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/breeding-greys-grey-greens/ http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/breeding-greys-grey-greens/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:28:11 +0000 Terry Tuxford http://www.budgerigar.co.uk/?p=6637 All Normal varieties of Budgerigar are popular on the show bench today, as they have been over the years.

In this article we will discover the association between the Grey and the Grey-Green, which is probably the most prolific winning colour in recent times.

In addition, the colour expectation of these varieties will be discussed in such a way as to make them easily understood by all.

Greys

We should first start, perhaps, by explaining that there are two types of Grey – the Australian Grey and the English Grey.

The basic difference between the two, is that the Australian is dominant whilst the English is recessive.

However, in practice the English version can be ignored as they are virtually extinct – unless you know differently and in which case we would be pleased to hear from you.

For the remainder of this article we will refer to the variety as Grey with the understanding that we are referring to the dominant version.

Measuring Quality

Greys can be bred in three shades, light, medium and dark.

They can also be carrying the colour in a single or a double factor state.

When two double factor greys are paired together, this is known as “true breeding” – as only Greys will be produced.

Furthermore, no budgerigar can be split for Grey, they are either a Grey (more properly called Grey-blue) or a Grey-green or another colour all together.

Breeding Expectations

Breeding expectations from Greys are as follows (DF = Double Factor, SF = Single Factor):

• DF Grey x DF Grey = 100% DF Grey
• DF Grey x SF Grey = 50% DF Grey, 50% SF Grey
• DF Grey x Non-grey = 100% SF Grey
• SF Grey x SF Grey = 25% DF Grey, 50% SF Grey, 25% Non-grey
• SF Grey x Non-grey = 50% SF Grey, 50% Non-grey

This is all very fine, but it is much easier to understand if we consider what happens with some real pairings.

However, before doing this, a useful tip is to consider the Greys to be Blues so that Light Grey equates to Sky Blue, Medium Grey to Cobalt etc.

Now let us work out the expectations from these birds and then add in the Grey factor.

This now gives us:

• SF Light Grey x Light Green = 50% SF Light Grey-Green/blue, 50% Light Green/blue
• Light Green x DF Light Grey = 100% SF Grey Green/blue
• SF Light Grey x SF Light Grey-Green/blue = 12.5% Light Green/blue, 37.5% Grey-green/blue, 12.5% Sky Blue, 37.5% Grey

We can conclude, that if non-greys are bred from 100% Grey pairings, both parent birds are Single Factor Greys.

Double or Single Factor

The only way to tell if a Grey is a single or double factor is by test pairings.

These would be:

• Grey x Sky Blue
  • If the young produced are both Skies and Greys then the Grey parent, either cock or hen, is a single factor
• Grey x Light Green
  • If the young produced over several nests are Grey or Grey Greens only, then it is safe to assume that the Grey is a double factor

Double Factor Pairings

If we now look at the effects of the dark factor we discover that the expectations are as follows:

• SF Light Grey x Cobalt = 25% SF Light Grey, 25% SF Med. Grey, 25% Sky Blue, 25% Cobalt

• Cobalt x DF Dark Grey = 50% SF Dark Grey, 50% SF Med. Grey

The three shades of Grey may not be easy to distinguish for the beginner, but with careful study and examination of pairings and breeding results, conclusions on the shades may be drawn.

Grey & Green Pairings

Finally, we should consider the Greys in relation to Greens in pairings.

• SF Grey Green/blue x SF Grey Green/blues = Grey Green, Grey Green/blue, Grey, Green and Blue

Some of the Greys will be single factor and others double factor.

Better Breeding due to Pedigree Knowledge

There is a certain thrill about finding the unexpected in the nest box, but it is far more preferable to be able to predict one’s breeding results – because then one is in control of the pedigree.

The more that you know about the background of your breeding stock, then the more chance you will have in breeding an eventual winner.

Photographs

All photographs below were taken & kindly supplied to us by Terry Tuxford.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

The Australian grey is dominant
- the English is recessive

Greys can be DF's or SF's

Grey Greens have the power and size

"Buffalo" Grey Greens do win shows
- Breeder L Martin (UK)

These birds had a Yellow Face with no yellow in the cap.

The cap was white – in fact almost whiter than white if this could be so.

Kerle Faced Blue

On asking Kevin where these birds originated, he told me they were from Graeme Kerle of Townsville in Queensland.

In 2003, Graham produced the following from a Yellow Faced Opaline Cobalt hen (purchased at auction from Ernie Wise of New South Wales) and a Spangle Grey cock (non yellow faced, purchased from Robert Manvel also of New South Wales in one of his sale lots):

• 2 x Spangle Yellow Faced Sky cocks
• 1 x Spangle Yellow Faced Sky hen
• 1 x Spangle Sky cock

The Yellow Faced progeny were all visual “Seafoam” and were quite obviously different when viewed in the nest – the mask being yellow, the cap white and the body colour “Seafoam”.

Neither parent had any visual variations to what would be described as “normal” for their respective variety.

The initial resultant offspring from this pairing suggest that the Spangle was not a Double Factor Yellow face.

Seafoam Yellow Face

The term “Seafoam” was nominated by Jennie Liebich as soon as she sighted them.

The body colour in each resembled the colour of the sea, just below the foam of a breaking wave.

“Seafoam” does not reflect the mask and cap colouration, but the body colour only.

