Maja and Pierre Swart

When people ask us how we managed to build up our current stud, a number of things come to mind.

The Principal

First of all – how do you tell somebody just in a few short sentences how to do it, because anybody can do it, if they put their mind to it.

It is actually a very simple principle, but that is the only easy part, the principal, the rest is not so easy.

Doc Robinson

Many years ago we obtained a Grey cock from the famous Doc Robinson line.

It was a good bird, but no longer a young bird.

We paired it to a nice Opaline Light Green hen that we got from another person, who claimed that it came with a Doc Robinson bloodline in it.

This pair produced five chicks.

The youngsters were not outstanding, but fair. We wanted good chicks from this cock, so we paired it up to a better hen.

Needless to say no chicks!

We tried the cock with a few other hens, bred a few more chicks, but nothing much, and in the end the cock died.

Keep the Blood Together

After a while we began noticing that his chicks with the Opaline Light Green hen began to look better and better every day.

Unfortunately, we had already got rid of the two weaker ones – both hens.

That was a big mistake!

One of the chicks, an Opaline Sky-Blue cock, won us our first Major award – Best Beginner on Show at the 1996 Eastern Cape Area Show.

We started to use these three cocks – some of which can still be traced back in our birds’ pedigrees.

This was the first hard lesson we learned – keep the blood together and don’t be too hasty evaluating youngsters from good blood lines.

We made a promise to ourselves to be very weary of this in the future.

Very Good Youngsters

The same year we paired a good Molkentin-bred cock to a De Beer hen – which was very average but she was very well bred.

This time we saw the chicks were good and we kept them breeding for 3 more rounds, fostering all the chicks.

We tried to get as many chicks as we could from this pairing.

Later we paired the hen and cock to different partners after they had rested well.

Both the parents produced good offspring for us with different partners.

We learned our second very important lesson: when both birds (the cock & hen) are predominant in producing good offspring, the chances of them producing very good youngsters is good.

Pairings Will Start To Pick Themselves

We started to make sure that we test-pair our birds with different partners, taking just one round and then at a later stage pair those birds together that have produced good youngsters with different partners.

One thing that is coming out of this system, is the saying that “you have to know your birds to breed them”.

Using this system is slow in the beginning, but after a very few years it will get momentum.

Good families will start to build and pairings will start to pick themselves.

Outstanding Quality

In 2005 we picked a Yellowface Grey Cinnamon spangle cock and a Grey Cinnamon spangle hen – they just looked perfect for each other.

We must admit that it is not a pairing everybody would have made, but we knew their backgrounds.

Both their parents produced good birds.

We waited for them to mature and then paired them.

At first a huge disappointment, the hen began plucking just after the chicks had been rung so we had to foster them out.

As the chicks started to feather up we realized that our calculations were spot on, they were all of outstanding quality, producing many Best In Show and CC winners.

A Blessing In Disguise

The hen plucking her chicks in this case was a blessing in disguise.

It made us implement a new system.

In the past we fostered the eggs of every second round, but we now began fostering the chicks as soon as we rung them.

This lets the hen go through the full breeding cycle but is just shortens it.

If a pair is looked well after in this way then it is it will easily produce 20 and more real quality chicks and any breeder will know how valuable this is for any stud.

Pair Up As Long As Possible

Many visitors over the years were amazed by how many chicks we were able to get from a good pair.

Remember that when two birds produced good chicks with different partners, and they are paired together, they will then produce the required quality youngsters.

They should be paired up together as long as possible, to get the maximum chicks possible.

We had some pairs together for as long as 2 years.

Brothers And Sisters

We also used the sisters and brothers of the Spangle Grey Cinnamons extensively enlarging the family and also adding other colours.

We paired a well bred Opaline Cobalt to one of the daughters of a Spangle Cinnamon pairing.

This produced our 2007 National winner, his mother’s sister was also best opposite sex at the same National.

Today we have very good Grey Greens, Light Greens and Greys, winning the South African National in 2011 with a Normal Grey.

Brothers And Sisters

If this sounds very easy to you, let it be a fair warning, because it is not.

You should be prepared for all kinds of setbacks that come with breeding good birds, i.e. French Moult, infertility, chicks being attacked by parents and the list can go on and on.

