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- The idea of this slide show is to help those looking for a hobby and
those that have just started in The Wonderful World of Budgerigars
- The Budgerigar Society is the governing body for the fancy in the United
Kingdom. The objects of The Society are:
- (a) To promote the breeding and development of the Budgerigar in all
parts of the world.
- (b) To protect the interest of breeders and exhibitors.
- (c) To assist the progress of scientific knowledge.
- (d) To facilitate the exchange of ideas covering The Society’s
field of work.
- (e) To support the exhibition of Budgerigars by granting patronage to
shows.
- (f) To reward work of outstanding merit with prizes or other marks of
recognition.
- (g) To interest the public in the objects and activities of The Society.
- (h) To assist and liaise with the Area Societies and all clubs at home
or abroad catering for the Budgerigar.
- (i) To serve as the parent body in a closely-knit international
organisation.
- (j) To encourage members of The Society to keep their Budgerigars in
conditions which are conducive to the health and well being of the
birds.
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- The management of the Society is vested in the General Council which
shall be entitled to delegate management to the General Council Board,
committees, sub committees and individuals.
- The General Council will consist of not more than twenty two members. Up
to twelve members will be elected by a postal ballot of The
Society’s membership and up to ten members will be elected by Area
postal ballots of the Society’s membership in that Area.
- The election for General Council members will take place every third
year starting with the ballot for 2003.
- The Budgerigar Society gives various levels of patronage to show
promoting societies. There
is The World Budgerigar Society Show in November, each of the Area
Societies have an open show in their respective Area. Local societies
have Nest Feather, Young Bird and annual members’ shows.
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- If
you are reading this article you are interested in the wonderful world
of Budgerigars. Where do we start. First you will have to find out where
the local Budgerigar Society meets, so you can talk to other fanciers
with the same interests. It is a good idea to join The Budgerigar
Society, Spring Gardens, Northampton NN1 1DR Telephone 01604 624549. You
get six glossy magazines each year with lots of articles and advice from
top fanciers and a list of Open Show dates and lots more, also a starter
pack. Also join your Ares Society. You will be able to purchase rings
from the B.S. or your Local Area Society, by putting rings on your baby
budgies between five and ten days old you will be able to show them in
the Young Bird classes at your local society or at Open Shows in the
Young Bird classes. The next year you will be able to show them in adult
classes. Also it gives you the opportunity
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- to compete for special prizes that are awarded by the societies that you
are a member of. Listening to other fanciers they all feed a seed
mixture of canary and mixed millet seeds and water, also cuttlefish bone
and grit. You will find water and seed are not half enough for the
modern day Budgerigar so you will have to find a good mineral and
protein to supplement the seed diet. Budgerigars love chickweed, you
have to be careful that it isn’t contaminated; you can feed them
cabbage, lettuce, watercress, carrots, these are just a few. Remember
Budgerigars have to be fed correctly all the year round not just when
you pair them up. If you cannot spend at least one to two hours a day
looking after them I would suggest Budgerigars are not for you. You will
only get out of this wonderful hobby what you are prepared to give.
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- We all had to start somewhere. Join the local society and get yourself
invited to visit (members’) birdrooms, this will give you an idea
what you require. Space has to be considered. Some have very small and
others have large gardens. One has to take into consideration financial
resources. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend this should
not deter you from joining this wonderful hobby of Budgerigars.
Budgerigars will breed in almost any birdroom/shed satisfactorily, as
long it is free from damp, draughts, mice but has good ventilation. If
you are having a sectional building/shed remember some time in the
future you may want to extend so make allowances for this also you may
want to install electric lighting, heating and a small sink. Many
fanciers started out by converting their garden shed, out building or
garage into a birdroom.