Realistically they could be called “Kerle Faced Blue” to reflect the origins – or “Seafoam Yellow Face” to embrace Jennie’s initial artistic interpretation.

Seafoam Pairings

The pairings at Graeme’s, resulted in nests averaging 70% visual “Seafoam” – with the non-visual still carrying the trait, as “Seafoams” were bred from these non-visual pairings.

Visual “Seafoams” to Normal Green series birds, resulted in visual Blue series (“non-Seafoam”), and Opaline Green hens. These paired back to Blue series (“non-visual Seafoam”), then gave a very high visual result in “Seafoam” of about 60% – this being Graeme’s assessment.

Jennie’s Pairings

When the first of these “Seafoam” birds were produced, Graeme, as I understand it, gave a couple to a backyard breeder not knowing what he had produced.

Kevin noticed some on a visit to Graeme’s and was fortunate enough to obtain some to breed with. Kevin then was kind enough to gift a couple to Jennie for her to work with.

The pair that arrived with Jennie back to Mount Gambier, were both visual “Seafoams” (one being Normal and the other a Spangle), and when these produced chicks she and I were overjoyed to see that a couple were “Seafoams”.

Regretably, these chicks did not seem to have a long life expectancy, thus a number of outcrosses occurred quickly, to try to ensure that the strain remained.

Note that Graeme did not have the same issue – it may have been that the birds that arrived at Mount Gambier were a little close.

On pairing non-visual to visual, there are now a couple of “out crossed” visual birds to work with.

There are others that have been paired to non-visuals with no resultant visuals as yet – thus more “proofing” will be required to fully ascertain breeding possibilities.

Further Birds

Graham and Kevin have sent down some further birds (“non-visual”) that have produced this new variety for them. Jennie and I cannot thank these two gentlemen enough for giving us the opportunity to work with these and the previous pair of birds.

One interesting occurrence, is that we now have a Green with a Yellow Mask and White cap – produced from two blues!

Sharing the News

This information is being released in order to share this new mutation with others – and to also see if changes are occurring elsewhere in the world of a similar nature.

It is a bit premature to determine the breeding habits of this variety, noting that it is Dominant but other surprises might present.

I believe the Spangle has something to do with this mutation – other aviaries that I have visited recently have changes occurring, and all of these go back to the Spangle parentage.

It is also interesting, as Roy Aplin (of the United Kingdom) painted birds similar to these some years ago – predicting such a change might occur.

Photographs

All photographs below were kindly supplied to us by Nigel Tonkin.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

"Seafoam" Opaline Light Green
front view

"Seafoam" Opaline Light Green
back view

"Seafoam" opaline baby
stage 1

"Seafoam" opaline baby
stage 2

"Seafoam" opaline baby
stage 3

"Seafoam" dam

"Seafoam" - Primary, Secondary
and Tertiary Tail Feathers
and Upper Tail Coverts

The opinion on how best to breed them was interesting, but at times a bit heated

Why is it that breeders of these varieties are so guarded about so-called breeding rules?

Why is it that certain colours should not be used?

Yes, varieties such as clearwings or grey wings should not be paired to either opaline or cinnamon, but it doesn’t stop there – next it is colours like grey and grey-green that are regarded as bad pairings – why?

Wouldn’t the overall quality of the offspring get an increase in both size and quality?

You could always pair back into mainstream colours to re-introduce contrast. Would a judge have the courage to reward a quality clearwing if it was grey or grey-green? I would hope so, but we all know this would not happen. Imagine the flack from such a decision!

UK & Australian Versions

So how do you improve the clearwing variety?

How many dark factor birds of great quality are available? Not many, so by sticking to the rules means slow going, plenty of waste and possibly plenty of frustration.

So why not use the grey factor to your advantage? You can always breed the colour back out when the quality improves.

Let’s move on with this further. The UK versions suffer greatly from muddy wings, but do have great development in quality. Here in Australia the opposite is true – clear wings but generally poor quality! So many look small, narrow – even “mean looking” at times, they certainly look out of place on the show bench.

Ideal First, Variety Second

How do we fix this problem?

I think the standard is the fault.

Now please, you clearwing breeders don’t jump on me here, but is it wrong to be putting the bird’s markings high above it – conforming to the ideal of what an exhibition bird should look like?

Why does the grey or grey-green have to look as close to the ideal as possible then its faults will be the deciding factor in regards to winning any awards?

So on this basis why should any other variety be subject to any other system than this?

I firmly believe that any variety regardless, should conform as close as possible to the ideal first, then variety content second, and this is how all should be judged – not the reverse as is the case with many varieties.

However, it has to be said, no variety will improve until it is bred with quality first. Yes, some will always suffer from quality regression, but, without doing it this way first, they will never stand a chance to truly improve.

The Spangle Example

Let’s take the spangle.

Most of the purists advocate to breed with only those that have perfect wing markings and true bullseye spots. Under this idea we wouldn’t see too many good ones on the show bench.

Let’s face it, it will be very hard to maintain quality with perfect variety content. I do not advocate ignoring the variety markings, but it needs to be in balance – quality first, variety second.

Spangles suffered badly from indiscriminate pairing (as has been the case with opaline), so are they capable of breeding true to type anyway?

Take the black-eye yellow, many of the very best struggle to remain clear of markings. Many that win could be disputed on the question of: are they black-eyes or poorly marked suffused dilutes?

