Stud – The Dictionary meaning: A breeding pedigree of thorough bred animals. (A family gene pool).
On returning to the hobby five years ago, I knew that I would have to keep myself very disciplined. I would have to control my purchasing of breeding stock from one end of the Sunshine Coast to the other. My main focus was to produce a stud of birds over a number of years that would, in appearance, look alike, but also of top quality.
A step back now to the year 1994, I had been sent a videotape recordings by Robert Manvell of Tamworth N.S.W. This videotape was of the finest Budgerigars I had ever seen. The birds, of course, were blood line culls from the outstanding top Budgerigar stud of Joe Mannes. I realise back in that point in time, that I was viewing a true stud of magnificent European style of Budgerigars not just a collection of birds.
Luck can play a major part in life. The year was 1998 and I was now re-entering the hobby. I stumbled across a Budgerigar breeder residing in a little country town named Gil Gai, near Inverell N.S.W. His name is Ken SEAGROTT. Ken had purchased a number of Robert Manvell’s top blood line culls and this was the family blood line that I was keen to breed from. I travelled to Gil Gai to meet with Ken, and purchased my first three pair of Mannes blood line birds. On leaving Ken’s residence he added to my purchase two other birds at no extra cost. One was a Grey Green Recessive Pied Hen and the other a Light Green Split Recessive Cock. Ken is a very generous person and loves the hobby. That is the nature of the man. I can still recall Ken advice, and that was “Now don’t go and put outcrosses into these birds, but build up a family with this blood line.” “Thanks Ken ‘.
I am a great believer in line breeding. I have attempted to use my best cock birds pairing them back to as many hens carrying the blood line of the cock. I also have paired Brother and Sister together the results have been very good from this pairing. In dealing with live stock it is a very slow process before any visible appearance of improvements can be observed. After five years I can see the results appearing in the nesting boxes but I still have a long way to go. In my opinion, the way to form a stud of top quality Budgerigars is to keep the family blood line together. I had attempted the out cross theory many years ago with the results ending up with a soup pool of birds. (A collection of birds and no more).
I do not favour this so called pairing a bird with dropped wings to a tight wing bird, as I have found that this is a sure way to breed a fault into your stud. The fault I have found will stay and remerge time after time. This theory is tossed around at bird shows like a sure fix, but what happens down the track two or three generations later? I have found the chicks appear with the fault again (heavy wings). In my opinion, birds with heavy drop wings or any visible faults just don’t belong in your breeding room. The fault in its recessive form can lay dominant for many years. It doesn’t just go away that easy. For example, this year I have breed my first Greywing hen after five years. Up to this point in time, I had no visible Greywing birds. This recessive gene has lay dominant for this period. Back on track again, I believe you are better off buying three or four pair of birds from a Master breeder in the hobby .Buy his blood line culls. The reason is straight forward, as years of hard work have been completed for you. Spend the first few years of the hobby learning about working with your birds. Keep up-to-date records on your breeding program and enjoy this truly beautiful hobby.
Good luck with your birds.