There are many materials you can line the interior walls/sections
with, just to mention two, hardboard, and melamine. Cover the windows
with ½” wire netting and make a trap door, then if a bird
gets out of the cage and you leave the door or window open it cannot
escape. A good size for cage fronts is 15” high x 30” long,
minimum size 12” high x 24” long. Cages can be multi
purpose, the number can be what ever suits you best, make them with
movable partitions so you can turn them into long cages, remember
budgies chew everything they can get there beaks on, so you may have to
use aluminium grooves for the partition slides to slide on.
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- The partition slides can be made of plywood or Perspex. The range of
nest boxes is endless, top right is suitable for hanging on the outside
of the breeding cage, bottom right is the desk type for inside of the
breeding cage. Below is a block of six breeding cages, with the slides
removed they can be used as stock cages, also below a trap door.
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- How do you go about acquiring your stock, not only at the outset, but
when you are an established breeder? As a beginner you will probably
make all the mistakes we have all made in the past, i.e. buying birds from
everywhere. Your initial
stock may come from the pet shops.
If so, that's fine.
You will breed from these for a while and understand the basics
of breeding budgerigars.
Then, what happens when you discover this wonderful hobby of
exhibition Budgerigars, up to now you have not laid out too much hard
earned cash on your birds but you have now learned that the exhibition
budgie appears to be a completely different species to what you have in
your aviary. If you are not
careful you could soon find yourself tempted to buy relatively expensive
purchases that pretty soon you will realise you do not yet require.
- Of course you will need to buy better stock than you already have. The way to do this is to find out
where your local bird society is.
Go along to the meetings where you will be made very
welcome. It is here that you
will meet other breeders who will go out of their way to answer all the
questions that you need answering.
Don't be embarrassed to ask, remember they have all been in a
similar position to you at some time. Get to know these people, ask
them if you can visit their bird rooms with a view to seeing their
stock.
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- I have not had one refusal as yet as the budgie people are a very
friendly bunch. You will
probably be tempted to buy birds at this stage but this urge is to be
resisted. You need to
acquire what is known as an "eye for a bird". This can only come about by
visiting as many aviaries and shows as possible. Go to the shows and see the type
of budgerigars that are winning.
If you feel after a while that you now have some idea of the kind
of bird that is required, it is time to make your initial purchases.
Look for the breeders who are winning on the show bench with
owner bred birds. These do
not have to be champions.
You can pick up some very nice birds from the lesser-known names
at a much reduced price. Two breeders will be plenty for a start. Try to buy related stock from
their best birds, i.e. the lesser brothers and sisters etc. If possible, you could do with
about ten pairs to get you started; five pair from each breeder would be
ideal.
How much should you be paying? If you have a really deep pocket
and the cost is of no interest to you then carry on, do not let me stop
you. But if, like most
people, money is hard to come by, you need to be careful. I would suggest that around
£25.00 per bird would buy you some quality. Listen to the breeder and take
his advice on pairing them up.
Resist the urge to buy in birds from everywhere. It will take much longer for you
to create a stud this way.
The younger the better because you will
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- obviously get more milage out of a current year bred bird, but do not
disregard an older quality bird, but the cost should reflect the
age.
After the first breeding season with your new acquisitions, if
they have progressed as you would have liked, go back to those breeders
and take one of the birds bred from their stock with you. Ask them what they think and see
how it compares with their birds.
Ask them if they would be prepared to let you have something a
little better this time.
Maybe you will be able to purchase one of their past winners if
you are lucky enough, but beware, just because it has been a winner,
does not mean it is worth a fortune, take into account it’s age,
and whether it has bred this year? Most importantly of all does it look
fit and healthy, if you are happy with the answers by all means buy it,
this could be your next progression. Adult hens are best avoided unless
you are not paying a lot for them
As time goes by and you progress through the hobby, it is
inevitable that you will make relationships with other fanciers (bird
relationships that is). You
will grow to trust one another and birds will be loaned or even given.
