Show cage training
At this time of the year, most serious exhibition budgie breeders will be well into the breeding season, and will just about be completing their second rounds, it is around this time the thoughts turn to the first round youngsters as these will form the basis of the breeders early young bird show team.
Some birds will be natural showmen/women and will adapt to the show cage with absolutely no problems whatsoever, others though will be just the opposite and will not like the confines of a show cage; it is these birds we need to give some show cage training to.
It is no good just placing this type of bird in the show cage and leaving it to get on with it, thinking it will get used to it in time, it won’t, all that will result is a bird that has so many bad habits, it will be useless at any show. I suggest short periods of no more than tem minutes at a time, and only when you the breeder is present. It is important to make sure the bird gets on the perch, use a judging stick to do this, just place the stick between the show cage bars and touch the chest of the bird, if you are lucky the bird will hop onto the stick and you can then lift it to the perch, it should the step onto the perch it’s self.
If the bird will not get up, try tapping the front of the cage below perch level, this is what a judge will do at a show, and the birds will get used to the tapping. Once the bird is up, stand back for a while and view from a distance, so as not to crowd it at first. If the bird drops to the floor, just repeat the process of getting it up on the perch again, remember, no more than ten minutes at a time, when the time is up, place the bird back in the same stock cage it came from, have another session with this bird the next day.
If you have a budgerigar that despite all your efforts will not perch, one trick you can try is to get and old stager, an adult show bird who is used to a show cage, place both him and the baby in together, the calm of the adult can help the youngster, and quickly teach him to calm down. It is amazing how soon a nervous baby can learn the ropes from an old hand.
One practice that must be avoided at all costs in my opinion is that of placing stuff on the floor of the show cage to stop the bird sitting on the floor, I have heard of all types of practices from filling the floor with ping pong balls, to actually putting an inch or more water in the cage, I strongly recommend you do not go down this route.
Once you feel your bird is reacting well to being in the show cage, start to move the cage around the bird room, this will get them used to being moved, banged around etc. Take it in the house and let the kids run around it, obviously do not over stress the bird, again just short spell, then back to the shed and his/her mates.
One other practise is to take the bird a ride in the car, no not to go shopping with you, but to get it used to the noise, the darkness, and the movement of the road. It would be a wasted effort if you spent all the time it took to get your best baby used to the show cage, spending six to eight weeks preparing and getting him in the best feather for the show, only to ruin it all because he panicked on his first outing and smashed his flights, or banged his head and had blood everywhere when you got to the show all.
If you follow these tips, and get your bird to the show in his best suit as it were, and have him/her standing steady on the perch, looking at the judge as if to say, look at me, give me the rosette, the chances are he will, and you will have a very well deserved winner on your hands, if so, give the bird and yourself a very well deserved pat on the back.
Showing posts with label Budgie related articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budgie related articles. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
The following article was first published in 2006. The Budgerigar Society are now attepting to address some of the issues raised in its content by introducing the "New Guidlines" We await the final publication of those guidlines with interest.
What should the judges be looking do?
Each year the Budgerigar Society club show throws up a few comments re-judging, last year was no exception. Conversations ranged from the condition of some exhibits, to Flecking, also Variety content, along with many other issues. As a Budgerigar Society (BS) full panel judge I can sympathise with some of the points raised by the exhibitors, but I can also see it from the judge’s point of view as well.
FLECKING
One area that always seems to cause contention is the flecking rule, the BS instruction to judges is to penalise flecking severely, as there are degrees of this fault, commonly known as ticking, which is not as severe but still detracts from the overall beauty of the bird. This often leads to less experienced fanciers asking why do flecked birds still win? The reason is that the judge having taken into account these faults, may still consider the flecked exhibit to be superior to those opposing it in the class, and consequently it will be given a first place.
Potentially there is a problem for the judge, if all the better quality birds he gets to judge on the day are flecked, using this criteria it could lead to a situation where all the birds put forward for a higher award may also be flecked. So what should he do? Only award clean maybe far lesser exhibits or the better quality flecked ones? I can hear some of you saying put up the clean one, but on the other hand there will be as many wanting to see the quality birds put forward. Obviously it is desirable that a bird that is very black on the head should not win, sometimes they do, ticked birds very often win.
How can we overcome this problem for the judges? Should the BS ban flecked birds? Should the judges not put up flecking? . This issue has been discussed at length in the past and I don't intend to open it again in this article, but exhibitors can help, maybe we should not show them, this would alleviate the problem overnight, but there is no instruction to do so, they are not banned from the show bench! I personally prefer to judge only clean exhibits, but I can also appreciate the qualities of a very good-budgerigar carrying flecking. So as you can see they do and will continue to cause problems for the judges. I can see this being a cause of contention for many years to come.
