HINTS & TIPS on breeding show winning budgerigars
How to succeed breeding budgies in South Africa:
Keep your aviary size
manageable. Too many fanciers have too many pairs where they
breed many birds, but lack quality. Rather keep less pairs.
which makes the selection of pairs more difficult, but only
the best is used for breeding which results in more quality
being bred and thus improving your stud.
Remember not all birds are
show material and some will do well on the shows and some
will do very well breeding.
Be harsh - cull regularly to
improve the quality of your stud. Don't keep a bird because
it looks nice.
Attend to your birds before a
show: in the end it is all worthwhile. like they say it is
the little things that make a huge difference.
Knowledge is power - Read -
Read - Read
Don't always believe
everything what people are saying - listen to what is being
said, work through it and then decide what will work in your
setup. "Steal" with your eyes and ears - don't be too angry
if it is said that your bird is not up to standard - find out
what to do to improve your faults on the bird Spend lots of
time with your birds and observe, you Must know your birds to
breed them
Perseverance
Expect disappointments
everyday and learn how to overcome them If something does go
wrong - don't ask "what is wrong with the birds" - ask "what
did I do wrong" and find your mistake - somewhere you did
something different
Good quality food. good
quality, water, quality soft food especially when there are
babies in the nests and supplements
Determination - Set yourself
reachable targets or goals (example - next year 1 want to win
at I east 3 CC's at a show, or I want to improve the quality
of my spangles or I want to achieve at least 20 points at a
show) You must have goals or something to work towards.
Finally good luck and create
new memories every day and may you breed many show winning
budgerigars.
WASHED SEED = HEALTHY SEED by Pierre & Maja Swart
Have you ever found your birds to be having diarrhoea or vomiting or having respiratory problems? When you buy a bag of seed, have you ever worked your hands through it and saw that your hands are full of dust and even course sand? It is most disgusting and might be the cause of your sick birds. This same dust is taken in by your birds when they de-husk their seed. Nothing can convince me that this could by healthy - not for you breathing that dust and not for the birds eating this contaminated seed.
No one knows where the seed has been laying or what fell onto it. It could be mice / rat urine, bird droppings, even where seed is stored in large quantities in hangers, the owners of these hangers sometimes spray or fumigate these hangers to get rid of insects and rats. This fumigation spray attach itself to some of the seed which in actual fact poison the seed.
Sometimes mould on the seed can be observed which lowers the quality of the seed and change the nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates and they can also change the character of the grain by making it unpalatable.
Both of these scenarios introduce the production of mycotoxins on the seed which have a detrimental effect on the birds that consume the seed.
This can increase mortality, reduce feed efficiency and reduce fertility. Also kidney, diarrhoea, vomiting, crop and feathering problems as well as respiratory problems can all be linked to these mycotoxins.
For the past two years we have been washing our seed on a weekly basis. Twenty kilograms of seed is washed at a time. We have made a wooden frame covered with 80% shade cloth and the seed is thrown onto it and rinsed with clean tap water for several minutes. There after the seed is checked for impurities and re-washed.
The seed is left to sundry for several hours. Regular checks and turning of seed ensures that it dries evenly. We are very fortunate in the Karoo the days especially in summer time when it only takes at most two hours to dry the seed. Lots of vitamin D is absorbed into the seed, as the birds do not get direct sunlight onto them. The clean seed is then stored in our seed bins.
The birds love the clean seed and it is quiet nice to work with clean seed.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN PAIRING UP?* When comparing the cock and the hen that is a possible pair - we VISUALIZE what will be achieved in their off spring (will there be an improvement and will they be better than their father or mother) THAT’S THE ULTIMATE GOAL.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING BIRDS?
* We NEVER pair for colour. We pair for QUALITY - does not matter what we put together as long as there will be quality chicks that will be far better than BOTH the parents
* The old beliefs that cinnamon on cinnamon and opaline on opaline etc must never be paired together is exactly what it is OLD BELIEFS. People that believe in this perception will not make head way in today's fancy. Some of our best birds that we bred for example the 2007 National winner was cinnamon on cinnamon. Maybe this beliefs was applicable in the beginning when these varieties were still small in stature.
* The mask and head qualities is always our primary focus.
* Pedigree will also be part of our decision making without neglecting the visualising of the off spring of the pair
* We rarely buy birds into our stock, but when we do, we would go to Reinhardt Molkentin. He is the only person who would sell us a good quality useable bird.
* We would look for a certain quality (for example spots, browiness, fertility or good mask) something that would enhance our current stock, something that might be lacking in our aviary and would take us one step further in this hobby.
* Always check the line of fertility of the bird that is bought. (How did the family breed?) FERTILITY is essential. Without fertility the best birds is not worth anything.
* We don’t buy the BBB’s as we call them (big buff birds) - they are usually a dead end.
EXPLAIN YOUR SHOW PREPARATION
* At the end of the show season start planning your next show season - as soon as the dates of the shows are known - we decide which shows we’ll attend setting our next goals for the following year
* Dates are then put on the calendar when what must be done before each show because you can easily be caught out with the time periods before a show. We usually put reminders on our cell phones.
* +- 10 weeks before show - start looking at possibilities, check tails, flights & spots and cut at least one of the primary tail feathers * +- 8 weeks -pull cut primary tail as well as pluck the main spots
* +- 6 weeks - put them aside and start spraying every second day with cold water
* Occasionally put birds in show cages and train them, especially birds that are going to the show for the first time
* Three days before the show - start to prepare by plucking spots. Wash seed that you are going to put in the show cage. Check show cages and make sure they are in good condition and cleaned. Check drinkers
* Day before the show - use small “file”and comb through pin feathers to open them up, wash heads and dry
* Day of the show - brush heads with baby powder, glycerine on cere and do last touch ups on spots - hold thumbs that everything will go well - luck does play an important role (if the bird is not sitting correct and showing at the exact right moment - try the next show)
Contact Details
Pierre and Maja
can be contacted at
