Apart from the unexplained and instinctive attraction we feel for their brilliant colours and delightfully biddable ways, there are probably as many different contributory factors that motivate the hobbyist as there are hobbyists.

For some, getting the knowledge is almost the next logical step after learning first to walk, then to talk.

Others take their greatest satisfaction from the sense of community they get from local groups, almost like the camaraderie shared on the terraces by lads in matching scarves.

Observing the outcomes of selective breeding is what might motivate others, while seeing the hardware stack up after the wins at major shows may be the driving force in some cases.

An Accidental Fancier

For me, what became a lifelong fascination and source of great pleasure began almost accidentally.

More than fifty years ago as an animal-lover with what was left of his first meagre pay-package burning another hole in his holey trousers pocket, I was desperate to own a pet.

There would have been no question of being allowed to keep anything that took up house room, and it was love at first sight when I came upon the pair of red eared waxbills in a local pet shop.

But despite what the songs say, love is not always enough. Ignorant and unable to find any resource that would inform me on their needs, I learned the hard way that some things are not hardy enough to withstand the Cumbrian climate and a well-intentioned amateur touch.

After a decent period, I decided to do things a little differently and my next venture began from a different starting place.

New Found Knowledge

The local library, a conveniently free source of knowledge, had a tiny section that included information on budgerigars, and I read every word.

If I had learned my subjects as keenly at school I could have been the Chief Executive of a blue chip company by the time I was twenty one!

As it was, I was supplementing my income by doing a paper round for the local newsagent, upon whose shelves I came upon a publication called “Cage Birds”, which became my mentor’s voice.

Equipped with my new knowledge and a cobbled-together shed, my life as a breeder and exhibitor of budgerigars began. And the learning process is a life’s work. Like many, I had neither benefit of an experienced mentor nor virtually unlimited resources to encourage and enable me to breed world class birds.

Having started from that place, I have a particular passion to develop support networks that will enable this season’s pet owner to become next year’s top-class breeder.

Identifying Good Information

Information has never been more widely available and the Internet is an extremely important source.

It does not need to be said, however, that identifying reliable, informed advice and opinion is a skill by itself.

There is good stuff out there, based on learning, experience and quantifiable evidence and there is less trustworthy stuff that ranges from the purely anecdotal to the downright bad.

Of course, we have to guard against reading opinion as fact, for those two things can be very different.

Potentially, the various on-line forums are capable of being a valuable source of information and support, because they enable us to “meet” and share information with breeders from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities.

One example is “Budgerigars.co.uk” – with a history that dates back to April 1999, this well-established site is the source of a vast amount of information and its interactive forum, established in July 2006, currently gets over 60,000 visitors per month from over 100 different countries. The budgerigar breeder community is now truly global.

Changing Times

We have seen massive changes in the hobby as it evolved and adapted to enable survival in the 21st century.

Yet despite the eugenics and bird-room technologies, and the high-end competitiveness that has attracted interest from businessmen and entrepreneurs (who would seek to make a profit or even a livelihood out of the hobby), budgerigars are still budgerigars – and for most breeders the interest, the joys, the rewards are the birds themselves.

Some things have never changed. The fact that we all start somewhere is self-evident but for a young person with his pocket-money budgies, the world of the top breeders and the world-class show can look a pretty daunting place.

It is also self-evident that without new blood the hobby will eventually die out and that, in my opinion, would be very sad.

Keeping the Hobby Alive

How do we attract new people into the hobby? How do we support their start up? How do we encourage beginners to stick at it and enjoy what they do? How do we encourage and enable them to move, if that is their ambition, from pet-owner to champion breeder?

Promoting the hobby is not something that necessarily requires a degree in marketing techniques.

Promotion begins with word-of-mouth communication – come on, you must remember it? Old fashioned talking about it!

Either as an individual to your mates and neighbours, or in association with your local club, you can help spread the word, generate interest and share your enthusiasm by taking presentations to community forums who are always looking for guest speakers; examples might include schools and colleges, elderly care residences, women’s, church or hobby groups. (Don’t be offended if they ask you to provide your personal details as we all have a duty to protect the vulnerable in our society.)

Talk to the local press. Let them know when your meetings are and invite them to your shows. They may ask for features to provide a background, which provide extra publicity.

Have an open day. Run a free course at the local college – it could be just a one-off couple of hours, or something that can be developed to run over a few weeks.

See if you can have a stand at any local events and arrange to staff it with your most approachable members.

Arrange visits to clubs outside your area and invite them back to yours.

Most importantly, make sure that any new faces are made to feel properly welcome.

There are lots of ways of spreading the word. Ask your club colleagues for their ideas. Of course, if you do happen to have a degree in marketing, it couldn’t hurt!

Breeders Benefit

There is an important spin-off here for existing breeders, by the way, and that has to do with how we generate and maintain a market for our surplus birds, which may not be good enough to exhibit but may be the accessible, affordable starting point for new owners.

Similarly, you can forge links with local pet shops and veterinary surgeries that may hold a list of local breeders, both of which can point potential buyers in your direction.

Supplying birds and equipment to new starters either at low or no cost is a win / win situation, as you increase the size of your network and the beginner does not have to invest his life savings in something that he may find is not for him after all.

Mentoring

At the General Council Budgerigar Society meeting in February 2011, the Budgerigar Society approved a proposal I had submitted for an idea that would establish a list of those members who would be interested in becoming mentors to support beginners.

The list would be made available through the Budgerigar Society web site.

Mentoring can include aspects of guidance, help, advice and teaching, dependent upon the resources of the mentor and the needs of the mentee. It might be one-to-one in person or based on friendly chats over the phone or internet.

For the beginner the mentoring system is a genuine opportunity to feel supported and a part of something.

For the mentor there is the chance to share your knowledge and experience and to know that you are genuinely helping.

Any BS member who is interested can contact the society secretary including your details.

As a member, you can encourage all Area Societies to adopt the mentoring scheme by following the example set by The Northern Budgerigar Society, who brought the proposal to its members and agreed to take it up through the democratic voting system at their meeting.

If the idea were taken up by the World Budgerigar Organisation, people elsewhere in the world could access accurate information that had not become distorted through translation.

