Posted December 31, 200717 yr I have been asked by Budgerigar World to do an interview. They have sent me list of questions to reply to. I think all those that have resubscribed would have received the request. I am thinking about it.
December 31, 200717 yr congratulations Daz i was just wondering how do you subscribed how much does it cost can you get it in perth and do you have to subscribe or can you just buy it from a magazine store Edited December 31, 200717 yr by Daz spelling & short cuts
December 31, 200717 yr Maybe if you do the interview you will get a years free subscription :book: :hap:
December 31, 200717 yr Author congratulations Dazi was just wondering how do you subscribed how much does it cost can you get it in perth and do you have to subscribe or can you just buy it from a magazine store To subscribe you go to http://www.budgerigarworld.co.uk and click on the button subscribe. You can't buy it in a newsagency.
December 31, 200717 yr congratulations Dazi was just wondering how do you subscribed how much does it cost can you get it in perth and do you have to subscribe or can you just buy it from a magazine store To subscribe you go to http://www.budgerigarworld.co.uk and click on the button subscribe. You can't buy it in a newsagency. okay thanks Edited December 31, 200717 yr by KAZ edited shortcuts
January 31, 200817 yr Author I've written the article but have been too busy to submit it. Budgerigar World Fancier Profile Darryl Wells – Brisbane, Australia Background 1. Please tell us where you live and in which country, what the climate is like and the type of area in which you live. Tell us about your background in the hobby. When and how you started, what your first set-up was like. Take us from those early days through the various stages through to today and then describe your current birdroom and birds. Do you have any special gadgets? Brisbane is a mild place to live and breed Budgerigars. It has a winter temp of 8o C to 23o C, summer is 21o C to 34o C. It has been know to drop to 0o C in winter and get to 42o C in summer but not often or for long. I first got involved with Budgerigars at the age of 12. I built a small aviary 2.4 m x 1.8m x 1.8m added 2 pair of pretty birds that I bought with pocket money from a local pet store. Adding a set of home made breed cages proved a very good way to increase the number of birds quickly. I did find that colony breeding cause many fights with the chicks being the biggest losers. I spent a lot of time gathering information on breeding and looking after Budgerigars. I remember a book from John Scoble being of great help. Unfortunately the thrill was not to last as one morning I found that a local boy had cut a hole in the wire and had allowed his dog to get in. I lost all the birds. Devastated, I pulled down the aviary and gave up the dream. That was in 1976, I started back in the beginning of 2005 with again 2 pair of shop bought birds. The aviary was a suspended one on the side of a 2.2m x 2.3m colour bond shed. The Aviary measured 900mm x 2.1m x 1m. The breed cages were set up under the pergola next to the house. The shed was soon to be converted to a breeding room and small flight. I had 9 breeding cages and a small nursery cage for the young. By the end of 2006 I had decided to pull down the breeding room and flight and rebuild a new Shed 3m x 4.6m, the walls and ceiling were insulated and power run for lights and outlets. 20 breeding cages were added with 6 being used as required for holding cages or nursary. 3 internal flights 2.3m x 1m were constructed t o use for juvenile, cocks and hens flights. Main lighting is controlled by a timer with a night light controlled by a photo electric sensor. There is an exhaust fan mounted under the roof extractor and is controlled by a temperature switch. This keeps the aviary ventilated and cool in the summer months. 2. How do you think the hobby has changed in those years - good and bad, and what fanciers have had the greatest influence on you through the years? As I have only been involved in the show side for a little over 2 years, most of my experience is limited. I do hear how the fancy has changed for the good and the bad. But prefer to make up my own mind. The biggest influence has been from David Ganzer. His knowledge, assistance and enthusiasm have been a driving force. David started me off in the early days by giving me a Skyblue split recessive pied cock, a Yellowface Cinnamon Skyblue hen and a Cinnamon Skyblue Hen to begin breeding with. I breed a number of chicks from the Cock and Yellowface, keeping only the best. I have