From that visit we bought a Grey Green cock for £20 (a lot of money those days) and bred an exceptional Grey Green hen which was Best Novice Breeder and Best Novice Exhibit in 1969. Well you could imagine how a 14 year old felt about his favourite bird, to say I was happy was an understatement. Then on the Sunday morning of the Show Jack Fisher approached my father and myself and offered £75 for the bird (£75 in 1969 was a fortune to us, especially a 14 year old). That Sunday morning we made the best decision of our budgerigar life, we agreed to exchange this Grey Green hen for Jack Fishers Light Green cock, which was 4th in the Intermediate Class. This Light Green cock became the foundation bird of our Light Green stud to date.

To maintain a stud of quality Light Greens can be extremely difficult. I believe the only way is to be ruthless when you are selecting the birds either to be kept or sold. If I have two birds of equal quality, one is a Light Green and the other is, say, a Blue of course I sell the Blue. Although some may say I am a Light Green specialist quite a few often purchase birds from me that are non Green, they say you can get a better quality bird that way!

Anybody wishing to specialise in Light Greens must of course originally purchase visual Light Greens, even then you cannot guarantee to breed Light Greens, as they are often split for Blue. I have often been told that if you produce a pure stud of Light Greens then you would loose the size. After many years in specialising I have found that my pure Light Greens are often the better quality Greens that I breed. In years to come I intend to have a stud of 100% Light Green.

I would try to avoid the use of Cinnamon and Opaline cocks in maintaining the numbers of Light Green normals to be produced.

I have seen normal Greens and normal studs change to a Cinnamon and Opaline studs in a matter of a few years. Although I do use Cinnamon and Opaline hens with great success.