The problem here is the questionable birds are far superior in quality, another case of quality first, variety second, the way it should be.

Quality First – More Examples

I don’t profess to be an expert, but the only way forward is to use quality stock regardless of colour and then use splits from these to improve the size and quality of your variety of choice, it should never be the other way round.

I am very happy to use any colour to improve my clearwings – as I do with my dilutes. There is much to be gained from grey-greens, they are easy to buy and their feather type is so valuable.

I would like to briefly touch on Ian Hannington’s fallows.

They have breathtaking size, quality, deportment and variety content. These birds are eagerly sought-after – using top quality stock paid dividends.

Another example here is Wayne Cusack. He is well known for his success with the black-eye self (four times national champion), and his birds are again highly sought-after.

His birds maintain size and quality, then variety – his hens are as big and as good as some normals. His dedication and commitment to using quality birds paid off.

Breaking the Rules

I think you have to be a very dedicated breeder to have a go at many of the specialist varieties, as it slow going.

However, you should never limit yourself and your variety’s improvement with all sorts of restricting rules.

I break many rules with my stud – all you have to do is to keep very good records and you will never look back.

There is much to gain from looking outside of the circle, don’t weigh yourself down with rules. The primary objective is – pair your birds with quality.

Photographs

All the colour photographs below were sourced from The Challenge.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

English White-wing

English Yellow-wing

Australian Yellow-wing

Australian White-wing

Superb head quality

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.

I think we all have personal preferences, even when we protest that all we want is a good budgie – preferably one that will win the Club Show.

But despite our wildest pipe dreams, we don’t usually get that far. So I would suggest that it would be a good idea for most fanciers to focus on one or two particular colours or varieties, where, with care and persistence, a degree of success can be achieved.

I have made the mistake of liking Greywings.

The original source of this preference was that my first pair, purchased in 1951, was a Greywing Skyblue cock and a Yellow hen.

I bought them from a local fancier, Wilf Hacker, whose family fruit farm, and veritable menagerie of birds and small animals, was situated next to the Cambridge Crematorium. This was an easy, and in those days safe, two mile bike ride from my home. These days no-one in their right senses would attempt to ride a push bike on that stretch of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon!

They were put into a breeding cage in June and, by the time of my return to school, in September there were five chicks in the nest.

None, to my intense disappointment, was a Greywing, nor was there one in the next round. All were either Yellows or Albinos.

What is more, the four Albinos were all hens and only one of the five Yellows a cock bird. This was a minor disaster for a young lad hoping to be able to supply the Christmas market for pets and recoup a bit of seed money.

Introduction to the Complexities

I tried pairing the Yellow cock bird with a Skyblue, with the resultant expected mix of Skyblues and Albinos, but not another Greywing in sight.

The experience was, however, a good introduction to the complexities of breeding recessive and sex-linked colour varieties, and I enthusiastically studied basic Mendelian genetics, buying a copy of the then current edition of “Budgerigar Matings and Colour Expectations”.

However, I never did breed a Greywing in my first period as a fancier up to 1960.

Then in 2007, having restarted in budgies in 2001, without even trying, I bred three from two separate and seemingly unrelated pairs. Since then I have been trying once more to breed them, with almost no success to date.

Why should it be so difficult?

Years ago Greywings were relatively commonplace. You have only to look at the prominence they are given in the pairings in “Budgerigar Matings and Colour Expectations” and in “Genetics for Budgerigar Breeders” – two Budgerigar Society publications.

Firstly, there are very few birds available and when breeders produce them, usually by chance but from good stock, they seem very loath to part with them, but retain them for showing but not breeding.

Their rarity is, I believe, also a result of them being superseded by the Clearwings, which have a more intense body colour, but which, in the European version, have wing markings which are not dissimilar to the Greywing.

In my view, the Greywing is an honest colour and has the colour of markings which its name implies.

I understand that they are also used by Clearwing breeders, resulting in birds called full bodied Greywings. These are too intense in the body colour for the BS standard for Greywings and too grey in the wing markings to be good Clearwings, with ensuing confusion in both Clearwing and AOC classes, sometimes giving rise to their being wrong classed in either category.

Shown in the Same Class

Secondly, there is the complication of the Cinnamon factor.

In an article prepared by Steve Amos some twenty years ago, he mentions that in the past the two colours were often shown in the same class. Indeed, it was not until 1958 that a separate class for Greywings was introduced at the Club Show.

Despite the common appeal of the muted subtlety of the body colour of the two varieties, the cinnamon, having a sex linked dominance and also seeming to impart a desirable quality of feather, seems to have squeezed out the Greywing.

A two pronged attack on the position of the Greywing.

A breeder of Greywings has also to contend with another hidden genetic gremlin, the dilute factor.

Greywing being dominant to Dilutes, Dilutes can be and are used to produce Greywings.

Recounting my personal experience since 2007 may help to illustrate the problem.

In one nest I bred a visual Greywing Skyblue cock from a Dark Green / Blue / Opaline type 2 cock and a Cinnamon Skyblue hen.

The chances of doing this were remote.

To start with a Skyblue would be one of the exceptions from a type 2 Dark Green / Blue whose sire was a Light Green and mother an Opaline Cobalt. From where did the Greywing come in as there was no evidence of Greywings in the studs where I had purchased my initial birds?

In the other nest I bred two Greywing Grey cocks.

