As fanciers familiar to this website understand, in Dr Rob Marshall, we have on board, arguably, one of the finest avian veterinary surgeons in the world.

His book The Budgerigar should be to hand for all serious fanciers for the answers to all the disease conditions that exit in parrot-like forms (but specifically on budgerigars), when it always seems as though it is the best ones that succumb to “going light” and we struggle to help them.

Below are two examples of sound procedural advice on what are mysterious problems for even the most experienced of us.

Neither fancier wishes to be named.

Problem #1 affecting cocks only

Question: I get occasional birds that do not exhibit any external fluffing up features or nasal discharge or vent problems. However they do not look 100 per cent and their crops are almost empty. They require a heat source to help as there is some loss of weight. No signs of wetness around the beak and no regurgitation is evident. It can occur in flights or breeding / stock cages but seems worse as the colder weather begins. Can you make a calculated guess as to what it could be and would it be helpful to crop feed them using one of the powders made for this purpose?

Dr Rob says:

These birds are birds that come into breeding condition, so sexually they are on the rise (see pages 270-273 in The Budgerigar). You may see a very blue cere(s) and as you say, involving a cold spell (see pages 322-323) – there may be pin feathers on the head as well?

What happens is that under the effect of testosterone, their immune system is affected which causes an acute Streptococcus infection (see pages 374-376).

Check also for quill mites around the tail region in particular (see pages 390-291).

Preventative treatment is by using “Quik Gel” to support the breeding condition while it is chilly and using a penicillin based product containing amoxicillin from your local veterinary surgeon. Administer via a crop needle. Both of these products are obtainable from my surgery or through Riversway Avicultural (see advert on this Website) in UK.

No action and the result is infertility in the next cycle in 7-8 weeks and of course possible death at any time.

Associated images from “The Budgerigar” – click on any image to enlarge it:

 

 

Problem #2 affecting hens only

Question: Many of my hens develop watery large droppings with a few having caked vents during the breeding season, in and out of the breeding cages. All the cocks are fine. There is a smell to the droppings. Can you advise please?

Dr Rob says:

The most likely cause is stress which all breeders seem to dismiss, probably because we as humans all suffer stress in the modern world.

Where birds are concerned, stress occurs during the breeding cycle of the hen(s) (see pages 285-287 especially figure 22b). Not all hens are affected because this problem affects only those breeding hens when the stressful factor arises at the critical stage of the breeding cycle (e.g. a cold spell, wet weather etc. See pages 380-384)

Look especially at fig. 30a and figs 30b and 30d and examine the stress factors outlined.

Treat the complete flock with “Quik Gel” for two days to counteract the stress across the complete stud.

Isolate and treat hens with dirty vents and treat them also with an appropriate antibiotic medicine. Such hens require additional nutritional support (e.g. a liquid calcium and “Quik Gel”) during their recovery and once recovery starts such patients must be rested and fed well for 2 months (a complete breeding cycle).

Associated image from “The Budgerigar” – click on the image to enlarge it:

 

Challenge Certificates – Colour line up

Young Bird

Click on any of these links to skip directly to a particular colour:

Light Green , Dark Green , Skyblue , Dark Blue, Grey Green, Grey, Opaline Green, Opaline Grey Green, Opaline Blue, Opaline Grey, Cinnamon Green, Cinnamon Blue, Opaline Cinnamon Green, Opaline Cinnamon Blue, Lutino, Albino, Yellow-wing, White-wing, Crest, Spangle Green, Spangle Blue, Dominant Pied, Recessive Pied, Yellow Face, Rare, Any Other Colour

Challenge Certificates – Colour line up

Any Age

Click on any of these links to skip directly to a particular colour:

Light Green , Dark Green , Skyblue , Dark Blue , Grey Green , Grey , Opaline Green , Opaline Grey Green , Opaline Blue , Opaline Grey , Cinnamon Green , Cinnamon Blue , Opaline Cinnamon Green , Opaline Cinnamon Blue , Lutino , Albino , Yellow Wing , White Wing , Crest , Spangle Green , Spangle Blue , Dominant Pied , Recessive Pied , Yellow Face , Rare , Any Other Colour

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

Caring for Your Hens

In my opinion, it is a matter of caring for your hens really well if you want success in the nest boxes.

