The amount of care and affection that they devote to their birds is immense and their dedication to the hobby is the same.

Their stud is located in a beautiful rural location near the town of Ballybay in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.

They are always happy to share their knowledge of the exhibition budgerigar with visitors, many of whom regularly travel from as far away as the U.S.A., Europe and the U.K. to purchase birds from this high quality stud.

The Birdroom

The Emerald birdroom is a superb building measuring 70′ x 25′ (21 m x 8 m) and is described by many visitors as 5 star budgerigar accommodation.

The birdroom, among many other things, contains:

• 4 full height flight rooms each being 10′ x 8′ (3 m x 2.5 m)
• 2 nursery flights each being 10′ (3 m) long
• 2 breeding rooms which contain 50 breeding cages

All wire breeding cages are preferred, not just for their cleanliness, but so that all birds can enjoy a colony atmosphere.

Wooden, outside fitting nest boxes are used, sprayed inside and out with disinfectant and an anti-mite solution, before copper coins are put under concaves for their anti-fungal properties, with a handful of fine wood chippings added.

Stock

Emerald Budgerigars line breed and keep all the mainstream colours, specialising in Lutinos and Albinos.

Fine examples can be found in all colours.

The stud’s original mainstream colour stock came from Eric Lane and Ormerod & Sadler bloodlines.

The “ino” original stock came from Margery Kirkby Mason, Reg Watts and Rick Watts …. that was about 40 years ago!

In more recent years, very strong blood lines have been built, based on Daniel Lütolf, Reinhard Molkentin, Jo Mannes, Huxley & Marchant and Willi Dokter.

Eileen and John’s birds are well known for their overall quality and especially for their strength in width of head, length of feather and directional feather, which they have also managed to put into their “ino’s”.

Management

Daily management for Eileen and John includes changing the birds’ water and cleaning the utensils. Bottled water is used – not tap water – due to the chlorine content.

Another daily job is to make and provide every bird with fresh soft-food. This is made from boiled eggs, soaked oats, Orlux moist eggfood, vegetables, honey, garlic oil, ‘Panta-20′ (supplement), a small amount of salt, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, ‘Frucht-mash’ (supplement), calcium / D3 powder, love bird seed mixture, and the most important ingredient ….. “EB.1 complete” – a magical mix that is used by many of Europe’s top breeders.

Eileen and John will provide more details and quantity information to any breeder requiring the same (see website link at the end of this article).

All birds, at all times, have access to 4 different seed mixtures:

• An “A.1.E.” mixture that contains 60% canary and 40% mixed millets
• An “E.B.” feather growth promoting seed mixture
• An “E.B.” conditioning and herb seed mixture
• An “E.B.” Japanese millet and fruit pellet mixture

Again, Eileen and John will provide more detail to any breeder requiring the same (see website link at the end of this article).

Grit and mineral utensils are changed weekly and all flights and cages are cleaned and disinfected weekly.

Cuttlefish and iodine blocks are provided to all birds and the bird room is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner twice per day.

Once a year, all birds in the Emerald Budgerigars birdroom are treated with “Tricho Plus” as a preventative against Trichomonas.

Also once a year, all birds are treated with “Doxycycline”, before pairing-up, to ensure the birds optimum performance.

Breeding

All birds are kept in the stock flights unless breeding.

Cocks and hens are kept together to encourage exercise and eucalyptus branches, ladders, tumblers, balls and various other play things are provided to stop the birds becoming bored and to encourage additional exercise.

Ring issue dates are ignored, as pairing commences every year in September. Eileen and John say that September is the best time to pair up exhibition budgerigars. If the birds are in condition, 50 pairs are put up in this month.

Both cocks and hens have their vents plucked and both birds are put into the breeding cage at the same time with the nest box already attached. Nest boxes are inspected daily, but only once.

When pairing birds, Eileen and John attach much importance to pedigree, and try to pair the best visual cocks to a lesser visual sister of their best hens, so long as the pair complement each other visually – i.e. if one of the pair lacks in a particular feature, the other in the pair must excel in this feature, and so on.

Showing

Eileen and John have won many “Best in Show” awards, “Major Specials” and “C.C.’s” at Championship, National and World Championship level.

