Post by Marianne Marlow on Dec 9, 2011 8:46:51 GMT
Barrie Shutt Champion Breeder and Exhibitor
Q. When did you first start to become interested in budgies and what sparked it off?
A. This was in 1959 shortly after my father left the hobby. Sadly I let him sell all his Australian finches and his cages before I got the bird keeping bug.
After spending 12 months breeding Australian finches and then realising that they could not survive our cold winters without heat and light I decided to keep budgerigars. In those days we had no mod cons such as heating or lighting in our bird rooms and I always remember having to add glycerine to the water fountains to prevent them freezing.
Q. What did your first Aviary/Breeding room look like?
A. It was rubbish and only measured 6 x 4 feet and was made out of asbestos sheets but it was mine paid for out of my first wage packets.
Two years later I was viewing a sale of farm implements and my bid of £20 was accepted for a superb chicken shed measuring 12 feet wide by 14 feet long.
This was converted by my father into a super breeding room complete with outside flights, a block of twelve breeding cages and a work station.
Q. Where and when did you acquire your first birds?
A. From 1959 until 1970 my birds came from everywhere (a big mistake yet some beginners continue to practice it). Once 1971 arrived I decided I needed quality stock and after selling all my birds my first exhibition quality budgerigars were purchased from Alf Ormerod and his brother Tom. I still believe in the early 70s that Alf had one of the top three studs in the UK.
In the 80s I introduced some quality light greens from the stud of Jim Moffat and these knitted in with the Ormerod blood line and produced some outstanding birds.
Q. Do you still have birds from these bloodlines?
A. Sadly no all those three fanciers passed away.
I was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ) and advised by my GP to leave the hobby and all my birds were sold. The year was 2001 and I was devastated, and then in 2005 I decided to return. My new beginning was with Brian Sweetings blood line
Q. Which Bloodlines have given you the most impact on your stud?
A. Brian Sweetings
Q. Do you have a specific way of preparing your birds for the breeding season?
A. I do not pair up all my birds at once I take ten hens and the ten chosen breeding partners and cage them up in flight cages keeping the cocks and hens separate. During this period which is a minimum of four weeks, I prepare all my breeding cages which are all washed out using f10sc disinfectant, all the nest boxes and feeding utensils are also washed out at this stage.
The ten pairs are now offered extra light which has a major influence on condition ,plentiful supplies of grit, iodine blocks, charcoal, thrive on supacod and cuttlefish bone are provided ,these are available always, extras are added in the form of egg food, tonic seed, groats and extra plain canary, and red millet seeds all in moderation.
All the birds will have a dose of Ivermectin 0.1% before breeding starts and the nest boxes will be sprayed with anti-mite.
I never found any advantage which ever sex entered the breeding cage first but I still put the hen in for twenty four hours just to check out the surroundings and her nest box, the cock will join her the next evening.
Do place plenty of clean sterilised shavings in the nest box. Remember budgerigars must be in top breeding condition before pairing them up, if not do not waste your own time and the birds.
The budgerigars breeding cycle condition peaks about every seven weeks and the signs of readiness to breed can be observed. They will be constantly flying about and after landing will seem to flex their wing muscles. The hen will dip her back in readiness for mating, cocks will continuously tap the perch with their beaks and their head feathers will rise as they perform a type of crowing act.
The birds will be vocal and may even feed and try and mate with the same sex, although this is more obvious in male birds.
Hens will chew everything in sight and fight over small areas in the flights and cages. The white iris ring of both sexes becomes larger causing the pupils to look smaller, this is more pronounced in the cock birds.
The cere on the cock will be shiny and blue except on Lutino’s, Albinos, Fallows, Lacewings and Recessive pieds on these it will be a purple - flesh colour. All hens will range from light to nut brown; I prefer the hens to be a light brown cere. I do like to see breeding pairs complete in feather.
Once these ten pairs are settled into their breeding cage I will catch up another ten pairs who will be placed into stock cages for a period of time during which they will be conditioned, fed the extras and mated up on paper before introduction to their breeding cages.
