Abstract
Sitting around over lunch, trying to
decide what novices would like to
read, made us think about what novices
need to hear.
Exhibition budgies - staying at the
top is one of the hardest animal breeding
hobbies around. The up and down
roller coaster of good babies and bad
problems is as challenging as in any
animal species you choose to breed.
Sometimes a lot of money helps, but
a lot of people haven't gotten very far
or stayed at the top very long even
with a lot of money. Fortunately,
many good breeders are just plain
working folk with only so much
money to spend on a hobby. Time
and patience equals money.
Disappointments come often, even
for the best breeders. Large babies die
for various reasons; their tails fall out,
never to return; they get too flecked;
or they will not breed.
To stay in the hobby, you need to
love budgies. You can get irritated at
losing; mad at bad judging; go berserk
over politics; and start twitching over
breeding problems. But, if you love
the birds, you will stay.
We started thinking of a whole list of
things that can go wrong and why we
think they do go wrong.
More than a few hens are incredibly
choosey about their mates. You try to
"force" mate them by picking out their
cock because, darn it, this pair is perfect.
But there is no fertility the first
round. Being a believer in your high
quality mating, you try a second time
- no fertility. We have even known
people to try three times. But, we seldom
try a second round with the same
pair if the first round is infertile.
Throw the pair in the flight together.
If they act like perfect strangers after
having been together for a round or
two - they are. It's better to let these
hens pick a mate to get them going
with fertility.
Some hens sight mate to cocks, but
not to the ones you'd choose. They
like the one in the next cage or across
the way. They will lay eggs, but are
really mated to another cock, so the
eggs are infertile. Just being in separate
sections for 10 to 14 days does
not always cure them.
Larry had one hen that he sent to a
friend's house for two months and
then brought her home, but to a different
pen from her "true love." After
four months of trying to remate, he
gave up and put them together. Six
young were produced in the first
round; one as good a stock hen as
most people ever own and the rest
total duds.
Best-to-best or buff-to-buff matings
often, even if fertile, will not produce
youngsters. Dr. John Baker, a research
veterinarian at the University of Liverpool,
believes many of these embryos
are weak and die within a few hours
of development. If they go full term,
they may die while hatching or never
start pipping.
Jo Mannes of Germany (considered
to be one of the finest budgie breeders
in the world) says mate unlike birds
- bigger to smaller, soft feather to
hard feather. We say it, too.
Some hens are so big, buff and good
looking they don't even bother to lay.
Most of the time, the best breeders will
be the slightly lesser quality, occasionally
a lot lesser quality sisters of
exceptional hens. We usually try these
slightly lesser sisters to the best looking
cocks. We do not waste the best
cocks on low-percentage hens during
the first part of the breeding season.
There is always time for long shots
later.
We don't know how many times
people have looked at birds and said,
"These $150, $200 or $250 birds are
not any better than the $50 or $75
birds I just bought from Joe Blow."
This is very true. As Larry once told a
novice couple who asked for his
advice, "This bird may not look any
better than your birds at home, but I
absolutely guarantee that its brothers,
sisters and parents are far better." Several
years later they thanked Larry for
his advice.
Of course, they have also bought
several birds that did not produce very
good-looking birds. But it is the good
breeding bird whose young make us
look like we know what we're talking
about. And, all things being relative,
they did not pay that much for the
whole bunch put together.