a number of birds that are from David or I have bred from David’s birds. Greg and Jean Horrobin have also been a great influence in my life. Greg gave me a very nice Spangle Grey Green cock that together with 2 birds form David Frampton started a line of spangle that started a wining trend on the bench. Greg has been helped in advice with acquiring outcrosses. Falling in love with Spangles I was lucky enough to buy a DVD of a speech that Jeff Attwood did at the 2006 Nationals here on the Sunshine Coast. In particular the Melanistic Spangles. I was fortunate to speak with Jeff by phone regarding this variety as they had appeared in my aviary. Jeff gave some very good advice not only on the Melanistic but the conventional spangles as well. I have also had the pleasure in discussing pairing and breeding with Henry George who has always been forward with help and great advice. 3. What clubs do you belong to and what involvement do or have you had on the administration of the hobby, i.e. Member of committee or Officer of club? It was at the end of 2005 that I joined the Pine Rivers Budgerigar Society. This was a turning point for me and started me into showing my birds. In 2006 I started the web site for the club, http://www.prbsinc.websyte.com.au , became a committee member in 2007 and look forward to continuing in 2008. Management 1. Please describe your daily routine outside of the breeding season. What is your non-breeding diet? Tell us about any supplements you may use. There are only a few months from February to June that I don’t try to breed. As I work a 10 hour day, it is up early, 6:00am, to check the birds and clean out the flights. The evening is when I feed the green food and replace the water. Green food is usually carrot, mung bean sprouts, celery, snow pea sprouts and corn kernals. What is not eaten is removed in the morning. The water management I use is from Punket & Tassi but modified slightly. It starts on a Sunday and goes to Wednesday. This is a 4 week cycle. The first week is Calcivite, second is Vitamins, I use Pentivite which is a children multivitamin, the third is Probotics and the forth is Iodine. Thursday to Saturday is always clean water with a drop of avicleans to stop bacteria and mould. The birds are wormed 4 times a year, put on Coccivet twice a year and Fungalin for Megabactria (AYD) once a year. The seed is 50% Canary, 20% White French, 20% Jap Millet and 10% Panicum. To a 20kg mix I add a handful of Niger. I also add Cod Liver Oil to the seed 24 hours before feeding it to the flights. 2. How are your birds flighted - mixed sexes or separate and what ratio of cocks and hens do you keep? I have three internal flights. A junior, cocks and hens flight. The junior flight has both hens and cocks until they are 6 months old and then are split up between the other flights. I would like to have 1:2 cocks to hens, but in sufficient numbers as not to worry about filling the last breeding cage. 3. How important do you think outside flights are? I don’t have outside flights so don’t have to worry about wild bird droppings or birds caught out in bad weather if I am late getting home. The Aviary is designed for flow through ventilation with two windows at one end and the exhaust/ventilation at the other. The Breeding Season 1. Describe your breeding cages and nest boxes. Have you ever tried other types of box or cage? I have two types of breeding cages. Both are timber with a putout tray but one type has a solid divider and the other a removable mesh divider. They are 420mm high x 580mm wide and a Depth of 360mm made of external 12mm plywood. Each breeding cage contains a 19mm square perch and a 16mm round perch. I have tried many types of nest boxes but have settled on one that the birds seem to like. This is 250mm ht x 212mm deep x 202 wd It has a 40mm solid pine base with the concave. The back is in two halves, the top slides up to allow access to the chicks while the lower half is high enough to stop the chicks from falling out. Clean sawdust is place in the concave to start with. Most of the hens usually throw most of it out before laying. 