In time you will only be looking to bring the odd bird in each
year. The best way to do this
is to swap. You will be
swapping birds with some of the Champions. In most cases the only way to
acquire
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- an out cross is to swap a good bird for a good bird. You will have to be prepared to
let one of your better birds go, but if this means bringing in a feature
that your stud is lacking in, fine. I have seen studs for sale where
people have actually slept in their cars over night to try and be the
first to have a pick of what was for sale. That is how difficult it is
becoming to buy a good bird.
There is also fair chance that the best birds will have already
gone anyway.
Whenever a known bird comes up for sale it is usually the same
people every time who get it.
They become known for being the ones to approach if you are
looking for big money. I
have seen some of these big money birds, and believe me they are just
not worth it. Let’s
face facts, it could die on the way home, it probably won't breed and,
if it does, the chances are that it will produce nothing like the
quality that itself possesses. It is the fancier who works at his hobby,
by building a stud of related birds and eventually creating his own
line, who not only stays in the hobby for life, but also has the most
success. The money men come
and go, they will have their hour of glory but they just cannot sustain
it for long and most just leave the hobby. So keep your money in your
pocket, let your own birds finance any new purchases, and enjoy yourself
trying to wheel and deal a good bird out of one of your budgie friends.
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- At the start of the breeding season, the condition of our breeding stock
is of the utmost importance.
With some birds there can be no doubt that they are in the best
condition for breeding, they will be flying about very actively and
hitting the perches quite hard when they land. They will be chewing any piece of
wood that they can get their beaks on, tapping on the wire and generally
being very noisy. Birds in
this condition can be paired up and you can feel quite confident that a
fair proportion will be successful.
- What about the rest of the pairings because it is a good bet that not
all the birds you want to breed from will be in the right condition at
the same time. Do we wait for them to reach this condition? We should but you can bet your
life that if we have twenty-five breeding cages, most of us will put up
twenty-five pairs to breed.
This is our first mistake because we will certainly be pairing
birds that are not ready to breed, I have heard the comments that when
the hen sees the nest box this will bring her into breeding condition
and in some cases I am sure that this is so. But I believe for your birds to
reproduce to their maximum capability they must be at the peak of
fitness when they are paired up
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- Once your pairings have been made you can expect to get your first eggs
in about ten days. Some will
appear after seven days and may well be fertile, but usually between ten
and fourteen days is the norm. If a pair has not produced eggs after
three weeks I would be looking to re-pair the cock and re-try the hen in
about a months time if she appears fit enough. I tend to find that it is the
younger hens that cause a problem at the beginning of the season, the
older one’s are more experienced and know what is expected of
them. This does not mean
that this hen is not going to breed in the future. All our birds are individuals and
need to be treated as such.
Some hens take longer to mature than others. I have been successful with hens
paired at six months while others show no inclination to breed until
they are twelve to fourteen months old.
- The signs to look for when the eggs are due are that the hen gets
heavier around the vent and the droppings become very wet and
large. She will be spending
more and more time in the nest box.
It is a very exiting time for the fancier and the desire to keep
looking into the nest box is best resisted. Once a day is all we need to do
at this stage, just to make sure that the hen is O.K. Some fanciers mark the eggs the
hen has just laid. I don't
but if you do mark the eggs it will let you know when that particular
egg is due to hatch. I put the dates down in a book when the hen has
laid. It is a sickening
feeling when using the marker you break the eggshell. Eggs usually
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- appear on alternate days, but it is not uncommon for hens to miss the
odd day. This is nothing to
worry about but pay attention to that hen over the next day or so and if
the next egg does not appear soon she may have become egg bound. If this
is the case she obviously needs to be removed from the breeding cage and
treated accordingly.
- Eggs will normally begin to hatch after eighteen days incubation, but do
not be in too much of a hurry.
It is not unknown for the hen to delay sitting until after the
second or third eggs have been laid so hatching will be delayed and you
may well get two or even three chicks hatch on the same day. So do not be in too much of a
hurry to discard eggs, they may well be fertile.
