinion the disadvantages far outweigh any advantages and the risks to our sensitive birds makes the piping system an absolute non starter.

The name of our kind fancier who still “attacks” his hobby so admirably is somewhat bizarre.

His name is Christopher Slaughter and I admire his tenacity tremendously.

Thank you for telling the hobby at large Chris. Well done and every good wish for the future. Nevertheless, I am still concerned about the one inch compression system for the reasons just explained. My advice is to remove it immediately.

It just might avoid “third” time unlucky!

Many of you are likely to use fluorescent tube lights in your aviary….

Following the European ban of certain types of incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent tube lights have now come under the microscope. Standard T8 Halophosphor fluorescent tubes are being phased out, with production being halted and the importation of them being banned.

With these fluorescent lights being phased out, many people who use them are either unaware of the legislation or unaware of the best and most cost effective method of replacing them.

Below are some FAQ’s with answers to help T8 users avoid confusion and unnecessary expense.

• Why are these fluorescents bulbs being “phased out”?

  In the effort to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions and to improve the performance and the efficiency of lighting, the European Union have agreed with European lighting manufacturers to cease the production and importation of standard Halophosphor T8 tubes (normal day to day fluorescent tubes).

• How does this affect you?

  As the European stock of these standard type fluorescent bulbs is exhausted, users of T8′s will be required to make a simple change to Triphosphor fluorescent tubes. Triphosphor tubes are a direct replacement for Halophosphor and negate the need to rewire, replace or in any way make modifications to your current light fitting.

• What’s the difference?

  Triphosphor T8 fluorescent is a direct replacement for Halophosphor T8 with no need to adaptor any part of your fitting. Triphosphor tubes are an upgraded version of Halophosphor tubes with longer life and better quality of light, using less energy and reducing carbon emissions.

• Why do they cost more?

  At first glance Halophosphor tubes look far cheaper than Triphosphor tubes, due to their relatively low purchase price. However, the Triphosphor tubes are much longer lasting than standard Halophosphor fluorescents and therefore they can end up costing as little as or even less than the bulbs they are replacing.

• Is there a difference in the quality of light?

  Colour rendering index (CRI) is the percentage of colour that would reflect from the light source to a object then to your eye. Standard Halophosphor tubes are around 50%, Triphosphor tubes are rated around 80% giving you much greater wealth of colour.

When I wrote “The Challenge”, I omitted a guide that first appeared in my first book – “Best In Show”, published in 1974.

So, I am now pleased to correct the situation with this handy reference guide for breeders, enabling them to know exactly when to assist the struggling chick and particularly when not to intervene!

As we know, opening too early can reveal the chick which still has not absorbed the yolk into its body and it is pale and weak. The outcome is death! Opening too late and the chick for various reasons also dies, unless helped a fraction earlier. Close observation and timing are therefore vital assets to your husbandry.

Remember, if it is the first chick to hatch, leave the empty shell in situ and move the tiny chick to a pair you know feeds small hatchlings really well to increase its chances of survival. Also bear in mind that a pale chick may not make much squeaking noise.

It is the bright red chicks you want. A red chick will be fed as the hen will feed it easily, but if the chick does not call because it is exhausted and weak it may not be fed and will die.

Fanciers frequently blame a hen for “crushing” tiny chicks. Occasionally this is true especially when young hens are in use and have no idea what to do when a chick hatches. However, the most common reason is that non red chicks have not demanded to be fed and consequently look “flattened”.

At my stud at “Tanglewood”, I managed to lay my hands on an incubator. This is used entirely for two purposes, but strangely not for hatching eggs!

It contains large plastic eggs, from Germany in my case, plus a surgical mask that is there to warm up “cold” eggs that a hen has deserted, or, kicked to one side in the nest and also for chicks that have similarly been left to go cold.

Deserted chicks may often look dead and white, but it is surprising after a few hours how some can recover using an incubator. Remember it is vital to attempt to save every chick for your end of year tally and some of those could be Best In Show possible contenders.