2. Please describe your daily routine through the breeding season? What is your breeding season diet? Provide full details of any supplements you feed. I soak hulled oats and wheat over night in hot water with a drop of avicleans to stop bacteria growth. This is drained in the morning and added to grated carrot. To this mixture I add Budgerigar Starter and Egg powder. This is fed in the morning to all breeding cages and junior flight. The nests are checked. In the evening the water is changed, there is no change in water management. The soft food to thrown out and the nests are checked. Each breeding cage has cuttle bone, Iodine bell and a finger draw with mineral grit. The seed is the same as in non breeding season but instead of cod liver oil for the breeders I use Breeding Aid from Vetafarm. Nests with chicks get an extra small dish of Hulled oats and canary seed. Once a week I feed the nursery and flights the green food. 2. What influences the atmosphere of a birdroom the most and what have you done about it? How do you know the birds are in breeding condition? Noise is the main thing I look for. The aviary must be active. I started to use the mesh dividers in the breeding cages so that the birds can see each other. Since using them, I have had good results. Over 100 chicks rung in the better part of 2007 from 14 breeding cages. I am considering replacing all the breeding cages with Melamine with the mesh dividers. This will make it easier to clean and increase the atmosphere of the breeding room. I like the Cock birds to be active and trying to mate with every thing. I like the hens to be chewing and even place gum tree branches in their flight to encourage it. I also place 2 old nest boxes in the hen’s flight. Those that are coming into condition usually fight to again control of the boxes. 3. How much does pedigree and visual attributes influence your pairing decisions? How do you actually pair up? I am also at the stage of having many unrelated birds and look to features. I try to make sure that one bird compliments the other. If one is lacking in a feature, I try to make sure it is carried by the other. I try to make sure that two birds don’t carry the same fault. Some of my birds are related and I look for Cousin to Cousin or Aunt to Nephew, Uncle to Niece. Grand father to grand daughter. But again the features must be right. 4. Do you handle or mark eggs or use fosters, and if a complete clutch of clear eggs is laid what do you do? I mark every egg and rarely have any problems with hatching. Once the egg is marked, it is not touched again until I think there is a problem. I try to pair up two fostering pairs that I know are good feeds. These are used as often as I can to good results. I use a torch to check the eggs every night and those that are clear are removed. If the whole clutch is clear and I let the hen have a 2nd round. If this is also clear I break up the pair and let the hen try in a few weeks time. 5. Do you handle the chicks in the nest very much, if so how? Also, do you grade your chicks while they are still in the nest and how do you spot a promising youngster? How do you wean your chicks? Do you make any diet changes? I start handling the chicks from time of ringing them, 6 to 8 days old. This is to make sure all is well, grit hasn’t gotten under the ring, the beak is clean from feeding and there are no other problems. I start to grade when they get to 2 or 3 weeks old. From 3 weeks old they start getting a millet spray in the nest box to help develop their ability to crack seed. I like the chicks to stay till they are 30 to 35 days old in the nest and then till they are 42 days old in the breeding cage. It is then that I move them to the nursery cage till they are 3 months old. It is at this stage that I get a good look at them and how they might develop. The chicks in the nursery stay on the same diet as in the breeding cage. 6. Tell us about your record keeping. I use three methods. Having a laptop in the breeding room, I use two computer programs. The Budgerigar Program 2006 and Bird Tracker. Both are very good but one has some thing the other lacks. Bird Tracker is the main program as it gives me reports on when eggs should hatch, ages of the birds and reports on how the breeding season is going. The third method is the written word. I keep a book in the house that I record the ring numbers and sire and dam. Exhibiting 1. Give details of show successes. How many birds would you typically show? 2007 is the first year of show. In 9 shows I have won 23 first places, 10 trophies in my section, novice, and Champion Young bird of show. I have been showing up to 10 birds at each show and will be increasing up to 20 birds in 2008. 2. What preparation would your team have? Do you use any specific training methods? The team is decided 8 weeks prior to the first show. They are placed in training cages and evaluated to their possibilities in each division. Their ring numbers are noted and they are placed back in the flights. 