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

Overnight, both tail feathers disappeared!

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

Quality Nutrition is Everything

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

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

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

The Puzzle

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

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

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

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

Feeding Changes Can Cause Trouble

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

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

Binks Receives A Hit!

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

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

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

Infected Follicles?

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

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

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

My mind says:

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

Finding A Cure?

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

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

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

Where is this getting to, you will be asking?

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

What is the first stage?

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

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

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

The essential books are published on this website.

Stage #2

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

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

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

Stage #3

You are now a member!

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

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

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

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

Stage #4

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stage #5

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stage #6

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

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

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

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

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

Site Usage Statistics

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

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

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

Did You Know?

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

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

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

From Daniel Lütolf, Switzerland

I just visited quickly your website.

Well done, big compliment, lots of useful information.

Concerning the information for budgerigar breeders, as it develops, it may already be the universal site for the worldwide budgerigar hobby.

I can imagine, you are quite tired after that big effort, but it was really certainly worth it!

From Jac Cuyten, The Netherlands

As we can expect from a man like you, another super initiative for all budgerigar breeders all over the world.

Of course you may place the Cuyten DVD trailer on your website and it will be an honour to see you in Holland some time.

A lot of winning birds you will not see from me, because my pleasure from the hobby is directed to the breeding side. This is the great challenge for me.

Of course I can send you pictures of my best birds and I will see to that later.

Quality wise I feel I am making another step forward this year.

From Steve Bailey, United Kingdom

Congratulations with the new international website. I am sure the whole hobby worldwide will get involved within it under your stewardship.

I am delighted to be back in this great hobby after several years of absence and would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your help getting me started again. I have achieved considerable success at top level shows with your birds (as is fairly well known) and have now built up a very good stud of birds in which I take great pride.

Once again, I wish you every success with your new venture.

From Larry Moore, United States of America

My friend you have done it again!

The new website is exactly what this hobby has needed for a very long time.

We can always count on you to come up with something innovative that will benefit everyone in the hobby.

Continued good luck.

From Casper Maree, South Africa

Congratulations with your new site.

I have already spent some time on it and it proves to be THE site for the future.

All the best for the future.

From Matt Welchman, Australia

Congratulations on a fantastic site and a great idea.

The WWW is the key to the continuation of this wonderful hobby.

I recently started a web page for the Central Coast Club and have had great feedback – The Internet is an invaluable tool for the hobby today.

From Ron Payne , United Kingdom

Congratulations on the new web site, I spent a couple of hours going through it last night and didn’t realise time could go so fast!

Perhaps the word on the street should be “Binks has put his far-reaching thinking cap on again!”

From Jane Todd, South Africa

Your website was forwarded to me by the Budgerigar Society of South Africa today.

I just went to have a quick look and was amazed at the extent of information on it!

I now live in South Africa but originated from Hertfordshire and have recently become a “budgerigar fancier”! I started off with larger parrots such as African Greys, Amazons etc but find the budgerigar far more endearing and intend extending my collection.

Thank you for your website, I will view it often.

From Jim Marshall , Canada

I have just visited your new website and may I congratulate you on a very friendly and most comprehensive information bank regarding our great hobby.

The world wide web is a boon for the “Global Budgerigar Fraternity”.

Thank you for sharing.

From Didier Mervilde, Belgium

Like always with you, a very nice website and an “A+” for the hobby.

I am looking forward to the articles. Congratulations.

From Maurice Laker, United Kingdom

AT LAST a website for the hobby.

I am looking forward to spending some time on it.

Well done and congratulations on this new venture.

Any help I can give you please ask.

From Jos Reynders, Ireland

Congratulations on a job well done.

I heard about it so I was looking forward to seeing it for the last few weeks.

I was greatly surprised. I expected quality, but this is outstanding.

A great stimulous to the hobby worldwide.

Again thanks very much.

From Michael & Dean Borcherds, South Africa

Firstly congratulations on a truly brilliant website & the thinking & marketing behind it.

It is inspirational.

Wishing you & hopefully the hobby all the very best through its pages.

From Javed Khananza, Pakistan

Excellent site with tons of information.

We can say it’s an encyclopedia of information for fanciers.

From Alan Taylor, Spain

As an ex-budgerigar breeder now living in Spain, the web is my only way of keeping in touch with the fancy.

In my involvment with the fancy I was subscription secretary for the V.B.C. and show secretary for both the L.C.N.W.B.S.and Merseyside B.S.

I would like to congratulate you on the website – it is certainly one of the best that I have seen.

Best wishes for the breeding season.