However, in recent years, they much prefer breeding budgerigars than showing them and now, regrettably, show very little and do not show at all in Ireland.

However, they say that they will always support the B.S. World Championship Show whenever possible.

Tips for Beginners

Here are some of Eileen and John’s top tips for beginners:

• Budgerigars do not always breed when paired up for the first time. Some birds can go 2 or 3 years before they breed for the first time, so it’s worth persevering with a quality bird.
• Try to buy one outcross, or two, every year to add quality fresh blood and always buy the best that you can afford with the desired feature(s) that your own birds require for improvement. Do NOT be tempted to split the money you have available over say 3, 4 or 5 birds – spend all the money that you have available on just one or two birds and buy the best that you can obtain. Quality is more important than quantity.
• Some budgerigar hens will not use a nest box if the entry hole is facing direct sunlight, as it will not be dark enough for her inside.
• Every evening before the main lighting changes to night lighting, fine spray the bird room (NOT the birds), with an F.10, Virkon-S, or similar solution, to kill possible airborne germs.
• When preparing your birds for a show, spread the de-spotting process over many days. Do NOT de-spot a bird completely in one attempt, as you run the risk of a good spot falling out later due to bruising around the area.
• It is good practice to spray the inside of a nest box that has chicks, in the same way using an F.10 or Virkon-S solution. Simply cover the chicks with your hand when spraying to protect the chicks from the spray.
• Have patience! If your birds are not performing as well as they could, seek assistance from an experienced breeder. If things are going wrong in your birdroom, it is probably not the fault of the birds, but your fault!

Further Information

For further details about the Emerald Budgerigar Stud, please visit Eileen and John’s website:

• www.emeraldbudgerigars.4t.com

Photographs

All photographs below of Eileen & John’s birdroom and birds were taken and kindly supplied to us by Eillen & John Hall.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Emerald Budgerigar birdroom
- external view

Emerald Budgerigar birdroom
- internal view

Breeding cages are on the all wire system

The Hall nest box design

 

 

 

 

Due to popular demand, Reinhard has arranged for the DVD to be distributed in the UK through fellow breeders, Tom & Andrew Luke.

To obtain your copy (UK only), please contact Tom and/or Andrew at the following e-mail address:

For those outside the UK, please contact Mr Eelco Meyjes (South Africa) at the following e-mail address:

The event is to be staged at the Leisure Centre, Woking, Surrey on the weekend of 6th, 7th & 8th May with the Society’s AGM to be held on the 7th May.

Overseas visitors are most welcome to attend.

Situated just over 20 miles (32 km) from London, Woking is located in the west of Surrey, England. The town is approximately a 20 minute drive from London’s Heathrow airport and 40 minutes from London Gatwick. Woking is also just 25 minutes by train from London Waterloo.

For full details, please click on the image above.

It has been brought to our attention that this is probably the last time that fanciers can see and hear Reinhard Molkentin (South Africa) and Gerald Binks (UK).

Both of these champion breeders have been persuaded to come out of “retirement” to give lectures at this excellent event, which is being organised by Fred Wright and Roger Carr. As such, it is an opportunity not to be missed if you are a serious fancier.

Gerald Binks will be giving a Powerpoint lecture lasting over an hour and a half and Reinhard Molkentin is currently busy recording a professional DVD of the Holger and Reinhard Molkentin Stud titled “Budgerigar Keeping – The South African Way”.

Reinhard’s DVD will last 45 minutes, and will be followed by a further 45 minutes of discussion and answering questions. We understand that a professional director and film maker (Eelco Meyjes) has been engaged by Reinhard and the DVD will be distributed worldwide after its launch at this major event in the UK calendar.

All details can be obtained from Roger Carr, +44 (0) 1844 213600 – please check any appropriate time difference between abroad and the UK before calling!

The weekend contains a very full and exciting programme to suit both husbands and wives, so please seriously consider booking at the earliest opportunity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reinhard will be attending the Budgerigar Society Early Season Event to be held on 6th, 7th & 8th May, 2011.

In particular, Reinhard will give a lecture – as will Gerald Binks & Ruth Marvell (DEFRA).

The above events will be held at the Woking Leisure Centre in Woking, Surrey.

Any serious fanciers should make every effort to attend this excellent weekend.

