John Monks

talks to Dave Cottrell

   Budgerigar Society associate clubs cater for the breeders of the so-called specialist varieties. In some cases, a few breeders have become as famous for the colours and varieties that they breed as the specialist society itself. Living within walking distance of my home in Connah’s Quay, North Wales is a good friend and probably the most successful and famous breeder of Clearwing Budgerigars over the last fifteen years, J.B. (John) Monks.

  John obtained his first Budgerigars in the mid 1970’s, (they were originally a present for his son who quickly lost interest in the contents of the garden aviary).  John decided to expand on the Clearwing variety during 1977, obtaining a number of birds from the then highly successful and well-respected Wirral Clearwing breeder, Stan Evans.

  I first met John when I was still at school through his step-children, whose grandparents lived a few yards from my home, but it was not until 10 years later, when we were both starting out in the hobby that I really got to know this dedicated fancier. Having started with exhibition Budgerigars at the same time, and living within a few miles of each other ever since, we have inevitably followed a similar path through the local societies. We sat on the committee together at Deeside Cage Bird Society, and when part of their committee suggested the need to form a specialist Budgerigar Society, both John and myself were there as founder members of the now highly successful Clwyd Budgerigar Society. Only three of those founder members are still active within the club, John, Eric Peake and myself.

   I remember how John’s enthusiasm for the Clearwing variety encouraged outings to visit top Clearwing studs such as Stan Evans and Ken Allen on the Wirral and Dennis Silver in South Wales. John saw a number of features in the Silver birds that he felt could improve his own stud of birds, especially in length, and this combination of features formed the basis of today’s highly successful stud of Yellow wings and White wings.

  John is a quiet, modest man who always seems to evade questions about his many and long running successes, but over the last twenty years the J B Monks Clearwings have taken major specialist awards at all of the principle national budgerigar events. These wins include Best Clearwing at the Specialist & Rare Variety Show, BS Conventions in 1990 and 1995, three Budgerigar World shows, LC&NWBS and MBA Area Society shows, and on no fewer than six separate occasions at the Budgerigar Society/Clearwing BBA club show, which now includes the top Clearwing award at Doncaster in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Perhaps it is not the continued success with the Clearwing variety that will indicate the strength of this stud of birds, but the major awards won against the mainstream colours at top Championship events. This includes taking Best Opposite Sex in Show at Clwyd BS and more impressively, Best Breeder at Merseyside Championship Show. These achievements are even more impressive when you consider the strength and depth of the mainstream colours in the NorthWest area.

  John has a conventional sectional wooden bird-room made from tongue & groove timber with a sloping flat roof covered with felt. The inside is lined with hardboard sheets, and the main structure measures 18 feet by 6 feet by 7 feet high. In a block on the back wall are 24 breeding cages each 24 inches long, 18 inches high and 16 inches deep. Ventilation and outside flights are considered essential, especially when conditioning birds, and John’s aviary includes a small inside flight at each end of the aviary attached to outside flights each measuring 9 feet long, 4 feet wide and 6 feet high. Windows to the front of the aviary facing the breeding cages open to allow a good circulation of fresh air, supplemented by a powerful extraction fan.

  The other essential element in maintaining a good, healthy stud is cleanliness, and to ensure a germ free environment for all stock and breeding birds, John cleans all of his utensils, flights, cages and soaks all of his nest boxes in a solution of Vydephor, an iodine based disinfectant manufactured by Vydex Avian Direct. This system coupled with the addition of Entrodex probiotic in the drinking water ensures peak fitness in the breeding team. John expands on his methods for breeding top quality Clearwings by answering questions about his management and breeding systems.

How many birds do you keep and what varieties are they?

Just prior to the breeding season I would have in the region of 80 birds in the aviary. This would be 24 pairs plus spare stock and a few of my show winning birds who are now old age pensioners and who will be allowed to live out their lives in peaceful retirement. The colours will depend on the quality available when selecting the birds to keep back as I only select the best birds for my own use. All else being equal I would try to retain a balance of about 85% single factor Clearwings, 10% double factor Clearwings and 5% dilutes (Whites and Yellows). As far as colour is concerned, I would aim for 40% Yellow-wing Dark Greens, 30% White wing Blues in Sky, Cobalt and Violet with the remainder made up of Yellow-wing light Greens and the odd Olive, dilutes and double factor Clearwings.

Do you feel any other colour or variety can help improve the Clearwing?

For many years the only variety that I have used with any degree of success are Dilutes, both Yellows and Whites, which are genetically similar, but recessive to Clearwings. Using Dilutes with desirable qualities I can improve that single feature in one generation by pairing it to a double factor Clearwing. Double factor Clearwings are nearly always darker in body colour and dirtier in the wing and flights than their single factor relatives, and pairing them to Dilutes usually clears up the wings and flights without washing out the body colour. I have used a normal recently, but with little success so I will refrain from passing judgement on this route until further experiments have taken place.