Q. Do you pair your birds by Visual appearance/Bloodline or both?
A. I am a big believer in pedigree and when pairing up this is as important as the visual qualities of the birds.
Q. What are your views on paring up related birds? Have you had any success with this?
A. My pairings will be various combinations of the family grand-father x grand-daughter, father x daughter, first cousins, second cousins, nephew x niece, uncle x niece but I do avoid brother and sister mating having tried it only the once and the chicks were blind.
Q. How many chicks and clutches are your birds allowed?
A. I like each hen to rear two nests, four chicks per nest are the ideal number.
She will be allowed to lay her third clutch which would then be fostered.
Q. What differences are there in your feeding programme in the breeding and non-breeding seasons?
A. The non-breeding feeding programme is Versele Laga plain canary , red, white, jap millets , tonic seed all hand mixed by myself daily, added to this mix are a small portion of dry groats and a few millet sprays once a week.
A treat is offered at least three times a week the favourite being corn on the cob. Cuttle fish bone, Ultimate, iodine blocks and oyster shell grit are available all year round.
The breeding season feeding programme.
On the build-up to the breeding season and prior to pairing up my birds they will now receive the mixed seeds plus extra plain canary and red millet seeds, soaked groats three times per week, millet sprays every other day, egg food with added grated carrot, garlic three times per week, corn on the cob twice a week and celery at least four times per week.
Remember supply plenty of grit, charcoal, thrive on, iodine blocks, Cuttle fish bone and clean water.
Softwood is supplied each day to all my breeding pairs, this is Biovit egg food, grated carrot and garlic powder, mixed and served moist. On alternative days I will add grated sweet apple or sweet corn to the egg food.
Q. What would you change about your set up if you had the chance (and infinite money to do so?)
A. One thing , I would employ an aviary manager
Q. Do you believe in preventative medication? If so what do you use?
A. I do and I feel the best preventive med is cleanliness, added to this is use Ronivet S as a preventive med against Canker. Ivermectin 0.1% is used before and after the breeding season to control mites and other parasites.
Q. How do you deal with birds with feather disorders?
A. They fly free in my aviary but are never used in a breeding programme. I breed very few birds that develop feather problems.
Q. Do you have a favourite mutation or variety?
A. I do love spangles which I continue specialising in followed closely by dominant pieds, I also carry the mainstream colours. My favourite budgerigar variety would be a quality grey green.
Q. Who do you admire most in the hobby?
A. Brian Sweeting a gentleman in the hobby
Q. What was the best bird you ever bred?
A. The best bird I ever purchased was in 1972 and it was a grey green cock from Alf Ormerod, this cost me the equivalent of a man’s weekly wage. I took my first Best in show with a grey green cock bred off this bird in my second year as a beginner and I still have the trophy
Q. What was the best bird that you have seen from someone else's stud?
A. A grey green cock bred my Brian Sweeting , this bird exceled in everything
Q. What is the most important piece of advice you could give a beginner just starting out in the hobby?
A. Find a breeder, who is doing well on the show bench with his own bred birds, and try and buy two or three pairs, and believe as I do that blood counts.
From these three pairs breed as many chicks as possible as these will be your future for starting a family.
Q. What more do you believe we can do to promote the hobby?
A. Information has never been more widely available and the Internet is an extremely important source. It does not need to be said, however, that identifying reliable, informed advice and opinion is a skill by itself. There is good stuff out there, based on learning, experience and quantifiable evidence and there is less trustworthy stuff that ranges from the purely anecdotal to the downright bad. And we have to guard against reading opinion as fact, for those two things can be very different. Potentially, the various on-line forums are capable of being a valuable source of information and support, because they enable us to “meet” and share information with breeders from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. An example is budgerigarsforum.proboards.com, this well run site is the source of a vast amount of information, its interactive forum offers a warm welcome to all. The Budgerigar Breeder community is now truly global.
We have seen massive changes in the hobby as it evolved and adapted to enable survival in the 21st Century, and yet despite the eugenics and bird-room technologies, despite the high-end competitiveness that has attracted interest from businessmen and entrepreneurs who would seek to make a profit or even a livelihood out of the hobby, budgerigars are still budgerigars and for most breeders the interest, the joys, the rewards are the birds themselves. And some things have never changed. The fact that we all start somewhere is self-evident but for a young person with his pocket-money budgies, the world of the top breeders and the world-class show can look a pretty daunting place. It is also self-evident that without new blood the hobby will eventually die out and that, in my opinion, would be very sad.
