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

Let’s look at three other elements that play their part in successful budgerigar breeding.

1 – Lady Luck

Let us start with she who is notoriously fickle and to whom we turn when things go wrong or when, with false modesty, we have done something right even without realising it.

An Affinity With Animals

Always remember that you are indeed lucky to be here today and the fact that you are reading this article is a reflection of the only bit of true luck or good fortune that you will ever have. You are a survivor and the child of survivors, the product of your parents’ genes.

The very fact that you keep or want to keep birds is part of your genetic makeup because one of your ancestors (and mine) found that the affinity that they had with the animals that they had been hunting and were close to wiping out, could help to counter the food shortage that they were facing by domesticating and nurturing some of the flock animals that previously they had slaughtered. Their intelligence and emotional skills at handling the process enabled them to survive and those abilities were passed onto some of their offspring.

As a result, some of us are still emotionally hardwired to succeed at it. The chances are that all your life you have been fascinated by animals and birds and indeed if you are an adult and are only just taking an interest in them it is probably too late to start. Sorry, but, if you prove me wrong, then I will be delighted both for you and the fancy as a whole.

In The Genes?

Whenever I talk with someone whose success with budgies (or other birds of the feathered kind or any other form of livestock) about how they came to start, it is striking that their passion started spontaneously and almost invariably it ran in the family.

This mirrors my own experience. My first school report from nursery school when I was not yet three years old, noted the intense interest I had in the animals that they kept at the school. I was interested in their care and feeding not just because they were cuddly and cute. The same school noted a year and half later that I had an ever lasting passion for animals. At the time, where we were living during World War Two (WW2) we had no animals or pets at home.

My father shared my enthusiasm and was described once as having kept everything “from a canary to a camel”. It is worth noting that none of my other five sisters and brother has shown any interest in animals, so it was not an environmental influence. My father’s interest came from his father and possibly also his mother who was a farmer’s daughter. It is curious that even though as bird breeders we accept that genetics are an essential element of success, we are uncomfortable with the truth that some people are simply not cut out to succeed in a particular field of activity but prefer the suggestion that they should be capable of being educated to succeed at it. Try teaching the tone deaf to sing.

A Guiding Hand

So it isn’t a matter of “luck”. If you want to succeed you need determination and help. Obviously there are lots of self–help books and journals to advise you and none better than “The Challenge”, a mine of information which if carefully read and absorbed will take you well along the road. However, it alone is not enough.

I assume you have the necessary passion and determination, but you need a guiding hand. A fancy name for this is a “mentor”. These people do not fall off trees like a ripe fruit ready to pluck. They have to be identified by you and feel they want to help you. They will not do this out of the kindness of their hearts or a sense of duty, but because they have come to like you. You cannot make people like you but you can make them feel that you are useful to them.

Get Involved

So go out and join a local bird club, make yourself useful at shows, do the dirty jobs like shifting the staging and sweeping up afterwards, contribute to the raffles and fund raising, sit at the door helping to check in the birds and check them out at the end of the shows.

Stewarding is fine, educative and rewarding, but people will soon notice if you only turn up with your birds do the fun part of the stewarding, watch the judging and then push off to chat to people. A good mentor will identify you as much as you him. He or she will not only explain what is written in the books in terms that you find easy to understand, but will open doors to other fanciers who in turn will help you because you come with a recommendation. They will protect you, a bit, from the less scrupulous, but remember in the end it is always up to you because at the end of the day nobody respects a sucker.

Grow Broad Shoulders

Luck and success at shows are a constant source of gripe. If you win, someone somewhere will find grounds to criticise you, your bird or the judges. Comments like “I have got a better one than that at home” are just sour grapes. Judges do make mistakes and in the past, of course, have been notoriously biased. Over time the quality of a stud and the way you prepare your birds will show, despite everything. Above all enjoy your success even if you feel you have been lucky.

Part two of this article can be read here.

Dr Robert Marshall has responded in “Tails You Lose! – Part 2 of 2″.

So if you have experienced this and have some reaction, do please add a comment at the end of the article(s).

Naturally it is a problem that should be able to be cracked – somebody may even have found a cure to clean up the feather follicle to allow new growth to re-appear. If so, please do contribute.

Leave it to me to follow up any sound suggestions and I will take it from there.

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

Overnight, both tail feathers disappeared!

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

Quality Nutrition is Everything

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

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

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

The Puzzle

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

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

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

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

Feeding Changes Can Cause Trouble

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

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

Binks Receives A Hit!

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

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

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

Infected Follicles?

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

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

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

My mind says:

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

Finding A Cure?

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

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

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

Where is this getting to, you will be asking?

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

Identifying Early Illness

• Introduction

  For most diseases there is a sequence of signs that appears before a budgerigar becomes obviously sick.

  At first there is a loss of the health signs. Detecting potential disease therefore requires knowledge of these health signs as well as looking for the other signs of failing health or disease.