A summary of the event can be viewed in the document seen on the right – further details will be published on the Budgerigar Society website and in The Budgerigar.

I am interested to know more about feather cysts in budgerigars as I have a bird with a cyst on one wing butt. It is a 2008 bird.

This arose after a moult and I now see some of his tail feather follicles look rather swollen and resemble what can be described as an “ingrowing look”.

There are also a few “stumpy” feather tips protruding from these tail follicles. Should these be pulled out?

This problem has only started after full maturity – so my concern is, should I discard this bird from future breeding now, or persist with it as it is certainly fertile?

I am trying the Binks “Attack, Attack, Attack” principle, but I am frustrated by this recent setback.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here are responses from Gerald Binks & Dr Rob Marshall:

GSB Replies

Let me give my opinion first of all, as the enthusiastic amateur on matters medical. I e-mailed Rob Marshall for his expertise and this can be seen below.

I think this is an excellent question which bothers a great number of fanciers, myself included.

While common with aged pet birds, such cysts do appear in the areas described by Jon on a fairly frequent basis in the exhibition world.

It is sometimes associated with build up from a blocked feather follicle – which, if lanced with a sterilised scalpel, releases a cheesy-like mass that has accumulated around the follicle and the protruding stump of the feather, or feathers.

There may be a group of feathers or stumps involved, not just one.

This applies to both areas – namely where the primaries are seated and the tail follicles sited as well.

My problem personally with this type of cheesy cyst, is that, after clearing the mass, it returns.

There is some blood loss while clearing the mass, but not a great amount – but here comes the next problem!

It returns after the scalpel wound has recovered. (I should perhaps mention here, that I was trained in zoology at school and also learned a great deal while in the Royal Army Medical Corps medical centre under various doctors. So despite being an amateur, I do have some anatomical experience behind me.)

At this point, I’ll hand over to Dr Rob Marshall (…whose great book, The Budgerigar, should be on everyone’s bookshelf. I refer to it very frequently even after 65 years at this hobby!).

Dr Rob Marshall Replies

I often see a caseous (a sheath-like cyst) infection at the base of the tail that involves the follicles of the long feathers, specifically both areas where such long feathers grow. So that includes the zone from where the long primaries grow!

This type of infection is nearly always associated with the preen gland in the case of the tail area.

In my mind it reflects an inherently (note that word) weak bird that is not preening itself adequately due to a lack of vitality – hence not all birds in a stud are affected, as in other variable diseases.

Lack of nutritional balance and other conditions that suppress immunity to this problem are often a cause.

That is an environmental change that is too moist, dusty or where there are fluctuating temperatures and humidity.

The use of Ivermectin, which many fanciers use for the clearance of mites, is a solution and has a propylene glycol base which is great for clearing up cheesy-type infections as described earlier.

Conclusion from GSB

This last observation from Rob Marshall caught my eye!

I knew that Reinhard Molkentin, one of the great thinking fanciers in the hobby, places a small drop of Ivermectin on the dorsal (top) side of the tiny area where the tail grows with a “00 brush” – when he rings each bird.

I called him and he states that they have a trolley which has all the food, rings and tools on it, but also a bottle of Ivermectin! As he and his son Holger go round on their daily routine, they put a drop of Ivermectin on the tail area of birds being ringed that day. That routine never changes.

Reinhard also added that this idea came from what happens with cattle – such as the small Dexter cattle that get ticks and worms, as well as other variant bugs. It is general practice with all the farmers to do this, obviously using larger doses.

So, as Dr Rob Marshall observes, Ivermectin can be very useful to have on hand.

Reinhard is adamant that for the past few years they have not had one case of cysts and they are breeding with 200 pairs per annum now.

This article should stimulate not only Jon Ashby, but us all in general.

Jon Ashby should therefore breed with a bird with cysts and seriously consider taking the combined advice of Dr Rob Marshall and Reinhard Molkentin.

Lütolf has that special eye that sees far ahead of the current ideal representations of the day. He sees what is beyond what is currently being bred and winning on the show bench. Harry Bryan in the UK had that ability, as does Jo Mannes in Germany and Henry George in Australia, to name a few.

