There is an exhibition fancy for budgerigars but around 90 per cent of the people who keep budgies never have an interest in showing, breeding exhibition budgies or being part of clubs and societies.
There is so much fun and enjoyment to be gained by keeping and breeding budgies that it’s not necessary to think about showing, unless you are one of those competitive people who have to compete and try to win.
We live in a world where the pressures of life keep us all busy. Jobs that used to pay “appearance money” are long gone. Today if you have a job, the boss wants you working all the time. There is little slack in time to be fitting other things onto the working day.
Years ago, a wife or partner would have been at home during the day and may be looking after the kids – and nipping out to the birdroom to offer a little softfood to the breeding pairs during the day. None of that these day – everyone seems to be working! Fanciers may have the time to keep and breed budgies but that pressure on time restricts showing and being part of a club.
There was a time when children were at school during the day and the evenings were for pets, hobbies and family. These days it’s homework, organised sport, television and computers.
It’s become less popular to keep any animals in schools and it seems that some organisations are actively working against animals in schools. Those who understand all about the management of animals know how important it is to learn about good animal husbandry, and the value of learning to keep animals properly.
Just breeding, keeping and enjoying budgerigars can be so much fun and brings a lot of pleasure to the young, the old – and the not so old! The first pleasure is just keeping them, watching and enjoying them.
Then comes the breeding, the anticipation of what you can expect in the nestboxes, then we see an egg – and we start to imagine what’s inside that egg. If all goes well and with a bit of luck, in 18 days we will see a chick hatch. The hen will probably have laid a group of eggs – one on alternate days until she has about 5 or even six eggs.
The chicks should be ready to leave the nestbox at about 30 days but before that, we get the excitement of seeing the chicks with full crops of food, we will see the grey down appear on the body – then we will get a hint of the colour of the bird as the feathers start to develop on the side of the bird. It never fails to amaze that from those little white eggs, in 30 days a chick becomes fully feathered and ready to leave the nest.
For the fun and colour breeder is all about colour – it’s not about quality for the shows. We are interested in beautiful colours and we are probably hoping that every chicks that comes from the nest will be a different colour – not two the same!
If you are determined to keep and breed budgies, enjoy them, love the different colours and progress to eventually breed with the birds that you have bred yourself, you have to care for them properly – and that includes feeding them properly – and that means feeding top quality seed mixes, tonic seeds, softfood, grit and cuttlefish– and that means buying Haith’s products – you are Safe With Haith’s – they sell the very best for your budgerigars!
Written by Fred Wright