CONDITION
This is another area that nearly always seems to cause concern to some exhibitors. As both an exhibitor and a judge I agree that condition is essential, as the BS instruction states, but how do we define condition? Should we only consider a bird that is full in feather, with fine or yellow feathering, as being in condition, I hope not. Most of the condition issues arise with buff/intermediate feathering, comments like "That bird should not win, it is out of condition" are often heard around the shows. This when the type of bird mentioned is in my opinion IN condition, it is just carrying a different type of feather, giving the bird a rougher look. Should judges discount a bird from taking a first place if it has a flight feather missing, or a spot missing, or maybe only showing one tail? These are temporary faults, and if missing when judged need to be considered, but do these exhibits need to be thrown out? Again there is no B.S. instruction to do so.
A common sense approach needs to be taken, let's look at it again from the judge's view. We have a buff feathered bird is a super exhibit and a wonderful example of a top class budgerigar, but with a spot missing, or has one short tail feather, it is otherwise in condition. Up against it in the class are a number of poorer specimens in perfect condition, complete in feather, what would you do? What should the judge do?
I personally would consider the faults carried by the good exhibition bird and if I considered this exhibit to be superior to the others in the class, it would be awarded a first place, I would hazard a guess so would most other judge's, so now we can see how some birds with faults can win.
It is my opinion that we should try to continue to move the budgerigar forward, striving for even better specimens than we have today. I have heard all the arguments about birds becoming too big etc, but if the late Harry Bryan and Ken Farmer had rested on their laurels all those years ago we would not have the type of budgerigar we have today, and there are some wonderful specimens around. It is my opinion that size is not a problem, lack of style can be, but size and style can be brought together, it is down to the breeders to achieve it.
VARIETY CONTENT
Variety bird breeders seem have an ongoing problem, do the judges, select on the actual variety content of the exhibit as laid down by the BS scale of points or do they assess them as a budgerigar first? Both are important. Size shape and deportment is asked for by the BS, so should we be looking for a budgerigar that equals the more mainstream colours from a size issue? Or a good example of the variety? Is it possible to combine the two? I think it is, but not easy when breeding recessive varieties.
Thinking back to Miss Kirby Masons lutinos from years gone by, these carried wonderful hot body colour, probably not so common on today's lutino's, is this because breeders are trying to breed for size to the detriment of body colour? Should we place a hot body coloured lutino in front of a paler coloured, superior example of a budgerigar?
I can certainly see the frustrations facing the breeders who are trying to retain the beauty of some of the variety birds, and I can sympathise with then. I feel the biggest problem is consistency, some judges will select for a budgerigar, and others will go for the variety content first, resulting in different placings each week. It can be very infuriating for the exhibitors of these varieties.
The above situation can apply to Albino's, clearwings, recessive pied, spangles, and many more varieties, and I know for a fact many exhibitors get quite annoyed when one of their birds has not done as well as they feel it should have done.
I would like to point out to them though that it is not only the breeders of variety birds who suffer these frustrations. The breeders of Normal varieties as they are known, light green, blues, greys, cinnamons, etc, can have similar frustrations. Let’s look at the old chestnut the spangle as an example. For years a bone of contention with breeders of normal’s, yes spangles are a variety bird, and subsequently will face the problems already considered above, i.e., variety content etc, but there is one area that really is a cause for concern, the spots!
For some unknown reason these seem to be ignored in a lot of cases. What I am alluding to here is many a time a spangle has won without a full complement of spots, in some instances no spots at all, so how can this be?
Again If the judge is faced with a class of very poor small spangle exhibits carrying spots, but up against a good example of a spangle budgerigar without spots, he will assess this fault of no spots (and it is a fault) but may still consider the overall quality to be far better than the poorer birds and place it first, I would think that most judges who have judged spangles in recent years will have been faced with this type of situation. How we have got to this state of affairs with the spangle variety I'm not sure, if we as judges continue to put them first the situation will perpetuate. Why can't we consistently breed spots on the spangle variety?
The point I am trying to make here is it is not always the variety breeders who are penalised, the normal carrying a full complement of spots can be beaten by a spangle carrying no spots, so as you can see it happens both ways.
I have been guilty of the above on many occasions; it is difficult to place a pet above a quality exhibit.
CONCLUSION
How can we overcome the issues raised above, this is a difficult one. I believe flecking will always be with us, we can argue exhibitors could help here by not showing flecked birds, but unless they are banned from the show bench (I am not advocating banning flecking) we will continue to see them.
Variety breeders have to try and get the size into their birds without losing the beautiful variety content if they are to compete for major awards.
