Outcrosses
By Terry A Tuxford
By now, the majority of exhibition budgerigar breeders in the
The sort-out of the current year birds will be taking place in many
birdrooms around now and the decisions about what to keep and what to sell will be made.
The time to buy good adult stock is probably around July time when unused retained
budgerigars and late bred’s from the previous year will be offered for sale. For
current year purchases you may have to wait a little longer. On this basis it would be a
good time for you to decide on what your next season’s outcross requirements are and
to go buying and if you cannot find what you want now, you will get a second chance in a
few months time.
When purchasing your outcrosses the emphasis must be on a feature or
features that require improving within your own stock. However, one further aspect is
essential and that is to ensure that quality improvements in one area are not at the
expense of already established quality features in another. When purchasing outcrosses or
new stock the most important aspect is head quality. When viewed from the front it should
be wide with depth being achieved by a deep wide mask that carries large round spots. The
spots should sit within the confines of the mask and not hang below it. Again from the
front, the eyes should almost be unseen. With wide headed birds the eyes are set well into
the head, giving an impression of browiness.
From the side of the head another key consideration can be made.
This is the position of the eye relative to the head. At one time the eye was described as
being in a central position and using the eye as a compass point a round circle can be
drawn in which the head will fit. These days however, the more appropriate eye position
would be described as one-third in front and two thirds behind. Some of this will be an
illusion created by feather but the important aspects will be achieved with backskull.
Budgerigars without backskull appear cut off at the back of the head; an undesirable flat
area at the rear crown area of the head will interrupt any roundness from the front.
A Good Top End
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Despite other balancing features as dictated by the
Scale of Points, without a good top-end a budgerigar will never achieve excellence on the
show bench. Showmanship is also highly desirable. A bird may
have width in the face and superb cap features but without the natural inclination to
throw his head much of this will be wasted. In my view, this style of bird gets his
confidence to show from more than one source. The first is an inherited trait and if this
is dominant in your birds you should work hard at retaining it. Secondly, we have being at
ease in the show cage. This is established through the birds being handled while still in
the nest box and then introduced to the show cage at an early age. Both of these practises
boost their confidence no end. Finally we have condition. Many cocks that are in great
show condition also have a raised libido, which stimulates them to ‘show off’. A
smaller bird with great showmanship can and will outshine a larger exhibit at the time of
judging. The importance of the outline of the bird far exceeds variety
markings and variety content in the eyes of many judges. Breeders working towards moving
their studs to the top echelon should bear this in mind. However, how about the purist
breeder of Spangles for example; how do you achieve the intensity of marking and the
desirable spots. There are a couple of obvious answers – for your exhibition birds
only show normals and if possible dark factor birds. In fact controversial as it may sound
one way to improve the Spangle variety content on the show bench would be to relegate
opaline and cinnamon spangles to the AOC class. (I can hear the gasp!) They did the same
with Clearwings to a positive advantage for the variety; unfortunately Clearwings are also
fast becoming obsolete on the show bench so perhaps this was the cause of that as well.
(Another gasp!) |
Personally, I do not have too much experience in breeding Spangles
for Spangles sake. I think they are very pleasing to the eye but have always bred them as
if they were normals. This means I have used Spangles as outcrosses to normals and
vice-versa. I have never been obsessed with variety content but knew a good one when I saw
it.
Apart from only breeding normal Spangles for exhibition, logic tells
me that in a pairing of spangle x non-spangle, all the spangle variety content sits on the
side of the spangle. Something that was often cited years ago was that the best marked
spangles came from pairings of spangle to spangle-bred normal. Why this is I cannot say,
because it does not follow the genetic pattern of dominants but there it is. So to me this
is a good enough place to start.
In year one, breed your very best marked normal spangle to the very
best profile normal you can buy (afford). I suggest you use a Spangle hen of your own
breeding as it is less likely to give problems in the breeding cage paired to a purchased
normal cock. The only disadvantage is that you may be unaware of the bird’s true
genetic make-up even if you are given a pedigree card. Availability of a pedigree card can
put up to 100% on the price of a bird and who can challenge the fact that the bird has Jo
Mannes on both sides of the pedigree or if its just poetic license. (Gasp number 3!).
Breed these two birds together and then the following year put the best cock bird produced
back to his mother (I thought about making that Gasp number 4!) and wait for the results.
When it comes to purchasing birds there is one thing that is
certain; there will always be great demand for top quality budgerigars that will outweigh
the availability. Prices of pedigreed budgerigars could range between £20 and say £1000.
There will always be this typical spread of prices with those enjoying success in top
competition being able to demand the top money. For the majority, to reach
“world-champion” status, for example, the investment in both time and cost will
have been substantial and so it is only reasonable that they should reap the benefit of
their efforts.
Prices Frighten Away Newcomers
My only concern about the pricing of quality budgerigars is that the
top-level prices are likely to frighten away newcomers to the hobby that are on a tight
budget. However, all of us know that in reality there are many thousands of budgerigars
for sale in the UK and I dare say the rest of the world, that are priced to sell. When I
first entered the hobby in the late 1970’s the pattern was for Beginners to purchase
from Novices, Novices from Intermediates and Intermediates from Champions. Although this
did not always follow true, it meant that the strongest competition was in the Champion
ranks. All the other sections competed within themselves and seldom did the top awards
migrate to the lower levels. The sale of budgerigars was hierarchical, the demands were
easier to meet and Beginners supplied the pet market.
However, today things are very different.
When I first started in the hobby I made the mistakes of the
majority by buying here, there and everywhere. Fortunately, a local Champion came to my
rescue and I enjoyed great success at local level as a beginner and novice. To enjoy some
success early on is most important because it fuels the enthusiasm of the informative
years in the hobby. However, set yourself realistic goals and work towards them. Limited
finances should not stop you achieving your objectives – it just might take a little
longer.