Spread the Word

If you care about the future of the hobby, you have a part to play in securing it; as an individual, at local club level and through the Budgerigar Society.

Share your ideas instead of jealously guarding your acquired wisdom.

If you are one of the lucky ones who is time and resource-rich, think back to your first days and have some compassion for the tentative first steps of the new starter, as one disparaging remark can cause his/her interest to be stillborn.

Spread the word – on the street, on the forums and on the social networks.

Below are a few of Barrie’s birds – click on an image to enlarge it.

I also know that some breeders just do not think it possible to do this easily with the larger birds we have today by comparison to those bred in the past. I beg to differ, when one takes a stud of birds as a whole.

I am not talking about individual birds which just refuse to breed at any price. I am discussing the total number of birds bred on the perches at the end of a complete breeding season.

This however has to be related to the actual number of pairings that have taken place. It is not good enough to say you have bred, say, 100 chicks and divide by 10 breeding cages, to get an average figure per pair produced. To be accurate you have to divide the total chicks by the actual number of pairings that you have made. This gives you the full reality of the success or failure of a season.

Evolving a System

It is of vital importance, particularly post the Millennium, that one has to create a system of breeding big budgerigars along with all the other desirable exhibition features.

A big budgerigar will always beat a smaller one given other similar character features when judged.

The old phrase is that you are better trying to breed “rats” by comparison to “mice”.

Some fanciers will only buy the bigger-framed birds and there is a lot of merit in that, but that said the value of a bird is primarily related to the qualities of the head overall from the base of the mask upward.

It is no use having a big bird with very poor head features.

Breeders generally, in my experience, develop their own techniques and believe they have found a “secret” to do well and breed birds of quality year in, year out.

It has been known that some who have struck lucky and bred a nest from some outcrosses, that turn out to be really outstanding, describe themselves as geniuses as livestock breeders – that is until a few more seasons have past and the full realisation that they are no such thing brings them crashing down.

We are all “playing” with different systems, inbreeding, outcrossing and so on, in the hope that super winners emerge. Great when one does, but sustaining it, is, dare I say it, “The Challenge”.

Establishing a strong feeding system has to be coupled with your breeding system. this. One cannot succeed without the other.

Selective Breeding

Selective breeding has resulted in the development of the budgerigar from the 1840′s to what we see on the bench today in certain colour forms.

This is mainly in the grey, grey greens, light greens and skyblues as a generalisation.

In photographs seen on websites, as well as in books and magazines, we can see a super quality bird, but cannot assess its size overall. It may look a wonder bird but may be very much a medium sized bird.

An analogy is that you cannot gauge how big or small a person is on TV. Nobody realises, for instance, how big was Les Martin’s Best in Show at the UK Budgerigar Society – both as a breeder in 2009 and as an adult in 2010.

My own Grey Green cock BA23 43 86, which won against a field of 4500 entries was very similar in size, but not with the directional feather that has developed in the past 7-8 years. To achieve such size, or power, as I prefer to call it, one has to have a perfect feeding system that works. Without it you are sunk as you can breed that potential super bird, but if it is badly fed it simply falls back into the pack.

To Beginners & Novices

The finest advice, especially to the beginner, is to do next to nothing in the first year once you have decided that this is the hobby for you.

Why? Simply because you have not the experience to design the right aviary and buy the right stock to start with immediately.

A year can be a long time when you are keen to get going, but believe me by reading, listening to lectures, going round as many aviaries as you can and developing the “eye” for quality and the prices for quality birds, this approach will give you a head start and save you a great deal of unnecessary expense in the long term.

Learn the basics first. It is a technique that you have to learn and where assessing quality on a budgerigar is concerned, some never learn it. Many so called judges prove that from time to time.

When you have done your apprenticeship, buy big birds if you can, but be wary of buying hens that are not only big but thick around the vent area – this is usually a sign of previous attempts to breed with them. They can be trouble.

All breeders should have a pedigree system. Amazingly very few fanciers ask for a pedigree and certainly sellers don’t offer them unless asked, because they can take up a great deal of time to complete unless they have a computerised system that can faithfully be completed all the time.

Better to start a system from the beginning and insist on obtaining a pedigree, even if only two generations back. If you do not have a system you cannot know what you are doing and neither can any subsequent buyer have any confidence in purchasing stock from you.

The Feeding Book

All fanciers should have a “Feeding Book”. You have to record your feeding system down to the minutest details. If you have a poor season you can look back at how your stud was fed in the previous season and conversely if you have a super season, you again look back and stick to that technique.

If you have a copy of “The Challenge” and you are in trouble, may I recommend the two chapters on “Feeding” to you.

At first glance they look complex, but study them in depth and you should be able to see what your diet lacks or where you have force fed too many vitamins and other faults. It’s all there if you take the time and trouble to digest the contents to achieve better and final good results.

One easily created fault is that it is so easy to forget buying this or that product that is part of your system and it is only when you look at your Feeding Record book that it reveals the mistake(s).

Lastly, record any changes that you make in the diet when you do them – not later as they get forgotten.

Feeding Technique Advice

If you are a raw beginner, you will have been around aviaries in that first year and listened to the feeding advice from very experienced breeders who have been breeding budgerigars for years.

Do not necessarily expect all of them to reveal everything they do!

Some may leave out an item which is a “key” factor in their technique. Others will be fully open.

The breeders you are looking for are those who have, say, 40 pairs of cages which are nearly full of chicks, year in year out.

Now here is the important point. Keep your eyes wide open. Look at exactly what is being fed in each cage and also what has been consumed and look for the leftovers that are still in evidence. What minerals and vitamins are going in, both in solid and solution via the drinkers? What packets are on display and what bottles are present?

The seed mixtures everyone looks at as though that is the main clue. Unfortunately it is only part of the whole input and frankly I feel that, provided you have a high percentage of canary seed, which has the highest protein content, all the other conventional seeds we use are just the fillers to the diet – but they have to be there.