Condition will continue to be an issue; again exhibitors can help the judges by trying to show birds that are only in condition, judges can help by not awarding them first if they are too far out of condition. I accept it is sometimes a numbers thing, showing as many birds as possible at your own show to keep the numbers up.
I would ask all exhibitors who criticise judges to try and put themselves in the judge’s position, take into account some of my comments mentioned, and believe me there are many more issues faced by judges before the final decisions are made.
Who would be a judge aye?
I hope this article will have provoked some thought.
Copyright 2006 © Mick Freakley http://www.fa1-stud.co.uk/. All Rights Reserved
Each year the Budgerigar Society club show throws up a few comments re-judging, last year was no exception. Conversations ranged from the condition of some exhibits, to Flecking, also Variety content, along with many other issues. As a Budgerigar Society (BS) full panel judge I can sympathise with some of the points raised by the exhibitors, but I can also see it from the judge’s point of view as well.
FLECKING
One area that always seems to cause contention is the flecking rule, the BS instruction to judges is to penalise flecking severely, as there are degrees of this fault, commonly known as ticking, which is not as severe but still detracts from the overall beauty of the bird. This often leads to less experienced fanciers asking why do flecked birds still win? The reason is that the judge having taken into account these faults, may still consider the flecked exhibit to be superior to those opposing it in the class, and consequently it will be given a first place.
Potentially there is a problem for the judge, if all the better quality birds he gets to judge on the day are flecked, using this criteria it could lead to a situation where all the birds put forward for a higher award may also be flecked. So what should he do? Only award clean maybe far lesser exhibits or the better quality flecked ones? I can hear some of you saying put up the clean one, but on the other hand there will be as many wanting to see the quality birds put forward. Obviously it is desirable that a bird that is very black on the head should not win, sometimes they do, ticked birds very often win.
How can we overcome this problem for the judges? Should the BS ban flecked birds? Should the judges not put up flecking? . This issue has been discussed at length in the past and I don't intend to open it again in this article, but exhibitors can help, maybe we should not show them, this would alleviate the problem overnight, but there is no instruction to do so, they are not banned from the show bench! I personally prefer to judge only clean exhibits, but I can also appreciate the qualities of a very good-budgerigar carrying flecking. So as you can see they do and will continue to cause problems for the judges. I can see this being a cause of contention for many years to come.
CONDITION
This is another area that nearly always seems to cause concern to some exhibitors. As both an exhibitor and a judge I agree that condition is essential, as the BS instruction states, but how do we define condition? Should we only consider a bird that is full in feather, with fine or yellow feathering, as being in condition, I hope not. Most of the condition issues arise with buff/intermediate feathering, comments like "That bird should not win, it is out of condition" are often heard around the shows. This when the type of bird mentioned is in my opinion IN condition, it is just carrying a different type of feather, giving the bird a rougher look. Should judges discount a bird from taking a first place if it has a flight feather missing, or a spot missing, or maybe only showing one tail? These are temporary faults, and if missing when judged need to be considered, but do these exhibits need to be thrown out? Again there is no B.S. instruction to do so.
A common sense approach needs to be taken, let's look at it again from the judge's view. We have a buff feathered bird is a super exhibit and a wonderful example of a top class budgerigar, but with a spot missing, or has one short tail feather, it is otherwise in condition. Up against it in the class are a number of poorer specimens in perfect condition, complete in feather, what would you do? What should the judge do?
I personally would consider the faults carried by the good exhibition bird and if I considered this exhibit to be superior to the others in the class, it would be awarded a first place, I would hazard a guess so would most other judge's, so now we can see how some birds with faults can win.
It is my opinion that we should try to continue to move the budgerigar forward, striving for even better specimens than we have today. I have heard all the arguments about birds becoming too big etc, but if the late Harry Bryan and Ken Farmer had rested on their laurels all those years ago we would not have the type of budgerigar we have today, and there are some wonderful specimens around. It is my opinion that size is not a problem, lack of style can be, but size and style can be brought together, it is down to the breeders to achieve it.
VARIETY CONTENT
Variety bird breeders seem have an ongoing problem, do the judges, select on the actual variety content of the exhibit as laid down by the BS scale of points or do they assess them as a budgerigar first? Both are important. Size shape and deportment is asked for by the BS, so should we be looking for a budgerigar that equals the more mainstream colours from a size issue? Or a good example of the variety? Is it possible to combine the two? I think it is, but not easy when breeding recessive varieties.
Thinking back to Miss Kirby Masons lutinos from years gone by, these carried wonderful hot body colour, probably not so common on today's lutino's, is this because breeders are trying to breed for size to the detriment of body colour? Should we place a hot body coloured lutino in front of a paler coloured, superior example of a budgerigar?
