|
Ken Bennett |
talks to Dave Cottrell |
As
an Intermediate you have been involved with Budgerigars for a number of
years, when did you have your first birds? I
have had then for a little over 10 years now. I obtained my first birds
in 1987, joining the Budgerigar Society in 1988. Have
you always bred Recessive Pieds? My
first birds were the standard normal colours, which I obtained from
Charlie Pendleton, then a few years later the Recessive Pied breeder
George Lewis left the fancy and I obtained a number of his birds. Since
then I have purchased a number of birds from different sources, more
recently a few of the normal colours from Ken Spraggs. 1998
was a good year for you exhibiting, how do you regard your success? Last
season was my most successful on the show bench, but I have done
reasonably well since winning the Recessive Pied Challenge Certificate
at the 1994 B.S./VBC Club Show at Doncaster. The most pleasing aspect of
my 1998 wins wasn’t the Recessive Pied certificates, although they are
very enjoyable, it was the Intermediate section awards that gave me the
most pleasure. To win Best Intermediate Any Age at two Championship
shows was really pleasing, and an excellent way of promoting the
Recessive Pied variety. My Recessive Pied Greygreen was well placed at
all of his shows in 1998, and included 2nd Best Intermediate
Any Age at Central Lancs. B.S. and 4th Intermediate Any Age
at Melton Mowbray 2* Championship Show and the Lancashire, Cheshire
& N Wales B.S. Area Show which were his worst section positions
before Doncaster. What
type of aviary are you currently occupying? I
have a brick built bird-room 18 feet long; with large attached outside
flight and a small half-high indoor flight. What
size cages do you use? My
main stock and breeding cages are 48 x 18 x 16 inches. They are really
double breeder units but I give each pair a double cage for breeding,
this allows me 12 pairs. In addition I have another block of smaller
cages some 24 x 15 x 16 inches, which increases my breeding team to 18
pairs. Have
you any special routine to ensure your cages and equipment are clean and
disinfected? I
use Vydex Vydaphor, an iodine based disinfectant for cleaning and
disinfecting all of my cages, nest-boxes and feeding and drinking
utensils. In addition I apply Duramitex to all cage surfaces before I
pair up my birds to help eliminate insects during the breeding season. What
style nest boxes do you favour? I
use 10 x 8 x 6 inch nest boxes hung on the outside of the breeding cage.
All of my nest boxes are fully covered with a plastic coating that means
I could throw them in the fishpond at the end of the season and they
would come out still fully waterproof. What
is your basic diet? I
use Trill as a basic diet, which I feed in the old-fashioned jam jar
type feeders. I also give my birds a continental budgie tonic seed and
small parakeet mixture with extra groats and millet sprays Do
you use any water-based additives on your birds? I
give all of the birds Entrodex, Ascorbivite and Carbosol on three days
per week, mixed together in the same drinking water. I also offer a
calcium additive, and I am currently trying the new Calsure liquid from
Vydex. Do
you use a proprietary soft-food or green-food? No
I prepare my own mixture containing wholemeal bread, carrot, egg,
mornflake oats and MVS 30 which is offered to all breeding pairs each
morning and evening. I also give chickweed when available from my
milkman who has large greenhouses with plenty of fresh chickweed
available from early in the year, and guaranteed not to have been
treated with chemicals or fouled by dog’s etc. What
are your thoughts about grit? I
am a firm supporter of grit for Budgerigars. I use a good quality
mineralised grit. How
do you select your breeding pairs? I
always select my pairs on visual quality, but with a thought for
pedigree in my mind when looking at the birds as well, Markings are very
important with Recessive Pieds so you must keep accurate records
regarding markings to assist you when using splits in a pairing. How
close do you go when in-breeding? I
won’t go very close with related birds, cousin to cousin, auntie to
nephew, uncle to niece. I
tend to use a visual Recessive pied to a split Recessive pied partner as
this keeps the size up, so important with modern Budgerigar Society
judges. The down side is you only breed half of the youngsters as visual
Recessive Pieds that reduces the choice you have for the shows. My
1997 bred Recessive Pied Greygreen Cock is a great-grandson of a
Recessive Pied Violet Cock that also bred the Recessive Pied Dark Green
Cock that won the CC at the 1994 Club Show, showing that pedigree is an
important aspect of breeding top quality exhibition birds, or as the
saying goes, it’s the blood that counts. You
mentioned Vydex supplements. How long have you been using them and do
you think they are of any benefit to your stock?
I have been using Vydex products for quite a few years but have
been using the full range of products since after the 1997-breeding
season and have noticed a distinct improvement in the overall well being
of my birds. The last breeding season was a good one, and early results
in 1999 are very promising. I found the greatest benefit in the show
team, which quickly recovered from their outings. This allowed me to
exhibit my best Recessive Pied Greygreen at 8 Championship shows in
1998, something I would not have thought possible a couple of years ago
as my birds always seemed to moult after a couple of shows. Do
you have any other thoughts about the hobby? I
am still a little confused when it comes to exhibiting Dark-eyed clears
along side Recessive Pieds. How a judge can be expected to consider a
variegated bird against an all Yellow bird is beyond me. I thought
Dominant Pieds were shown in a separate class, and that Dark Eyed Clears
only appear when the Dominant Clear-flight gene is present. Therefor a
Dark Eyed-clear is nothing more than a Dominant Pied/Clear-flight,
visually identifiable by any judge. So what is a Dominant Pied doing
masquerading as a Recessive Pied? Surely they are no different than odd
eyed pieds which are shown in the Dominant Pied classes. I
derive great pleasure from both breeding and exhibiting budgerigars and
believe that being able to enjoy a hobby such as I do takes away much of
the strains and stress of modern day life. However that would by
definition, preclude me from getting involved in the political side of
the hobby, but somehow I don’t think I am really missing that much.
|