Reproduction – what you put in you get out

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are your birds looking as though they are active and keen to breed?
2. Are you hens calm and relaxed and good incubators?
3. Do some hens scream their head off when you open the boxes and scatter the eggs? If so make a note to not use them again.
4. Is feather plucking a problem indicating the hens are nervous?
5. Do the hens emerge from the boxes when slightly disturbed or not?
6. Is the fertility good or spasmodic? Are the cocks too young and lacking experience?
7. Are the hens basically all feeding well apart from the odd pair that produce scrawny retarded chicks that eventually die?

Such questions are limitless, but are all basically geared to: “what am I doing wrong?”

In 99 per cent of cases it is your husbandry and lack of attention that is at fault. You are the provider and in full charge of your livestock. If you are not prepared to put in the effort – why bother being in the hobby at all?

If things go wrong, it’s your fault, not the birds – apart from the standard irritations they dish out in this or that nest.

I have personally made many mistakes over the years and have tried to learn in the process, but when I make the same error twice, I really get angry with myself!

Check the Temperature

When your birds are breeding in the Northern hemisphere a temperature setting should be 10 degrees Centigrade (50 degrees Fahrenheit) from experience.

Lower than that and eggs get chilled very quickly when a hen is off the eggs for any reason for a period. It takes time for them to excrete, mate and fill up their crops and addled eggs can appear later on quite easily.

In warmer countries, breeding is far easier, as Reinhard Molkentin in South Africa confirms having previously experienced breeding in Germany.

Of course heating charges get worse year by year and you can run up big bills, but you have to balance your affordability against the results you are getting.

In conclusion, remember that the first round chicks are not always fed as well with the rich crop milk required – especially from young hens. Their crop milk does not flow as well until the second or subsequent rounds when the chicks are much fuller in the hand when still in the nest at four or five weeks of age.

It is these latter rounds that are frequently the rounds that produce those “Rat Sized” birds!

One of these in the hand gives great pleasure and makes the efforts and overhead expenses worthwhile.

Happy Breeding!

Certificates of Merit

Novice Any Age – D J Brick
Novice Young Bird -A W Jennings
Beginner Any Age – J M Huxley
Beginner Young Bird – J M Huxley
Junior Any Age – C P Spruce
Junior Young Bird – J Hickton-Cragg

It is for this reason that fanciers from all over the world make it a habit to attend this unique show.

This year was no exception when fanciers traveled from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Pakistan, USA and, from mainland Europe, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal & Switzerland to witness for themselves the quality of the birds benched.

Attractions

Apart from the quality budgerigars at the show there is the seminar staged on the Saturday morning, always popular with many fanciers attending and this year one of our top breeders and exhibitors, Brian Sweeting, was the guest speaker.

There are also all the Budgerigar Society, area & specialist societies stands that give members the opportunity to pay for their following year’s subscriptions plus, of course, the array of trade stands and products that are available to fanciers to stock up for the breeding season.

One other important factor of this unique show is the social side, the friendships that are made, new and old, and the opportunity over the two days to meet and catch up with fellow fanciers that one only sees once a year. This is further enhanced by the dinner/dance on the Saturday evening.

The popular Auction of Promises on Sunday afternoon is followed by the grand finale of the two days when the President of the Society presents the wonderful array of 91 trophies to the winning exhibitors. Each part contributes to making this unique event a weekend not to be missed.

Behind the Scenes

A show of this magnitude doesn’t just happen!

The result is thanks to tremendous teamwork by a great many helpers.

It starts with the erecting of staging on Friday morning and ends when the last bit of staging is put away and everyone has gone home.

The people to thank are too numerous to mention but include the staging erectors and dismantlers, the managerial and secretarial staff, the club show committee, security, trophy, catering, seminar, tombola, door staff, stand co-ordinator, sales staff, stewards, in fact everyone who helped in any way.

Stands

Each year there is a competition for Best Trade Stand and Best Area or Specialist Society Stand.

The winning Trade Stands were as follows:

• 1st – Calcivet (The Birdcare Company)
• 2nd – Aviary Hygiene (David W Van De Peer MBICSc)
• 3rd – EMP (Donald Cooke Ltd)

The winning Best Areas or Specialist Society Stands were as follows:

• 1st – South Midlands Budgerigar Society
• 2nd – LABS (Lutino & Albino Breeders Society)
• 3rd – CBBA (Clearwing Budgerigar Breeders’ Association)

This was the third successive year that the South Midlands BS won – they received £25 and a lovely engraved glass plaque.

Judges were the Society President Dave Herring, Chairman George Booth and overseas judge Dave Collier.

Judging

The task in hand for this year’s show fell upon a team of 15 judges which included the Budgerigar Society President, Dave Herring.

The remaining 14 judges were:

• Alan Adams
• Ghalib Al-Nasser
• Jeff Attwood
• Lyn Bancroft
• Nigel Beevers
• Jerry Donovan
• Colin Lamb
• Jim McGeehan
• Geoff Moore
• Norma Phillips
• Tony Pope
• Cy Thorne
• Mick Widdowson

Every year the society invites an overseas judge and this year was no exception. However, although Dave Collier currently resides in the USA, he is actually a B.S. Judge, so it was meeting up with old friends for him at the weekend.

Accepting birds on the Saturday morning and starting judging a bit later proved to be quite popular with many exhibitors – and providing four extra judges to judge the sections while the colour judging was in progress worked extremely well this year.

The four extra judges were:

• Dominic Avo
• Ron Payne
• Ray Steele
• Terry Tuxford

These four have already been invited to judge the colours next year.

There were super quality budgerigars on display at this show and having gone through the selection by the colour judges, the 26 best of colour winners and their respective opposite sexes came forward to the final selection for the major awards.

The Budgerigar Society celebrated its 85th Anniversary this year, and each exhibitor benching 8 or more birds received a specially commissioned clock to mark the occasion, this was most appreciated by the exhibitors.

Best in Show

Les Martin ensured that his name be added to that long list in the Hall of Fame for winning the supreme award at this show when his Grey Green cock was initially judged Best Any Age in Show and went a step further by beating the young bird for the Supreme Best in Show.

Soon after Les was declared the winner, the crowd realised that the bird was that which won Best Young Bird at last year’s show.

It was a popular win as Les is a staunch supporter of the Budgerigar Society Club Show and his worthy winner was a bird that excelled in width of head and depth of mask with wonderful frontal rise and directional feathering, staged in immaculate condition.