I can certainly see the frustrations facing the breeders who are trying to retain the beauty of some of the variety birds, and I can sympathise with then. I feel the biggest problem is consistency, some judges will select for a budgerigar, and others will go for the variety content first, resulting in different placings each week. It can be very infuriating for the exhibitors of these varieties.
The above situation can apply to Albino's, clearwings, recessive pied, spangles, and many more varieties, and I know for a fact many exhibitors get quite annoyed when one of their birds has not done as well as they feel it should have done.
I would like to point out to them though that it is not only the breeders of variety birds who suffer these frustrations. The breeders of Normal varieties as they are known, light green, blues, greys, cinnamons, etc, can have similar frustrations. Let’s look at the old chestnut the spangle as an example. For years a bone of contention with breeders of normal’s, yes spangles are a variety bird, and subsequently will face the problems already considered above, i.e., variety content etc, but there is one area that really is a cause for concern, the spots!
For some unknown reason these seem to be ignored in a lot of cases. What I am alluding to here is many a time a spangle has won without a full complement of spots, in some instances no spots at all, so how can this be?
Again If the judge is faced with a class of very poor small spangle exhibits carrying spots, but up against a good example of a spangle budgerigar without spots, he will assess this fault of no spots (and it is a fault) but may still consider the overall quality to be far better than the poorer birds and place it first, I would think that most judges who have judged spangles in recent years will have been faced with this type of situation. How we have got to this state of affairs with the spangle variety I'm not sure, if we as judges continue to put them first the situation will perpetuate. Why can't we consistently breed spots on the spangle variety?
The point I am trying to make here is it is not always the variety breeders who are penalised, the normal carrying a full complement of spots can be beaten by a spangle carrying no spots, so as you can see it happens both ways.
I have been guilty of the above on many occasions; it is difficult to place a pet above a quality exhibit.
CONCLUSION
How can we overcome the issues raised above, this is a difficult one. I believe flecking will always be with us, we can argue exhibitors could help here by not showing flecked birds, but unless they are banned from the show bench (I am not advocating banning flecking) we will continue to see them.
Variety breeders have to try and get the size into their birds without losing the beautiful variety content if they are to compete for major awards.
Condition will continue to be an issue; again exhibitors can help the judges by trying to show birds that are only in condition, judges can help by not awarding them first if they are too far out of condition. I accept it is sometimes a numbers thing, showing as many birds as possible at your own show to keep the numbers up.
I would ask all exhibitors who criticise judges to try and put themselves in the judge’s position, take into account some of my comments mentioned, and believe me there are many more issues faced by judges before the final decisions are made.
Who would be a judge aye?
I hope this article will have provoked some thought.
Copyright 2006 © Mick Freakley http://www.fa1-stud.co.uk/. All Rights Reserved
Trim those vents
Trimming Budgerigars Vents
The modern day budgerigar is carrying a lot more feather than its ancestors did years ago, consequently this extra feather can cause problems during the mating process which is a touch mating, obviously excess feather around the vent area will obstruct the sperm from reaching it’s desired destination resulting in clears (infertile) eggs.
It is advisable to trim around the vent area of both the cock and the hen bird, this is easily achieved by carefully cutting the feather and under down with a fine pair of scissors. Some fanciers prefer to pull these feathers out but I feel this is more stressful to the birds, also the process will need to be repeated between rounds it is surprising how quickly they grow back.
There is a line of thought we should not to remove the guide feathers as they help to direct the sperm towards its final destination, I do not subscribe to this thought so remove those too.
The procedure does not automatically guarantee fertile eggs, as the pair has to be compatible and in condition, if they are and a mating takes place it will certainly increase your chances of a full clutch.
The modern day budgerigar is carrying a lot more feather than its ancestors did years ago, consequently this extra feather can cause problems during the mating process which is a touch mating, obviously excess feather around the vent area will obstruct the sperm from reaching it’s desired destination resulting in clears (infertile) eggs.
It is advisable to trim around the vent area of both the cock and the hen bird, this is easily achieved by carefully cutting the feather and under down with a fine pair of scissors. Some fanciers prefer to pull these feathers out but I feel this is more stressful to the birds, also the process will need to be repeated between rounds it is surprising how quickly they grow back.
There is a line of thought we should not to remove the guide feathers as they help to direct the sperm towards its final destination, I do not subscribe to this thought so remove those too.
The procedure does not automatically guarantee fertile eggs, as the pair has to be compatible and in condition, if they are and a mating takes place it will certainly increase your chances of a full clutch.
The show season is coming
ARE YOU PREPARED?
With a new budgerigar show season fast approaching, our thoughts must
now turn to show preparation. Most serious breeders will be now
finishing off the breeding season, pairs will be split leaving the cages
empty and after cleaning ready for the prospective show team.
