Before purchasing birds, study the current standard that is prescribed to in your area. Compare this to the birds that are winning on the show bench and form a picture of what you see as the 'ideal' bird. Always try to keep this ideal in mind when buying a bird. Size must be a priority in purchasing birds.
The ideal bird will most likely not be on sale, so you will have to make do with a compromise. When buying birds, try to gather the component parts to make the ideal. If you purchase a cock that has good features except he lacks size, then try to find a hen that will compensate for the size while perhaps not being as good in other areas. As your flock is built up, you will be able to breed your own birds to make up the ideal budgerigar. Each individual bird will be a part of the end product generations down the line: your own champion birds.
When you buy the birds, try to keep other factors in mind. Make sure the bird is in good health, and has no contagious diseases that will affect the rest of your flock. If it is a breeding adult, ask for any breeding records, or if there are any special needs for the bird to survive.
The price of your bird will depend on the local economy, but don't think that cheaper and inferior birds can be a substitute for a more expensive and obviously superior breeder. It is better to buy just one pair of good quality birds and start from there. A large flock of poor birds will bring you no closer to the ideal, while a good pair will be a start.
A good cock will most likely be more easy to come by, and is a better buy. A cock will not have to rest as much between batches, and is less likely to become sick. If you can't find a good hen to buy, then breed your own with birds that, while inferior, compensate for any bad points the cock has.
Once you have purchased a few birds to start your flock, the next step is to select breeding pairs and establish a breeding line, as set out below.
The hens that will mate with the progenitor should complement his good points and modify any weakness. They should be inclined to bulkiness, with a deep mask and broad head. Any fault in the progenitor can be breed out with successive generations altering the undesirable trait.
This initial stage of the breeding process is called outbreeding, as you are breeding a large number of unrelated birds to give a greater choice of birds next season. Once the line is founded, a form of inbreeding is used to strengthen the desirable characteristics in your flock. Inbreeding involves breeding related birds to establish the good traits of the original birds. The most common form of inbreeding is line-breeding.
In no circumstances should you actively try to breed hybrid varieties. Although some hybrids are interesting as pets, they will not be accepted in a show class. Time spent breeding non-purebred varieties is wasted if you want to show budgerigars.
Programs available to keep bird records includeBirdData and Bird Basics.
Normally the chick will hatch on it's own, by making small cracks around the top of the egg and then pushing the top off. Once the first chicks in the nest have hatched it is important to make sure the other eggs are getting enough warmth. Allow the first three or four eggs to hatch, then farm out the last eggs or the first chicks to a foster pair to give the last eggs a better chance to hatch. Make sure that if you mix up the chicks or eggs from different nests you can identify them at a later stage. Eggs should be labelled, while chicks should be identifiable once their variety shows.
Rings can be purchased plain from a pet supplier and your own numbering system used, but it is preferable to use the rings sold by a local society. The society rings are registered in your name and allow the birds to participate in shows.
With older hens, they will stay in the nest box with a swollen abdomen, which progressively gets larger. To remedy this problem, release the hen into the flight aviary and the exercise should allow the egg to be passed.
With young hens, especially their first clutch, they will be found on the breeding cabinet or nest box floor with a swollen abdomen, dilated pupils and distended feathers. With these hens, or with older hens if exercise does not dislodge the egg, they should be put into a heated cage and a few drops of oil placed on the beak and vent areas. If this fails to dislodge the egg after a few hours, then massage the abdomen until some of the egg is visible, then puncture the egg with a pin, allowing the fluid to drain out. The collapsed egg should then pass out of the hen.
If a pair is good at incubating and raising chicks, but cannot produce fertile eggs, remove the infertile eggs and replace them with fertile eggs from another nest that may not have as good a record for raising chicks.
If the eggs are simply rolling away from the hen in the night, then the egg hollow may need to be made deeper. If the hen does not sit on the egg hollow properly, turn the false bottom upside down and provide some sand for the hen to make her own hollow in.
Feather Plucking can also occur when the chicks are in the nest. If the chicks develop small scabs and are losing feathers, foster them out, or remove the offending parent. If the hen is feather plucking, remove her if the chicks are big enough to keep themselves warm(usually after 2 weeks), but if they are not old enough then foster them out. If the cock is feather plucking, remove him regardless.
