Avian Polyomavirus (APV) or Budgerigar Fledging Disease

Avian Polyomavirus (APV) infection, otherwise known as Budgerigar Fledging Disease, is the primary cause of this symptom although other factors are often involved.

Budgerigar breeders recognise symptoms of APV in their birds as French Moult.

The term French Moult is a symptomatic description of a disease that may include APV, Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease virus (PBFDS) and other infections.

Preventing APV

Prevention is the only cure as there is no treatment for APV.

An understanding of the disease and other predisposing circumstances will help prevent the disease.

There are three important facets to this disease.

• Polyomavirus (APV) “Carrier” Bird
• Nutritional Stress during the Moult
• Poor Quill Strength

Polyomavirus (APV) “Carrier” Bird

APV is the most common disease of budgerigar studs. In my book “The Budgerigar”, I describe it as the most significant disease of budgerigars, as it often affects immunity thereby having a profound effect on the long-term health and reproductive ability of an infected budgerigar stud.

Infection with APV occurs primarily in young budgerigars between 0-20 days of age. Budgerigars that survive the acute infection will often drop their long feathers in the weaning cage, fail to develop their primary wing and tail feathers, or these may be deformed as the virus damages the feather follicle especially of these long feathers.

APV infection is life long although infection and disease are not synonymous. In fact the vast majority of APV infections are asymptomatic. In most instances the lost flight and tail feathers of weaning budgerigars are regrown soon after recovery from the acute infection. These birds however remain “carriers” of APV and are the most likely birds to lose their tails during the first adult moult.

Small outbreaks in adult birds have been reported but are rare. Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease virus (PBFDS) infection (that often occurs together with APV in budgerigars) is thought to be immuno-suppressive and may predispose adult birds to APV disease.

From my perspective, I consider APV to be a disease confined to young birds but which remains as a life long infection. Most infected birds remain symptomless “carriers” throughout their lives. Some individual “carrier” birds – mostly those possessing exhibition quality feather features – become re-infected with APV following a stressful event.

In my view the loss of tail feathers in adult birds is confined to birds already infected with APV i.e, “carrier” birds. Often these birds have not exhibited any prior symptoms associated with APV. However, in most of these birds there are symptoms of APV prior to the failure of the tail feathers to regrow although they are not obvious to most budgerigar breeders.

A close examination of affected birds often reveals a slow or delayed moult, low vitality, poor feather condition, missing flight feathers, frayed tail feathers, staining of the feathers above the nostrils, preen gland cysts and tumors, feather cysts and other signs of poor general health. Some birds may appear in very good condition but these birds often have lost feathers during the weaning period and regrown them soon after. They are in fact APV “carrier” birds.

Nutritional Stress during the Moult

A failure to regrow tail feathers is most likely to occur in APV “carrier” birds during their first adult moult. These birds are often physically large birds that also possess championship quality feather features.

The regrowth of the paired central tail feathers occurs towards the end of the moult at the same time as the long end flights. Any nutritional deficiency (i.e. stress) is more likely to appear at this time as these feathers are the largest in the body and because their regrowth also occurs towards the end of the moult. Dormant APV infections are likely to be activated in “carrier” birds at this time.

Poor Quill Strength

The quill strength of many championship quality budgerigars is poor. Poor quill strength may be a consequence of APV infection or poor genetic selection. Feather problems (e.g. feather cysts, bacterial follicle infections, feather abnormalities) and a failure to regrow tail feathers are more likely in birds with poor quill strength.

Feather cysts (i.e. retained curled up feathers are trapped beneath the skin) and other feather abnormalities may occur as a result of poor quill strength in the absence of APV infection.

“The Budgerigar” Book

Avian Polyomavirus (APV) infection and methods used to prevent it are covered in even greater detail in my book – “The Budgerigar”.

Note from Gerald S Binks: If you are serious about your hobby, I would urge you to obtain Dr Marshall’s book “The Budgerigar” which took 12 years to compile. Details of how to obtain a copy can be found below.