Lütolf is 42 years of age and has been breeding birds since he was 11. A great deal of time and money was spent with little success until he purchased birds from Heinrich Ott, a top Swiss breeder. Heinrich Ott treated him very well, selling him stock, which bred superbly and produced his early winners. The pedigree background to Heinrich’s stock was based on Omerod and Sadler blood.

Lütolf’s career is as a teacher, he teaches senior pupils in maths, geography and history. He travels extensively, going overseas to far off places so that he can pass on his experiences to his pupils, but he never forgets his birds at home and the friends whom he trusts to look after his birds safely, and he gives a big thank you to them.

The Lütolf aviary is split into three levels because of the steep gradient of his home. It is modest in presentation, but the birds are exceptional in quality…but difficult to buy if you strive for the best.

Lütolf realised early, that he needed to design a bird to be ahead of others. This came from his ability to carve and paint.

DL: “I like big birds in proportion to their length. I knew that the 8 1/2 INS, small Budgerigar, in today’s exhibition world (216mm) was useless.

All top birds of today require a longer 9 1/2 ins (241mm) length to get the bird in balance, coupled with the shoulder substance that is required.

The shorter length results in a bird with no substance and is completely out of date if you wish to win on the show bench, irrespective of your chosen variety.

It is your choice, as a beginner, into which direction you go as you breed and as you create YOUR designer bird. You have to focus on that and set higher standards every season. I have always selected birds with big feet, but am careful in my choice of breeding hens.

I select birds with very big bone structure that are thick in the neck area. Interestingly, such birds create a problem that many of us are familiar with. This is the problem of today’s rings being too small for the bigger birds of today, and such rings have to be cut off before serious damage is done! Every year I was forced to cut off rings. I now get rings allocated officially that are larger in diameter at 4.4mm. They are perfect and there are no further problems for the birds and are accepted on the show bench.”

The Colours

The colour range that Lütolf has is broad. There are Spangles, all the Normals and some wonderful Violets, Olives, Lutinos, Texas Clearbodies, Yellows, Dilutes and Recessives.

All have mouth watering quality.

He is now starting to attack the Clearwing variety.

DL: “To improve any variety, you have to pair them at the start to your very best birds. This is what Reinhard Molkentin did, followed by Jo Mannes with the very small Spangles that arrived in Germany years ago.

To improve the recessive varieties, Clearbodies and Lutinos, I pair them to Spangles. The Spangle variety will improve such varieties considerably.

Always remember that if you want to improve a rare variety you have to pair them to the best you have and if necessary go out and find a super bird no matter what its colour happens to be.”

Pairing

Unlike the majority of breeders today, Lütolf breaks away from the conventional way of pairing Normals together.

He mixes many colour factors together continuously. Buying a pure bred is therefore difficult, but if the quality is in front of you, you take a different view. He never breeds two super birds together, or inbreeds, to avoid any feather problems or cysts. Nature does not select pairings as we do as fanciers.

Lütolf also watches the mixed sexes and ages of the birds in the flights. The practice of having the sexes separate in different flights, he feels, encourages homosexuality and the following effect of cocks being afraid of certain hens that are perhaps aggressive by nature. Hence infertile eggs. If he sees a pair making up, then the chances are they will go straight into a breeding cage – and they breed.

Lütolf is also critical of the standard practice we follow of pairing our Greens together and our Skyblues together and so on. He believes in mixing the colours, but in addition he uses the grey factor frequently, across the colours, a view held by Harry Bryan but not Dr. Alfred Robertson of South Africa, the well-known breeders of their period.

To support his views, Lütolf will buy an outcross, breed with it and very often sell it immediately. It has left its blood behind and served its purpose.

Lighting Periods

The breeding room has a very powerful extraction system and recently a superb timed spray system developed by Sigbert Pestringer, to remove dust. The aviary always feels fresh.

The lighting routine is interesting. Lights come on at 07.00 hours. The birds emerge to excrete and mate. They go off again at 13.30 hours and come on again at 15.45 hours. This follows a resting period that the observant will see easily in their own studs. At 15.45 hours they again mate with the light coming on until 23.30 hours.

Feeding

Avoiding discussion about the normal feeding procedures, Lütolf prefers to feed natural products as well as seed etc. Hormova is the only manufactured product used, together with various natural vitamin sources.

