Morning. Inspect the flights, the nursery cages, nest boxes, chicks and breeding pairs. When all these have been done I then wipe down all the work tops and the next boxes, then hoover the floor. Then clean all the water bottles and then replenish the water.
Evening. Our feeding system is about the same all year, the seed we use is Champion blend, we also use these, soft food (egg food), Plain Canary and Budgerigar Tonic, these are all blended by Bucktons for the Budgerigar Society. The main items in mind for us, has to be the quality of the seed and the cleanliness, which helps us maintain the health of our stud. We also give our birds millet sprays which has been soaked over night in Vanodine and allowed to drain, this cleans of a lot of dust and helps to stop sour crop.
The inspection is the same as in the morning but if any chicks that need ringing, I do it now and I up date my records also any new eggs I record now. Evenings is also when I do my main feeding so all my seed dishes in the breeding cages are emptied and refilled, I do not use seed hoppers in my breeding cages. Also the egg food dishes are replaced and clean ones are put in with fresh egg food. Any youngsters which need moving to the nursery cage are moved now, I go back before lights out to make sure they have settled down, also when they are moved millet spray are given in abundance to encourage feeding.Show Season. First I catch up the young birds, 10 to 12 weeks before their first show, these are checked over for any damages, if I find any broken flights or tail feathers these are removed, the bird are then put into breeding cages, 2 or 4 in a cage. Tail feathers and flights take between 8 to 9 weeks to grow back. The birds are washed daily at first, with a sprayer and they are soaked, after a week or two they are sprayed every other day, this continues up to 3 days before the show. Their food is upped with lots of soaked groats , egg food and seed, the groats is put in so the young birds start to put weight on. The egg food is not given 2 or 3 weeks before a show, the blue series with white faces, will have stains on their faces and these requiring cleaning off. 3 days before the show, I start despotting the birds, first by removing the outer spots and then the shadow one, I complete the despotting the night before the show.
The any age birds are treated the same but they are not put into breeding cages until about 8 weeks before the first show, the reason for this, I don’t want them to put to much weight on, they can very easy become over weight and only 2 per cage, I don’t like to mix them only cocks or hens not both in the cage, this stops fights and also they don’t pair bond.
After the show the birds are put back in to their breeding cages, making sure that they have fresh food , grit and water, they are then left to feed up and to settle down, just before lights go out I will check them.