From Prof. Maher Hamed, Egypt

Congratulations and thank you for launching such a valuable, helpful and interesting new website.

I enjoy reading the information, advice and articles in it. Many thanks.

From Ralph Jenne, Germany

Thank you for this really good website! You have clearly invested a lot of time.

I hope that this international website takes our wonderful hobby even further forward!

Greetings from Freiburg!

From Gary Sutton, United Kingdom

The Budgerigar hobby has been in need of just this type of website.

Congratulations to all involved.

Every opportunity will be taken by Budgerigar.co.uk to market the existance of the exhibition budgerigar and its followers to the public at large. This international website for the exhibition budgerigar is unique and from January 2010 will gradually expand to become THE focal point for enthusiasts to become involved within its pages.

So, here is an opportunity, free of charge, to publicise your budgerigar society through which new prospective members of our hobby may find information.

From your society they will be able to obtain recommendations for any additional local societies to join.

Link to your Website

Links to societies worldwide are published on our Groups page – to ensure that your society is listed please send us your details via our Link Exchange form.

Best in Show & Best Young Bird

We are keen to feature oustanding quality budgerigars, specifically photographs of your Best In Show and Best Young Bird exhibits.

Such birds appearing on this site will be seen worldwide!

If you would like to participate, click here to find out how.

He is arguably the finest and most experienced veterinary surgeon in the world currently highly active in the field of avian diseases.

An Australian, he has his own small veterinary practice in Carlingford, Australia. His knowledge, supported by his extensive Curriculum Vitae, plus papers and books on avian health, is unequalled.

His latest publication “The Budgerigar” was published in 2009 and took 12 years to produce. There has never been a more extensive volume to help our birds survive when ill. It is a perfect volume to have to hand. (For further details see “The Budgerigar”)

As part of his relationship with this website, Dr Marshall has provided an emergency first aid treatment process, so that any fancier can perform a step-by-step diagnosis of any sick bird, to see exactly the right course to follow and drug(s) to give.

Any prescription drugs that are required have to be obtained from your local veterinarian but can be supported by information that will be on this site for any fancier to download.

Full details will appear on this website (see “Health“).

Dr Rob’s Products

Dr Marshall has also arranged for supplies of the relevant approved drugs to be available.

His book and drugs may be obtained as follows:

• For UK & Europe customers:
   
  • Order from Riversway Aviculture: www.riverswayonline.co.uk

 

• For Australia & Asia customers:
   
  • Order from Bird Health: www.birdhealth.com.au

 

• For The Rest of the World:
   
  • Order from Lady Gouldian: www.ladygouldianfinch.com OR www.ladygouldian.com

I began breeding this marvellous Australian Grass Parakeet at the age of 12, immediately after the 2nd World War – 65 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!”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GSB: No, definitely not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You have been actively involved in the hobby in a countless number of ways in your 65 years of breeding since the age of 12. Can you describe the big forward leaps that changed our birds from pre-war pet standard to what is around today?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A common question put to me is “how do I achieve a good fertility so that I do not have two poor seasons that can easily put me out of the hobby?”. Firstly let me address a depressing scenario. Here we have the enthusiastic fancier who has, we can say, 20 breeding cages into which he can drop perhaps 30 pairings over a normal season. If he has small birds he may not have many fertility problems but with the larger big birds, especially hens, it becomes more difficult in at least 80% of the nests. It’s easy to breed with the “mice”, but not with the “rats”.

Our fancier may well be feeding a number of items over and above the standard seed mixtures along with water and some vitamins that he has heard about – but really doesn’t understand. In some cases he’s not really interested and this is very true as I have found that in my book “The Challenge” fanciers love to read the “juicy bits” but when it comes to the two most important chapters in the whole book – the ones on feeding – they gloss over them. They are the vital chapters because without taking them step by step and understanding what is required, then a failed breeding season is very likely. Next stage is depression and that can be followed by “exit stage left” from the hobby. Two consecutive seasons like this and it’s a certainty.

Here in UK is a classic case of one such fancier who approached me for help. He was just not breeding birds of any consequence. You may know him. He is Geoff Bowley who is a quality judge and whose father won Best in Show at our biggest event some years ago. His fertility was appalling. Geoff is but one of hundreds who have called me over time with just this problem. My reaction is immediately to request every single item that goes into the husbandry of the stud in a nutritional sense. I write them all down as they list them. I can then assess what is going wrong and I can say that 90 per cent of cases are solvable instantly. This is based on having studied nutrition in zoology at school added to all the mistakes that I have made myself in the hobby. In my case, and I appreciate that the UK feeding methods are unlike diets abroad, I was searching for a diet that would stand the test of time year in year out.