- If we assume that the birds are doing their bit, it remains that we must
do our bit, routine is most important to the birds. Bad breeding seasons can often be
attributed to bad management.
Birds will settle down to their task of breeding much easier if
they are used to your routine, this means that feeding and nest box
inspections should be done at the same time each day, any cleaning of
cages etc is best done in the morning, and preferably only once a week,
leaving the evenings for the parents to be feeding their offspring, and
themselves, hopefully filling their crops for the night.
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- The chicks are totally reliant on the parents, and are blind for the
first seven days or so. The
hen is responsible for all the feeding at this stage and, as they grow,
the cock will begin to assist the hen with the feeding but his main
occupation is feeding the hen.
This is a critical time for the cock bird and the breeder must
pay particular attention to the father, as this is a very busy period
for him. If he is not in the
peak of condition he could fall ill. It is not unknown for the cock to
become preoccupied with the feeding of the hen and neglect himself.
- Once the chicks are around five to seven days old they will be ready for
ringing. It is far better to
ring them at an early age and have the ring come off, than to leave it
until they are too old and run the risk of damaging the leg of a chick.
Records of your breeding year are most important and it is part of good
management. All details of
each pair should be noted on the breeding card, later to be transferred
to your breeding register or computer programme.
- The chicks will stay in the nest box until they are around four to five
weeks old. Now it is time to venture into the big wide world, well the
breeding cage any way. They
are still fed by the parents at this stage but will begin to pick up
bits of seed themselves. A
millet spray is most helpful at this time, as they love it. At five and a half weeks they
will be weaned and it will be safe to remove them to a stock cage so
they can
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- continue their growth. It is
most important to keep an eye on them for the next few days. I put a small dish of water in
the bottom of the cage to stop dehydration and make sure that they are
able to feed themselves. If
it appears that they are not feeding properly, return them to their
parents for a little longer but keep an eye out for the adult birds
attacking the young which often happens when returning young to the
parents at this stage.
- After a successful nest of youngsters the hen will probably have started
to lay the second round of eggs.
It is usual for the breeder to take two rounds from a pair. If the quality of the chicks is
good he may wish to take a third round. Make sure you keep good breeding
records
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- With the show season fast approaching, our thoughts must turn to our
show team. Whether or not
you are happy with the past breeding season is now of no concern, you
have to select your show team from what you have in your stud. You may not have bred the best
budgerigar this year, but you do have a chance of beating the best if
you can present your birds to perfection on the day of the show. So how
do you go about it? Firstly
you must select the birds that you consider are good enough to
show. This needs to be done
eight weeks before the show for young birds, and six weeks for our
adults. If there are birds
that are narrow through the face, or have very short masks and tiny pin
head type spots, these need to be discarded from your show team and your
breeding team for that matter. Be aware that this is your shop window
and you should only show the birds that you feel will be in with a
chance of winning. O.K, you have your team caught up and in stock cages
for assessment. Leave them
to settle for the first week or so.
Let them get used to their new surroundings and establish a
pecking order then you can look carefully at each individual bird. Check for broken flights and tail
feathers as these will need to be removed. I realise that a lot of breeders
do not like to pull tail feathers because, in some instances, they do
not grow back again leaving us with what is commonly known as a tailless
wonder. This is of course
personal choice but it can mean that your best show bird could be out of
action for the whole of the show season if you wait for it to drop, and
re-grow, it’s tail naturally
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- What I tend to do is to pull one tail feather and, when I can see that
this feather has started to re-grow, I then feel confident to pull the
other tail safe in the knowledge that if the second one does not re-grow
I will at least have one, and many a major winner has got by with one
tail feather. Flight and tail feathers take about six weeks to re-grow
and spot feathers around three to four weeks. You now need to spray the
birds to get them clean and to encourage them to preen. This will put the natural oils in
their feathers, bringing them into show condition. The type of sprayer I find best
[see photo] is the pump action one used for garden insecticides.