  Self-diagnosis requires an ability to recognize the signs of health, failing health as well as symptoms of disease.

  A systematic physical examination of the sick or dead budgerigar helps reveal more subtle symptoms and improves the accuracy of self-diagnosis, but when in doubt contact your avian veterinarian.

  Individuals that display distant signs of failing health or disease should be caught and examined more closely in order to identify the exact nature of the health problem.

• A Systematic Approach

  A systematic approach to the physical examination is recommended as it produces the most comprehensive information about the nature of a bird’s illness or injury in the shortest possible time.

  Distant signs of failing health or disease:

  • Noise & Smell
  • Roosting Activities (on perches & the ground)
  • Feather Quality (colour, cleanliness & strength)
  • Droppings (size, colour, consistency & smell)
  • Physical Abnormalities

   
  Close-Up Inspection:

  • Eyes
  • Frontal Feathers
  • Feathers above the Nostrils
  • Cere & Beak
  • Mouth & Facial Feathers
  • Body Condition
  • Vent Feathers
  • Wings
  • Tail
  • Droppings

Some Examples

To illustrate the systematic approach to problem identification, here are a few examples:

• Breeding Cock Problems

  Breeding cock problems are mostly the result of energy depletion, so that most birds can be saved when emergency first aid is given at the first signs of sickness. A treatment protocol – including a wise choice of medicine – can be started.

  • For a sick breeding cock:

    • Move the sick cock into a heated hospital cage
    • Provide emergency first aid
    • Select one of the following medicines based upon the individual symptoms:
      
       
      • AIL Spray: Quill or red mites discovered during physical exam
      • Doxycycline Megamix: Infertility in this and previous breeding rounds
      • Moxi-T: Dirty feathers above the nostrils, missing flight or tail feathers
      • Turbosole CankRtabs: Vomiting associated with sudden onset illness and dark green droppings
      • Fungilin: Vomiting associated with infertility, going light, excessive hunger and large dark brown droppings
      • Sulfa AVS: Watery droppings with an odour

   

  • For a dead breeding cock:

    • Post Mortem: Post Mortem findings determine best treatment for breeding partner and rest of flock

• Breeding Hen Problems

  Breeding hen problems, especially sudden deaths, are often the result of entering the breeding cabinet when not ready to breed, inadequate nutrition, stress or food related diseases.

  • For a sick breeding hen:

    • Treat the sick hen in a hospital cage
    • Provide emergency first aid with added liquid calcium (e.g. HiCal)
    • Add “Super Charge” and “HiCal” to the drinking water of all other breeding pairs
    • Select one of the following medicines based upon the individual symptoms:
      
       
      • AIL Spray: Quill or red mites discovered during physical exam
      • Doxycycline Megamix: Failure to lay eggs, deaths when laying eggs in this and previous breeding rounds
      • Moxi-T: Dirty feathers above the nostrils, missing flight or tail feathers
      • CankRtabs: Vomiting associated with egg laying
      • Fungilin: Soft shelled eggs associated with infertility, going light, excessive hunger and large dark brown droppings
      • Sulfa AVS: Watery droppings with an odour

   

  • For a dead breeding hen:

    • Post Mortem: Post Mortem findings determine best treatment for breeding partner and rest of flock

• Problems In The Flights

  • Individual Bird Sickness

    A systematic approach is needed to guestimate the cause of an illness when a sick individual bird is discovered in the flights. During a close examination the eyes, cere, nostrils, body condition and plumage (frontal feathers, feathers above the nostrils, facial feathers especially around the mouth, breast feathers, vent feathers, wing and tail feathers) should be inspected systematically for additional signs of failing health or disease.

    A complete physical examination is recommended as it produces the most comprehensive information about the nature of a bird’s illness or injury in the shortest possible time.

    After this close inspection, the captured bird should then be placed into a paper lined show or hospital cage. Here it may be given first aid treatment and its droppings can be closely monitored as the physical appearance of droppings provide a wealth of information as to the possible causes of failing health.

  • Deaths Occurring in the Flights

    An occasional death in the flights is considered a normal occurrence and often the result of natural attrition involving older or inherently weak birds. Concern, however, should be aroused when more frequent deaths and an increasing number of sick birds appear in the flights, as this is the pattern of a contagious disease.

    A budgerigar breeder’s greatest fear is the overnight discovery of two or more dead birds on the floor of a flight as this finding is a portent to further deaths over following days. Swift action must be taken at this time to identify the stress factors involved with the deaths.

    With a cluster of deaths a pattern involving one sex or age group often emerges which considerable helps identify the underlying stresses involved. For example, gender-specific deaths occur as a result of breeding behaviour stress interacting with other stress factors. The high testosterone levels of males and high mineral needs of females ready to lay eggs are the factors that link a cluster of deaths in the flights to a particular gender.

“The Budgerigar”

The above article has been adapted from Dr Robert Marshall’s 2009 publication “The Budgerigar”.

For more information on this book, please click here.