• Tails You Lose! – Part 1 of 2
• Dr Rob Marshall’s book – “The Budgerigar”

Among birds being checked in was an outstanding bird (for its time) in full condition, and the buzz among the officials was on the lines of – “Here is the Best in Show”.

Overnight, both tail feathers disappeared!

They were not even on the cage floor. The question was, who was the culprit among the overnight stewards? Then it was realised that one of them had a very good bird in the same class. Such are the vagaries of human nature to win at all costs! The outcome, of course, was that no tail – no win!

Quality Nutrition is Everything

Anyway, that was yesterday, but in 2010 the problem takes on a different aspect which results in the same feeling of depression by the owner(s).

I refer, of course, to the fact that you can breed a super bird with all the right head qualities, depth of mask and so on, until it gets to 5-7 weeks of age and suddenly it loses its tail feathers! It can be earlier or later. The bird is what I have always thought – a borderline French Moult victim.

The reasoning is that the tails are the longest feathers in the budgerigar body, and thus require a perfectly nutritious metabolism to sustain these feathers soundly to full growth and permanence, until the first normal moult.

The Puzzle

So, your “Best in Show” winner has succumbed to the dreaded title of a “Tail-less wonder”.

It is now left with a familiar situation, where, for the very observant, the tips of the feathers that normally are left in the feather follicle, as in a standard French Moulter, are not there! I find this difficult to understand and so far I have no answer to it.

As the bird continues to grow, tiny new tail feathers start to appear – but then stop growing. If pulled out, you find a clean outer stump from within the follicle at the base, where growth has started, but stopped, as the poor nutrition (?) has failed to support them further.

To contradict this statement, we can now look at the adult “Tail-less wonder”. By the time the bird has reached, say, 10 months of age, it still continues to create the same kind of stumps as before – but it has, by then, a high quality metabolism because it has been fed under your good management. So why no normal tail growth at this stage?

Feeding Changes Can Cause Trouble

Obviously, we are not all good avian managers and so many fanciers try all sorts of commercial products (that may affect their studs adversely) in the hope that something “works”.

In “The Challenge” book, this is discussed at length. In my case, I realised many years ago that one new product can upset the complete metabolic balance that can easily precipitate French Moult. Budgerigars are very sensitive to nutritional changes!

Binks Receives A Hit!

By reason of a balanced nutritional input, I have not had any French Moult for years – unless I push a pair to breed too far and ask for trouble.

This season (2010) I have produced a light green normal chick that at 5 months of age looked superb. Mick Freakley and Geoff Tuplin saw it and waxed lyrical – but days later – no tails!

I immediately thought of something that has been in my mind for many many years. We have all these specialist veterinarians, some of whom are paid by various societies in the world, who deal with the basics of diseases that in the most part are well recorded and have been so for years. The question in my mind is simple and is vitally important to us breeders, namely: Why has no research been carried out on the tail loss factor?

Infected Follicles?

In the past decade we have swiftly become interested and have acted upon acquiring longer feathers and directional feathers on either side of the head, to create what I termed for the hobby as “The Buffalo Effect”.

Not easy to achieve, but the hobby at large is trying and is already succeeding in many aviaries. This has to put extra strain on avoiding the loss of tails for the reasons given above.

So, with this personal experience in mind, I approached Dr Rob Marshall for his (and I stress his) comments and the possibility of some positive research into the state of the follicles, post the loss of their tails.

My mind says:

• “How do I clean up the follicle, so that the growth can behave normally?“
• “What is inside the follicle that is stopping new tail growth?“
• “Is it an infection? If so, which bacterium is it, and how do we knock it on the head?“

Finding A Cure?

When I was approached, at the age of 19, with a kind invitation to join Her Majesty’s Armed Forces (for two years at her expense), I tried to join the Black Watch Regiment- as I have a Scottish (and Lancashire) background.

I was rejected for flat feet much to my now wife’s amusement!

So, I found myself in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) and was eventually put in charge of The Medical Centre near Aldershot, under a gaggle of qualified Doctors.

Where is this getting to, you will be asking?