You have to allow them to develop properly after they leave the nest as young chicks. Wean them slowly and allow them to molt in small flights where they are not stressed. Be patient and let them grow and build up muscle and never keep them in the stock cages too long, thinking you are preparing them for shows.

Remember never, never over show hens! Always think about showing the cocks and have a reluctance to benching your valuable hens, which are the key birds for your coming breeding season.

Hen management is not easy –it does not just happen without effort. And it`s not entirely about feeding lots of additives, but rather giving natural foods, good lighting, exercise, and heat during cold periods when necessary. We all want to produce top quality budgerigars in good numbers, so forget showing week in week out.

Care for those hens and they will reward you well.

The Weaning Process – Part 1

I always think about weaning the chicks from the moment they are about to learn how to feed for themselves.

At three weeks of age, I start to put pieces of soaked millet sprays in the appropriate nest boxes. This allows them to learn to feed much earlier than usual and once they leave the nest box, they know immediately what a millet spray is and feed straight away.

A sure sign is that they do not lose that weight they have acquired in the nest box quickly – a big advantage. Fast self feeding retains their weight. If they lose weight, their development is checked and they are quite simply knocked back for a long time.

Care and management is everything from the start of weaning.

I take chicks away from their parents earlier than most other breeders. I do this to reduce the chances of them being attacked by either of the parents. I use double breeding cages as weaning cages with about 8-10 birds in each section.

It is here that they will stay until they are almost three months old when the “bars” on their heads are starting to disappear and break. The first molt is making its appearance. It is now that I transfer them into a small inside flight.

The Weaning Process – Part 2

As I transfer these young babies, I check their flights and tails, removing any broken ones. They then get sprayed early in the day and then dry off in their new small flight, placing them on the perches as I do so.

I prefer inside flights and never longer than 8 feet (2.44 metres). Anything longer is too stressful for them.

They are then sprayed at least twice per week. Never a thorough soaking – just a light spray. This allows the water to assist the new feathering to grow through by keeping them soft and clean. It also encourages the birds to preen themselves by training them in this essential operation.

Obviously both hens and the cocks are treated identically at this point in their growth – it’s just good husbandry and aviary management.

It is the exception rather than the rule for me to run such young babies into show cages so early. I think it causes stress far too much and the only time I run a baby into a show cage is when I have a visitor in the birdroom and I want to show him something special.

My aviary is about producing breeding stock for the following season and not birds for the show bench.

Perhaps I have the emphasis wrong but showing never seems to improve my stud, but a successful breeding season, by contrast, takes me forward.

The Early Months

In the small inside flights the birds are molting steadily.

Keep up the spraying and never be reluctant to handle your birds at this time, running them through your hands so they are used to it. Check each bird as you do so for broken feathers and remove appropriately. This applies particularly to the tail feathers.

Massive flights tend to result in “wild” young birds that are unsteady when we do want to show a few or even start them breeding earlier than usual.

The modern post millennium budgerigars are bigger and more densely feathered than the birds of the past and are certainly more difficult to breed with – especially the hens of course.

Such big hens can be reluctant to fly from end to end in the big flights. It is not that they cannot fly at all, they just like to climb and perch rather than using their wings. I encourage such hens to perch by having perches closer to the floor area.

Many birdrooms have the lowest perches about 4 feet (1.2 metres) from the floor. Lower perches at least encourages these bigger hens to perch rather than gain too much weight on the floors.

Over Showing

Over showing seems to knock back your budgerigars.

It takes a lot out of a bird being out of its normal “home” and this is one reason that one-day shows in the UK have become more popular.

If the birds are really fit and well, the cocks can recover quickly, but the hens take far longer.

Show a hen several times in a show season, especially on consecutive weekends, and it is enough to jeopardise its breeding performance.

It is the experienced fanciers who show the cocks frequently. They protect their hens and only bench them at the top shows when necessary.

My Feeding Practices

This is really not the right place to discuss feeding, but its importance is obvious.

I do not believe that a simple mix of 50% canary and 50% millets is enough.

If you decide to feed what we call a 50 / 50 mix, it’s important to supplement it with a tonic seed containing a variety of other seeds including hemp and rapeseed, but I prefer a basic mixture that includes the seeds found in a tonic seed.

I am not a fan of feeding soaked oats, but I do feed them dry, or even unsoaked, as groats.

Softfood

I feed a quality commercial softfood throughout the year.