Most probably the French Moult set us back the most.

We started to use a product called Viro Kill which also kills the Polyoma virus. We are using it extensively, touch wood but for a number of years we don’t have that problem anymore.

Fresh Produce

Recently we started producing less and less numbers, we knew our infertility was not because of inbreeding, so we had a good look at our feeding system.

We decided to reduce all the added vitamins and replacing it with fresh produce, it seems like things are starting to pick up again and chicks are hatching more than before which to us is music to our ears.

Focus, Dedication & Observation

If you want to keep on breeding quality budgerigars you have to be focused, dedicated and at all times very observant, but most of all be ready to absorb setbacks every day.

If you can do that, you are half way there.

Good luck with your own creation of an excellent stud.

Photographs

All photographs below were kindly supplied to us by Maja & Pierre Swart.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Swart Aviary

Yellow Face cock
son of Cobalt Spangle below

South African National 2011 CC Winner
Light Green cock

Opaline Cinnamon Grey cock
Split Lacewing

South African National 2011 CC Winner
Yellow Face cock

South African National Winner 2007
Cobalt Spangle

Registered Grand Champion
Grey Green Cinnamon cock

Christopher hails from Tasmania but is what one would prefer to call a “Thinking Fancier”, full of ideas and suggestions for others to think about for the benefit of all breeders around the world.

The poisoning accident occurred two years ago, so, as a result, many of the hens in particular were aged from 18 months to two years. That said, he has had far better results with these more mature birds – which begs the question about using hens at 7 months of age.

Budgerigars need time to develop and as a hobby we are promoting the breeding ages more and more.

Certainly we know that the Northern Hemisphere breeders are at a disadvantage compared to their southern counterparts. Reinhard Molkentin stated in the past, that having started in his home country of Germany and later moving to South Africa, breeding is far easier in the latter.

Hence younger hens can be risked more easily within the warmer climates.

Christopher Slaughter has now recovered well after his setback, but has employed some new ideas into what has recently become a very good season:

• Install an extra perch, two inches from the floor, so the emerging chicks can perch without threatening the “superiority” of the adult cock or hen feeling their sexual territory has been invaded by “newcomers” on the floor. Not a single chick has been attacked in a complete season, as a result.
• When preparing the nest boxes with, say, sawdust, add a small piece of cuttlefish bone before the pair are introduced to the breeding cage. The hens attack that until it is reduced to dust within a day or so. The result – not one single case of soft shells or egg binding throughout the season!
• Use only the standard water founts sited on the front of the cages for water only. Use a separate container to hold any vitamin supplements dissolved in the water so the birds are not force “fed” so overdosing does not occur.
• Use “prepared suet” in the soft food mixture. It is a first class source of animal protein and fat which are vital to growth (e.g. meats, eggs & fish are all animal protein sources). He also uses semolina, fine ground porridge oats and malt. The last is for the yeast content, vitamin B group and of course a source of energy. The malt in question is supplied in powder form that one makes hot drinks with.

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!

As readers may already be aware, I am trying to establish if the loss of tail feathers can be attributed to nutrition, feather mite infestation, lice or another unknown cause.

For additional background information on tail feather loss, please read the following articles previously published on this website:

• Tails You Lose – Part 1
• Tails You Lose – Part 2

Naturally, I am on record that the problem is closely related to the longest feathers in the body (being connected to all the feathers involved) not receiving the FULLEST nutrition at the vital moment. It can, of course, also be regarded as a borderline French Moult syndrome as well.

Mites in Young Birds

Upon examination of one of my young budgerigars (5-6 weeks old), I noticed dense numbers of feather mites. Could this mean that young chicks were being infected by the mites from the parents?

I did now start to wonder if these feather mites, which accumulate in all our budgerigars, could be a contributory factor.

The mites could be coming at the “wrong time” – i.e. just as young birds were trying to grow tails feathers to their fullest extent.

All guesswork really, but to me, it was thought provoking.

Feather Mites

These were the steps I took to examine the feather mites:

• Use an optician’s eye glass (I found that x8 magnification was ideal)
• Remove some tail feathers from adults and the 6 week old chicks
• Hold each feather up to a strong light source
• Look at the main vein of the centre shaft
• Your should see groups of feather mites accumulated between each sub feather

So what exactly are feather mites?