Best Young Bird & Best Opposite Sex in Show

The Norwood Stud (Tony & Sandra) benched a wonderful Grey hen to capture the next prestigious award of Best Young Bird & Best Opposite Sex in Show.

This bird excelled in quality of width of face and shoulder with good length and staged in good condition.

Best Any Age Opposite Sex in Show

The partnership of Mick Freakley & Ian Ainley have featured regularly among the major winners’ listing since 2007.

This year they did it again when their adult Grey hen won Best Any Age Opposite Sex in Show. This was a massive hen with a wide head but was spoilt by a short tail.

Best Opposite Sex Young Bird

Last year’s Club Show winners, Paul & Dennis Spruce, teamed up with Keith Moorhouse to form the partnership of Moorhouse & Spruce and they won the Best Opposite Sex Young Bird with a lovely stylish and powerful Cinnamon Skyblue cock.

Champion Any Age

The Champion Any Age section was headed by the Best in Show and Les Martin captured the second spot with his Skyblue cock of similar quality as the supreme winner.

The Freakley & Ainley partnership was third with their massive Spangle Cinnamon Grey cock, large and bold shown in good feather condition.

The Grey hen of Freakley & Ainley was the Best Opposite Sex in this section.

Champion Young Bird

The first two places in the Champion Young Bird were occupied by hens of super quality.

First was the Norwood Stud’s Grey hen which was Best Young Bird in Show, followed By Richard & Michael Miller’s Yellowface hen of style with good depth of mask and colour.

Brian Sweeting benched an excellent Cobalt cock of good length in third place.

Intermediate Any Age

It was partnerships that occupied the first ten places in the Intermediate Any Age section and the Bowker family of Richard, John & Wayne headed that section with a Grey cock of good frontal rise followed by the Moorhouse & Spruce partnership with a Grey Green cock which was last year’s supreme winner. A massive bird with good frontal rise but was not in the condition that took him to the supreme last year.

The Brian Newton & Gary Shepherdson partnership was third with a Light Green cock of good head quality and large spots.

There were no hens placed in the top ten in this section.

Intermediate Young Bird

The Cinnamon Skyblue cock that was placed Best Young Bird Opposite Sex headed the Intermediate young Bird section for Moorhouse & Spruce followed by their Yellowface Cinnamon Grey cock of good style and size with lovely top end.

R & J & W Bowker were third with their challenge certificate winner, a Grey Green hen with exceptional head quality showing the “buffalo effect” and benched in good condition.

Novice Any Age

A Skyblue cock of Dave Brick headed the Novice Any Age section, a lovely bird with good face and staged in good condition.

Simon Roberts was second with a quality Grey Green cock followed by Richard Hooper’s Spangle Cinnamon Grey Green hen in third place. A good hen with good width of face and shoulder.

Novice Young Bird

Albert Jennings headed the Novice Young Bird section with a nice long Violet cock followed by Dave Brick’s powerful Cinnamon Grey cock in second place.

A Light Green cock of quality from Philip Pearce & Connor Pears was third.

A Grey hen from Liam & Simon Devaney was the best opposite sex in this section.

Beginner Any Age

The only exhibitors who managed to win both sections were Jim & Carol Huxley in the beginner section who had a good team to win many awards. Their any age winner was a Grey cock of good top end and mask staged in good condition. Their Spangle Blue cock was placed third best.

Separating the two was a nice Grey hen benched by Terry Price.

Beginner Young Bird

Jim & Carol Huxley headed the beginner young bird section with a lovely Spangle Blue hen of good width and size. This was followed by Ian Ward & Michelle Rogers Cinnamon Grey Green cock of good width and blow of cap spoiled only by one shadow spot.

James Theobald had a Yellowface cock in third place.

Best Junior in Show & Junior Any Age

It is always good to see competition in the junior section, the future of our hobby.

Connor Spruce won the any age section with a nice Grey Green cock and Best Junior in Show – while Gary Cameron won the next two places with a Spangle Blue cock and a Grey cock.

Junior Young Bird

The junior young bird section was won by Jack Hickton-Cragg with a Dominant Pied Blue cock.

This was followed by Erin Newall’s Grey Green cock.

Jordan Butcher was third with a Cinnamon Blue cock.

Teams

There was a total of 6 Teams benched in the team classes of 4 and 6 birds and Geoff Bowley won both classes and Best Team in Show with a team of six Albinos.

Any Age Challenge Certificate

Winners were:

• K. Leedham – light green, cinnamon green
• Norwood Stud – dark/olive green, rare variety
• L. Martin – skyblue, grey green
• B. Sweeting – cobalt/mauve/violet
• P. Greenwood – grey
• C. Bowman – opaline green
• Main & Jenkins – opaline grey green
• Moorhouse & Spruce – opaline blue
• M & S Banks – opaline grey
• J. Stainforth – cinnamon blue
• T & A Luke – opaline cinnamon green, opaline cinnamon blue, any other colour
• I. Fordham – lutino
• D. Bowley – albino
• R. Day – yellow-wing
• R. Docherty – whitewing
• Cheatley & Alcorn – crest
• J. Grubb – spangle green
• Freakley & Ainley – spangle blue
• A & D Woan – dominant pied
• C & D Jones – recessive pied
• J. Nevin – yellowface

Certificates of Merit:

• D. Brick – Novice
• J & C Huxley – Beginner
• C. Spruce – Junior

Young Bird Challenge Certificate

Winners were:

• R. Allen – light green
• P. White – dark/olive green
• C & M Snell – skyblue
• B. Sweeting – cobalt/mauve/violet, opaline blue, spangle blue
• R & J & W Bowker – grey green
• Norwood Stud – grey
• M & T Rodgers – opaline green, opaline grey
• Main & Jenkins – opaline grey green
• Ward & Rogers – cinnamon green
• Moorhouse & Spruce – cinnamon blue, yellowface
• D. McKeown – opaline cinnamon green
• T & A Luke – opaline cinnamon blue, any other colour
• I. Fordham – lutino
• A. Kelly – albino
• Guppy & Barnes – yellow-wing
• R. Day – whitewing
• A. Brown – crest
• J & C Huxley – spangle green
• P. Hodgkins – dominant pied
• M & M Chapman – recessive pied
• Swain & Ford – rare variety

Certificates of Merit:

• A. Jennings – Novice
• J & C Huxley – Beginner
• J. Hickton-Cragg – Junior

• You are a young school person who has little money, but your parents are fully supportive in all that you do.
• You are in full employment with a family, but need a sound hobby to relieve the pressures of the workplace – something different in fact.
• You are in full employment, but can see that retirement approaches or redundancy might loom at any stage.
• You have just retired and want a hobby that both you and your partner could enjoy together.