French Moult is a disease that affects all parrots, resulting in feather damage and loss. Symptoms in budgerigars occur at about 5 weeks, and range from the bending and loss of a few flight or tail feathers to the loss of all the major flight feathers. Chicks usually recover in due time and the disease will not be noticeable in later life.
Line-Breeding
This is the simplest method for controlling traits in your birds. Line-breeding relies on reducing the number of ancestors a bird has, resulting in a fixing of (hopefully) the desirable traits. Starting with the progenitor, select two mates for him, one that will back up the good traits in the progenitor and introduce bulk into the flock, and the other to compensate for the bad points in the progenitor and produce finer birds.
After the first mating, the off-spring from the first crossing should be larger birds with good quality while the second crossing will produce smaller birds that will, with the larger off-spring, be closer to the ideal. The birds produced in from the progenitor are called the F1 generation.
By breeding the best of the F1 generation, and removing the other off-spring from the line, the next generation (F2) will contain birds that are based on the progenitor, with necessary modifications from the two original mates. Continuing to breed the best birds in each generation, the off-spring will move closer to the ideal.
Parallel Line-Breeding
This is a related technique used to fix the line once initial line breeding has produced the ideal birds. The method involves mating the father to daughter and mother to son to fix the desirable traits in the flock.
Outcrossing
Once the line is started, you may find that there is modification needed to the birds. The introduction of a non-related line is called outcrossing, and will modify the main strain of birds if undesirable traits have appeared. Choose a bird that will modify the main line and move the line toward the ideal. Once the outcross line has been introduced, the main line should contain more desirable traits.
Special Techniques for Varieties
When breeding budgerigars for showing, there are generally no distinct advantages with breeding any particular variety. Genes that cause variety are not related to the size or other characteristics of the bird. Your main focus should be on the size and type of the bird, irrespective of variety. There are, however, some techniques that can be used for particular varieties to increase the quality of markings or colour.
Recessive Varieties
The simplest way to breed a line of a recessive variety is to only use birds of the variety. Unfortunately you may want to introduce a bird that does not have the recessive gene. With the result of such a mating, none of the off-spring will show the recessive characteristic, but they will all be split for this variety. By breeding them back to the recessive parent or among themselves the next generation will contain birds with the variety, modified by the non-variety bird. Recessive varieties are treated further in the section on genetics.
Pieds
When breeding these birds, the markings are hereditary. When choosing your breeding birds, check the standards as to what is permissible as pied marking for show purposes. Remember, introducing a hybrid such as an Opaline-Pied is not acceptable on the show bench, so care must be taken in selecting birds.
Clearwing
This variety involves choosing the birds with the clearest wings and breeding them together. However, the larger birds usually have poorer markings and so some compromise should be arrived at between size and wing markings, depending on the show standard used in your area. Try to breed the largest birds you can get without loosing clarity in the wings.
Lutino
The best method employed to have lutinos with a deep full colour is to breed them on birds with a darker base colour. Light Green birds overlayed with lutino will appear pale compared to dark green, and olive is better still. If you have light green lutinos then outcross your line with an olive bird to get a deeper colour.
Albino
Sky blue birds overlayed with albino can have a pale blue suffusion showing thorough. To remove this, outcross with a grey bird to produce grey albinos, and the birds should have a better colour.
Practice
This section deals with the actual breeding process used once breeding pairs have been chosen.
Breeding Condition
The breeding pair must be in condition to breed before placed in a breeding situation. With cocks, the cere should be bright, the bird should have no illness, and the bird will be more active and pay attention to other birds. Cocks should be 10 months old before breeding, and no more than 6 years old. With the hen, the cere should be a rich chocolate brown and there should be no illness. Hens should be a year old before breeding, and no more than 4 years old.
Nests
The nesting box and cabinet should be cleaned, and anti-vermin powder used to prevent parasites. Grit can be used on the bottom of the cabinet, and all the usual diet requirements provided. The birds can also be dipped for lice and mite prevention. Perches should be secure and not roll, and provided there are no problems, eggs will appear in 10 to 20 days. Eggs are laid 2 days apart, the average clutch being about 5 eggs. Incubation will start once the second egg is laid.