Well, I learnt a great deal in patient treatment – especially treating boils. We used a paste that was applied to the infection called Magnesium Sulphate paste. This is still available from your pharmacy. It has the capability to draw out all forms of nasty boils until they are clean and heal.

I decided to get some recently and, while it is early days, I am melting the paste and working it into the tail zone and seeing what happens – if anything! There have to be more modern treatments, of course, but I am currently stuck in the past!

Conclusion

I have now received the report from Dr Rob Marshall (see below).

Close scrutiny will reveal that the possibility of a cure has to overcome factors in the bird’s background – but my latest question to him is “How do you explain that the bird with the best head qualities – with the slightly longer feathers – is affected, but its nest mates – also stunning light greens – do not have the problem? Certainly ALL have the same genetic background!”

Please note: If you are serious about your hobby, I would urge you to obtain Dr Marshall’s book “The Budgerigar” which took 12 years to compile. Details of how to obtain a copy can be found below.

• Tails You Lose! – Part 2 of 2 (Dr Rob Marshall’s report)
• Dr Rob Marshall’s book – “The Budgerigar”

So, thinking cap on and the first step was to consider what changes had occurred in recent times? It came down to a suspicion about the sawdust bedding on the breeding cage floors, which I had been forced to change to following the cessation of business by my previous suppliers.

I changed to “Easibed” which is perfect for stables, but in speaking to fanciers like Trevor Clarkson, Geoff Tuplin and Les Martin, it is alleged that such bedding comes from all sources of woods including old pallets and is certainly not sterilised. Apparently, the Snowflake Easibed packs are cleaner, but I was also concerned that I had seen, when a cage was cleaned out thoroughly and new bedding replaced, that the birds went down immediately and started picking up all sizes of particles. The question was, were any of these being caught in the airways and death was instantaneous? My policy is that if there is any doubt, act and change the situation.

I made a lot of enquiries and finally decided to pass all my stock of Easibed over to my granddaughter, who has horses, and research a safer source. I accept that my suspicions about that particular product have yet to be proved. I can only surmise that ground down pallets may contain all manner of treated and untreated wood chippings – the question is, treated with what? Our Budgerigars are highly sensitive as we all know.

I have been helped considerably by Les Martin, who did so well at the 2009 Budgerigar Society World Championship. He had earlier directed me to “Gold Chips Bedding” sawdust, from a company called Lillico, for nest box use. It is perfect for that purpose and I have used it for about three years. The company provide all manner of samples that can be sent for, but the big advantage is that they supply all their products from clean wood sources, some of which are heat treated to 550 degrees centigrade and supplied, if required, with a batch-numbered certificate of analysis.

Having talked to Trevor, Les and Geoff, I started by contacting Lillico for a heavy based sawdust for the cages so that it would not scatter everywhere. A set of samples were sent and two seemed suitable. However, I spoke again to Les Martin and he said “Gold Chips” was perfect for flights, cages and boxes. It was also pointed out – and this is important – that “Gold Chips” in the boxes can be too deep, so that the eggs cannot be turned by the hens and are consequently addled! So only a thin layer is required. I tend to put a big handful in myself – so I continue to learn.

Geoff Tuplin mentioned another Lillico sawdust product that he uses for the nest boxes. I got a sample sent to me and it looks great – so I am thinking about that and will make a decision after a test run with some pairs that are yet to start breeding. It is called “Gold Flake Bedding Material”.

In conclusion, the last time I was in South Africa (at Reinhard and Holger Molkentin’s home), I noticed they were using a thin layer of silver sand in all boxes. That is also worth thinking about, as young chicks, as they start searching around, will get sand grains down into their gizzards much earlier than usual – which I would guess could be an advantage. Secondly, one could add silver sand in with the “Gold Chip” which would cover both the absorbing factor and sand grain effects together?

Before somebody writes to me, I am well aware that a contradiction to deep sawdust being a problem in a nest box, is that Ray Steele in Yorkshire has really deep boxes, almost full to the top and yet seems to breed well. So it is a matter of choice and a bit of deep thinking. Anyway I am going over to the Lillico products immediately and I will have a happy granddaughter getting a few freebies of “Easibed” for her horses!