The sire was a Cinnamon Grey Green / Opaline and the dam a normal Skyblue.

When the chicks started to feather up I assumed that they were Cinnamon hens and was more than a little pleased to have bred two hens with what seemed to me very promising head qualities.

They turned out to be cocks.

In this case the stud where I had bought the sire said that occasionally they had bred Greywings in the past. All three birds were split Cinnamon and proved also to be split Opaline.

I started the season late next year having shown the better Grey at the Club Show coming second in the Any Age AOC line-up. I gave the other Grey to Steve Amos.

Neither of the birds did much for me in the breeding shed other than producing a small number of Opaline Cinnamon hens and poor ones at that.

The Cinnamon Factor Interfered

The Skyblue was placed fifth in the Novice Any Age line-up at the Club Show the following year, beating the Grey which has subsequently won a couple of CCs.

I had hoped to at least breed from each Greywing some normal split Greywing hens that I could pair back to the other Greywing, but the Cinnamon factor interfered.

Steve Amos was not able to help as the bird I had given him had either passed on or been passed on.

I did eventually breed a Light Green hen, a “WYSIWYG”^*, free of Opaline or Cinnamon factors from the Skyblue at the end of 2010.

Full of hope, I paired her up to the Grey only to find that they were to put it mildly “not compatible”.

In the meantime, I had done some research on the background of my birds and came to a common factor on the dam’s side of each of them.

They came from a common line which has since then once more produced in the original stud a Greywing.

Accordingly I let Ghalib Al-Nasser have a cousin of the Skyblue in the hope that it might be split Greywing.

Ghalib paired this to a Greywing Light Green. They produced two Light Green cocks and the perhaps inevitable Cinnamon hen. Ghalib let me have a Light Green cock back which, once again full of hope, I paired to the Light Green hen in the expectation that two normals with a Greywing parent each would be split Greywing and produce at least some Greywing chicks.

They produced six chicks, none a Greywing but one was a Grey Yellow.

Time for more research. I started looking into the dilute background, the genetic gremlin.

The problem lies in the fact that a normal coloured bird cannot be split for both Greywing and Dilute.

I came to the conclusion that both my Greywing Skyblue and Ghalib’s Greywing Light Green were split for dilute. My bird’s dilute factor would have originated on the side of his sire, part of which came from the stud of Alec and David Woan who have produced some good dilutes in the past.

The Added Twist

For the genetic colour background of my bird there is a 6.25% chance of a cock bird, which is reduced massively with the added twist that the bird should have been a Cobalt – the normal colour that I had set out to breed with that particular pairing.

When my Skyblue Greywing was paired with a Light Green, half of the visuals would be split Dilute and half split Greywing – and the one that I had bred was split dilute.

Ghalib’s bird with the parents’ colours reversed must be the same. That is a visual Light Green masking a dilute factor and not the Greywing factor.

Whether this is a correct analysis may be shown in the Skyblue’s current pairing, to his daughter the Light Green hen referred to above. This assumes that he breeds successfully and that the picture will not be overwhelmed by the Opaline and Cinnamon factors lurking in his background.

The Light Green cock is now paired to a Grey Yellow dilute.

The picture as regards the Grey is still obscure because of his reluctance to breed, but I have a number of birds related to his dam which may mean that the Greywing factor carries on in its subterranean manner and pops out in the future.

The effect of this dilute factor goes some way to explain my original experience in 1951, though then I was unlucky not to produce any Greywings even allowing for interference by the Albino factor.

I am now having to work with birds that are all probably split Dilute which will make the process that much slower.

We bring trouble on ourselves because of our personal preferences but at the same time indulging those preferences, is what makes our lives worthwhile.

Note: ^* WYSIWYG – “What You See Is What You Get”

The wild budgerigar is a remarkably successful species. For over five million years it has survived in the harsh, dry conditions of inland Australia. Its success can be attributed to a nomadic lifestyle and its ability to breed “on the run”.

Breeding activity is initiated in a similar fashion as for other bird species. It is dependent upon seasonal and climatic conditions but in many ways the behaviour of budgerigars is unique amongst birds. Its breeding activity is completely dominated by the availability of water and food. These are scarce resources across the vast dry regions of inland Australia.

Survival, rather than breeding, dominates the life of wild budgerigars. Seasonal rains and temperatures dictate the breeding cycle of wild birds.

Budgerigars do not breed in the heat of summer, even after summer rains, because the high temperatures rapidly kill off most desert grasses and dry up water holes. In nature, budgerigars reserve this time for the annual moult. Similarly, exhibition budgerigars should not breed, but be allowed to moult during summer.

Winter temperatures often drop below freezing in Australian deserts causing budgerigars to abandon their nests. Exhibition budgerigars should also not be allowed to breed when it is too cold.

Budgerigars in nature breed prolifically during favorable seasonal conditions and their cousins, exhibition budgerigars, have certainly retained this ancient and strong characteristic. Sadly, many champion exhibition budgerigars have lost this fundamental trait through poor selection. The consensus of opinion is that the breeding requirements of the modern day exhibition budgerigar are more demanding than those of wild budgerigars because of the increased size of their young.

In many Australian studs poor fertility has been reversed by those holding defiantly to the wise breeding principle of “selection of the fittest”. It is agreed that modern day exhibition budgerigars are more difficult to breed and need special attention. The fancier should see improvements in breeding results when the principles of the breeding habits of wild budgerigars are applied to the somewhat difficult exhibition budgerigar.

