Q. If you were shipping a group of birds abroad, across the USA, or via road, involving a long number of hours in excess of a day, is there any merit in putting them on amoxycillin trihydrate before they leave an aviary to assist with stress?

Similarly, if a breeder was buying a bird in Australia from a top champion in, say, Queensland and driving back to South Australia, would he/she be advised to crop “feed” amoxycillin before departure?

The stresses of such journeys are obvious involving crating, unfamilar noises en route, changes of seed and water on arrival in new premises and the rise in streptococcal infection as a result.

Jim Carter
Texas, USA

Our resident veterinarian, Dr Rob Marshall, answers as follows:

A. This is a very insightful question.

My approach to this situation is to give “Quik Gel” in drinking water a day before transfer and again via crop needle three hours before departure.

On arrival at the destination, place the birds in a holding cage, separated according to sex.

Monitor each bird closely for signs of acute stress as they enter the cage – i.e. look for pectoral muscle weight loss (see pages 226-7 “The Budgerigar” book) and wet vent (see pages 227-8 “The Budgerigar” book).

If these signs of acute stress are present, then crop feed with food and “Quik Gel” and a penicillin antibiotic (e.g. amoxycillin) and repeat this process for two days.

If no signs of acute stress are found, then give normal food and “Quik Gel” in drinking water for one day, then monitor the birds for five days whilst they acclimatise to their new home.

Note from Gerald Binks:

I cannot speak too highly of Dr Marshall’s book and, in particular, his product “Quik Gel”.

The latter is superb for administering immediately to a sick bird under stress.

My personal use of “Quik Gel” has been outstanding in the aviary, when needed, associated with a heat source.

Full details on “Quik Gel” can be found in this article.

Full details on “The Budgerigar” book can be found in this article.

Both of the above can be obtained online as detailed in this article.

Dear Sir,

I live in Ankara in Turkey and I would like to import some English budgerigars.

Which company would you suggest I use?

Best Regards
Murat Soydan

Redsea Co.
Ankara,
Turkey

Gerald replies:

Dear Murat,

The choice of company really depends on whether you want to import commercial numbers of pet-quality birds, or, you are looking for exhibition-quality budgerigars from an English source.

Regrettably, we cannot advise on any commercial suppliers at all, as we are confined to the exhibition budgerigar bobby only on this website.

That said, please send an e-mail to myself (binks@gerald-binks.co.uk), and depending on the colours you prefer, I will advise accordingly.

GSB

Live parrots are currently not permitted entry into Australia from anywhere other than New Zealand (and then only genuine pets accompanying people who are emigrating to Australia from New Zealand).

Import conditions have not been developed for the importation of live parrots from any other country.

Biosecurity Australia is the agency responsible for risk assessment of new commodities.

Please note that once any risk assessment process starts, it is likely to take a period of years to complete.

Risk assessments are completed on a work priority basis, and it may take some years for a commodity to start being assessed. This request would need to go through the import access request system by way of Import Market Access Advisory Group (IMAAG).

Parrots are listed as Priority A for assessment by Biosecurity Australia but are not on the 2010 work plan. Conditions will not be finalised for at least 12 months, and possibly much longer.

Biosecurity Australia

Biosecurity Australia (“BA”)is the unit within the Biosecurity Services Group, in the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, responsible for recommendations for the development of Australia’s biosecurity policy.

BA undertakes science-based risk assessments and provides quarantine policy advice to protect Australia’s animal and plant health status and natural environment. It also provides technical advice to enhance Australia’s access to international markets and participates in international organisations that set biosecurity standards.

BA develops and reviews quarantine policies. The process to develop a new quarantine policy, where no policy exists, is called an import risk analysis (IRA) and is undertaken by BA scientists and technical specialists.

BA also provide scientific and technical advice and support to help Australia maintain or gain entry to international animal- and plant-related markets.

BA specialists are active in the development of international quarantine standards and help to develop quarantine expertise in the Australasian region.

As a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, Australia is obliged under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) to consider all import requests from other countries concerning agricultural products.

Decisions to permit or reject an import application can be made only on sound scientific grounds.

BA also works with international agencies that set standards for animal and plant health. These are:

• The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which informs member countries of animal disease outbreaks throughout the world, and studies new ways of controlling animal diseases and sets international standards.
• The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) which provides a framework for international cooperation, sets international standards and exchanges information on plant health

The overheads are the problem, as they include Avian Influenza clearance (UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has stated on its website that the UK has been free of this disease since 2007/8) and additionally faecal samples are now required for psittacosis checking.

In a recent small shipment of just four birds, this faecal laboratory testing alone was charged at a total of £197.40 incl Value Added Tax (VAT).

Add the usual airline charges (which have increased since 2008), the veterinary inspection & documentation completion, plus the International Air Transport Association (IATA) crate, and in total a very sizeable sum is invoked from the buyer.

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 several Australian articles to be published on Budgerigar.co.uk to illustrate the effects that the UK hobby has had on the Australian fancy since the first UK exports arrived in the 1990s.