• Gold Chips Bedding website:
  • www.goldchipsbedding.com
• Lillico Biotech website (requires registration):
  • www.lillicobiotech.co.uk

1950s

In those days, nest box designs were the “leftovers” from pre-second world war thinking. They were designed to be placed inside a cage and hooked on to the rear facing cage wall with the nest hole facing the light. Other “leftovers” were like minature desks, where the parents entered via a hole on the top and squeezed down vertically. Watching them emerge was always good for a smile and a laugh, as can be imagined.

My great friend Jim Moffat used these and even up to his passing in the last decade, still had a few pairs using this box design. Old habits die hard!

It was not long before I realised that breeders were, like myself, having many problems, particularly when trying to retrieve the box for inspection, unhooking it, then seeing the hen, or the pair, dashing around and trying not to drop the box with one hand. Needless to say, at best, the eggs were scattered all over the place and many times damaged. The final irritation was when the fancier entered his birdroom, all the hens would come off the eggs to have a look at him. Lots of faces would appear to see the newcomer. This could not continue, as far as I was concerned. So my thinking cap went on.

Nest Box Design Changes

With hindsight, it is easy to look at today’s designs and accept what we have, but back then we were stuck with what we had. I realised that a box had to have the following changes listed below, to avoid the above disasters, but with the added sound reasoning required which would suit the breeding birds, before such a change was made.

So I addressed the following:

• 1 – Overcome the danger of dropping the box.
• 2 – Overcome the problem of massive disturbance and smashed eggs.
• 3 – Overcome the hens leaving their eggs when you entered the aviary.
• 4 – Overcome unhooking the box with the adult birds inside.
• 5 – Overcome the chicks dropping out too soon and either dying from cold before you got home or similarly overnight.

I started with items three and four! Build a test nesting box which could be placed on the outside of the cage, ideally on the front with the entrance hole facing away from the light. This, I hoped, would work.

In the inside I had the usual concave base. This box was up for a full season and when empty a new pair introduced. The result? A massive improvement with more chicks in that box than anywhere else!

I had 20 cages at that time. Still thinking about it. I could see that hooking on this box was stupid. Fine for taking over to the bench to inspect, but the parents were difficult to dislodge and if you held your hand under the box, it was cold. I wanted it warm! In fact doubly warm and that gave me another idea.

Why not have a double box, one inside the other with the outer box bolted to the cage? So, I scrapped that first test and re-designed again. The result? Even better! Steadiness with the parents, box solid with no movement on the cage front and with a round perch sticking out under the nest hole protruding into the cage for perching.

The last was also a developing problem as I found that a round perch became slippery with use, so a square perch, as with the major perches in all cages, was fitted. Finally, I had forgotten about the chicks dropping out too early. The new test box was the same as previously in depth from the base of the entrance hole to the concave. Back to the drawing board and try an 8 inch (20 cm) drop. Certainly better and by this time various manufacturers were taking notice and marketing, “The Binks Type Double Nest Box”.

That snowballed and a few years later everyone had them. Then the Binks name vanished – hardly surprising and understandable, but the hobby was breeding bigger birds and was the better for it.

Darker is Better

In 2000, a visit to Jim Laurie in Scotland made me think yet again. He was a breeder who had very thick walled wooden boxes some 9 inches (23 cm) high outside measurement but only a 5 inch (13 cm) square concave in the base. Breeding was fantastic as he had coupled the feeding to my diet and was breeding better results than I was. He was, because of the thickness of the box walls, spraying the boxes every night very heavily. Naturally I was very interested. Could my 8 inch (20 cm) boxes be still too shallow? Time to test again! This time up to 11 inch (28 cm) height (outside measurement), but more of that later.

Jim Laurie had a great knack with budgerigars, as most Scottish fanciers will attest to. With his deep boxes and with five chicks in most of them, they were crammed into the boxes – vertically when the parents were in there! And they were big chicks that you could hardly get your hands round. However, they could not reach the nest hole easily until nearly four and a half weeks of age and that had the benefit of holding back the hens from laying too soon and having those eggs scattered and soiled in the process.