Our first task is to select the young birds (current year bred) we
consider having potential for the show team. Any that look like they
have the required attributes to make a show bird need to be caged up for
a week or so in the stock cages, this will allow them to gain a little
weight, and also become a little steadier.
Do not worry about feather condition at this time, although it is a
good idea to remove any broken flight or tail feathers, the reason being
they will not moult out until later in the year, and if not removed the
exhibit will be eliminated from showing for the whole year.
These main feathers take approximately 6 to 8 weeks to regrow, so as
you can see we need to act now.
Leave the selected birds to settle for a week of so, and keep an eye on
them to ensure that non are being bullied, a few treats will be welcome;
millet sprays and tonic seed will help. It is important not to
overcrowd, and it may be better to keep the sexes separate.
Once they have settled it will be time to start the process of
attempting to get them into show condition. The first step is to spray
them regularly, the first spray needs to be with hot water with a little
plume spray or similar added, this would remove the initial grime and
dirt. A hand spray with a fine mist is ideal for this process. Really
soak the birds so it is difficult to recognise their colour; it is
beneficial to do this as early in the day as possible to ensure they
have adequate time to dry properly before roosting.
Spraying is carried out in an all wire cage, and old pet cage is ideal,
this will allow all of the bird to be sprayed. Continue spraying on
alternate days with just cold water from now, this will encourage the
birds to preen and in time bring their feathers into pristine
condition.Wash the head area with baby shampoo being careful to avoid contact
with the eyes, any head feathers that are showing pink quills will need
careful consideration, it is important to let nature take its course
with these as any early intervention will result in them bleeding and
staining the head. A soft toothbrush is ideal for the washing process, brush away from the cere, when completed replace them in the stock cage to dry naturally.
Both processes of spraying and head washing need to be continued right
up to show time, with the last spray taking place approximately 2/3 days
before the show.
All birds will not come into condition at the same time so it is best
to leave the de-spotting exercise to the week of the show, if you are
very new to the hobby it would be a good idea to seek advice from a more
experienced fancier to show you the ropes with regard to de-spotting,
one mistake will mean all your weeks of preparation will be wasted. Spot
feathers can take up to four weeks to re-grow.
Most exhibits are required to have six evenly spaced spots with the
exception of the red eye varieties and recessive pieds. It is best by
removing the flecks and smaller spots first; you will see the 4 main
spots and 2 smaller cheek patch spots. All the others need to be
removed; some people use their fingers for this but most prefer to use a
good pair of tweezers. Time is important here, do not rush this exercise
and if the bird shows signs of stress, place it back in the stock cage
and complete later.
The whole process of bringing the young birds into show condition can
take up to six weeks, the adults take less time, three or four weeks but
remember flights and tail feathers take the same time to grow in both
young and adult birds.
It is very important to keep the stock cages clean throughout, it would
be counter productive to keep washing your show team, just to place them
back in a dirty cage.
Just prior to your first show you my find the exhibit is in perfect
feather but with just a few quills in the head area, as long as these
quills are not pink they can be opened by brushing with a dry tooth
brush or by rubbing off the wax covering with your finger nail. As
mentioned earlier be aware of the pink quills, they are best left
alone.I can tell you from my experiences of judging many of the Countries top
shows, that if your exhibits are not in condition they will be penalised
by the judges, you may have the best budgie in the show hall, but
without proper preparation it may as well stay at home.
After the show place your exhibits back in their original cage and let
them settle again, they will most likely be stressed from their efforts
of the day, make sure they have fresh water and plenty of grit
available. It is important to carry on with the spraying in the
following weeks in an attempt to hold condition for future shows, do not
put birds you intend to keep showing in the main flights, this will
induce a moult. Inevitably nature will kick in somewhere along the line
and your exhibits will go out of conditions, this is the time to give
them a rest.
Make sure your show cages are in tiptop condition, freshly painted if
necessary, with just plain seed in the bottom. Only new style budgerigar
cages are allowed on the show bench by the Budgerigar Society, so if you
have any old style ones either convert them or use them in your bird
room.
A properly prepared show bird.
Good luck for the coming show season, if you get beat, take it on the
chin and congratulate those who have beat you, hopefully they will
congratulate you when your turn come around. Ask the judges if you have
any queries as to where your exhibit was placed, they will be only to
pleased to explain their placings.
With a new budgerigar show season fast approaching, our thoughts must
now turn to show preparation. Most serious breeders will be now
finishing off the breeding season, pairs will be split leaving the cages
empty and after cleaning ready for the prospective show team.
