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.

Dear Dr Marshall,

I have seen your articles on the excellent new budgerigar website set up by Gerald Binks. I am hoping you can help me.

I bred three skyblue cocks in 2008. Their sire died at the end of that year and his symptoms were:

• 1. Loss of Weight
• 2. A pulsing in the crop area.

I treated him over a period with tetracycline paste, baytril, megabac and amoxicillin trihydrate. He did not respond and eventually died after 6 months had passed. Now two of his sons have the same weight loss. They are fluffed up and again do not respond to any treatment. They can look fit for a while, but then relapse. There is no nasal discharge. No vomiting, but the faeces are yellowish in colour. Have you any suggestions as to the problem?
(Name and address supplied)

Dr Marshall’s reply:

Weight loss over a prolonged period is consistent with Megabacterial infection. In my book I describe Megabacteria as a secondary disease related to immune suppression. So we have to look for another primary infection which may be a genetic weakness, but more often inherent Polyomavirus infection and / or stress related psittacosis. I would look for the presence of French moult in the stud. Treatment for megabacteria is complicated and requires direct action via crop needle, but the underlying cause has to be identified. Irrespective, the long term approach is to breed away from this line as it is genetically weak.

Fancier’s response:

What do you recommend for treating megabacteria?

Dr Marshall’s reply:

I suggest Fungalin in liquid or tablet form. You need to treat1/4 ml of fungalin liquid with our “Quik Gel”, ER Formula, with a dosage rate of 2.5 mls daily via crop needle for 10 days. After this assess the situation. Often streptococcus is also involved. So an additional antibiotic, e.g. Clavulox liquid 0.1 in the mixture is a help. If good fertility is a problem or patchy, you may have a psittacosis infection which will then be the primary cause and megabacteria the secondary factor because the polyomavirus seems under control.

Fancier’s response:

I have now obtained the fungalin, but in tablet form. How do I mix this prior to inserting it via crop needle as you advised?

Dr Marshall’s reply:

Dissolve one crushed tablet in 10 mls of water. This makes a working solution which you can keep in the fridge. Shake well before use. This should do for a complete course. You can extrapolate the dose down, according to the number of birds involved.

Fancier’s response:

Thank you for your considerable help and advice. It is much appreciated and I have requested Gerald Binks to publish this on Budgerigar.co.uk for the general benefit of the fancy at large.

Site Usage Statistics

Whenever this site is used, Google Analytics logs the activity. This gives me a wealth of data – some of which I thought I would share with you.

So, here are just a few of the statistics concerning your website since launch (as at 4th March 2010):

• 45,000+ Pages – viewed by site visitors
• 7,400+ Visits – An average of 210 per day!
• 3,000+ Individuals – have visited the site
• 100+ Fanciers – view the site every single day
• 79 Countries – have sent visitors to the site
• 7 Minutes – is the average time spent per visit to the site

Did You Know?

There are some 79 countries / territories we now know of, who are keeping budgerigars, or who are keen to be involved in our hobby. Most we know, but this list of extra countries may surprise you, as indeed it did myself:

To all those fanciers who have visited this international website, may I extend a big WELCOME to you all.

The established hobby will surely help you in all manner of ways in the future!

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

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

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

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

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

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

• How does this affect you?

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

• What’s the difference?

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

• Why do they cost more?

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

• Is there a difference in the quality of light?

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

As you may know, you can write an article or just add a comment to an existing article.

When an article or a comment is published on Budgerigar.co.uk, you will see a small image beside it. These are called Gravatars and are usually a mini-photo of the article’s or comment’s author.

A number of you have been asking about these images – particularly as to how to get them!

So, we have written a short piece explaining – all about Gravatars.

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.

They say:

Our business increased by 60% immediately you went “Live” on that day, with firm orders received from home and abroad.

We have therefore decided to proceed further with extensive advertising space with you via your Advertising Design Service.

This facility, we have noted, is incorporated within the charges listed. An excellent touch.

We will shortly be in contact.

Signed: Roger Stone
pp . All Directors.

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.

The images an be viewed on our World Class Budgerigars page.

Enjoy!

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.