They are but one group of “bugs” called arachnids. They feed on feathers themselves.

Have you noticed transverse damage across tail feathers? This is caused by the feather mites.

Do we want them there? The answer is no!

So, the big question is: how to get rid of them – or at least to reduce them radically so that they are a minor problem?

Seeking Expert Advice

First of all I contacted Dr Rob Marshall.

Here is his opinion on tail losses (which basically goes back to my earlier thoughts on nutrition as the cause):

There are nutritional, genetic and disease factors in the symptoms you describe.

Nutritionally, the paired central tail feathers are the largest feathers in the body. Together with the end flights they take the longest time to grow and the protein required and the energy requirements to regrow these feathers is substantial (if the tail and flights have dropped).

There is a greater likelihood for this condition to occur in susceptible birds when the energy, protein and mineral content of the diet is lacking, or out of balance.

Energy is the most common deficiency in these bigger buff-feathered birds as they are less able to maintain their body temperature – because their buff feathers are less efficient at insulating them from changing temperatures.

The vitality of such birds is often compromised so that they require more food to remain healthy.

Healthy birds eat less.

So my thoughts now were twofold.

1. Ask Dr Rob Marshall as to what actions he would advise given what he has said
2. In the meantime, attack the mite factor

Further Questions to Dr Rob Marshall

Here are the additional questions I addressed to Dr Marshall (replies later):

1. What should a breeder do to ensure a high energy output and protein input to avoid the problem in the first place?
2. What action can be taken to clean / disinfect the follicles after the damage appears?
3. What will stimulate re-growth in tail losses?

Attacking The Mite Factor

I decided to attack the feather mite factor (as well as any other forms of arachnids that could be around e.g. red mites, fodder mites, air sac mites and burrowing mites that cause scaly face).

I wondered whether there was a cure that could kill off at least 90% of them – on some form of a course at certain times in the season?

If so, how to achieve this with a big stud of 200 plus birds or even five times that number?

The only available product (that I am aware of) is of course Ivermectin Solution.

This is fine for gently rubbing into the neck area of a bird (with surgical gloves on please or it goes into your skin as well) but dealing with bird numbers is a problem.

Help was therefore needed so I started making enquiries.

The Abbate Technique

I received an illuminating letter from Reji Luke – a passionate breeder in India. Mr Luke believes that low nutrition is the basis for tail-less problems. He stated that, in his opinion, amino acids required for growth are used for body mass build-up during the initial stages of the chick’s growth.

Mr Luke’s letter proved most illuminating – especially on the matter of ridding feather mites on birds in big numbers.

Mr Luke credits much of his studies to G.A. Abbate (Snr), a cage bird breeder based in North America.

Apparently, Mr Abbate was reading about the use of Ivermectin on cows.

It struck him that could it be used for our birds – but in what quantity and medium and what dosage and for how long?

After many experiments and a lot of time, he managed to establish a safe and highly effective process for use on a large stud twice per year.

His technique is now used all over North America and in many other countries.

Here it is:

IMPORTANT Preliminary Notes

• Use “Ivermectin 1% Injectable Solution” – this is widely available, but we suggest you obtain it via your veterinary surgeon. (Note: Don’t worry about the word “injectable” as we will be giving it orally !)
• Never exceed the dosage (see below) – An overdose can kill your birds so accuracy is vital. All external parasites and many types of intestinal worms can be removed in this way.
• Perform this technique every 6 months when the stud is NOT breeding.

Stage 1

• In the evening, just before the birds roost, remove all the sources of water available to the stud. The next morning the birds are thirsty.
• Vigorously shake the Ivermectin bottle.
• Using a syringe, add the Ivermectin to a standard plastic / glass jug of drinking water using the most appropriate dosage below:
  Metric Dosage
  • 1 cc / 1 ml of Ivermectin to 0.95 litre of water
  British Imperial Liquid Dosage
  • 1 cc / 1 ml of Ivermectin to 1.7 pints of water
  U.S. Liquid Dosage
  • 1 cc / 1 ml of Ivermectin to 32 fl oz / 1 quart of water

Stage 2

• Vigorously mix the water treated with the Ivermectin before placing it before the birds in a clean pre-sterilised container.
• Leave the mixture before the birds EITHER until they drink all of it OR until the next day.