Fosters
Foster pairs are used when there are too many eggs or chicks for the main breeding pairs to raise, or to raise all of the eggs while the breeding pair rest. They are also security should a parent die, or the chicks be savaged. The fosters should have no bad habits when raising chicks such as feather plucking, savaging, neglecting chicks or laying more eggs with the chicks still in the nest. It is best to allow at maximum four or five eggs in one nest, any more may lead to problems. Allowing fosters to incubate and rear chicks allows the main breeding birds to rest between clutches and ultimately produce more eggs. There should be a 2 foster pairs for every 3 breeding pairs. Do not be afraid to touch or move eggs and chicks, budgerigars will incubate anything that resembles an egg whether they laid it or not, and will feed a chick if it is theirs or not.
Candling
Candling allows you to view the contents of the egg and discard any infertile eggs. This in turn increases the chances of the other eggs hatching. The egg should be held up to a light source and the contents of the egg viewed. After 3 days of incubation the embryo should have developed enough so that the heart is beating and a network of blood vessels is showing. If after a week of incubation there is no obvious signs of the yolk changing or developing then it is safe to assume the egg is infertile and you can discard the egg. When candling I prefer to use a table lamp, with paper placed over the bulb with a small hole to allow light to pass through. Placing the egg over the hole allows the contents to be viewed.
Records
Accurate records are important when breeding. Records of the dates eggs were laid and expected hatching dates should be calculated. Eggs should be numbered using a non-toxic marker or pencil. A rough record should be kept near the nest for quick reference, after the breeding season this can be transcribed to a permanent record. The hatching dates should be recorded, and from this a record should be drawn up for each of your birds. This should contain the birth date, the parents, a description, the ring number and any breeding or other information about the bird that you can use. A separate record system for breeding pairs should be kept to show the breeding success of a pair. This should contain the clutch size, fertility rate, hatching rate and chick numbers for each clutch.
Hatching
The first egg will hatch after 19 days, the others after 17. This means the first two chicks will hatch together, with the others coming at 2 day intervals after this. Some eggs will take longer than this, some less. It is simply a matter of watching the eggs that are due, and if the egg becomes discoloured, helping the chick to hatch. If the egg has not hatched after 18 days, and the egg is becoming blue-grey in colour, assistance should be given. Working at the larger end of the egg, where there is an air bubble, carefully push your fingernail under the egg surface and remove some of the shell. Expose the head of the chick, being careful that it does not drown in blood. This will be enough to allow the chick to hatch. Do not remove it from the shell, place the egg back in the nest with the chick's head out of the egg. If the chick is fully developed it will survive, but if there is still some yellow yolk visible on the stomach of the chick you have acted too soon and the chick will die. Always wait until the time seems excessive and there is obvious signs of bruising to the egg before acting.
Ringing
All of your birds should have a coded identification ring on their leg. The best time to ring a bird is as a chick, usually between 6 and 10 days old. If the ring looks to big for the leg, then wait until the chick grows a little more. To place the ring on the leg, grease it with vaseline or saliva and gently slide it over the front two toes. Move the ring up the leg and then carefully pry the back toes through. If the chick is too big for this, or you are ringing an adult bird, then cut a split in the ring , open it, then squeeze it back together over the lower leg.
Feathering
The chicks will develop down feathers in a week, and permanent feathers will begin to grow in three weeks. Once the permanent feathers are growing, the droppings in the nest box can be replaced with seed for the chicks to learn how to eat. Do not clean out the droppings with chicks in the nest without replacing it with seed, as the droppings help to keep the chicks warm.
Emerging Chicks
Young birds will leave the nest at four to five weeks old. Any chicks that leave the nest before this should be returned to the box. Once the young are able to crack seed for themselves they should be removed from the parents and placed in the young bird cabinet. This allows them to be protected from the elements longer while keeping them away from parents that may savage them for staying in the breeding cabinet too long. The young bird cabinet should contain plenty of perches and be located near to human activity to allow the chicks to get used to people. Chicks should stay in the cabinet until they can withstand any changes in the elements, and they have developed the strength to fly properly.