How do you go about obtaining suitable out-crosses from other Clearwing fanciers?

I have bought (paid for) very few out-crosses over recent years, mainly because the quality that I would require is just not for sale. I find it much more beneficial to swap birds with fellow Clearwing breeders who are successful at shows. I certainly wouldn’t consider fetching in a Dilute Cock from a breeder of mainstream colours as it could be split for Opaline, Cinnamon or Ino. If any of these elements were present in a bird but failed to show up in the first generation, the resulting wastage could totally ruin my breeding programme for many years. If I am going to bring in an out-cross I prefer it to be a current-year hen.

What pairings do you recommend to produce the best exhibition Clearwings?

My general rule is to pair the Best Clearwing to the Best Clearwing and worry about the colours produced at a later date. I have a number of self imposed rules that have stood me in good stead over the last 20 years and which I always take into consideration when selecting my breeding pairs.

(1) I don’t pair light (no dark factor) birds together, Light Green to Light Green or Light Green to Sky Blue. Nor would I use a light factor bird to a Dilute, as all of these pairings tend to cause a loss of body colour.

(2) I pair light factor birds to single dark factor birds (Dark Green, Cobalt and Violet) or to double dark factor birds (Olive & Mauve).

(3) I have also used pairings containing two birds carrying single dark factors (Dark Green to Dark Green, Dark Green to Cobalt etc). 

(4) Never pair two small Clearwings together, although I have used small well bred cocks to large hens, but never the other way round 

(5) A good Dilute bred from either 1 or 2 Clearwing parents with good body colour can be a useful partner for a double factor Clearwing.

(6) Never but never pair together two dirty-winged birds or a dirty-winged bird to a Dilute bred from Clearwings with dirty wings. And for guidance, if you can’t resist an excellent non-Clearwing out-cross to help put size into your birds, only consider using a Normal hen, and preferably one not carrying the Grey factor.

What is your daily feeding routine?

I have been using a number of supplements from Vydex Avian Direct during recent years, and have recently changed over to their Growrite soft-food. Entrodex the probiotic and Ascorbivite the vitamin C booster go in the drinking water together three times each week. Calsure is a powdered calcium and vitamin supplement that I add to the soft-food each day, and all my utensils, equipment, cages and nest boxes are washed and disinfected using Vydephor. As well as the Vydex supplements all of my birds have Cuttle-fish, grit and iodine nibbles in addition to seed supplied by Johnston & Jeff which I find very clean and dust free, a very important consideration when selecting a suitable diet for your stock.

How would you advice a newcomer to the Clearwing variety to start a successful stud?

I think the best way would be to select two Clearwing exhibitors who were successful with their own birds and obtain two suitable pairs of birds from each, not just two cocks and two hens but two matched pairs. Colour is not important, but avoid Opaline, Cinnamon and Grey in these birds.

  In the first year I would pair the first fanciers birds together as he had suggested, doing the same with the second fanciers birds to increase the number of stock birds available from each established bloodline. I would not change over the pairings that had been suggested, as usually the breeder will know the strengths of his birds, both visually but more importantly by pedigree. In the second season I would pair the best visual Clearwings from each line together, and this should produce an improvement in the visual aspect of the Clearwings produced.

What are your views on line breeding?

I think it is the only way to make consistent progress with any form of livestock, but it involves discipline. Accurate and complete records are essential if you’re going to develop successful lines of quality Clearwings, and more importantly retain this line for many generations. Ruthless culling is required as the doubling up of many good points also means the doubling up of the bad, some of which are not visual qualities but might be such faults as poor fertility in the cock birds, small clutches laid by the hens, short life expectancy etc. The closest pairings that I use is half-brother to half-sister.

What are your main worries about the Clearwing budgerigar of today?

My main moans are not with the Clearwing or the Clearwing breeders themselves, but about judging. I now restrict my exhibiting to a few large shows and a couple of local events each year. I find it annoying that I have to take the trouble to investigate the preferences of judges before I can select my show team. Any serious Clearwing breeder must, because of the nature of the variety, concentrate on depth of body colour coupled with clarity of wing in order to give the required contrast, whilst trying to maintain or improve size.

  Some judges will place a class of Clearwings based entirely on size, so to win under these judges you need to send out huge birds irrespective of body colour or contrast. I have found it far easier to breed big Clearwings with poor body colour and contrast than to breed correctly defined colour and contrast on a good sized specimen. Even at the largest shows with large Clearwing entries, it appears that even the most serious Clearwing breeder is being influenced to exhibit big birds if they want to win. If the trend continues, the inevitable conclusion is that the very qualities that make a Clearwing such an attractive specimen will be lost. As exhibitors, and with the support of the Clearwing Budgerigar Breeders Association and the Budgerigar Society judge’s panel, we must keep trying to educate judges about those qualities that are so essential in making a good exhibition Clearwing, and why the very best examples of the Clearwing variety are worthy of consideration for major specials at any show.