My only reservation was the 5 inch (14 cm) square base. I felt it could be enlarged to the standard 8 inch (20cm) x 5inch (14 cm) size, made 11 inches (28 cm) deep and a small inside stepping block under the nest hole glued in – mainly to keep the eggs restricted into the resultant smaller area in the concave. Remember, the darker the box inside, the better the hens sit and incubate. That leads to more chicks on the perch at 6 weeks of age.

I did this and now have 56 boxes with all these factors incorportated. The result? I breed budgerigars reasonably easily given full attention to other well understood essential factors. Boxes today are a far reach from the very early fanciers’ techniques. They started with a coconut shell!

Note: This article is more fully discussed in “The Challenge” book which is to be recommended as an essential addition to your library. Other successful designs are also discussed.

They had many alterations and additions to their property and now have a quality home. However, a problem arose due to a new security light situated on the rear face of their house. To say it was bright with its halogen lamp was perhaps the understatement of 2010!

When it is on, triggered by foxes (which abound round here), it illuminates our bedroom – such that you wake up frequently! On one occasion in the dead of night, I ventured out and looked at the back of our home. When the security light came on, not only did it illuminate the back of the house, but I seriously thought about cutting the lawn while I was out there!

Luckily, the aviary faces away from that light source, but the garden is nevertheless lit really well and I am now certain that some hens come off the nest and cannot see their way back when the light eventually goes out.

So, my thoughts went back to my own security light that I had installed some years ago on my seed store, which is halfway down our plot. This was to assist visitors who came in an evening to see their way to and from the aviary.

As it turned out, the same triggering of the light by foxes took place and I was losing chicks in some numbers – all dead in this or that nest – until I realised the problem was a change in their environment. So out came the plug and it has never been on since.

Visitors now grope their way again through the garden if they come late in the evening. I don’t mind waking up periodically, nor do I mind feeling my way to and back from the aviary, but really it is a question of priorities – so out went my light – permanently!

We all recall the advice about car lights flashing on aviaries at night, but this Halogen security light factor, while not new in themselves, is certainly worth remembering for all members of the hobby.

It may be anything that causes the lights to trigger – foxes, the local cat on patrol, your dog having a stroll from his kennel and so on. You may be totally unaware that a series of unaccountable tragedies in the birdroom could be the result of a security light. Be warned!

I have now had a polite chat to my new neighbours. Problem solved.

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.

So, where your personal budgerigar stud is concerned, ask yourself, when your birds are getting to look really ready to start breeding, is the Ring Issue date more important than grabbing that moment to begin your personal season? Personally, I grab the moment these days and “get a round in” from perhaps a third of the stud and get results on the perch early with whatever rings I have to hand. I then have a cushion under me if the birds paired later, to meet the following years’ ring issue date, fail in breeding condition to meet such a specific date. Many breeders work to whatever the established issue date happens to be – often with poor results or worse. Breeding fitness first is vital!

As experienced breeders will know, our birds need first class daily attention and a feeding technique that supports high fertility and hatchability. However, a few added words of advice. Many breeders have large outside flights but small inside flights for roosting and feeding. Sometimes these inner flights are too small and the birds are cramped. As a result they become stressed, but we do not realise it. Birds need roosting space for each individual because otherwise the more robust birds pressurise those who are less aggressive and shy. Overnight can be especially stressful and dead birds can be found the following morning for no apparent reason.

In flights and stock cages, budgerigars need to chew. Fruit tree and Silver Birch branches are ideal and I know Eucalyptus branches are popular in warmer countries. Seeding grasses can be selected as well, but be careful that your local farmer has not sprayed his crops if you are choosing grasses close by. I have also found that if you visit an aquarium shop, you will find mis-shapen pieces of wood which have holes everywhere (for fish tanks) which last forever. A number of these piled high give added interest and if you scatter softfood throughout, as I do, they provide endless active searching through nooks and crannies. These all keep the stock very active and this is so important when we try to breed with these large heavily built hens that are so common these days, who otherwise just sit there all day.