Searching for the perfect diet

After the 2nd World War in 1945 the UK hobby just survived with a few dedicated fanciers with relatives who were fighting being pressed to bring home seed in their kit bags whenever possible. Forget the kit – just get the seed!! The birds were terribly small but bigger than the wild variety. Head qualities were non-existent. By 1975 however the British had forged ahead with the massive improvement in head qualities including depth of mask, spot size, backskull, but until recently not width of face with directional feather.

So how did the UK, now joined by Europe, improve everything? The answer lay with two areas – Nutrition and Selection – and thinking what exactly could be ahead in time but not yet achieved. You had to know a budgerigar’s features to the millimetre to be able to do that. The credit for these forward-thinking stages goes to names such as Harry Bryan, Angela Moss, Frank Wait, Maurice Finey, Joe Collyer, Doug Sadler, Alf Ormerod and Margery Kirkby Mason to name but a few. Binks was around but no more than that. Progress depended, they all agreed, on nutrition and everyone had their own haphazard ideas. All sorts of vitamins and mineral salts were thrust into the birds. Everybody had a biscuit tin full of seed mixture to which was added 12 teaspoons of cod liver oil and then a product called Kilpatricks Pigeon Minerals was added. This contained a multiplicity of minerals but mainly salt and carbon. The tin was shaken and the blackened mixture was given after 24 hours. That was THE most successful post war diet and into the 1950′s that still existed, but it was dead easy to breed budgerigars by the bucket-load. I never forgot it but by the 1960′s new products entered the markets which looked better. After a while I realised that even though they looked good they were made by “chemists” who understood their chemistry but they didn’t know anything about budgerigars and what they really required to make them highly fertile and far bigger than their ancestors.

Now I come up to the year 2000 and beyond. Size, feather growth and directional feather is all the rage. Few fanciers have the latter and to obtain them requires a big dip in the pocket. For many years now I have gone back to basics with a high vitamin A & D inclusion in the diet and this is where the Geoff Bowley’s of the world go wrong. Their birds look fit when you see them, but the big birds of today demand this high dose to give them the vital energy to reproduce instead of just sitting there or laying infertile eggs. I personally still use cod liver oil but in a lesser quantity at two teaspoons to 12 pounds of seed. I also use the Kilpatricks Minerals and it has shown me how important minerals are over and above grits and cuttlefish bone. “Binks has, I suppose, bred a fistful again” is something I hear occasionally. So Geoff Bowley was given my diet in full. He applied it fully and after a few months on it his birds were put down to breed. The results were terrific and he wrote it up in a magazine. However two years later I heard he was doing badly again which I found astounding. When I found out the reason it was Geoff who said “I really couldn’t get on with the cod liver oil, so I dropped it”. I was staggered but it proved my point 100 per cent. Today I find that if your birds have the right diet balance there is little need to trim the vent area. Thick feather there doesn’t matter if the birds are bursting with energy.

The Importance of Grit

This is a subject that is a bit obscure to many fanciers especially when they read articles by a few veterinarians “that grit is not necessary”. I find this point of view bizarre. Nature has provided birds with a toughened muscular section of their digestive tract called the gizzard. It will only function given grit in both soluble and insoluble forms. E.G. Sharp granites and shell grits. No grits and the gizzard lining becomes ulcerated and breaks down and another distressed bird is found on the floor soon to die. Take shows for example. What is the first thing the birds go to on return home especially in your country where they are away from home for longish periods. You know they go immediately for the grit pots. The “grit not necessary brigade” is very wrong in my personal view for giving out such bad advice. Birds do not have teeth so that is replaced by a gizzard and its contents. No “teeth” no proper digestion and nutritional conversion.

Let me turn to the presence of grit in the aviary. Ask yourself, “How often do I top it up or replace it?” Chances are you just see the grit there and think the birds turn it over except that they do not! What they do is choose the particle they want from the top surface and the smaller particles are rejected and a dust accumulates. You will have seen this I feel sure but have you replaced it regularly enough. In flights it is so easy to overlook this important management practice. It also extends to every grit pot when the birds are breeding. They do the same and the bowl looks fine and full but the birdbrains only take the top layer. Remember the swallowed good grits are expelled once they are worn down in the gizzard and require replacing. If none is available then the chick rearing process is affected and dead or scrawny chicks may be the result. You are the sole provider for your stock. Any failing will be reflected in your breeding or health conditions. There is no substitute for quality husbandry.