Stage 3

• Exactly 2 weeks later, repeat stages 1 & 2
• That’s it – job finished !

Binks Follow-Up

As the feather mite feeds on dead feather, how are they killed off?

The only way I can suggest is to use a bath of the aforementioned mixture as well as the drinking water so that many birds will splash around in it at a depth of about an inch and wet their feathers.

Also, when timing it for the first session, choose a period when there is a big moult approaching – with both both your young birds and adults shedding feathers in great quantities.

Once treated, clean out all cages and flights of all the rubbish seed and droppings and the feathers in particular, so that cross infection does not repeat itself.

Your mature breeding stock can then be bred in the knowledge that the chances of mite-infested adults contaminating their chicks is now unlikely.

I have treated my stud using the aforementioned techniques – and the stud looks great!

Since the treatment, close examination of the feathers has seen a dramatic reduction in damage and the new feather growth seems very free of feather mites (and presumably any other mites or even lice that can be on birds).

With a small stud, spraying around the vent feathers can be done of course, but most fanciers have bigger numbers and this is a sure way to deal with matters provided you are systematic with the timing.

I am indebted to Reji Luke for steering me in this direction.

Further Binks Question

Now, think about this! In a non-treated aviary (knowing that the parents can infect their young with mites in the nest), does their presence cause the chicks to be “pulled back” nutritionally, resulting in one possible cause of French moult and / or the loss of the tails?

I do not yet know the answer, but I will be investigating further and the information will be published on this website.

Personally I would prefer “looking after the hens” in the first place as being a far more positive way of looking at this problem.

This is the second of a two part article – you can read part one here.

Additives

I am no great user of additives. For many years, I used probiotics every week, but I use them less frequently these days and there are no obvious difficulties.

I do sincerely believe that if it is necessary to use antibiotics at any time, a good probiotic however is essential to replace the good bacteria in the gut systems after treatment.

As far as a vitamin supplement is concerned, I would use a multivitamin solution such as “Abidec” (obtainable from most pharmacies). This will bring the birds into solid breeding condition just before pairing. Used in the water a couple of days per week will make a huge difference to the hens.

Spraying Your Birds

I do not use outside flights these days as I believe our larger hens do not benefit from the outside stresses that can occur.

I prefer large inside flights, but I do spray the birds regularly. Once those young birds start to molt, as I have said earlier, this gives great benefits as described. Certainly their condition improves drastically.

I often visit other birdrooms and see the birds on display. Almost every time I look into a flight I think, “These birds could do with a good spray”.

Birds that are not sprayed appear to have hard, dry feathers, in contrast to a sprayed bird which appears to exhibit a softer look.

Breeding Ages

For myself, young hens always breed better than over-year hens.

I remember the late Harry Bryan telling me to use hens as young as 5 months of age when they were fit and in condition. He said at the time that they breed well at that age, but might not do so later if left after the conventional age of 9-10 months minimum.

I tried it for several seasons with success, but when used later, those hens were spoiled and became almost useless in a second season.

Today I wait longer and let such young birds mature internally and take such care with them that they breed well in their second and third seasons. A lesson to be learned when buying. Ask when were they first used and at what age?

Preparing to Breed

All the good management I have discussed, but now the trick to use, when the birds approach breeding fitness, is done by increasing the artificial lighting hours and steadily increase the fully lit day to which the birds will respond.

A good spraying on selected hens will also help advance their fitness to breed. It works!

In the winter months you can increase the heat to say 50 degrees F (10 degrees Centigrade) which is sufficient for the birds and yourself .

Pair Selection

In my opinion it makes no difference if the pairs are placed into the breeding cages together immediately.

Some fanciers prefer to select the cocks and they go into the cages first, followed by the hens later.

Others do the reverse.

I am not fixed on any system, but I do like to see the pairs reacting when introduced. I then know they are fit for breeding.