Our first task is to select the young birds (current year bred) we
consider having potential for the show team. Any that look like they
have the required attributes to make a show bird need to be caged up for
a week or so in the stock cages, this will allow them to gain a little
weight, and also become a little steadier.
Do not worry about feather condition at this time, although it is a
good idea to remove any broken flight or tail feathers, the reason being
they will not moult out until later in the year, and if not removed the
exhibit will be eliminated from showing for the whole year.
These main feathers take approximately 6 to 8 weeks to regrow, so as
you can see we need to act now.
Leave the selected birds to settle for a week of so, and keep an eye on
them to ensure that non are being bullied, a few treats will be welcome;
millet sprays and tonic seed will help. It is important not to
overcrowd, and it may be better to keep the sexes separate.
Once they have settled it will be time to start the process of
attempting to get them into show condition. The first step is to spray
them regularly, the first spray needs to be with hot water with a little
plume spray or similar added, this would remove the initial grime and
dirt. A hand spray with a fine mist is ideal for this process. Really
soak the birds so it is difficult to recognise their colour; it is
beneficial to do this as early in the day as possible to ensure they
have adequate time to dry properly before roosting.
Spraying is carried out in an all wire cage, and old pet cage is ideal,
this will allow all of the bird to be sprayed. Continue spraying on
alternate days with just cold water from now, this will encourage the
birds to preen and in time bring their feathers into pristine
condition.Wash the head area with baby shampoo being careful to avoid contact
with the eyes, any head feathers that are showing pink quills will need
careful consideration, it is important to let nature take its course
with these as any early intervention will result in them bleeding and
staining the head. A soft toothbrush is ideal for the washing process, brush away from the cere, when completed replace them in the stock cage to dry naturally.
Both processes of spraying and head washing need to be continued right
up to show time, with the last spray taking place approximately 2/3 days
before the show.
All birds will not come into condition at the same time so it is best
to leave the de-spotting exercise to the week of the show, if you are
very new to the hobby it would be a good idea to seek advice from a more
experienced fancier to show you the ropes with regard to de-spotting,
one mistake will mean all your weeks of preparation will be wasted. Spot
feathers can take up to four weeks to re-grow.
Most exhibits are required to have six evenly spaced spots with the
exception of the red eye varieties and recessive pieds. It is best by
removing the flecks and smaller spots first; you will see the 4 main
spots and 2 smaller cheek patch spots. All the others need to be
removed; some people use their fingers for this but most prefer to use a
good pair of tweezers. Time is important here, do not rush this exercise
and if the bird shows signs of stress, place it back in the stock cage
and complete later.
The whole process of bringing the young birds into show condition can
take up to six weeks, the adults take less time, three or four weeks but
remember flights and tail feathers take the same time to grow in both
young and adult birds.
It is very important to keep the stock cages clean throughout, it would
be counter productive to keep washing your show team, just to place them
back in a dirty cage.
Just prior to your first show you my find the exhibit is in perfect
feather but with just a few quills in the head area, as long as these
quills are not pink they can be opened by brushing with a dry tooth
brush or by rubbing off the wax covering with your finger nail. As
mentioned earlier be aware of the pink quills, they are best left
alone.I can tell you from my experiences of judging many of the Countries top
shows, that if your exhibits are not in condition they will be penalised
by the judges, you may have the best budgie in the show hall, but
without proper preparation it may as well stay at home.
After the show place your exhibits back in their original cage and let
them settle again, they will most likely be stressed from their efforts
of the day, make sure they have fresh water and plenty of grit
available. It is important to carry on with the spraying in the
following weeks in an attempt to hold condition for future shows, do not
put birds you intend to keep showing in the main flights, this will
induce a moult. Inevitably nature will kick in somewhere along the line
and your exhibits will go out of conditions, this is the time to give
them a rest.
Make sure your show cages are in tiptop condition, freshly painted if
necessary, with just plain seed in the bottom. Only new style budgerigar
cages are allowed on the show bench by the Budgerigar Society, so if you
have any old style ones either convert them or use them in your bird
room.
A properly prepared show bird.
Good luck for the coming show season, if you get beat, take it on the
chin and congratulate those who have beat you, hopefully they will
congratulate you when your turn come around. Ask the judges if you have
any queries as to where your exhibit was placed, they will be only to
pleased to explain their placings.
When Freakley meets Ainley
When Freakley meets Ainley
Ainley’s first met the Freakley’s in 1990 at Croydon Budgerigar Society open show, we were introduced to each other by Geoff Bowley a mutual source for an outcross, we had both been getting a few birds from Geoff around that time, we were both in the novice section at this time. I can’t recall who had the better show that day, Ian or Jackie and me, but it was the start of a friendship that has lasted the test of time. Why Ian and I hit it off I have no idea, we are like chalk and cheese. Ian is the quite one, I am the noisy one,or that is the public perception, but it works for us.