To summarise. Keep your birds active. You are the provider and it is your job to see to it as part of your avian husbandry. The results may then pay off so that you can pair your birds at anytime of your choosing with finer results all round.

Second Birdroom Fails To Perform

The story was highly significant as the reader will quickly understand. It concerned a completely baffled fancier who had built a second birdroom alongside his highly successful existing structure.

The earlier birdroom had 16 cages and was breeding winners which were in high demand – hence the need to expand. The breeder decided to duplicate matters. The new structure also faced in the same direction. Some birds, upon completion of aviary number two, were transferred to the new room with a great deal of optimism.

After a few weeks it became obvious that breeding was poor and the question was “Why?”. The old birdroom was breeding at the same time and producing good numbers of chicks as usual. In the new room, infertility abounded and what chicks there were, were not being fed properly. Dead tiny chicks appeared regularly.

Possible Solutions

The situation was baffling. Heaps of thought went into determining the cause of the problem. Feeding was identical as were the night lights, heating and so on. There was also plenty of budgerigar noise so attention turned to the fitness of the stock in both birdrooms, but could a virus be affecting matters? Thoughts turned to a discussion with an Avian Veterinary Surgeon.

The vet pointed out that a new room would possess a colony of bacteria and viruses that would build up naturally after the “new” stock was transferred. However, it was feasible that a group of “bugs” had intervened and it was this factor that was the underlying cause of infertility and hatchability.

“Perhaps the aviary needs fumigating?”, was his suggestion.

It was at this point that I was approached. Our intrepid fancier called me. He went through the whole matter in great depth, with me, as I always do, making notes throughout.

He was thinking in terms of using a sulphur fumigation process, but I know this turns everything in sight a dirty yellow, as well as killing off most bacteria and fungi. (You cannot kill a virus!!)

I knew also, from experience, that because you are so committed to your problem, there will be blind spots that you miss, so you need to come at the problem from a different angle.

I rang down and thought about it for a few days. Everything was duplicated and I could not work it out which annoyed me.

We Saw The Light!

I rang him back.

We went through it all again, with me looking for a new clue in his chat with me. I then asked about his night lighting. His answer was fine – it wasn’t the night lighting.

Then he said, “the new birdroom main lights are on from 07.45 hours until 22.00 hours, non stop”. Suddenly I saw it. “Why are they on so long?” I asked. “Oh, it’s because the new room is in a darker area under some trees” was the reply. “And the old aviary lighting hours, what are they?”, I asked. “They are different because that aviary is unaffected by trees, so the lights come on at at 07.45 hours, off again at 10.30 hours until 16.00 hours, when they come on again until 22.00 hours and off for the night.”

There was his problem. His birds in the new birdroom were not getting any rest at all in daylight hours. They were hyperactive, but this did not mean that they were sufficiently rested to effect good breeding results.

All breeders of experience know that approaching midday, any aviary in standard timed lighting conditions as this breeder’s old aviary was timed, have a good two to four hours rest.

The aviary goes quiet for this period. Then once rested and the 16.00 hours lighting returns, the birds are active again. The hens come out of the boxes and excrete and are mated immediately.

Lessons Learned

There was the problem and in about 8 weeks both aviaries were churning out chicks as a result of this fancier’s good husbandry which was only spoilt by a small error.

Both of us had learned something in the process. It just illustrates how something small and innocent affects good breeding results.

Obviously I cannot guarantee this applies to sunnier climates – compared to those that we have in the UK, but the fact that birds have a requirement for rest periods should not be lost.

In my opinion, Gould has never been given enough acknowledgment for assisting Charles Darwin, and really taking the major roll in cataloging and identifying the birds which Darwin brought back from the Galapagos Islands in 1836.

John Gould (14th September 1804 to 3rd February 1881) was an English ornithologist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed “Darwin’s finches”, was pivotal in the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, though they are barely mentioned in Charles Darwin’s book, “The Origin of Species”.