There has to be a reaction of some sort. Some mate instantly, others may just “kiss” and others may be aggressive to one another. If there is no reaction at all I leave them for a few days and watch. If still nothing, I break them immediately and try them later.

Post Breeding Procedures

After breeding, your birds need rest, time to recover and re-build those muscles used during the breeding months.

I try to have two rounds from a pair, occasionally three. Feeding too many chicks by a pair is too stressful for the hens and my preference is four similar sized chicks to each box.

Two rounds of four is enough for most hens and good sized chicks will result.

Taking a third round from a hen is satisfactory, but I do not let such hens rear their chicks. If you do, then your hens are virtually useless the following season.

Taking down the Pairs

When I split up the birds, or what some call “taking down the pairs”, I like to put the hens immediately into a double breeding cage and this is the “Rest Cage” where they can build up their stamina again and particularly their muscle tones.

Taking them straight from the boxes and direct to the big flights gives them little chance to re-form their bodies for the next season.

Once they are well rested, then they go into the big flights and can withstand the competition and get full exercise along with top grade feeding.

The Over Year Hens

I leave the over year hens in the flights and tend not to show them.

I believe firmly they need months of rest before returning to another two rounds of breeding.

First time breeding hens (and they are often 8-10 months old) do not seem to know what to do when their first chick hatches.

A solution is to quickly put in a slightly older chick that has been fed and calling for more food and that stimulates the “novice hen” to feed both. Once she has the message, the older chick can be replaced in its original nest.

Egg Binding

I am fortunate in that I never seem to get a case of egg binding in my stud.

This is because of the preceding good husbandry that I practice.

They always have access to cuttlefish bone and oyster shell grit. I am not a fan either of calcium supplements as from what I have seen, the shells are so thick that it causes dead-in-shell because the chicks cannot fight their way out at 18 days.

Problems – Internal Layers – Prolapses and “No Interest”

The above are all serious problems, but again I say that if the hens are well prepared, they will avoid such matters and breed very well.

Good preparation avoids such problems.

Internal layers (hens that have the normal copious droppings but do not lay eggs) need to be replaced in the flights and put on standby. They are useless as breeders.

Hens that show no interest are different. You have to look at the bird and decide what the reason could be?

If she looks fit, she should breed, but if not put her back in the flight, watch her with others and it may be she has a liking for a certain cock bird and that is the reason? Think it through!

Buying Hens

This is never to be recommended, but we all have to do it sometimes especially those who are starting in the hobby.

Always try to buy young untried hens, the younger the better.

If they are young, perhaps bar-headed hens and unmolted, they then molt in your aviary and breed very well as they feel they have been born there. Hens always breed better in the aviary they have been born in.

Buying over year hens has to be a process of caution. Most are unreliable. You must trust your seller, check the design of his nesting boxes and if you have the same design, but still she will not breed – make a different design and the result can be amazing.

The Last Word

My last tip about hens that refuse to go to nest is simple.

Is the nest box open?

It has happened to all of us at some time or other.

Rarely do our birds let us down, but they will if you have not followed all this advice about your hens, so be warned.

This original version, now edited for international appreciation, was written by Rod Skivington and is reproduced with his kind permission and acknowledgement to the The Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc.

GSB

Introduction by GSB

This is the second of a two part profile of the Sheppard & Flanagan partnership – one of a group of important studs that now exist in Australia. Part one introducd Bruce Sheppard and Colin Flanagan and described how the partnership was formed. Part two gives an insight into the breeding methods employed by this highly successful duo, and asks them for their comments on the Australian show scene.

Well-designed Birdroom and Aviaries are essential

There are literally a hundred matters to consider when constructing a birdroom and aviary.

Bruce and Colin have gone down different paths here – Bruce has changed little of the birdroom over the last thirty years, whilst Colin has relocated many times due to work commitments and has been continually building new birdrooms and aviaries every time he relocated.