We swapped birds over a number of years and became good family friends. By now we had attained Champion status and were both very successful in our own right. Birds had moved between Lancashire and Leicestershire for some time, and we were both having a successful time on the show bench in our respective areas, we continued to bring in birds from Geoff and in time a bird or two from Dave Toplis although getting blood from a stone would have been much easier than getting a bird from Dave. Ian had introduced the Dominant pied variety from the very successful stud of Barry Wilde in Blackpool. And I well remember the Dominant Pied grey cock he won Best Any Age with at the Blackpool open show against very strong opposition.
Over a period of time better birds were being swapped until we got to a stage where we would say to each other, just take what you want, but we never did, always feeling it not right to take each other’s best bird, although it would have been fine by both parties. Eventually Ian asked me to go into partnership with him; initially I declined as I did not want to risk the possibility of the birds coming between a good friendships. A few months later, he decided to move home, and asked if I would house his birds while he set up a new bird room, I had been thinking about the partnership and suggested if he still wanted me as a partner this would be a good time and I would be happy to do so.
The birds were shipped down from Rochdale until Ian's new bird room was completed. The next breeding season we had all the birds to our disposal, allowing us to make the best pairs for the coming breeding season, birds would regularly travel the M1/M62 on a regular basis. We both like the same type of bird, and see them very similarly. Our first show season as partners could not have been better, in fact we took the best in show award at all the shows entered that year, culminating with all four Major awards at Hull BS open show, and we were most pleased.
Specials at the BS club show and more best in shows followed, that is until we had a problem with a nasal discharge in a few of our birds, this has been well documented, and an article was published in the BS magazine, so I will not go into it here, suffice to say it set us back for a time, we lost a number of our best birds, it was a stressful time in the hobby for us. If that was not bad enough the Rio virus hit the hobby and a full show season was lost for all.
We have always like a bird with plenty of feather, by that I mean intermediate to buff feathering, and have no worries about pairing buff to buff, but our preferred pairing is buff to intermediate, this type of pairing has worked for us over a long period and we see no reason to change.
We are a small stud in as much as I have 24 breeding cages and Ian has 21, rarely do we fill all of these with breeding pairs, we have to see a reason to put a pair of birds together.
We have created over time two lines which have pretty much now merged into one, the Cinnamon/Pied line and the Normal/Spangle line, but as you will note, our cinnamon yellow face spangle hen from the club show will indicate that these lines have now merged. We have bred some wonderful birds over time, we feel it is because we are so hard on what we keep; only the better birds in the stud survive our strict culling process, at times we have culled to an extent where we ideally do not have enough birds, but we work hard with what we have.
Our ambition has always been to win the BS club show, an ambition we always felt we would achieve, but easier said than done. As you know, we did achieve that ambition in 2007 when our Sky blue cock was awarded the Supreme award. Happy, you could say that, we were overwhelmed.
Freakley & Ainley with Geoff Capes
We were asked during interviews etc on the day of the show, where do you go from here? What ambition do you have left; we all had the same goal, to win it again. The fact it happened so quickly, 2008 was unbelievable, and with a different bird was for us the icing on the cake, we learned later in the day we were the first exhibitors ever to win the Supreme award with the Dominant Pied variety.
Nothing has changed in the management of the FA1 stud, and our aims remain the same. If we could give advice to anyone, it would be to be your own worst critic, be hard on the birds you keep, and try to raise the bar every year, only use the type of bird you like, it is no good looking at birds that do not appeal to you. Be patient, it takes time to create a stud, work in families if you want to create consistency in your birds, introducing out crosses only if you feel they will add to what you already have.
Be patient, this seems to be an asset missing in exhibitors today, beginners seem to want to win from the off, and not just in their section. I understand that there is more money available today, but it may interest you to know that we did not win our first challenge certificate until we were in the intermediate section, so good was the competition. Build a stud to last the test of time, this way you will reap the rewards over a long period, instead of being a one hit wonder. There are no real secrets to success in this game, a little common sense along with a lot of patience, and I see no reason why anyone cannot be successful. I hope you are all drinking our wine at the BS Gala dinner in September, because if you are, it will mean we have just done the hat trick, realistically, we will hope to get a few good birds to the show, and enjoy the wonderful banter and leg pulling that this show brings.
Good luck with your own ambitions in the budgie breeding World, Freakley & Ainley wish you all well.
