Exhibition Budgerigars
Excerpts from An Interview
with Jim Bertrand
Jim's first
introduction into the world of Exhibition Budgerigars came by chance when
he decided to visit the local library to read up on aviary construction.
One of his fellow employees at the time had an aviary with a variety of
birds in it, and he thought it would be a great idea for the backyard. He
stumbled upon a book called "Best In Show" by Gerald Binks and was
immediately hooked. This was the early eighties and it was a great time to
enter the hobby because within the same year of his new-found hobby, a
local specialty club called The Western Canada Budgerigar Association
(WCBA) formed. He sent his subscription to this new magazine that
would quickly establish itself as the leader in the Budgerigar global
community.
Of course Jim is referring
to Budgerigar World. He steadily progressed from Novice to
Intermediate to Champion facing some fierce (but friendly) competition.
Besides the necessary wins on the show bench for advancement, the main
measure for success was that by the end of each breeding season, the
overall quality of the stud was at least slightly better than the year
before. Currently, Jim is Secretary and Vice President for the WCBA. He is
also the Bulletin editor and assists Colin Knecht with the club's
website. Upon reaching Champion status he began
furthering his qualifications to become a judge. Jim has since judged
shows throughout Western Canada plus a few young bird shows in the US. His
future goals include helping establish a unity in his hobby across Canada
so, as a country, we can be well represented in our rapidly shrinking
world. Locally he would like to see WCBA work at ways to attract new
members to keep the fancy (and the club) a vital entity. And, personally,
he always wants to improve his own birds and would like to show at some of
the larger US shows plus some of the shows in Eastern Canada
(Ontario).
Jim and his family (wife
Susan and 17 year old son Kris) live on a five acre hobby farm one hour
east of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Q. Tell us where
you learned the basics of birdkeeping.
Jim: From
books at first. I'm a firm believer in investigating something before
venturing into it. Then I visited some aviaries and took notes. I joined
the WCBA where the experienced breeders shared their knowledge at
meetings. I was also part of a group of very enthusiastic novices who
wanted to do well in the hobby and we shared mutual "growing
pains".
Q. Tell us how you
have your aviary laid out and the number and type of breeding cages you
use in your breeding room.
Jim: The aviary was initially an
open carport under the upper balcony of our home. I had a small separate
garden shed-type aviary at our previous home. When we moved, one of my
first priorities was to close in the carport for an aviary. The floor area
is 12' x 24' which houses 24 breeding cages, a 4' x 8' suspended flight
and three portable( on wheels) flights. All cages are made of 1" x 1"
welded wire. The breeding cages are on one side of the room and the
flights are on the other (although I move around the portables quite
often). I don't have outside flights at this point. The lighting is on
timers and the aviary is thermostatically controlled for heat (55F in the
winter). I have a large extractor fan that comes on twice a day during the
warmer months and two small fans that are on all year long. I don't
consider this my permanent aviary and intend to construct one as an
integral part of a garden design (shhh...don't tell my wife).
Q. How many
Budgies do you generally keep at any one time and what
varieties?
Jim: I will have culled down to approximately
85-90 birds by late fall. These will mostly consist of my breeding stock
plus a few extra insurance birds and some late bred youngsters. By the end
of breeding season that number is at least doubled (if all goes well). The
varieties I keep are mostly Green and Blue series normals and cinnamons. I
have a "cobalt line" that has been doing very well at the shows for a few
years and my "gray green line "is showing signs of coming back to the
quality they had been a few years ago. I have had many of the other
varieties in the past but try to only work with a few at a time. Currently
I have some suffused yellows, spangles, dominant pieds and the odd lutino
and clearbody
Q. Do you
inbreed, linebreed or outcross your birds, which do you do and
why?
Jim: All of the above. Linebreeding mostly to
maintain the quality of related stock. Inbreeding is used when I have an
exceptional pair of closely related birds having no obvious common faults.
The objective is to "lock in" these good qualities for future generations.
I'll bring in an outcross when I feel there is a need improving certain
features or if the line can use some vigor or fertility. My idea of an
outcross is any bird beyond three generations from a line. Arguably, all
Exhibition Budgerigars are related coming originally from a small amount
of imports many years ago but we have to draw the outcross line somewhere
and mine is at three generations.