Colony Breeding
The breeding methods above are for use with cabinet breeding, but colony breeding provides a more natural breeding condition for the birds. By placing a large number of birds in an aviary with breeding boxes they are encouraged to breed. There are draw backs to this method, in that the birds cannot be bred selectively, but for birds that are not in your main line or are slow to breed in cabinet conditions, colony breeding is a good alternative. It is also simpler to feed the birds in one go rather than having to feed individual pairs. Simply make sure that there are about 4 boxes for every 3 pairs, and that the boxes are around the same height, as higher nests are favoured. Once the nests are occupied do not introduce a new hen, as she will try to take over a box that is already occupied, resulting in the loss of eggs, chicks and one of the hens. No matter how many empty boxes there are, a new hen will try to take a box already occupied. When the chicks emerge, female chicks must be removed once they are able to feed themselves, for even though they are too young to breed, they will try to occupy a nest.
Problems with breeding
Egg Bound
This problem requires immediate treatment, otherwise the hen is sure to die. It can occur in over young hens or hens late in their breeding life, or in cold weather. The egg becomes lodged before it is layed, and must be moved.
Failure to Lay
If the breeding pair has failed to lay after 3 weeks, check that the hen and cock are in breeding condition. Make sure the hen is a year old, and if there appears to be no cause for the failure to lay, try the birds in a colony situation, or simply leave them for a time. Chances are the birds are not quite in condition and just need extra time.
Clear Eggs
Clear or infertile eggs can be caused by the cock or the hen. With hens, particularly their first clutch, they will be too eager to lay eggs and will not allow the cock to mate. If this is occurring then close off the nest box, or try the pair in a colony breeding situation. Make sure the plumage around the vent is not too long and trim it if necessary. Check that the perches in the cabinet do not move or roll, as this will make it harder for mating to take place. With the cock, they may be large and need extra room to exercise and remain in breeding condition.
Discarded Eggs
If a hen pushes the eggs out of the nest box, remove the eggs and replace them with a few white marbles. The shape of the marbles will make it harder for the hen to pick them up and throw them away. Once the hen is used to the incubation of the marbles, try her again with real eggs. Otherwise, use the pair to raise chicks from another nest.
Cracked Eggs
If your find that the eggs in your nest boxes have dried out inside this is usually due to a small crack in the egg. Eggs can be cracked if the nails of the hen or cock are too long. If they need clipping, use a good pair of nail clippers and be careful not to cut through the vein in the upper part of the nail. If the cock has a habit of rushing into the nest box when you come close, it may be wise to only use this cock with chicks, as he will most likely damage eggs. If an egg is cracked or punctured, it can be fixed with the egg white of a poultry egg or some commercial nail polish(non toxic). Paint on a small amount across the crack and incubation should continue. When the egg is due to hatch then make sure the cover does not interfere with the chick's hatching out.
Unfed Chicks
With newly hatched chicks, watch them for the first day or so. If the crop area at the junction of the neck and body is full of a milky white fluid then the chick has been fed. If there is no sign of feeding, place an older chick in the nest as well and the louder chick should induce the hen to feed the nest. Alternatively, using a dropper, feed the chick a mixture of warm milk and cereal for the first two days, twice or three times a day. The chick will visibly fill up and this should be enough to get the hen to feed once the chick grows in size.
Savaged Chicks
If the parents see the developing chick as a threat to the nest sight they will try to chase the chick away from the nest. A hen will usually be responsible for savaging a chick while still in the nest, while a cock will most likely savage young in the cabinet. If this problem occurs, remove the offending parent or foster out the chicks. If the young can feed themselves, remove them to the young bird cabinet.
Dead Chicks
Sometimes chicks that appeared to be healthy will be found dead in the nest box. So long as they have been fed, they might have died if they rolled away from the warmth of the nest at night, or their neck could have been broken at feeding time. Make sure there are no signs of injury to the chick or no blood on the parents, otherwise there is not much that can be done other than making sure the nest hollow is deep enough and that the chicks are being fed.
Chick Diseases
Chrysanthemums This condition is comparable with mongolism in humans and usually occurs when a breeding pair have raised too many clutches in a season. Try not to let a pair raise more than 3 clutches per season, and space them out to prevent exhaustion. Chicks with chrysanthemums will generally only live to about 3 months old.