They both said the key considerations are:

• Face aviaries eastwards, so that birds can capture the morning sun daily
• Insulate the birdroom against both the summer heat and the winter cold
• Clear roof panels can be painted white to reflect the heat and still allow light in, this has significantly reduced the sun from heating up the birdroom
• It is essential that a birdroom has good ventilation
• Aviary floors must never be permitted to get wet, they must remain dry
• Aviary lofts are a great way to feed vegetable and citrus foods that are damp and will be discarded and fall outside and not mix with droppings, this is now a common design feature for all of their aviaries
• Take care in the birdroom layout to enure efficient daily routines, otherwise the routine will take time away from your birds and desire to improve the stud
• Fresh and clean drinking water must be convenient
• Cages and breeding boxes must be large and well ventilated
• Extending daylight utilising timers is essential for both the birds and the carer
• Provide a 24 hour night light (15W pilot lamp) allowing birds to find the breeding box if disturbed at night
• A radio that provides a constant background of noise so that other bumps in the night are less of a threat
• A well sealed birdroom will prevent mice from disrupting the breeding season and seed storage must be kept clear of fouling from mice etc.
• Hawks need to be kept from the outside wire, this can be easily achieved with shade cloth
• Vacuum aviaries weekly and clean birdroom floors daily to keep the dust down
• Water and seed daily

Feeding and Maintaining our Birds is critical

Feeding of quality budgerigars is a science according to Bruce and Colin, they both have a strong ethic in this area which has been developed over decades, and they expect that their programs will continue to develop as more is understood.

• Seed – Golden Cob Premium Budgie, daily
• A large variety of other seeds are provided on a regular basis
• Multi vitamins are a regular additive
• Softfood is not fed
• A wide range of vegetables and fruits are fed on a regular basis, offering something daily
• Clean water daily or more often in the summer months, Bruce prefers large drinkers in the loft, while Colin prefers large glass bowls on the floor

The Breeding Season

Management of the pairs during breeding season is very important if you are to maximise your opportunities and in turn produce more and more each season.

• Bruce and Colin refer to themselves as traditional breeders, that is they pair up on the Queens Birthday weekend in June, take two rounds, and in turn empty and clean out the birdroom by the Christmas break
• Checking pairs twice a day is a minimum during the Breeding season
• Establishing foster pairs early, when you recognise some pairs are not feeding well enough, or too many chicks in the same nest the same age, or more than 4 chicks per pair, you need to start moving chicks to save them don’t hesitate
• A strong culture of accurate record keeping is essential
• You must repeat the same pairing each year if they continue to breed you great chicks or even a National winner each time, it may seem simple enough, but many breeders feel they can do better and change the pair!
• Trim feathers from both the Cock and Hen and if need be then in between rounds is equally important
• One difference between the two establishments is that Colin does not wean his youngsters from the parents “until the babies are almost ready to breed”, but Bruce takes the babies away “almost before they can fly” as he believes that this assists in a reduction of possible scalping incidents in the breeding cage and rarely loses a chick because it has been weaned too young

The Real Priorities in Building a Competitive Budgerigar

• Right back from the days of importation it was clear that the main feature of this stud was going to be strength of shoulder, and this key feature remains the highest priority for the partnership today
• The bird must fill the cage and literally be a hand full
• Mask and spot are very important and again need to be presented on the wide shoulders to catch their eye
• Birds must be truly representative of their respective variety
• If you want to improve your specialist variety, always put your best Normals into this line to breed splits. Only use a split to recessive when the split is better than the recessive. Never use inferior normals to breed splits
• Bruce & Colin consider that flecking has it’s place in the stud, and ticked birds are often shown when birds of the same quality but clean are not available, so flecking is very acceptable and can in fact be an advantage if managed well
• It is important to be ruthless with hens that do not perform, the hen is so important for the number of and size of eggs, fertility and feeding, you need to be able to trust the hen that you are about to put with your best Cock Bird. You also need to trust her with fledgling chicks while you are at work during the day

The Australian National Budgerigar Council Inc. (A.N.B.C) National Show

Q: Why has Victoria dominated the Nationals for many years?

Both New South Wales (NSW) and South Queensland have been within a class of winning on many occasions, it would not take much for either of these two states to have won in recent years.

At his point, however, it is worth mentioning that the introduction of the “champion” status in Victoria some 10 years ago has stimulated many exhibitors to strive for the highest membership status. To remain in the champion section you win 30 points each year to maintain a presence otherwise you drop back into the open section.