The following facts should increase the chance of breeding success and reduce the likelihood of breeding failure.

“General Timing” Guidelines

Fertility problems (albeit not in every breeding pair) must be expected when budgerigars are paired at the wrong biological time of the year, irrespective of the presence of artificial lighting or temperature control must be given to the notion of breeding condition, good health and the natural breeding cycle of the wild budgerigar. Many breeding problems are often remedied simply by breeding at the right time of the year.

My advice is to breed at the right time of year (see chart below) and then to reassess your breeding results. If infertility persists, “cleanse” the stud with a prescribed disease treatment programme. If fertility is good and the babies develop poorly, look more closely at the feeding system being used.

By following these simple rules, breeding success is guaranteed in all pairs except those with a genetic weakness.

Moult Guideline

Understand the relationship between the moult and the breeding season. The wild budgerigar can breed at any time of the year but generally does not breed in the heat of summer, prior to the monsoon rains. It is during these hot months of December, January and February that it replaces its feathers in what is referred to as the annual moult.

It is the completion of the moult and the beginning of the autumn rains that prime the wild budgerigar into breeding condition.

The fancier must also follow this same natural process with the aviary budgerigar and wait for the completion or termination of the annual moult before starting to breed. This applies to both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and is outlined in the chart below.

I would estimate the interview to be some ten to twelve thousand words in length and I thought it would be such a waste to let it sit gathering dust.

So with this in mind I have collated the interview into segments.

This is part two – part one may be read here.

I hope you enjoy it.

Feeding, Cod Liver Oil and Showing

By Fred Sherman (deceased)

The next thing I would like to talk about is feeding, and this is really relative to my coming to the UK in 1986, I want to talk about cod liver oil.

I have a very good friend in Johannesburg, Peter Needham. I used to visit Peter often in the early days when I was a novice, really because we were novices together and I have never seen so many French Moulters in my life.

He had cages and cages of French Moulters and when Gerald Binks came out to Rhodesia and South Africa for the first time in 1979 he put Peter on to a feed containing cod liver oil. The ratio was half a teaspoon per 12 pounds of seed and most of Peter’s troubles went away. He bred very few French Moulters and I did the same thing and I didn’t breed many French Moulters either.

I went along with Gerald’s suggestion and fed, exactly that ratio. Then I went on leave, and I never used to go on leave, especially during the breeding season, but my daughter graduated from the University in South Africa so I had to go down leaving the birds with my chap who looked after the birds when I was away.

This guy was totally illiterate, he could not read nor write, but he was a hell of a good worker, so he could never do anything with the birds except feed them. He could change the seed but unfortunately I left him to mix the cod liver oil. When I came back from a week down in South Africa, I noticed that the levels of cod liver oil in the bottle had gone right down, and I have never seen so much French Moult in my life. So that was overdosing and I have never used it since.

I tried to save the youngsters, pulled their flights out, and put them in Dettol, but eventually I got rid of about 56 youngsters.

As an interesting little aside to that, there was a very good breeder in Harare. He bred some very good birds, and there is a lake up there known as Lake Kariba. It is a big man-made lake and they stock it with little sardines (which are similar to the whitebait you get in the UK) created as a protein filler for the black people in the country. This chap fed fish meal to his birds and he never got French Moult.

So what does it tell us? He is filling his birds full of fish meal and we give them cod liver oil and get French Moult. I think it is just a personal thing but it gave me such a fright I stopped using it.

The other thing about feeding in southern Africa is it is not easy to get hold of bird seed. We used to grow canary seed in Rhodesia but they don’t any more, they grow it in South Africa. Seed is not easy to get hold of, so when you hear about seed you buy it and sometimes you have to buy a whole lot of seed you don’t really need.

Basically, we feed a mixture of millet and canary seed, usually two thirds canary seed and one third millet. Some chaps go 50-50 but it is a matter of individual preference. The nice thing about living in the UK is that you can get whatever seed you want. You just phone up somebody and they deliver it.

Nest Box Talk

I had an experience in Rhodesia many years ago. I sold some birds to a chap who could never get the hens to breed, so there was a story going round that: “I sold him hens that wouldn’t breed and when I catch them up I do something to them.”

What that was supposed to be I do not know! He just couldn’t breed with the hens and then one day he was visiting and I had just bought some new breeding boxes and the old ones were lying on the floor. He was busy building a new aviary and said do you want these? I said if you want them take them – I think there were about ten.

He took them to Bulawayo put them up and my hens bred in those boxes. He had had the hens for two years and I believe it is something to do with the environment and I think if you are buying hens from somebody and they won’t breed, try using the same type of nest box. It certainly worked for this chap. The nest boxes I use are the double boxes, a box within a box about 8″ by 5″ (20 by 13cm) about 8″ (20cm) high.

A little bit about the Fancy in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is not strong in terms of members but I think people are quite dedicated there. They work very hard and all put their shoulders to the wheel when there is a show.

We have meetings on Sunday mornings rather than the evening and these are at various fanciers’ houses where we have sandwiches and snacks and a bit of a get together. They bring their wives and we have a guest speaker or a lecture and also little table shows. We have the opportunity of seeing the chap’s aviary and looking at his birds.