Spraying can be done in an old show cage and many people use this
method. I do myself but some
fanciers don’t like it for two reasons: one is that you can only
spray one side of the bird and the other is that the bird will associate
being placed into a show cage with getting a dam good soaking, thus
playing up when put in a show cage for showing purposes. They prefer to use an all wire
cage where six to eight birds can be easily sprayed from all angles. The
initial few sprays can be done with very hot water. This will not harm the birds
because by the time it reaches them it will be a fine mist and be just
the right temperature. The
hot water will penetrate the feathers better getting rid of a lot of
grime that has been accumulated over the past few months. A couple of drops of plume spray
can be added at this stage and give them a really good soaking
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- The spraying now needs to be done every other day using cold water this
time. It is best to spray
the birds as early as possible in the day to give them the maximum time
to dry properly before roosting. You really cannot wet the birds enough
at this stage of their preparation.
When my birds have been sprayed it is often difficult to tell
what colour they are. As they start to come into show condition the
amount of water they receive can be adjusted, some will require more,
some less. Once they have reached show condition it is important you
continue to spray, as they will soon loose condition if you stop. Reduce it but do not stop
altogether. It is easy to
recognise when they are in condition because the water runs off the
feathers in globules. Stop
spraying about three days prior to the show. Heads will require washing
on a regular basis and this can be done using a soft toothbrush,
preferably not your wife’s, and baby shampoo. Just hold the bird as you
would for de-spotting and wet the head with the brush. Then add a small amount of
shampoo and brush the head from front to back obviously avoiding the
eyes. If the bird becomes
stressed at this stage do not persist for long, let it rest and then try
again another day.
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- Pinfeathers will open during the head washing, but you can bet that
there will be one or two that have not quite opened. I have lost count of the times I
have seen birds loose top spot just because the exhibitor did not bother
to open the pins. All that
you need to do is roll the feather between you thumb and first finger,
this will remove the coating and the feather will open up, a rub of the
head with your fingers and the job is complete. Two other tasks need to
be attended to just prior to the show. De-spotting is the first. If this is not done thoroughly it
can spoil the whole presentation of the bird. Ideally this should take place
about four days
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- before the show. This will
give the mask time to settle.
Most exhibition stock are what is known as multi spotted. This means that there are a lot
more spot feathers and flecks than we require. You will need a good pair of
eyebrow tweezers although some breeders use their fingers to remove
spots but I never could.
Once the flecks and the shadow spots have been removed it will
soon become evident which are the main spots. Six evenly spaced across the
mask, the outer two being partially covered by the cheek patches. If at this stage you are not sure
which are the real spots put the bird back into the stock cage and
reassess him again when he and
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- yourself have had time to relax.
There will come a time when you pull out the wrong spot, usually
from your best bird. We all
do it, it is part of the learning process, but with a little practice
and plenty of confidence it will soon become second nature to you. The
final task the day before the show is to straighten any bent or frayed
tail feathers. All that is
required is a beaker of very hot water. Dip the tail into the water and
then just run the feathers through your finger and thumb and you will
find that when dry the tail will be as good as new. If you follow this
basic method of show preparation, there is no reason why you cannot
bench your birds to perfection.
Do not accept anything less.
The judges will certainly notice who is preparing their birds
properly, and so will the exhibitors, he will be the one doing most of
the winning. Having prepared the birds to perfection, make sure the show
cage is clean. If two birds
are equal in quality it may come down to the show cage presentation.
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- SHOW CAGES
- (a) All exhibits must be shown in a standard BS approved show cage.
- (b) The class label shall be positioned in the centre of the front rail.
No other markings or labels are permitted prior to judging.
- (c) The floor of the cage to be covered with any seed suitable for
Budgerigars. Millet sprays in part or whole shall not to be permitted
until judging is completed.
- (d) Clip on drinkers can be fitted after judging.
- Below is The Budgerigar Society Standard Show Cage
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Notes