6 weeks from the show they are taken out and placed in holding cages. Here they are sprayed and prepared over the weeks leading up to the show. I have training cages that they are put at night for ½ hour to an hour at a time while I am feeding and doing choirs. This starts three weeks out from the show. Over time they become accustomed to the cages and with some genital persuasions are usually happy to sit for the judges. I say usually as it is not always the case. The last week before the show they are put on sparks, an energy boost, for the long day at the show. 3. What do you do when you return from a show? The birds are returned to the holding cages and are sprayed with F10ss, a disinfectant, and on sparks for 2 to 3 days to recover. They are left in the holding cage between shows or go back to the flights if they go out of condition. Any signs of Illness and they are removed from the aviary. I have a hospital cage in the garage away from the aviary. General 1. How and when do you choose what to keep and what to sell? This is difficult as I have kept most of what I have bred. I look to families to cull first not to types. I have learnt not to cull too soon. A young grey green cock which I thought wouldn’t make the grade won Best Normal a few months later at a show. I was glad I took the chance to keep him. 2. What is the best tip that you have ever been given? There have been many from many breeders. David Ganzer – “Give the birds time to develop their potential before culling them” “Look past the colours and variety for a good hen” Jeff Attwood – “Pair Spangle to Spangle to improve the markings” “Good fosterers are worth their while in a breeding program” Henry George – “Don’t be inpatient to pair up – Let the birds decide” Please add any further details/comments as they come to mind. I have been fortunate to be associated with a great club where everyone assists the beginners in their own way. I believe that this is the way forward with the fancy and look towards the future. What do you think? Edited January 31, 200817 yr by Daz
January 31, 200817 yr WOW Daz! That is such an informative article and i really enjoyed reading it. Hope you get to submit it soon. Edited January 31, 200817 yr by **Liv**
January 31, 200817 yr Although a brilliant piece of work Daz...please run spell check as I think the WINING TREND part is meant to be WINNING TREND ?? and maybe more. OOPS !! and I think GENITAL PERSUASION is meant to be GENTLE PERSUASION Tell you what Daz...send it to me for editing and I will send it back to you Edited January 31, 200817 yr by KAZ
February 1, 200817 yr Author Thanks to Kaz the article has been fixed up with my spelling mistakes and grama . I have a show this week end and have the birds prepared so it gives me an opportunity to take some photos.
February 1, 200817 yr I am really looking forward to your photos Daz. Havent seen any of your birds in awhile
February 1, 200817 yr OOPS !! and I think GENITAL PERSUASION is meant to be GENTLE PERSUASION That is so funny,bet your glad Kaz picked that up!Congratulations Daz,the article is wonderful.You will have to tell us when it will be in the mag so we can buy it!! how exciting! Can't wait to see your birds too!
February 1, 200817 yr Author OOPS !! and I think GENITAL PERSUASION is meant to be GENTLE PERSUASION That is so funny,bet your glad Kaz picked that up!Congratulations Daz,the article is wonderful.You will have to tell us when it will be in the mag so we can buy it!! how exciting! Can't wait to see your birds too! i was never good with english. Maths and science was my strong points. I'll take some this afternoon after we set up. We are setting up at 1:00pm today.
March 23, 200817 yr Oh my gosh. GENITAL PERSUASION. really tickled my funny bone. (Laughing out loud) Edited March 24, 200817 yr by maesie removed the word GOD. It was NOT needed.
March 25, 200817 yr Great article Daz. really informative... I'm sure Kaz did all the corrections required I'm not going to critisize anyone on spelling or grama though... I just spend 5 minutes firguring out how to spell necisary and I still don't think I've spelt it right... Oh well... We all seem to understand each other just fine :fear
March 25, 200817 yr Great article Daz. really informative... I'm sure Kaz did all the corrections required I'm not going to critisize anyone on spelling or grama though... I just spend 5 minutes firguring out how to spell necisary and I still don't think I've spelt it right... Oh well... We all seem to understand each other just fine :fear necessary ... but agree, we all seem to know what each other is 'trying' to say!
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