Gould’s Work with Darwin

When Charles Darwin presented his mammal and bird specimens collected during the second voyage of HMS Beagle to the Geological Society of London at their meeting on 4 January 1837, the bird specimens were given to Gould for identification.

He set aside his paying work and at the next meeting on 10th January 1837, reported that birds from the Galapagos Islands which Darwin had thought were blackbirds, gross-bills and finches, were in fact:

A series of Ground Finches which are so peculiar that they now form an entirely new group containing 12 new species.

This story made the newspapers.

In March 1837, Darwin again met Gould. Gould explained to Darwin that what he thought was a wren and had named it the Galapagos “wren”; was in fact another species of finch and that the mockingbirds he had labelled by each island were an amazingly separate species rather than just varieties but with relatives on the South American mainland.

Subsequently, Gould advised that the smaller Southern Rhea specimen that had been rescued from a Christmas dinner, was a separate species which he named Rhea darwinii, whose territory overlapped with the Northern Rheas. Darwin had not bothered initially to label his finches by Island names, but others on the expedition had taken more care.

Gould now sought specimens collected by Captain Robert FitzRoy and his crewmen. From them he was able to establish that the species were unique to the Islands, an important step on the inception of his theory of evolution by natural selection.

John Gould’s work on the birds was published between 1838 and 1842 in five numbers, as Part 3 of the Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, edited by Charles Darwin.

I think it is fair to assume that John Gould played a large role in Darwin’s theory of evolution even though it is scarcely accredited. We as budgerigar breeders have proved that a species of bird can be changed over time through selective breeding, which is carried out in nature by Natural Selection by only leaving the strongest to survive.

However, we as breeders do not allow the strongest to survive as the exhibition budgerigar would revert back through Natural Selection to its wild state. Consequently only the ones we believe are esthetically pleasing to us as breeders of exhibition budgerigars are allowed to be bred with or survive.

By doing this we can stretch, widen, change the feather structure and even increase the bone structure and consequently the body size of budgerigars. By this process we prove that a species can be changed in certain respects.

In his final years, Darwin was fascinated by pigeons and the way breeders had developed them through selective breeding from the common ancestor of the Rock Dove. He devoted much of his later life to studying the Racing Pigeon.

So in March 1855 Charles Darwin was to become a pigeon fancier and set up a breeding loft at his home in the village of Downe, Kent. However, we as budgerigar breeders are doing much the same thing by attempting to defeat Natural Selection, which incidentally as I certainly know we can never win!

Nevertheless, we as exhibition budgerigar breeders are having great fun while trying.

GSB: Remove any eggs that you do not want to transfer, but leave the box open for a day.

After a day close off the nest box entrance. Allow the pair to adjust to the new scene for another 2 days.

Then remove them to a stock cage along with others similarly affected, but make sure the pair are close together.

After two weeks there, both should be safe to place in the flights and the hen’s internal organs will have reduced back to normal. Treat hens very carefully at this time.

I came into budgerigars for the hobby – not politics which is depressing when it is destructive rather than constructive. Should I stay?

GSB: It is not a good answer, but it’s life everywhere especially in all forms of exhibition livestock breeding.

Successful societies are when there is a good chairperson who will not brook troublesome members who are out of order and do not know how to behave in a public meeting. A weak front table of well intentioned fanciers who form the officers of the society, is a measure for aggravation and loss of members.

The cure is obvious. You have a vote! The society is more important that an out of hand member.

Put another way, tennis was more important as a game than the irrational behaviour of John McEnroe in his heyday, which should have been stamped on immediately on the very first occasion it occurred.

Regarding artificial lighting, what extra hours does one allow for the aviary lights to be on when darkness begins to set in ?

GSB: In the northern hemisphere, as a generalistion, lights should come on in the summer months at about 17:00 hours until 22:00 hours.

In winter advance this to on at 15:00 hours and off at the same time as summertime. There’s no need for any other change unless you are about managing your stock and it is needed.

We cannot speculate about the southern hemisphere. Perhaps we can be advised please?