What is the first stage?

Firstly, the advice so that you do not waste hard earned money from whatever source.

This is to not do anything in the way of erecting a birdroom or buying budgerigars in the first year – you have much to learn and you learn from two sound, must have, up-to-date books and you have a lot of visits to make to aviaries owned by very well experienced fanciers.

This website advertises many breeders and the links, appropriate to your country, will open such doors to gain massive quantities of ideas and designs for your aviary that suit the birds first and then you – in that order!

The essential books are published on this website.

Stage #2

In most countries, but not all, there are National Societies – plus what are termed State or Area Societies and then the Local Societies near to you.

Your contacts with other breeders will have opened such doors. My advice is that you join the National Society immediately.

In addition to paper magazines that are supplied as part of your annual subscription, it is through these major societies that you get your budgerigar rings – which are called closed rings. These have your personal code number inscribed on each ring for the rest of the time you are in the hobby.

Stage #3

You are now a member!

In addition to the books mentioned, you may find there is a National Mixed Variety Publication – contact your paper shop as they will have details. A few mixed variety magazines are superb covering Budgerigars, Parrots, Foreign Finches and Canaries.

One such is the Australian publication “Australian Birdkeeper Magazine”. High quality, beautiful photography and whichever variety is your preference, there is something to learn within the pages on the other species.

As you gain experience, ask questions all the time. Many beginners feel they are being silly at a meeting of their chosen club, asking basic questions. Do not hold back – nobody minds especially any lecturers who feed off such questions and thrive on them.

Also never put anybody, who you might think is a top champion, on a pedestal. We are all in the same hobby, all involved and our doors are open to beginners and champions at all times. Just call up out of courtesy and make a time to visit and above all – enjoy the experience.

Stage #4

By the end of your first apprentice year, you will be bursting to erect an aviary and get going – but the wait will have been worth it, believe me.

Remember, it is no use spending on basic sheds unless you anticipate you will have to move home at some stage. Even then it is better to make a sectional birdroom that can be moved. Next, remember, however big you decide you will have your aviary, eventually you will want a bigger one. So allow for expansion.

We now come to Local Authority permission to build! However, before you do that, I strongly advise you to approach all your neighbours that border your property and ask their permission, or their approval, to erect your aviary. Ninety nine percent will give that if you explain clearly what the design is and that you are not putting up a chicken run affair. Once they have been approached and know what you are doing and have said “Go ahead”, they are then happy and thereafter will have great difficulty if they have a complaint. Noise can be controlled by a design that does not necessitate outside flights, but in hot countries this may be desirable.

You now approach the “Local Authority”. Be aware that staff in such organisations are not always sure of their own rules and will insist that you have to have Planning Permission and conform to Building Regulations. This author found out the hard way on one occasion.

What you need to realise is that if your aviary is not attached to your property you (probably) do not need Planning Permission, as it is “external to the uses of the dwelling house on freehold property”. Local Authority property is another matter.

You do however have to conform to the Building Regulations which are an easy matter to deal with. At your Local Authority Offices ask for sight of the document applicable to a structure for a hobby (in the UK it is called “The Town and Country Planning Act”). They will oblige with copies of that information for you to study and give you forms to complete. If you have a problem, go to another Local Authority and ask them for help – on the understanding that you are moving into the area they are responsible for. Then armed, go back to your Local Authority and submit what you now know beyond doubt. Obviously such rules will vary from country to country – but the basic principles apply.

Stage #5

With full approval and design decided, you can start building.

There are basic pitfalls – such as having too much light with oversize windows, so that in hot weather the birds suffer and do not breed well.

Aviaries should be about ten feet / three metres wide, minimum, all through. This allows for external nest boxes and seed store benches and yet allows space for you and visitors to be comfortable.

Make sure your aviary is on a very sound concrete base with a solid foundation underneath. Are you having water laid on as well as electricity? It is cheaper in the long run to do this at the start.

Consider skylights above the internal flight areas, but not in the breeding area as other indigenous birds can cause disturbance at the wrong times, plus budgerigars like to breed in shade.

If you can afford it, double glazing is also greatly beneficial and avoids the dreaded painting and rot replacement as with wooden frames. You might trace some second hand double glazing to save money. It is certianly worth the effort.

Stage #6

Fitting out is a pleasure. Keep your eyes open for anybody stopping their hobby, if money is tight. Their cages may suit you and you can get them at a low price. If cost is not a problem, this website has a list of reliable suppliers and these should be approached first.

Your initial early visits to aviaries will have told you what you require. Once complete and you have obtained all the seed and foodstuffs that you require, not forgetting a heated platform and antibiotics for the odd sick bird – you are ready to start buying your birds.

Just one last word. When buying what will be your Foundation Group to build your stud, use your eye for quality to the full that you have learned along the way. There are all sorts of great people in the hobby who treat you fairly but there are a few “rogues” (as there are in all walks of life) who will sell you poor or problem birds that have little or no use.

The test for any fancier is to travel, say, 250 miles or more and have the courage to walk away and go back home if they have any doubts at all. Then you are a true fancier. Treat everyone, in time, who comes to you when you are a champion, totally fairly and then you will have great credibility and respect from everyone.

Enjoy your new found hobby and remember your friends are more important than the birds – not the other way round!

Lütolf has that special eye that sees far ahead of the current ideal representations of the day. He sees what is beyond what is currently being bred and winning on the show bench. Harry Bryan in the UK had that ability, as does Jo Mannes in Germany and Henry George in Australia, to name a few.