I think the spirit that is created is good, and of course we have different weather there, but often we have a barbeque and make a day of it. Maybe we have lectures in the morning and a barbeque, then a small table show in the afternoon. We also use that as an opportunity to train judges, and put up classes of birds and get the young chaps in and get them to judge. Even the beginners and novice – we get them judging and get them going right from the beginning. It comes in very useful.

Shows

The shows here are not frequent. There are about four a year in Zimbabwe, six or eight in South Africa.

I tend to go to the South African shows, but we can’t show in Zimbabwe because of the political situation. It is unfortunate because I think it would be good for both countries if we were to show. There are some very good birds in South Africa and there are also some very good ones in Zimbabwe.

We have four sections of exhibitor in South Africa – Junior, Novice, Intermediate and Champion.

The junior section is for under 16′s. If you are over 16 you go into the Novice and then have to score points with your breeder birds in exhibition for promotion through the sections. You have to score 400 points to move from Novice to Intermediate – and remember, only breeder birds score points for you.

The points are 5 for a first, 3 for the second, 2 for the third in class plus so many for a colour award and others for best breeder in section.

It is reckoned it takes four years, although some guys do it in two. So you have to score 400 points even if it takes you forever. Then you become an Intermediate and you have to score 200 points in these classes for promotion to champion.

I think it is quite a good system because it means fanciers have to show and show breeder birds. Records of each fancier’s points are made and are published in every monthly newsletter and after each show so everybody’s points are there to be seen.

In terms of maintaining status, you only go down if you stop showing; you don’t go out because you don’t win, you stay a Champion. However, if you don’t show for two years, you go back to Intermediate and have to score the points again.

Dr Alf Robertson

When overseas, I am often asked about my experiences with Dr. Robertson.

Dr. Robertson became a bit of a legend and was a very good person. What I liked most about Alf Robertson, apart from his birds, was talking to him because he had the ability of applying his medical knowledge to budgerigars – and that to me was very fascinating.

As far as his birds were concerned, he was another man who inbred extensively and almost exclusively. His light greens and grey-greens were really superb. At one time I thought they were a little bit short in the body, but he got hold of some long flights and these were true long flights. I saw one cock, I didn’t see the other one. It had three long tail feathers, nine primary flights, and was overall about 10-inches (25cm) and tremendously long feathers. I saw an opaline grey that he bred out of this and really it was quite an outstanding bird, one of the nicest birds I had ever seen.

These long flights sorted out the shortness of the body. Alf Robertson was clever because some guy didn’t know what he had when he had these long flights, Alf saw them and used them.

I told Alf that I thought he ought to go to England, and I told him to go and the see other birds. However he was very parochial, very much the king in South Africa, in fact, he was undisputed budgerigar king.

I don’t think he was quite as fanatical as Harry Bryan was, but almost. He did not have the drive to win, he just waited to breed good birds and did not care about showing – he got switched off by shows.

I would estimate the interview to be some ten to twelve thousand words in length and I thought it would be such a waste to let it sit gathering dust.

So with this in mind I have collated the interview into segments.

This is part one – part two may be read here.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Differences Between Breeding Budgerigars In Africa And The UK

By Fred Sherman (deceased)

I grew up on a farm in Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe). My father was a tobacco farmer and also a breeder of livestock – he bred pedigree Jersey cows and pedigree Ayrshire cattle. He also kept African love birds and budgerigars and colony bred them. I suppose as a young boy I used to help him with these birds and that started my interest.

I was very interested in genetics – probably from school – and the very first book I bought on budgies was not how to feed, breed or keep them, but “Budgerigar Matings and Colour Expectations”. The second book I bought was “Genetics for Budgerigar Breeders” and so my interest was more in the genetics. I saw in budgies a good opportunity to experiment with genetics and the principles of Mendelism. Consequently for many years I fooled around with colours. In fact I never bred Budgerigars in small boxes, I used to breed them in small flights, similar to Doug Sadler but not as elaborate. I was only interested in colours and in fact, I didn’t even know what a show budgie was.

I joined the Budgerigar Society in South Africa merely to get rings and this was known as the Central African Avicultural Society. I had no interest in exhibition birds and I never went to any meetings. In fact, as mentioned I grew up on a farm and while I was still at school I was a member of the club. So I had joined very young.

Coerced Into Show Birds

In the late sixties I moved to Salisbury which was then the capital of Rhodesia and I was coerced I think, into getting involved with show birds. I still had these pet types, and I got interested in showing birds. I think that was in 1968 or 1969 and so I started breeding for show purposes.

When I decided to go all out to do well as a breeder of exhibition budgerigars, I was then spending a lot of time in the United Kingdom. Those of you who remember history, it was at the time that sanctions were applied against Rhodesia and I was running around a lot trying to find products and selling things, so my business travels brought me to England. I realised if I wanted to improve my birds I would have to buy birds in England and strangely enough the first pair of birds I bought were a pair of clearwings from Tom North.

I think it was the colour that interested me, and the fact that I was breeding colours. I saw a Whitewing mauve and I couldn’t believe there was anything like it could exist. So I bought a pair and took them back to Rhodesia and I bred with them and showed them. I did that for a few years and then I finally I met Brian Byles and he was good enough to let me have some birds which was the foundation of my budgerigars. I bought five birds from Brian, two of them were brothers, and the other two were related to the two brothers – they were all cocks.