Getting into the champion section is a bit like improving your golf handicap, while staying there becomes very personal indeed. Consequently there are many more birds on the bench, the birds have improved and less people have exited the fancy because of these new challenges.

Q: Are there too many varieties at the Nationals?

Victoria expanded the shield competition for a number of reasons but one of these reasons is not well understood.

By increasing the number of specialist variety classes, so too, you increase the number of first places on offer. Winners are grinners, more people have more opportunity, more membership points and more people are happy!

So, increase the fancy, increase the number of winners and increase the number of grinners. Therefore, increasing the number of classes at the Nationals would follow the same philosophy.

Q: Do overseas judges add to the National competition?

Overseas judges are good for the fancy in Australia, particularly when they add value through feedback whilst visiting and judging at our shows.

By commenting on the comparison of the quality of birds benched in the UK versus Australia, we can get good feedback on where we are deficient to the UK birds or where we compare favourably.

For example at a recent National, comments were made about some of our lesser varieties (i.e. Blackeye and Clearwing) being “true to the standard” for these varieties. Where the actual variety was almost lost to the UK.

Also, the winning Fallow at the WA National was stated as being “the best Fallow I have ever judged” from a UK judge.

Q: What benefit do you see in having an optional third bird benched per zone at the National competition?

This would increase the spectacle but most importantly allow exhibitors, who often manage to get a bird into the zone team only to see it left as the reserve bird on the day, to feel a sense of achievement.

Points, like at the Victorian Shield competition, would only be allocated to the first two birds from each zone, but, instead of having the bird left in the holding cage, you may still be the 3rd best bird in Australia for your particular variety.

Even with the smaller zones, imagine the boost in confidence and pleasure one would get when just having a bird in the National.

Regardless of which zone, often this extra bird is from a beginner or intermediate exhibitor and this would enhance their profile and assist in generating further interest from their fellow club members to strive for success in future years.

The Victoria Scene

Q: The Adult Shield

The Sheppard & Flanagan Partnership does not show in the Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc. (BCV) Adult Bird Shield to enable other Mountain District members the opportunity to get more birds into the Shield competition.

This allows them to obtain Exhibitor Points where they may not be able to do so when the Partnership has 3 birds in the team.

Another reason is that showing should be a focus for your “current breeding stock” and past seasons’ birds (i.e. Young birds and Unbroken Caps).

Q: Exhibitor Points?

Current points to enter and retain Champion status should be increased to reduce the ease of obtaining Champion status through one or two birds.

Points required should be increased to 100 or 120 points per three year period as the number of points available now compared to when Exhibitor Points were introduced is substantially higher.

One option may be to also increase the number of points available by giving points down to 6th place at the Shield competitions and / or giving points for Best Opposite Sex at Diploma Shows.

Other Comments

Q: 1st September Ring Issue

The Sheppard & Flanagan Partnership sees no reason to change their “traditional” approach and will continue to pair birds up on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, even with the change to the ring issue.

Just because the rings arrive on 1st September, does not mean you have to put a ring onto a chick on that day!

Remember, you don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to.

A whispered comment was heard that the ANBC almost got the ring issue right … it should have been two months earlier … i.e. 1st July! Then the full circle would be complete (for those that are too young to remember, many, many years ago our rings were issued on 1st July each year.)

Q: Judging

It is often difficult for judges to judge certain varieties when they have never bred the particular variety, particularly when it comes to some of the lesser varieties.

If you have not experienced the results of breeding certain features or varietal characteristics then it is difficult to comment on these factors on the exhibition specimen.

Q: Dwindling Membership Numbers

It was interesting that some experiences from their early days in the fancy, that have vanished in more recent years, may have attributed to our falling membership numbers.

There is no real formal education programme to learn varieties, husbandry or how to improve quality through breeding programs (i.e. Line breeding, etc).

Many new members also want “instant successes” without doing “the hard yards” and achieving success through a number of years of work.

Mentor programs or aviary visits incorporating some sort of training programs may be of assistance.

Also, the target “new member” is no longer the teenager or youngster – due to modern electronic and technological completion – but should be the young family or older generation who no longer have kids to look after but yearn for a hobby to keep them occupied.

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1950s

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

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

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

Nest Box Design Changes

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

So I addressed the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Darker is Better

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.