Lütolf is 42 years of age and has been breeding birds since he was 11. A great deal of time and money was spent with little success until he purchased birds from Heinrich Ott, a top Swiss breeder. Heinrich Ott treated him very well, selling him stock, which bred superbly and produced his early winners. The pedigree background to Heinrich’s stock was based on Omerod and Sadler blood.

Lütolf’s career is as a teacher, he teaches senior pupils in maths, geography and history. He travels extensively, going overseas to far off places so that he can pass on his experiences to his pupils, but he never forgets his birds at home and the friends whom he trusts to look after his birds safely, and he gives a big thank you to them.

The Lütolf aviary is split into three levels because of the steep gradient of his home. It is modest in presentation, but the birds are exceptional in quality…but difficult to buy if you strive for the best.

Lütolf realised early, that he needed to design a bird to be ahead of others. This came from his ability to carve and paint.

DL: “I like big birds in proportion to their length. I knew that the 8 1/2 INS, small Budgerigar, in today’s exhibition world (216mm) was useless.

All top birds of today require a longer 9 1/2 ins (241mm) length to get the bird in balance, coupled with the shoulder substance that is required.

The shorter length results in a bird with no substance and is completely out of date if you wish to win on the show bench, irrespective of your chosen variety.

It is your choice, as a beginner, into which direction you go as you breed and as you create YOUR designer bird. You have to focus on that and set higher standards every season. I have always selected birds with big feet, but am careful in my choice of breeding hens.

I select birds with very big bone structure that are thick in the neck area. Interestingly, such birds create a problem that many of us are familiar with. This is the problem of today’s rings being too small for the bigger birds of today, and such rings have to be cut off before serious damage is done! Every year I was forced to cut off rings. I now get rings allocated officially that are larger in diameter at 4.4mm. They are perfect and there are no further problems for the birds and are accepted on the show bench.”

The Colours

The colour range that Lütolf has is broad. There are Spangles, all the Normals and some wonderful Violets, Olives, Lutinos, Texas Clearbodies, Yellows, Dilutes and Recessives.

All have mouth watering quality.

He is now starting to attack the Clearwing variety.

DL: “To improve any variety, you have to pair them at the start to your very best birds. This is what Reinhard Molkentin did, followed by Jo Mannes with the very small Spangles that arrived in Germany years ago.

To improve the recessive varieties, Clearbodies and Lutinos, I pair them to Spangles. The Spangle variety will improve such varieties considerably.

Always remember that if you want to improve a rare variety you have to pair them to the best you have and if necessary go out and find a super bird no matter what its colour happens to be.”

Pairing

Unlike the majority of breeders today, Lütolf breaks away from the conventional way of pairing Normals together.

He mixes many colour factors together continuously. Buying a pure bred is therefore difficult, but if the quality is in front of you, you take a different view. He never breeds two super birds together, or inbreeds, to avoid any feather problems or cysts. Nature does not select pairings as we do as fanciers.

Lütolf also watches the mixed sexes and ages of the birds in the flights. The practice of having the sexes separate in different flights, he feels, encourages homosexuality and the following effect of cocks being afraid of certain hens that are perhaps aggressive by nature. Hence infertile eggs. If he sees a pair making up, then the chances are they will go straight into a breeding cage – and they breed.

Lütolf is also critical of the standard practice we follow of pairing our Greens together and our Skyblues together and so on. He believes in mixing the colours, but in addition he uses the grey factor frequently, across the colours, a view held by Harry Bryan but not Dr. Alfred Robertson of South Africa, the well-known breeders of their period.

To support his views, Lütolf will buy an outcross, breed with it and very often sell it immediately. It has left its blood behind and served its purpose.

Lighting Periods

The breeding room has a very powerful extraction system and recently a superb timed spray system developed by Sigbert Pestringer, to remove dust. The aviary always feels fresh.

The lighting routine is interesting. Lights come on at 07.00 hours. The birds emerge to excrete and mate. They go off again at 13.30 hours and come on again at 15.45 hours. This follows a resting period that the observant will see easily in their own studs. At 15.45 hours they again mate with the light coming on until 23.30 hours.

Feeding

Avoiding discussion about the normal feeding procedures, Lütolf prefers to feed natural products as well as seed etc. Hormova is the only manufactured product used, together with various natural vitamin sources.

Water is often changed twice daily to which is added a small dash of vinegar and lemon.

DL: “This lowers the possible rise in bacterial infections.”

When breeding, the canary seed is increased. When not breeding, the millets have the upper hand. He feels that small sunflower gets the stock too fat.

We now come to vegetables. The range is very extensive and remarkable. Everything comes from the local market. Lütolf checks that none have been sprayed with pesticides and he uses natural food only.
Fennel, peppers, carrots, blackberries, broccoli, cauliflower, uncooked beetroot, grape leaves, tinned maize, and parsley to name most of them. All are chopped and desiccated, and when finished, some 10mls of olive oil is added and mixed in. Apple slices are dropped onto the flight floor.

I wondered what else olive oil could be used for?

DL: “When chicks turn white for no reason I give one drop to the beak and they return to normal colour.

However I do not know why!

The credit for this belongs to Reinhard Molkentin, not myself”

Soaked wheat and oats are fed on alternate days. Tree branches are always in the flights and changed regularly.

Conclusion

Lütolf birds are very big and my concluding comment is that Lütolf’s “quality of birds in depth”, in the top range, is one of the best I have seen anywhere in recent years.

A beginner faces many problems. At shows, all he/she sees are rows and rows of birds. He/she can spot the winner of a class and those unplaced, but filling in the gap and knowing the reason the sixth bird beat the seventh is beyond him/her. He/she knows perhaps a little about nutrition and he/she has some idea that his/her children grow more quickly with a sound diet. He/she wants to get involved in the hobby, breed some birds and get the pleasure of the “hands on” feeling of being in charge of a real stud.

What is a Stud? A true stud is a group of inter-related livestock which all possess similar high quality features which are highly desirable to everyone. If these parameters do not exist then you possess a “collection” and no more.