I use, what I believe to be the best that I can buy and then add hard boiled eggs and grated carrot.

Some breeders just feed this “extra” during the breeding season, but I feed it throughout the year on a daily basis.

Our heavier birds (and that of course includes the hens which are buff feathered) need more protein, and that begins with the eggs that are laid.

Hard boiled egg also improves the feather quality and colour of the finished articles.

Good sound feeding helps to build up the hens and combined with exercise, it gives muscle rather than just added weight which can be just fat.

Throughout the year, my birds also get an amount of spinach twice per week.

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GSB: Firstly, it is vital that you keep an accurate record of any bird that is paired that possesses flecking of any density whatsoever. Grade it as a percentage of density, in your opinion. In this way you will create details of any flecking present in the pedigree of each bird for future reference.

So, you have a flecked quality cock that obviously you want to pair to a visually clean headed hen – otherwise the problem will be deepened. You now refer to the background of the hen. Has she any flecking hidden there in her history?

No – then pair her to the flecked cock.

Yes – then find another partner.

The results will be say in a nest of five chicks, one clean headed bird ,one or more slightly flecked and perhaps one dense in flecking. Discard what is not usable and note all details on your records.

Would you recommend installing an ioniser in the aviary?

GSB: Frankly no. Its purpose is to make dust particles coagulate so they drop to the floor quickly and keep the air cleaner.

With aviaries, the problem is that our birds are kept behind wire cage fronts or flights with retaining wires, or mesh. This fact prohibits the action of your ioniser taking effect, as the wires act as an impenetrable field.

The result is that the birds’ air cannot be cleaned, and putting an ioniser in, say, the flights, could be a serious hazard to the birds should they chew the device.

What should I do if I have some hens with white ceres which never change to brown?

GSB: If the hens are feather fit and active, pair them up.

The problem is connected to an imbalance in the endocrine system with the ductless glands. These include the thyroid, the pituitary, the gonads and the adrenals among others.

The same cause can result in a cock bird with a perfectly blue cere that turns dark brown – an imbalance of the ductless glands of which the pituitary is “the conductor of the endocrine orchestra”.

Pairing may stimulate this system and good results can be obtained in many cases.

Why is cod liver oil often recommended, as the birds do not ingest the husks?

GSB: Cod liver oil has three main constituents – vitamins A & D plus iodine.

Tests were done many years ago on seeds coated with relatively small amounts of cod liver oil and it was proven that in allowing the seed to absorb the oil for 12-24 hours, the kernels had absorbed the oil through the husks.

Also oil is swallowed as the husk is sucked by the birds.

Cod liver oil is seriously valuable for its vitamin contents as these give health and great energy to the stock, as well as the iodine content for the thyroid – without which budgerigars do not reproduce easily.

I began breeding this marvellous Australian Grass Parakeet at the age of 12, immediately after the 2nd World War – 67 years ago!

I am still as fanatical today about breeding top quality exhibition budgerigars though I do not claim to be so obsessed to the exclusion of my family and golf – the latter modestly. Over the years, many hundreds of Australian and New Zealand fanciers have visited my home in Virginia Water and all have been welcomed.

With my administrative background, I was also privileged to have been the UK co-ordinator for the nine Australian shipments of some of the UK’s finest budgerigars to Melbourne, before a ban was instituted as a result of infected ostriches arriving from Canada at the Spotswood Quarantine Station in Melbourne. That ban has not been lifted for budgerigars, but I believe pigeons were permitted until the Avian Flu outbreak arose.

Luckily 4500 budgerigars did pass into the Australian hobby which has helped enormously with head quality improvements and many fine birds are to be seen these days on the Australian show benches.

The Attack Principle

The desire to breed super exhibition budgerigars is the ambition of every fancier in every country. I am well aware of the fact that the Australian show scene and its structure and administration is different to the UK. That aside, we all have the same aim as it is the finest birds on display that we wish to breed and own for the simple reason of pride in having achieved something that money cannot buy.

That said, there always comes a point where you have to “speculate to accumulate” and buy the essential outcrosses to avoid losing size as well as quality.

Sell ten birds and buy one has always been my philosophy.

The Early Years

By the early years, I mean the first ten – perhaps even longer. There is so much to learn from each breeding season, particularly establishing a feeding regime that really works well and breeds many budgerigars each season from the best birds you possess.