I then went to South Africa and Dr Robertson, with whom I had got quite friendly. He put me on to a fellow by the name of John van Niekerk who had some birds from Alf Ormerod. I managed to get some hens from John Anitas. One hen was bred from an Ormerod pair which, having become friendly with Brian and looking at the records I discovered I had a hen that was related to one of the birds I had from Brian. This got my mind thinking about in-breeding and breeding closely together, and I took the decision then, having had a chat with my Dad, who was a stockman breeding cattle.

I decided with him that we would apply the in-breeding technique. I will be quite honest with you since then and that was 1972 or 1973, other than those five birds from Brian and a few hens from South Africa, I have had another cock bird from Brian, a Yellowface hen from Ernie Sigston, a Skyblue from Reg Crossman and some birds from Gerald Binks and those are the only birds I have bought in and all my birds today are totally inbred.

I Had No Option

I started with those five cocks and I have had a few from Gerald – maybe six – but that is it over all these years. I had to inbreed, I had no option and I found it interesting to listen to fanciers in the UK during my visits, who would say: “I don’t like to go too close” or “I wonder if it’s practical to line breed with budgies?”

My interpretation of in-breeding and line breeding I liken to what my Dad did with cattle. He had a foundation sire and he put lots of cows to that bull and he developed a strain. With birds of course that is difficult and I really doubt whether it is practical to line breed in a true sense with budgerigars, but I stand to be corrected. Also with line breeding you can go close, very often, the good thing with cattle is you have records that you work on, not like with budgies that somebody judges you have two judges and they don’t both see the bird alike, but with cattle there is the butter fat content of the milk, the quantity of the milk, all these things are recorded and they are all facts that you can work on.

I remember on the farm where we had a particularly good cow and the bull would be put back to the cows calves and granddaughters and so to say “Don’t go too close in line breeding”, don’t believe it. You go father to daughter, father to granddaughter in line breeding the same as you do with in-breeding. Really it is a little controversial, but that is the way I see it. So I have been inbreeding very closely. I do admit that some pairings are better than others. I don’t think it is anything to do with being close, or not being close. I was talking to Jeff Attwood and he was concerned about fertility when you inbreed, but I don’t believe I could have bred all those birds if fertility is a problem.

I can tell you a little story about a grey hen I bred. I have never seen such a big hen, she really was magnificent. It wasn’t a show bird, just a great big stock hen but one, almost from the time she moulted out, you think is going to be a problem. A big buff hen and I paired her to a cock – I don’t even remember how close it was related, and I have a habit of marking my eggs with a felt pen, because I think you get better results, you throw out the clear ones and make them keep laying, and on the first round the eighth eggs was fertile and she laid ten eggs in total. The eighth egg hatched – I was actually at the time breeding some Lacewings, so I put some fertile lacewing eggs with them, so I could identify the chicks, the chick finally hatched and survived, and fortunately for me it was a cock.

Paired To His Mother

The second round, the same thing, the eighth egg was fertile, she laid ten eggs, but that chick died, so I had one chick out of that hen which was a cock and I only had one option which was to pair the cock to his mother. She laid ten eggs, every egg was full. The second round she laid another ten eggs, and I put five of those eggs under the Yellowface Skyblue and she smashed them so there it was I got twenty full eggs out of that hen when I paired her back to her son. I don’t think that fertility is only a problem. I believe that our fertility problems are with the buff birds, the big ones.

If you take pet budgerigars and put father to daughter and inbreed them continually they would all be fertile. I have actually seen that happen where these fellows breed with these little birds, and they just keep on being fertile. I don’t think anybody can prove or disprove it, but I believe that fertility is a fault that you should breed out with inbreeding. I think with inbreeding you can only put together the good things, you can’t breed good budgies out of rubbish. So if you start with good stock and you inbreed and you weed out the bad features then you must weed out infertility as a bad feature, just like you weed out a bird that has some other physical feature you don’t like.

I was forced into inbreeding because I didn’t have access to birds. I would go on record as saying that the only way you can improve your stock is by in-breeding – unless you have a bit of money and access to good birds so that you can buy outcrosses. Now in a country like Rhodesia or South Africa, even if you have money, it doesn’t matter because you can’t find the birds, but if you are in a country like England where there are a lot of birds available, I believe you could be very successful outcrossing all the time if you can buy the right bird.

There was a very famous fancier in England who said he never inbred but also admitted that he bought birds. He said to me once if you see a good one, buy it, no matter what it costs, so if you have that policy you must breed good birds. If you are skilful, and he was very skilful, and you can buy a cock bird and pair it to a good hen, you will breed good birds, but if you are isolated and you haven’t got that ability there is no way you can improve your stock without in-breeding.

The amount of care and affection that they devote to their birds is immense and their dedication to the hobby is the same.

Their stud is located in a beautiful rural location near the town of Ballybay in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.

They are always happy to share their knowledge of the exhibition budgerigar with visitors, many of whom regularly travel from as far away as the U.S.A., Europe and the U.K. to purchase birds from this high quality stud.

The Birdroom

The Emerald birdroom is a superb building measuring 70′ x 25′ (21 m x 8 m) and is described by many visitors as 5 star budgerigar accommodation.

The birdroom, among many other things, contains:

• 4 full height flight rooms each being 10′ x 8′ (3 m x 2.5 m)
• 2 nursery flights each being 10′ (3 m) long
• 2 breeding rooms which contain 50 breeding cages

All wire breeding cages are preferred, not just for their cleanliness, but so that all birds can enjoy a colony atmosphere.