Prior to 1989, the Australian Standards excelled in type, but lacked credibility in head qualities.

It should be stressed that this partnership is but one of a group of important studs that now exist. These will be featured at a later date. It does however, in itself, depict the improvement that has been made by S&F given such a small initial outlay that they could afford at the time.

At the Beginning

Most of the bird fancy has heard of this most formidable budgerigar partnership, but perhaps few know the story of how this partnership has developed to this pinnacle of success that they now enjoy.

They first met as they joined the 1st North Moorabbin scout troop when they were just eight years of age. In later years they played for a local football club alongside each other in the back line for the under 15s and under 18s.

In the early scouting days (and unbeknown to each other) they both had a few pairs of birds breeding at their homes. It was their parents that identified this common interest and, as they lived in the same suburban block, the two became inseparable at weekends as a brief bike ride would link their common interest.

Their combined confidence grew and they travelled beyond their suburban block in East Bentleigh in search of other breeders. Alan Moss and another breeder in Bentleigh were a real hit for these two boys as they witnessed at first hand other breeders with all those new varieties and so many breeding cabinets.

It was not long before they found another breeder – just a short bike ride away lived Frank Gardner. There is no doubt that this introduction was the turning point for these two young lads in their budgerigar breeding future.

Developing the Essential Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

Back in those days, Frank Gardiner was the Chairman of the BCA, the Chairman of the Judges and standards committee and ran the monthly judge’s training school at the Camberwell football ground, his contribution to the bird fancy was significant and he was a respected national icon of the bird game and was even said to have invented the budgerigar!

Frank took these two enthusiastic youngsters under his wing and the tuition that was passed on over many, many years was second to none. In those years when Frank went out judging he had the two youngsters in tow most of the time.

Frank had a constant stream of visitors to his birdroom – people such as D Demoore, A&D Bassett, B Grinlington, A Bugg, L Vines, H Eady, I Hunter, J Scoble, H Heath and many more – but what an introduction for these kids and be assured they were there listening to every conversation.

After a long conversation with Bruce & Colin’s parents, Frank was permitted to take the boys to a local budgerigar club meeting. They were probably around 14 years old by this time and it just happened to be the Nepean Society. Here they were introduced to more big names of the bird game – G Campbell, G Gill, B Adams, R Reed, H Wise, C Bishop, F Stone, B McDowell and J Tanner.

In those days, as part of the monthly meetings, Frank Stone conducted a monthly education program that focused on a variety or an aspect of the fancy. This was accompanied by hand-out notes that were cherished by the two as they were so eager to learn.

Under the close tuition of Frank, Bruce and Colin passed the judges test before they had their drivers’ licenses, and importantly Frank instilled in them the important values for a judge and what it meant to be a competitor – all of which these days are more commonly referred to as life skills.

The Nepean Society is responsible for giving them their strong competitive nature. Nepean was a strong club and very competitive in the various local inter-clubs and shield competitions – all of which flow onto the National competition.

The two are quite passionate about being foundation members of the Mountain District Society, as it was a difficult time for them as they severed long standing ties with Nepean and almost immediately had to compete against their old and favoured club at the shield.

They went on to establish even more relationships with a new bunch of members such as B Grinlington, J Hobbs, B McVilley, J Verdonk, N Collins, P Bach, A Borg and R Skivington.

Bruce and Colin were fortunate enough to join Frank as councillors on the BCA and it was here that their involvement in the administration of the fancy began.

To date Bruce has been the Chair of the BCV, Treasurer, Ring Registrar, Chair of the Judges and Standards Committee, as well as an ANBC delegate and team carer on many occasions. Colin has been the BCV Vice President, BCV Secretary, a member of the Judges and Standards committee, Classis Show Manager, National Show Manager and ANBC WBO Delegate.

Forming the Partnership

At the beginning Bruce and Colin showed separately, though birds were exchanged regularly between the two at the time of pairing.

The Sheppard & Flanagan partnership was formed in 1990 – by necessity in a way, as individually they could not afford to import a shipment of birds from the UK separately. So, as a partnership, they participated in the very first shipment (nine birds) and the majority of their stock was purchased from Tom Williams and Peter Sanderson.

The limited numbers of birds that came in from the UK really restricted the flexibility for the two – when you divide some nine birds into two separate sheds there is not a lot to work with!

Fortunately a few of the imported birds were prolific breeders, consistently producing strong shouldered birds, with great length of body, exceptional head feather and deep mask that were full of large spots.

Something that was plentiful in those early days was smaller type cobby hens. They exhibited really good conformation with no real faults other than being a little smaller.

And herein lies one of the great secrets of the bird game. The hen described in the last paragraph is a breeding type of hen – a hen that is bomb proof i.e. she will breed no matter what cock she is paired too! If you are to be successful, first and foremost, you must have birds that will breed for you no matter what the circumstances. You must have a line of hens that are strong on fertility, feeding, nurturing and weaning.

The Success

All readers, especially those outside Australia, will want to know how successful Colin and Bruce have been on the show benches in recent years.