Ainley’s first met the Freakley’s in 1990 at Croydon Budgerigar Society open show, we were introduced to each other by Geoff Bowley a mutual source for an outcross, we had both been getting a few birds from Geoff around that time, we were both in the novice section at this time. I can’t recall who had the better show that day, Ian or Jackie and me, but it was the start of a friendship that has lasted the test of time. Why Ian and I hit it off I have no idea, we are like chalk and cheese. Ian is the quite one, I am the noisy one,or that is the public perception, but it works for us.
We swapped birds over a number of years and became good family friends. By now we had attained Champion status and were both very successful in our own right. Birds had moved between Lancashire and Leicestershire for some time, and we were both having a successful time on the show bench in our respective areas, we continued to bring in birds from Geoff and in time a bird or two from Dave Toplis although getting blood from a stone would have been much easier than getting a bird from Dave. Ian had introduced the Dominant pied variety from the very successful stud of Barry Wilde in Blackpool. And I well remember the Dominant Pied grey cock he won Best Any Age with at the Blackpool open show against very strong opposition.
Over a period of time better birds were being swapped until we got to a stage where we would say to each other, just take what you want, but we never did, always feeling it not right to take each other’s best bird, although it would have been fine by both parties. Eventually Ian asked me to go into partnership with him; initially I declined as I did not want to risk the possibility of the birds coming between a good friendships. A few months later, he decided to move home, and asked if I would house his birds while he set up a new bird room, I had been thinking about the partnership and suggested if he still wanted me as a partner this would be a good time and I would be happy to do so.
The birds were shipped down from Rochdale until Ian's new bird room was completed. The next breeding season we had all the birds to our disposal, allowing us to make the best pairs for the coming breeding season, birds would regularly travel the M1/M62 on a regular basis. We both like the same type of bird, and see them very similarly. Our first show season as partners could not have been better, in fact we took the best in show award at all the shows entered that year, culminating with all four Major awards at Hull BS open show, and we were most pleased.
Specials at the BS club show and more best in shows followed, that is until we had a problem with a nasal discharge in a few of our birds, this has been well documented, and an article was published in the BS magazine, so I will not go into it here, suffice to say it set us back for a time, we lost a number of our best birds, it was a stressful time in the hobby for us. If that was not bad enough the Rio virus hit the hobby and a full show season was lost for all.
We have always like a bird with plenty of feather, by that I mean intermediate to buff feathering, and have no worries about pairing buff to buff, but our preferred pairing is buff to intermediate, this type of pairing has worked for us over a long period and we see no reason to change.
We are a small stud in as much as I have 24 breeding cages and Ian has 21, rarely do we fill all of these with breeding pairs, we have to see a reason to put a pair of birds together.
We have created over time two lines which have pretty much now merged into one, the Cinnamon/Pied line and the Normal/Spangle line, but as you will note, our cinnamon yellow face spangle hen from the club show will indicate that these lines have now merged. We have bred some wonderful birds over time, we feel it is because we are so hard on what we keep; only the better birds in the stud survive our strict culling process, at times we have culled to an extent where we ideally do not have enough birds, but we work hard with what we have.
Our ambition has always been to win the BS club show, an ambition we always felt we would achieve, but easier said than done. As you know, we did achieve that ambition in 2007 when our Sky blue cock was awarded the Supreme award. Happy, you could say that, we were overwhelmed.
Freakley & Ainley with Geoff Capes
We were asked during interviews etc on the day of the show, where do you go from here? What ambition do you have left; we all had the same goal, to win it again. The fact it happened so quickly, 2008 was unbelievable, and with a different bird was for us the icing on the cake, we learned later in the day we were the first exhibitors ever to win the Supreme award with the Dominant Pied variety.
Nothing has changed in the management of the FA1 stud, and our aims remain the same. If we could give advice to anyone, it would be to be your own worst critic, be hard on the birds you keep, and try to raise the bar every year, only use the type of bird you like, it is no good looking at birds that do not appeal to you. Be patient, it takes time to create a stud, work in families if you want to create consistency in your birds, introducing out crosses only if you feel they will add to what you already have.
Be patient, this seems to be an asset missing in exhibitors today, beginners seem to want to win from the off, and not just in their section. I understand that there is more money available today, but it may interest you to know that we did not win our first challenge certificate until we were in the intermediate section, so good was the competition. Build a stud to last the test of time, this way you will reap the rewards over a long period, instead of being a one hit wonder. There are no real secrets to success in this game, a little common sense along with a lot of patience, and I see no reason why anyone cannot be successful. I hope you are all drinking our wine at the BS Gala dinner in September, because if you are, it will mean we have just done the hat trick, realistically, we will hope to get a few good birds to the show, and enjoy the wonderful banter and leg pulling that this show brings.
Good luck with your own ambitions in the budgie breeding World, Freakley & Ainley wish you all well.
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