Q.Canada is renowned for it's excellent
canary seed, what proportion of it do you use in your food mixture? What
other seeds do you feed and how do you store it?
Jim: The WCBA
has a club deal with a local feed supplier. We have a basic budgie mix
made up of 60% canary, 35% millet and 5% groats. I personally add "Finch
Premium Mix" and Pretty Bird feed pellets (these will make up 5% of the
mix) if for nothing else than to add a bit of variety to the basic mix. I
coat the mix with wheat germ oil and a vitamin powder product. I make up
about 12 pounds at a time. The seed is stored in galvanized garbage
cans.
Q. How
do you go about training your young birds for the show
cage?
Jim:When I see promising show prospects in the
nest box , the first thing I do is to get them familiar with being
handled. I try to have them sit on my finger being careful not to have
them go crashing to the floor (yes I've done that...luckily with no
disastrous results). I'll even try to get them perching in a show cage but
just for very brief amounts of time. I'll do this all through the weaning
process. As they get older they spend increasing amounts of time in a show
cage but I hang millet spray inside the cage so that the birds can
associate the experience with something positive. This season I'm going to
suspend a fluorescent light over the cage training area. You'll often see
the birds becoming restless, when being judged at a show, brought from the
darker confines of the holding area to the brighter show bench. Barry
Skinner, who came out from Ontario last year to judge the National,
confirmed my belief that training them to accept changes in light
intensity will correct the problem. I also move and carry the cages around
at home so they are accustomed to that motion and they also learn to
accept the judge's stick. Many judges will tap on the cage with the stick
to get their attention so my birds are trained to know what tapping on the
cage means.
Q. What
features have to be improved in your birds at the moment, what are they
and what will you do to improve them?
Jim: Size and
depth of mask. I am a deep mask freak. To me the feature of a deep wide
mask with strong spots really indicates a lot. It means the bird has good
feather length and width and a broad body structure to support a wide
spread across the neck/chest area. When you try to increase the length in
your line, there is a natural tendency for the birds to lose substance and
have shorter feather. It's a constant battle to establish these features
in the same bird. I have a few birds with all of these qualities plus the
all important directional feather so I try to spread them around as much
as possible. I also work with some of the local breeders. They may have
something I could use and vice versa so we'll share a nest or borrow a
bird. It's a great situation where everyone benefits.
Q. What do
you see for the future of the hobby in Canada?
Jim: First we
must establish a National entity but I believe it should be some sort of
relaxed association that doesn't become over-regulatory. I have briefly
discussed this with Barry Skinner from Ontario and I think we'll try to
get something going. We've lost a lot of good people over the last few
years but we have also gained some enthusiastic new blood so I guess we
are maintaining a certain base number. However we don't do enough to
promote the hobby (not specific to this area of the world I'm sure) and I
worry that the personal lifestyles of the future may have no patience or
attention span for hobbies such as ours. On the other hand , there are
lots of "baby boomers" my age that will be looking at what to do for their
retirement 10-15 years from now so this is probably good time to begin
heavily promoting.
Q. If you
were given the opportunity to spend 1 hour in three studs of your choice
anywhere in the world, and select a pair of birds, where would you
go?
Jim: can only answer this on hearsay and
pictures so it's quite a difficult question. Jo Mannes of course is the
first name that would pop into most of our minds, also Jorge DePina. But
to pick someone in Britain, I would really have to visit some aviaries
because there are so many good ones and nobody seems to be dominating the
show benches at the moment (although I won't discount Frank Silva's recent
rise to fame). On top of my list of British aviaries to visit would be Ray
Steele and Gerald Binks.
Q. Jim, can you pass
on some advice to our younger enthusiasts that would assist them in the
future of this hobby, that you now wish you knew when you first
started?
Jim: Find a mentor willing to openly share
their knowledge but also become a student of the hobby. Discover the
mistakes others have made so that you are less likely to make the same
mistake in a similar situation. Be patient, don't buy birds on impulse and
walk away if you feel the bird you are offered is not what you are looking
for. Choose the future of your stud wisely and try to get the best quality
for the price you can afford. Find a system that works for you in your
aviary and don't attempt to fix what isn't broke. Meaning don't make
changes for the sake of change and if you feel you have an improvement, do
it gradually. And most of all, don't let your ego interfere with enjoying
this hobby.
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