I cannot stress enough how important that is. Two consecutive bad seasons can destroy a stud. That is the danger we all face as it brings you to your knees and so many leave the hobby at that point. If it happens there is only one person to blame – you! This is the point when the strongest characters refuse to give in and “attack”.

In “The Challenge”, I have listed in depth many proven successful diets, including Australian diets, that have stood the test of time. Those diets should be unchanged in their entirety and not added to with something that “so and so” is feeding at your club. If you do then the stud as a whole is rocked and as budgerigars object to change, it will show adversely in the breeding cages later on.

Once you have your proven diet working well, may I suggest you write it down and place it on file because it is so easy to forget an item(s) from the daily routine – then trouble arrives and your memory for what has gone wrong will fail you.

Get the feeding right and you can progress to look elsewhere if another problem appears. Remember, you need to produce quantity as well as quality from a nest so that you can select the best two and sell the rest.

Establishing The Basics

Like a great house, your stud has to be built on very solid foundations. Your initial problem may be financial. If not then you may be lucky, but if you are financially strapped you may well be better off in the long term, so do not despair.

This is the way I began as a boy, but I learned the hard way and was the better for it. The hobby is filled with a cross section of characters. Happily most are honest and will help beginners in a constructive way, but a few are depressing.

I clearly recall my first attempt at buying from one of the top ten UK fanciers when I was fourteen years old. It was my first lesson. I travelled a long way by train to this “famous” fancier. He asked me before I had even seen any of his birds, how much I had to spend. I had saved all my pocket money and I said (this was 1948) I had £20.00. His reply was stunning to a beginner. He said “You won’t get much for that young man”.

My father, having taught me well about the world being full of good and bad people, prompted me to say: “No problem, but I am not interested in your birds” and I left immediately. He never forgot me and always came up to me at shows after that, obviously ashamed. A lesson learned regarding buying and selling and how to treat people decently and fairly.

By contrast, you can have the odd well off fancier who likes to enter the hobby with a bang. He knows little but thinks money will get him to the top. They rarely last the distance and every country will have such examples. They might win for a while but their lack of experience results in their quality dropping, with poor results, and out they go.

So be encouraged that if you have a small pocket, as I did then, you will make a better fancier if you attack at all times as best as you can. If you are patient and sensible, it is a valuable lesson not to spend anything for 12 months, but in that period visit all manner of studs and shows to get your “”eye for quality” well established.

You will also see all manner of aviary designs and that will give you a good idea for construction of your own aviary. Remember that an aviary has to be designed for what is the best for the birds, not necessarily for what is best for you.

Have You The “Eye”

This title means: have you learned exactly what is wanted in order to win at top level?

The next question, if you want to save a great deal of expense, is “if not, why not ?”. With long-standing experience let me tell you that top quality judges, and there are many of them, also breed top quality birds. By doing so, they keep up to date with new features that are difficult to achieve. They can see faults to the millimetre and that isn’t very much. If he / she cannot do so they are second grade judges and there are even more of those.

It is my contention that the top national show, in any country, should be judged by the former group at all times – as breeders have been striving all year to win and thus deserve no less a compliment. Officials just working through a list of “qualified” judges to please all the judges, irrespective of their individual ability, is an insult to every fancier and indeed any non-exhibitor looking around the show.

I digress, but I make the point to illustrate how essential it is to possess the eye for every detail.

How Width Of Face Appeared

From the 1950′s until the 1970′s, the majority of us were breeding very good birds – or so we thought!

Somewhere towards the end of that period, a few fanciers realised there were far better birds around that were streets ahead of the so called “Ideal Budgerigar” as depicted in drawings.

One fancier in particular, Ken Farmer, wanted to capture the look that the Norwich canaries possessed with their lateral feather over the head and eyes. Until that time, the UK breeders had all their birds with their head feathers growing from front to back over the head. So now the hunt was on for any birds that possessed what is now called “lateral directional feathering”.

By the 1980′s, the numbers of such birds had increased slightly. The late Harry Bryan was a breeder who would scour the country for birds with “width of face”, as well as not losing the quality features already established. Not easy.

In 2010, that feature has become somewhat more common, but almost every fancier that comes into any aviary is looking for width – and it is that feature that by its very nature is expensive to acquire.