How do we attract new people into the hobby? How do we support their start up? How do we encourage beginners to stick at it and enjoy what they do? How do we encourage and enable them to move, if that is their ambition, from pet-owner to champion breeder?
Promoting the hobby is not something that necessarily requires a degree in marketing techniques. Promotion begins with word-of-mouth communication – come on, you must remember it? Old fashioned talking about it! Either as an individual to your mates and neighbours, or in association with your local club, you can help spread the word, generate interest and share your enthusiasm by taking presentations to community forums who are always looking for guest speakers; examples might include schools and colleges, Elderly Care residences, Women’s or Church or hobby groups. (Don’t be offended if they ask you to provide your personal details as we all have a duty to protect the vulnerable in our society.) Talk to the local press. Let them know when your meetings are and invite them to your shows. They may ask for features to provide a background, which provide extra publicity. Have an open day. Run a free course at the local college; it could be just a one-off couple of hours, or something that can be developed to run over a few weeks. See if you can have a stand at any local events and arrange to staff it with your most approachable members. Arrange visits to clubs outside your area and invite them back to yours. And, most importantly, make sure that new faces are made to feel properly welcome. There are lots of ways of spreading the word. Ask your club colleagues for their ideas. Of course, if you do happen to have a degree in marketing, it couldn’t hurt!
There is an important spin-off here for existing breeders, by the way, and that has to do with how we generate and maintain a market for our surplus birds, which may not be good enough to exhibit but may be the accessible, affordable starting point for new owners. Similarly, you can forge links with local pet shops and veterinary surgeries that may hold
Q. What do you enjoy most about the hobby? Are you still as enthusiastic as when you first started?
A. Most of my enjoyment is in helping others achieve their aims, I never tire of this. No I am not as enthusiastic as when I first started as I find politics are ruining the hobby.
Thank you for taking part Barrie.
©2006 barrieshuttbudgerigars S3872.
Q. When did you first start to become interested in budgies and what sparked it off?
A. This was in 1959 shortly after my father left the hobby. Sadly I let him sell all his Australian finches and his cages before I got the bird keeping bug.
After spending 12 months breeding Australian finches and then realising that they could not survive our cold winters without heat and light I decided to keep budgerigars. In those days we had no mod cons such as heating or lighting in our bird rooms and I always remember having to add glycerine to the water fountains to prevent them freezing.
Q. What did your first Aviary/Breeding room look like?
A. It was rubbish and only measured 6 x 4 feet and was made out of asbestos sheets but it was mine paid for out of my first wage packets.
Two years later I was viewing a sale of farm implements and my bid of £20 was accepted for a superb chicken shed measuring 12 feet wide by 14 feet long.
This was converted by my father into a super breeding room complete with outside flights, a block of twelve breeding cages and a work station.
Q. Where and when did you acquire your first birds?
A. From 1959 until 1970 my birds came from everywhere (a big mistake yet some beginners continue to practice it). Once 1971 arrived I decided I needed quality stock and after selling all my birds my first exhibition quality budgerigars were purchased from Alf Ormerod and his brother Tom. I still believe in the early 70s that Alf had one of the top three studs in the UK.
In the 80s I introduced some quality light greens from the stud of Jim Moffat and these knitted in with the Ormerod blood line and produced some outstanding birds.
Q. Do you still have birds from these bloodlines?
A. Sadly no all those three fanciers passed away.
I was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ) and advised by my GP to leave the hobby and all my birds were sold. The year was 2001 and I was devastated, and then in 2005 I decided to return. My new beginning was with Brian Sweetings blood line
Q. Which Bloodlines have given you the most impact on your stud?
A. Brian Sweetings
Q. Do you have a specific way of preparing your birds for the breeding season?
A. I do not pair up all my birds at once I take ten hens and the ten chosen breeding partners and cage them up in flight cages keeping the cocks and hens separate. During this period which is a minimum of four weeks, I prepare all my breeding cages which are all washed out using f10sc disinfectant, all the nest boxes and feeding utensils are also washed out at this stage.