Looking at Detail

My advice is to spend the first year looking around. In that year you will need to study birds and by that is meant close study, not a fleeting glance. Every bird possesses fine detail. Each one has a different feather density and pattern. They have differing lengths, widths and direction which all combine to create quality, or otherwise. Feathers can make or break the showbird or result in the stockbird, the latter possessing more faults than the former. Until you can foresee an Ideal Budgerigar, which is slightly ahead of its time, from every aspect and feature, then you will be breeding budgerigars which will soon be left behind in the pursuit of excellence.

The author is on record for spotting a critical measurement in quality birds that he had not seen in 25 years of practical breeding and showing. That said, nobody else had spotted it either. The point is that you think you are looking at show features, but often you can miss the obvious. Only experience can overcome these difficulties, with a near obsession for the hobby.

Initial Purchases

So Mr/Mrs Beginner you’ve done your opening homework. What do you do now after your gleaming aviary is finished and is ready for stock? Certainly your travels will have left an impression, but you may not have thought about which style of bird you want to breed. It is no use buying a selection of good birds. They have to be the right birds with the right faces. When you look at a person it is their face you look at first of all. The same applies to budgerigars.

Look at the Ideal and look for birds with the qualities that can push the budgerigar ahead of the Ideal. Some fanciers will possess birds that have some of those features. Concentrate on them and buy them or their older relatives which may be cheaper. Buy this bird with width, that bird with length, those with type and so on. Try to buy every feature that is needed in YOUR IDEAL. If one feature is missing then the house of cards will fall.

Spots are very important. You can breed outstanding birds, but if the spots are small the impact is lost. A bird without large spots is like a man in a suit without a tie. Both are unfinished. Learn the hereditary faults such as hinged tails and short masks. Think about buying some select three year old cocks that you have confirmed, bred well in their last year. They will go on to breed very good birds and the outlay will have been much less.

Always try to buy young hens initially, and subsequently breed your own, if at all possible. Everyone needs hens. Remember it is the hens that have a strong bearing on spots and it is the hens which give more problems than cocks when breeding.

Areas to Avoid

Birds at exhibitions possess, in general, one vital feature. It is called SWANK. Without it established in your stock from the start, you will not compete for the top awards.

What are the features that contribute to swank? Firstly, length has to be evident. With length in your birds you can create a smart bird with all the other features, but build up those features on a short bodied bird and all you create is a cobby bird, as it is termed, with which you can do very little. You must learn to appreciate the length of a bird’s body from the top of the wing butt to the perch. This is the feature the author missed for years and it is so important. It dictates the length of body and also the stance. Budgerigars with swank look down, not up. This is partly created by the head feather formation. Some birds stretch upwards and possess an aristocratic look. That’s swank! Avoid buying birds that lie across the perch thus reducing the length just referred to.

Avoid visually poor birds when you first buy, irrespective of the entreaties of the seller that, “it’s related to my Best in Show winner from my best line”.

Avoid purchasing birds from unhygienic aviaries. Birds often carry hidden diseases from such places.

Avoid fanciers who only have a few top quality birds with no depth of quality behind them. You want to buy from aviaries that possess large numbers of outstanding birds because you will want to buy from them again, in future years, to sustain that line.

Beware being sold birds that have had difficulty breeding; hence, purchase young untried hens! Ask the breeder to show you his/her breeding records before you make your final decision. The author has always had the practice, for first time buyers to his aviary, of offering to change any bird that doesn’t breed, provided the bird is returned fully fit. This applies only to the first visit. After that initial help, the purchaser is on his/her own. Other breeders criticise this as being too generous, on the grounds that the birds are often in unskilled hands. In practice, it works out at perhaps one bird a year being changed and it is an endorsement of your reputation at the same time. Look for such breeders.

Final Advice

A very sensible policy is to buy from two studs only. Remember that by buying all over the place you accumulate all manner of hidden faults as well as good visual features. Selecting two studs which possess the style of bird you want to breed, which could even be cross related in themselves, is perfect.

Keep the picture of the birds you want to breed uppermost in your mind at all times and don’t buy stock that doesn’t possess some of the details required to achieve your ambition.

When you acquire your initial birds, be patient with them. You are inexperienced, so accept that and remember livestock doesn’t always behave as you would wish it. If 75 per cent of them breed well, be pleased with that to begin with and learn from the habits of those who have misbehaved.

Reinhard Molkentin, the world famous German fancier now living in South Africa once said, “The outstanding fancier has a vision of a bird of the future. He/she can see special features and he/she selects birds with those vital feather features and puts them together.” Nothing has changed since then.

GSB: I have no doubts at all in my mind that there are specific birds in The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and South Africa that can beat the UK birds easily.

That is based on their top birds of course, but in all cases they have the depth of quality to be able to sell you top quality (at a price!) if you are willing to attack the hobby as you should. If you do not, then ask yourself, “Why am I in this hobby?”

If you want names then I think Jac Kuyten, from what I hear, has quality as well as Jo Mannes, Daniel Lütolf and Reinhard Molkentin in South Africa. Not only do they have the quality they are the right birds for the future.

In what way do you think they have influenced our UK stock so far?

GSB: There are a few of us who import and it is interesting that those who show have done well. Les Martin, Brian Sweeting, Roger Long and Phil Reaney are a few names as well as myself, where the quality has shot up since I ceased Budgerigar World ownership.

Demand is really heavy on an annual basis as it is known these breeders and myself have gone to the considerable expense and hassle to get such birds into the UK.

Have the overseas birds, with their style and type, spoilt the old British Show Birds in any way?

GSB: No, definitely not.

Just look at the young Skyblue cock shown by Les Martin at the Budgerigar Society Cup Show this year, which would, by popular acclaim had it not dropped a spot on the Thursday evening, have taken the top awards easily and which everyone was looking at throughout the show.

That bird has a Jo Mannes background as did a few other winning birds at Doncaster.

You have imported from Mannes, Molkentin and Lutolf. How have they influenced your birds?

GSB: I have partly answered this above, but there is no doubt that the fact that I crossed most of the imported birds bred in the second generation and their offspring into my own Moffat x Binks bloodline, has paid off handsomely.