Wooden, outside fitting nest boxes are used, sprayed inside and out with disinfectant and an anti-mite solution, before copper coins are put under concaves for their anti-fungal properties, with a handful of fine wood chippings added.

Stock

Emerald Budgerigars line breed and keep all the mainstream colours, specialising in Lutinos and Albinos.

Fine examples can be found in all colours.

The stud’s original mainstream colour stock came from Eric Lane and Ormerod & Sadler bloodlines.

The “ino” original stock came from Margery Kirkby Mason, Reg Watts and Rick Watts …. that was about 40 years ago!

In more recent years, very strong blood lines have been built, based on Daniel Lütolf, Reinhard Molkentin, Jo Mannes, Huxley & Marchant and Willi Dokter.

Eileen and John’s birds are well known for their overall quality and especially for their strength in width of head, length of feather and directional feather, which they have also managed to put into their “ino’s”.

Management

Daily management for Eileen and John includes changing the birds’ water and cleaning the utensils. Bottled water is used – not tap water – due to the chlorine content.

Another daily job is to make and provide every bird with fresh soft-food. This is made from boiled eggs, soaked oats, Orlux moist eggfood, vegetables, honey, garlic oil, ‘Panta-20′ (supplement), a small amount of salt, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, ‘Frucht-mash’ (supplement), calcium / D3 powder, love bird seed mixture, and the most important ingredient ….. “EB.1 complete” – a magical mix that is used by many of Europe’s top breeders.

Eileen and John will provide more details and quantity information to any breeder requiring the same (see website link at the end of this article).

All birds, at all times, have access to 4 different seed mixtures:

• An “A.1.E.” mixture that contains 60% canary and 40% mixed millets
• An “E.B.” feather growth promoting seed mixture
• An “E.B.” conditioning and herb seed mixture
• An “E.B.” Japanese millet and fruit pellet mixture

Again, Eileen and John will provide more detail to any breeder requiring the same (see website link at the end of this article).

Grit and mineral utensils are changed weekly and all flights and cages are cleaned and disinfected weekly.

Cuttlefish and iodine blocks are provided to all birds and the bird room is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner twice per day.

Once a year, all birds in the Emerald Budgerigars birdroom are treated with “Tricho Plus” as a preventative against Trichomonas.

Also once a year, all birds are treated with “Doxycycline”, before pairing-up, to ensure the birds optimum performance.

Breeding

All birds are kept in the stock flights unless breeding.

Cocks and hens are kept together to encourage exercise and eucalyptus branches, ladders, tumblers, balls and various other play things are provided to stop the birds becoming bored and to encourage additional exercise.

Ring issue dates are ignored, as pairing commences every year in September. Eileen and John say that September is the best time to pair up exhibition budgerigars. If the birds are in condition, 50 pairs are put up in this month.

Both cocks and hens have their vents plucked and both birds are put into the breeding cage at the same time with the nest box already attached. Nest boxes are inspected daily, but only once.

When pairing birds, Eileen and John attach much importance to pedigree, and try to pair the best visual cocks to a lesser visual sister of their best hens, so long as the pair complement each other visually – i.e. if one of the pair lacks in a particular feature, the other in the pair must excel in this feature, and so on.

Showing

Eileen and John have won many “Best in Show” awards, “Major Specials” and “C.C.’s” at Championship, National and World Championship level.

However, in recent years, they much prefer breeding budgerigars than showing them and now, regrettably, show very little and do not show at all in Ireland.

However, they say that they will always support the B.S. World Championship Show whenever possible.

Tips for Beginners

Here are some of Eileen and John’s top tips for beginners:

• Budgerigars do not always breed when paired up for the first time. Some birds can go 2 or 3 years before they breed for the first time, so it’s worth persevering with a quality bird.
• Try to buy one outcross, or two, every year to add quality fresh blood and always buy the best that you can afford with the desired feature(s) that your own birds require for improvement. Do NOT be tempted to split the money you have available over say 3, 4 or 5 birds – spend all the money that you have available on just one or two birds and buy the best that you can obtain. Quality is more important than quantity.
• Some budgerigar hens will not use a nest box if the entry hole is facing direct sunlight, as it will not be dark enough for her inside.
• Every evening before the main lighting changes to night lighting, fine spray the bird room (NOT the birds), with an F.10, Virkon-S, or similar solution, to kill possible airborne germs.
• When preparing your birds for a show, spread the de-spotting process over many days. Do NOT de-spot a bird completely in one attempt, as you run the risk of a good spot falling out later due to bruising around the area.
• It is good practice to spray the inside of a nest box that has chicks, in the same way using an F.10 or Virkon-S solution. Simply cover the chicks with your hand when spraying to protect the chicks from the spray.
• Have patience! If your birds are not performing as well as they could, seek assistance from an experienced breeder. If things are going wrong in your birdroom, it is probably not the fault of the birds, but your fault!

Further Information

For further details about the Emerald Budgerigar Stud, please visit Eileen and John’s website:

• www.emeraldbudgerigars.4t.com

Photographs

All photographs below of Eileen & John’s birdroom and birds were taken and kindly supplied to us by Eillen & John Hall.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Emerald Budgerigar birdroom
- external view

Emerald Budgerigar birdroom
- internal view

Breeding cages are on the all wire system

The Hall nest box design