In 2005 I named it “the buffalo effect”, which is a descriptive wording that has gone world wide as a result of “The Challenge” book. Everybody in the UK who arrives at my home wants “buffalos” but so do I – and it is a struggle to keep them!

Focusing The Super Bird In Your Mind

I will now assume you have progressed a little. So now focus on the finest bird you have ever seen – forget “The Ideal” as it is probably behind what is actually being bred, but it has helped as part of your apprenticeship.

Carry that image of the finest bird in your mind. It is vital as you are now going out to buy birds to build that bird yourself from hundreds of good birds that may be on offer. Even better, you may have the ability to see beyond the best birds ever seen, but such fanciers are rare. Exactly what financial level you enter the hobby is personal.

Buying The Foundations

Your two selected breeders for purchasing should have a common genetic denominator – so establish where their original stocks came from. This is important because otherwise you will be buying unrelated birds which all have hidden faults that emerge in droves. By comparison, super quality birds will suddenly appear from pairing related stock.

I also stress that you should get pedigrees immediately you purchase the new birds, so that you know exactly what you are doing over the coming years. My records go back to 1950 (believe it or not), but in practice one never goes back that far of course.

Another tip – when you go to buy, go alone. You are in a much stronger position to deal with your seller on a one to one basis and you will not get distracted from getting what you want, bearing in mind what I mentioned earlier. You also have much greater leverage in the process.

Starting The Breeding Season

It is a fact that South African, Australian and New Zealand fanciers have it far easier to breed budgerigars compared to those in the Northern hemisphere. This is due to the sun and far better light that is available in the south. Reinhard Molkentin in South Africa confirms this as he has bred in his own country (Germany) as well as in South Africa where he now lives. So you all have a big advantage.

So let me assume you have bought three cocks and four to six hens, as not all will be in condition to breed simultaneously. The cocks should have been selected on the basis that any one can be paired to any of the hens you have chosen.

Watch the hens closely, as it is the hens that have to be caught up as they rise up to a peak of “itching to breed” and are chewing branches at every opportunity. I prefer to place the hens in the breeding cages with the boxes open, so they get used to their new territorial area for 48 hours before the cocks are introduced. Then you get great fertility results. Your season has started.

Looking Ahead

Assume you have now bred say 16-24 chicks.

Remember to feed them as well as you did when they were still with their parents. So many fanciers drop off the vitamins and soft food intake and wonder why their birds are not big after 18 months growth. You should be able to have big birds, certainly if they are Normals, by the age of 10 months and then you will know that by 18 months you will have a massive handful later on.

You now have to select what to keep and what to sell. With the income, go back to the original sellers and buy just one super bird – far better than any of the first group. You then move this bird, a cock being the obvious choice, into the genetic pool you have started. Then in the following season get him paired to as many of the best hens available as is possible, while transferring the fertile eggs out to other less important nests.

Now the excitement starts as the quality being produced suddenly shoots up and in nest after nest some great chicks start appearing. Other fanciers now become aware of your stud and begin to come round and try to buy from you. A great time, but keep it going and refuse to sell what  you want for next season – bearing in mind you need one third cocks and two thirds hens. You are on the way to the top!

Conclusion

Never forget, that when you get serious setbacks, you are in livestock and they have a habit of losing their breath – permanently. That is the time to forget it and in 24 hours go back on “the Attack!”.

Having spoken directly with him to get the accurate reason it turned out to have nothing to do with administering an emtryl based product to eliminate trichomonas infection as was being rumoured. It was a product used to stop vomiting which experienced fanciers are familiar with, but there was nothing wrong with the product if used correctly. It is a European product called Chevi-Col which also goes under another name Cabrol-Col.

33 breeding cages were in use at the time and the correct dosage applied, but due to circumstances it was given for 7 days and not 5 days. Daniel heard bizarre sounds coming from the breeding room and found several birds behaving as if they were severely handicapped for no reason. Several were already dead and very quickly a total of 18 dead cocks were the result. The result, because of over use and because the cocks are always drinking while the hens are in the boxes, was that their nervous systems were ruined and basically the birds were poisoned.

Apparently there is a UK Fancier, Neil Murray, who has experience of this product and across the hobby it now seems that using this product is considered very risky especially if some birds drink more than others and over a longer period than recommended. Daniel blames himself entirely for his own stupidity – easy with hindsight. Fanciers beware!

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.