The ten pairs are now offered extra light which has a major influence on condition ,plentiful supplies of grit, iodine blocks, charcoal, thrive on supacod and cuttlefish bone are provided ,these are available always, extras are added in the form of egg food, tonic seed, groats and extra plain canary, and red millet seeds all in moderation.
All the birds will have a dose of Ivermectin 0.1% before breeding starts and the nest boxes will be sprayed with anti-mite.
I never found any advantage which ever sex entered the breeding cage first but I still put the hen in for twenty four hours just to check out the surroundings and her nest box, the cock will join her the next evening.
Do place plenty of clean sterilised shavings in the nest box. Remember budgerigars must be in top breeding condition before pairing them up, if not do not waste your own time and the birds.
The budgerigars breeding cycle condition peaks about every seven weeks and the signs of readiness to breed can be observed. They will be constantly flying about and after landing will seem to flex their wing muscles. The hen will dip her back in readiness for mating, cocks will continuously tap the perch with their beaks and their head feathers will rise as they perform a type of crowing act.
The birds will be vocal and may even feed and try and mate with the same sex, although this is more obvious in male birds.
Hens will chew everything in sight and fight over small areas in the flights and cages. The white iris ring of both sexes becomes larger causing the pupils to look smaller, this is more pronounced in the cock birds.
The cere on the cock will be shiny and blue except on Lutino’s, Albinos, Fallows, Lacewings and Recessive pieds on these it will be a purple - flesh colour. All hens will range from light to nut brown; I prefer the hens to be a light brown cere. I do like to see breeding pairs complete in feather.
Once these ten pairs are settled into their breeding cage I will catch up another ten pairs who will be placed into stock cages for a period of time during which they will be conditioned, fed the extras and mated up on paper before introduction to their breeding cages.
Q. Do you pair your birds by Visual appearance/Bloodline or both?
A. I am a big believer in pedigree and when pairing up this is as important as the visual qualities of the birds.
Q. What are your views on paring up related birds? Have you had any success with this?
A. My pairings will be various combinations of the family grand-father x grand-daughter, father x daughter, first cousins, second cousins, nephew x niece, uncle x niece but I do avoid brother and sister mating having tried it only the once and the chicks were blind.
Q. How many chicks and clutches are your birds allowed?
A. I like each hen to rear two nests, four chicks per nest are the ideal number.
She will be allowed to lay her third clutch which would then be fostered.
Q. What differences are there in your feeding programme in the breeding and non-breeding seasons?
A. The non-breeding feeding programme is Versele Laga plain canary , red, white, jap millets , tonic seed all hand mixed by myself daily, added to this mix are a small portion of dry groats and a few millet sprays once a week.
A treat is offered at least three times a week the favourite being corn on the cob. Cuttle fish bone, Ultimate, iodine blocks and oyster shell grit are available all year round.
The breeding season feeding programme.
On the build-up to the breeding season and prior to pairing up my birds they will now receive the mixed seeds plus extra plain canary and red millet seeds, soaked groats three times per week, millet sprays every other day, egg food with added grated carrot, garlic three times per week, corn on the cob twice a week and celery at least four times per week.
Remember supply plenty of grit, charcoal, thrive on, iodine blocks, Cuttle fish bone and clean water.
Softwood is supplied each day to all my breeding pairs, this is Biovit egg food, grated carrot and garlic powder, mixed and served moist. On alternative days I will add grated sweet apple or sweet corn to the egg food.
Q. What would you change about your set up if you had the chance (and infinite money to do so?)
A. One thing , I would employ an aviary manager
Q. Do you believe in preventative medication? If so what do you use?
A. I do and I feel the best preventive med is cleanliness, added to this is use Ronivet S as a preventive med against Canker. Ivermectin 0.1% is used before and after the breeding season to control mites and other parasites.
Q. How do you deal with birds with feather disorders?
A. They fly free in my aviary but are never used in a breeding programme. I breed very few birds that develop feather problems.