Suffice to say there is no doubt they have both made their mark on the Australian National Budgerigar Council Inc. (A.N.B.C) National Competition Show. For those unfamiliar with the Australian structure, for exhibits to be accepted for the National Show, they first have to be assessed at State level as a first hurdle. After that, if thought worthy, they go forward.

The National Show takes place mostly in the east of Australia to sympathise with those who travel for days from Western Australia, from Perth, to get their birds there.

Colin and Bruce live in the State of Victoria which is a bed of quality breeders. At the Victorian Shield Competitions they have had great success in the last four years with twenty Unbroken Cap Bird Shield wins and nineteen Young Bird Shield wins.

At National level they have also been highly successful and as a result of their success were awarded the A.N.B.C Hall of Fame Trophy in 2007. The photographs of their entries in recent times accompanying this article, tell their own story.

Today

Bruce and Colin have been fortunate to have visited many aviaries in the UK and stewarded at the BS show.

Together they have established a strong nucleus of Normals, Opalines, Dominant Pieds and Cinnamons, before moving into a much wider range of more specialist varieties, where each concentrate on only a few but they do include: Blackeye, Clearwing, Greywing, Yellow-Face, Crest, Spangle, Lacewing and Clearbody.

Bruce and Colin beleive that a full collection of varieties does go a long way to ensure that Mountain Districts are able to compete with the best of the Victorian clubs.

These days they have almost “come the full circle” in that they see more of each other as they are getting older – even with the distance between their residences.

They are also keen to point out that a very important part of the successful partnership was the support of their partners – Karen and Leanne – along with the birdroom manager at Colin’s place – his daughter Stephanie.

Part two of this article can be read here.

GSB: Imports from EU Member States are covered by a General Licence (obtainable from your local branch of DEFRA). This is published which allows you to make an import without having to apply for a specific licence to accompany each individual import. If you want to import budgerigars, the main conditions are:

• The premises of origin must be officially registered by the authorities in the Country of Origin
• The birds have to carry a closed ring
• You, the importer, MUST tell your local Animal Health Office 24 hours before you intend to bring in the birds
• The birds MUST be accompanied by a health certificate signed by an official veterinarian in the Country of Origin within 48 hours of departure, as follows:
  • The birds do not come from an aviary and have not come from an aviary on which psittacosis has been recorded in the past 2 months
  • They have not come from an aviary that has had avian flu diagnosed in the past 30 days
  • They do not come from an area where there has been a recorded outbreak of Newcastle’s Disease
  • N.B. The above three rules also apply to imports from Switzerland (even though it is NOT an EU Member State)

It is inadvisable to return to the UK without having conformed with the easy rules quoted above. To do so risks the birds being impounded / destroyed at the exit port or port of arrival by the authorities and future imports by you will be affected.

How do I import budgerigars into the UK from outside Europe?

GSB: Contact your local Animal Health Office. They will supply you with all the data applicable to the country from which you wish to import – outside the EU (N.B. Switzerland is outside the EU – BUT see the note above re Switzerland).

Particular note should be made about the form of crate design for the transport of budgerigars. If not followed accurately, problems will be encountered at the airports of entry. You will be supplied by Animal Health with such details as are required by the International Air Traffic Association (IATA). If you have constructional problems, then I can recommend Airpets. They will be happy to advise and can make the exact crates you require.

Birds imported from outside the EU must be quarantined for 30 days in a separate Animal Health approved “aviary” at least 400 metres from your own aviary. Veterinary inspections are involved on arrival and at the end, with dropping samples being taken for testing, in between.

On arrival at the UK airport, there are customs charges and sometimes agency fees involved for collection from the aircraft and delivery to the relevant Animal Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS). The London (Heathrow) AQIS is close to Terminal 4.

How do I export budgerigars from the UK?

GSB: Contact local Animal Health Office and request the documentation applicable to all rules / regulations for the safe export of live birds via the airlines.

Alternatively, you can use an agency – I can recommend Airpets – which saves a great deal of time and worry. An agency will take care of the following:

• IATA construction / you advise the total number of birds travelling
• All applications to DEFRA (Animal Health) for you to export
• Veterinary inspection & approval of the birds before departure

The above agency services can be quoted and passed on to your buyer. It is your responsibility to contact your intending purchaser to obtain a licence from their ministry approving their import. This has to be sent to you and travels with the consignment along with all other data. Sometimes a valuation of the birds is required for customs purposes in the receiving country. Discuss this with your buyer.

It is customary for your buyer to send you the finance in advance before you order crates etc. Be warned that you should check with your bank that your money has been cleared – even via electronic payment which takes three days, or, in the case of cheques allow five days.

You can then arrange personal delivery to the agency, together with all labels (addressed). The agency should also be able to collect from you, if required, with charges levied as appropriate.

Useful links

Animal Health (DEFRA)

• To find you local Animal Health office, go to their website (www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth) or call their import / export helpline on 0845 603 0807.

Airpets

• Airpets website – www.airpets.com – or call them on 0800 018 5571.