My grey greens are really super and I have them in big numbers along with light greens and skyblues. Cinnamons have appeared and unlike a lot of breeders I welcome their appearance as they are so useful to retaining feather quality as well as the directional feather that is appearing all over the place.

How does a beginner, who has just bought an outstanding outcross, proceed to use it to best advantage?

GSB: Ideally he/she should try to buy two hens at the same time to run the cock to them. That is the shortcut to success and saving expense in the long run.

However few studs can afford to let you have more than one hen per cock. If the beginner has only the single cock to work with as his/her outcross then he/she should run it to the very best featured hens he/she has – and keep it going in different breeding cages for as long as it is looking 100% fit.

Remember that once you stop it breeding, it takes at least 3 months to recover full fitness – and in that time tragedy can strike. It does happen to the best birds!

Who had the most influence on you in your formative years?

GSB: Most fanciers will expect me to say Harry Bryan or Angela Moss and certainly they had wonderful birds, but when it comes to actual influence it has to be Ken Farmer, of Luton in Bedfordshire, who in his mind wanted budgerigar heads to be like Norwich Canary top ends.

Ken’s birds slowly began to acquire the frontal lift above the cere and I saw the first two magnificent light green cocks of his shown at the massive show at Southall in Middlesex. I still recall them and indeed exactly where they were placed in the hall – such was their impact.

If Ken were alive today, he would be delighted to see the directional feather and width that a relative few breeders have now put on their birds to create what I have termed as the “Buffalo Effect” line over the cere. Today the Farmer “Norwich Budgerigar” has been achieved.

You have been actively involved in the hobby in a countless number of ways in your 67 years of breeding since the age of 12. Can you describe the big forward leaps that changed our birds from pre-war pet standard to what is around today?

GSB: When I started in November 1945 there were few birds around except in the pet shops and I knew nothing at all about show points or anything really. I was raw in the extreme. There were no Beginner Classes – you started in Novice and then went straight to Champion.

Those birds were looked at by 1950 as having good heads in a few places and Harry Bryan held most of the aces. However, I have an Ideal Model produced by the Leamington Budgerigar Society dated 1958 which is in my display case at Tanglewood. You would laugh at it by comparison to standards today, but at the time it was “some budgie” that we could only marvel at.

It was Harry Bryan that, along with Farmer, started to look very carefully for any heads that others had that had longer feathers and some of them had been bred from the long-flighted birds that had emerged at the time. These two hunted high and low for anything that improved the top ends and they were the driving forces that achieved their object and made them the major breeders who were ahead of the rest.

Joe Collyer in Surrey was another. Collyer suddenly came out with a nest of four birds – three grey greens and a grey – of outstanding quality in the late 1950′s. Harry Bryan was after one immediately but Collyer would not sell to him. Harry, never to be outdone, sent Will Addey (the Budgerigar Society Secretary) down to Joe and he bought the best one for £250 – a massive price at the time.

Maurice Finey then bought another for £225 and bred 39 chicks from it in the first year by “running” it to many hens. He then sent 8 chicks in the following season to the big London and Southern Counties Show (2600 entries) and won from 1st to 5th in the grey green class – and 7th too! Unfortunately the best one was not placed and the judge was slaughtered on the day. Harry Bryan’s purchase was shown at The National exhibition and won Best in Show, but it never bred a chick!

The next big influence and credit goes to Reinhard Molkentin when he lived in Germany. He used his top birds to the tiny group of spangles that had been bought by Rolf Christen from Australia. The results were staggering, but that is where all the spangles we have today began.

Since then the next dramatic move arrived with the realisation that we all woke up to directional feather structure – the rest you know.

Today we seem to have more type/typy, medium feathered birds on the benches. If we continue on this road do you think we will lose ground in head and shoulder substance quality in the near future?

GSB: No doubt about it at all. We will do just that.

As I see it not enough breeders attack their hobby as they should. Look at the successful breeders. They eat, drink and sleep budgies as I have done all my life and they are ahead of the crowd.

Also we have some judges that do not attempt to breed the up to date budgerigars and so not having bred them they struggle to know what to do when such quality birds appear in front of them. A classic case was at Swindon Budgerigar Show recently, where a newly qualified judge made a basic error and wrong classed a massive normal grey cock in the young bird classes bred from a bird I had sold the previous season.

He did so stating “the bird was an adult” but without checking the blue ring it had – and without consulting his fellow judges. The owner was not happy to say the least, especially as that bird went on to win at the Budgerigar Show at Doncaster.

In your opinion how do we move forward with the hobby by bringing in new fanciers?

GSB: Easy. Wake up the Budgerigar Society to publicise the hobby. There has never been any serious forward planning and outside marketing to the general public except when I tried to reform the hobby in the early 1980′s with Budgerigar World.

All that six influential members of the council could do at that time was to attack me and try and discredit me as they stated, “I was trying to institute a takeover of the Budgerigar Society”. I laughed at the time and unfortunately still do periodically, as no businessman in his right mind would ever want to “take over the Budgerigar Society”.

Those six have since vanished, but the legacy they left for the future hobby was profound as we have lost so many people and few young people are being told that we actually exist!! If you do not tell the public what a great hobby this is, we are dead in the water. Today all the council are, unlike the earlier six, very nice people, but strive as I might, nothing happens – probably because I rocked the establishment in the 1980′s.

To conclude, I must in balance give credit where it is due.

The Budgerigar Society World Championships are a credit to the many volunteers who, like Geoff Capes, work hard for the benefit of others.

The Budgerigar Society magazine is also first class and my November / December issue is superbly presented. Strangely few people notice any praise that is given, only focusing on any criticism that is stated constructively in my case.

What in your opinion is the best advice you could give all of us in the hobby?

GSB: In a few words it is “Attack it”.

You have to sell, even from the beginner stage, 10 birds and buy one. The weakest link is to put it in your pocket so that when it comes to buying a £50+ bird – it isn’t there and the expenditure seems very great.

I came from an ordinary background, but with perseverance I got there. Had I not messed around with writing so much, including Best in Show, The Challenge and founding Budgerigar World Magazine, and not tried to improve the hobby for itself in the 1980′s, but had focused on the birds themselves, I would have got to the stage I am now so much quicker. But there are only 24 hours in a day!