Water is often changed twice daily to which is added a small dash of vinegar and lemon.

DL: “This lowers the possible rise in bacterial infections.”

When breeding, the canary seed is increased. When not breeding, the millets have the upper hand. He feels that small sunflower gets the stock too fat.

We now come to vegetables. The range is very extensive and remarkable. Everything comes from the local market. Lütolf checks that none have been sprayed with pesticides and he uses natural food only.
Fennel, peppers, carrots, blackberries, broccoli, cauliflower, uncooked beetroot, grape leaves, tinned maize, and parsley to name most of them. All are chopped and desiccated, and when finished, some 10mls of olive oil is added and mixed in. Apple slices are dropped onto the flight floor.

I wondered what else olive oil could be used for?

DL: “When chicks turn white for no reason I give one drop to the beak and they return to normal colour.

However I do not know why!

The credit for this belongs to Reinhard Molkentin, not myself”

Soaked wheat and oats are fed on alternate days. Tree branches are always in the flights and changed regularly.

Conclusion

Lütolf birds are very big and my concluding comment is that Lütolf’s “quality of birds in depth”, in the top range, is one of the best I have seen anywhere in recent years.

Grits

I begin with grits.

So many fanciers do not pay sufficient attention to the supply of grits to their breeding pairs while they are involved in the very important process of rearing their families. Whatever the “clever” writers about our hobby say (i.e. that grit is not necessary), they are absolutely misguided in their views.

Nature has provided birds with a very hard and tough muscle in the zone below the crop – the gizzard. This holds the grit when it is present and it has the capability of movement. As a result, the grits that the bird consumes (and there has to be grit in an insoluble form and soluble form) act in a “mechanical” way to grind up the seed grains – in a similar way that wheat is ground up in a mill for bread.

Without those grits, the bird will live but will not be able to function properly in a metabolic way. Therefore the chicks that the pair is feeding will in turn lose out and will appear scrawny in some cases or may look satisfactory but never attain full growth.

One has to remember that today we strive to breed bigger and better birds. General feeding apart, you must always provide grits which possess granite like particles (insoluble) and shell particles (soluble). Not only should it be given but it must be changed every week to every pair.

Budgerigars will always take off the top layer of grits. They rarely dig down when the particles on the top of the bowls have been reduced to “dust”. Budgerigars are very selective where grit sizes are concerned and require 1-2 mm grains (at least) in front of them.

Ever noticed that when your birds have been out at show, the first action they take is to head for the grit bowl? That should tell you something.

Soft Foods

I now turn to the feeding of soft foods to the breeding birds.

There are countless systems and mixtures that breeders put together or buy in a proprietry form from suppliers. Common ones are Deli Nature Biovit and CéDé Budgie Egg Food to name but two.

Fanciers will work away hard at providing such protein-rich soft foods while breeding is in process, but then tiredness cuts in when the chicks are in the flights approaching their major moulting period. The soft food is then dropped at a time when the developing birds need every nutritional support if they are to attain size in the long term. I work at this all year round – each day and every day! If you went to the aviaries of Reinhard Molkentin and his son Holger, you would see exactly the same principle being injected on a daily basis.

What is the other major advantage, I hear you say? Well it’s very simple. Not only will your original “chicks” have attained size but they will be very healthy, strong boned and with plenty of muscle around them. They will also be in a perfect metabolic state to breed super chicks themselves – that is the benefit of all the work you have sustained throughout the year.

Lastly, your birds, when they are sold, will in turn breed well for your fellow fanciers and if they do well they will be back next year for more. The question they have to ask is do they do what the Molkentin’s and myself do every day thereafter?

Cage Cleaning

A common question I’m asked is how often do I clean the breeding cages?

I am known for always having a smart appearance to the aviary when people walk in, but I like to keep fanciers away from the aviary when I am breeding since I will not disturb them at this time.

So I use the “deep litter system” which really is a convenient term for doing nothing about cleaning out except for the large female droppings. Its benefit is that nothing is disturbed when birds are sitting on eggs or chicks.

It is very common for me to allow some visitors in to the birdroom towards the end of the season, only to find one or two chicks that have been crushed by the sitting hens getting agitated by strange noises. Keep visitors out. They can always come later.

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.