Q. Do you have a favourite mutation or variety?
A. I do love spangles which I continue specialising in followed closely by dominant pieds, I also carry the mainstream colours. My favourite budgerigar variety would be a quality grey green.
Q. Who do you admire most in the hobby?
A. Brian Sweeting a gentleman in the hobby
Q. What was the best bird you ever bred?
A. The best bird I ever purchased was in 1972 and it was a grey green cock from Alf Ormerod, this cost me the equivalent of a man’s weekly wage. I took my first Best in show with a grey green cock bred off this bird in my second year as a beginner and I still have the trophy
Q. What was the best bird that you have seen from someone else's stud?
A. A grey green cock bred my Brian Sweeting , this bird exceled in everything
Q. What is the most important piece of advice you could give a beginner just starting out in the hobby?
A. Find a breeder, who is doing well on the show bench with his own bred birds, and try and buy two or three pairs, and believe as I do that blood counts.
From these three pairs breed as many chicks as possible as these will be your future for starting a family.
Q. What more do you believe we can do to promote the hobby?
A. Information has never been more widely available and the Internet is an extremely important source. It does not need to be said, however, that identifying reliable, informed advice and opinion is a skill by itself. There is good stuff out there, based on learning, experience and quantifiable evidence and there is less trustworthy stuff that ranges from the purely anecdotal to the downright bad. And we have to guard against reading opinion as fact, for those two things can be very different. Potentially, the various on-line forums are capable of being a valuable source of information and support, because they enable us to “meet” and share information with breeders from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. An example is budgerigarsforum.proboards.com, this well run site is the source of a vast amount of information, its interactive forum offers a warm welcome to all. The Budgerigar Breeder community is now truly global.
We have seen massive changes in the hobby as it evolved and adapted to enable survival in the 21st Century, and yet despite the eugenics and bird-room technologies, despite the high-end competitiveness that has attracted interest from businessmen and entrepreneurs who would seek to make a profit or even a livelihood out of the hobby, budgerigars are still budgerigars and for most breeders the interest, the joys, the rewards are the birds themselves. And some things have never changed. The fact that we all start somewhere is self-evident but for a young person with his pocket-money budgies, the world of the top breeders and the world-class show can look a pretty daunting place. It is also self-evident that without new blood the hobby will eventually die out and that, in my opinion, would be very sad.
How do we attract new people into the hobby? How do we support their start up? How do we encourage beginners to stick at it and enjoy what they do? How do we encourage and enable them to move, if that is their ambition, from pet-owner to champion breeder?
Promoting the hobby is not something that necessarily requires a degree in marketing techniques. Promotion begins with word-of-mouth communication – come on, you must remember it? Old fashioned talking about it! Either as an individual to your mates and neighbours, or in association with your local club, you can help spread the word, generate interest and share your enthusiasm by taking presentations to community forums who are always looking for guest speakers; examples might include schools and colleges, Elderly Care residences, Women’s or Church or hobby groups. (Don’t be offended if they ask you to provide your personal details as we all have a duty to protect the vulnerable in our society.) Talk to the local press. Let them know when your meetings are and invite them to your shows. They may ask for features to provide a background, which provide extra publicity. Have an open day. Run a free course at the local college; it could be just a one-off couple of hours, or something that can be developed to run over a few weeks. See if you can have a stand at any local events and arrange to staff it with your most approachable members. Arrange visits to clubs outside your area and invite them back to yours. And, most importantly, make sure that new faces are made to feel properly welcome. There are lots of ways of spreading the word. Ask your club colleagues for their ideas. Of course, if you do happen to have a degree in marketing, it couldn’t hurt!
There is an important spin-off here for existing breeders, by the way, and that has to do with how we generate and maintain a market for our surplus birds, which may not be good enough to exhibit but may be the accessible, affordable starting point for new owners. Similarly, you can forge links with local pet shops and veterinary surgeries that may hold
Q. What do you enjoy most about the hobby? Are you still as enthusiastic as when you first started?
A. Most of my enjoyment is in helping others achieve their aims, I never tire of this. No I am not as enthusiastic as when I first started as I find politics are ruining the hobby.
Thank you for taking part Barrie.
©2006 barrieshuttbudgerigars S3872.
