Management in the Breeding Season of Budgerigars

W. Watmough

Description

This antiquarian book contains a comprehensive guide to breeding budgerigars, being a detailed treatise on management during the breeding season. Written in plain, clear language and full of concise instructions and handy tips, this volume is recommended for anyone with an interest in breeding budgerigars, and it would make for a great addition to collections of related literature. The chapters of this volume include: “Management in the Breeding Season”, “Breeding Ages”, “Youth and Age”, “Fighting Females”, “The Best Safeguard”, “The First Egg”, “Sequence of Hatching”, “Distributing the Chicks”, “Records Essential”, “How to Fit Rings”, “Ditty Next Boxes”, etcetera. Many antiquarian books such as this are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on aviculture.

Sujets

• Birds
• Pets

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781447483878
• Langue: English

Extrait

Management in the Breeding Season of Budgerigars
By
W. Watmough
Copyright 2011 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Management in the Breeding Season
Breeding Ages
Youth and Age
Fighting Females
The Best Safeguard
The First Egg
Sequence of Hatching
Distributing the Chicks
Records Essential
How to Fit Rings
Dirty Nest Boxes
Inheritance of Undershot Beaks
Egg-Binding
Neglected Chicks
Infantile Mortality
Be of Good Cheer
Red Mite
Nursery Days
Two Families Only
Foster-Parent or Feeders
MANAGEMENT IN THE BREEDING SEASON
I AM one of those who does not believe in commencing the breeding season very early. The last week in February or the first week in March is soon enough for me. Some breeders begin operations as soon as the New Year arrives, and in isolated cases we hear of chicks in the nest boxes at Christmas! I suppose that one reason for making such an unseasonable commencement is the alluring prospect of having very advanced youngsters for the Breeders Classes at the earlier shows. But, frankly, I do not think the game is worth the candle. I have seen some disastrous results in establishments where breeding has commenced in January.
I think the majority of fanciers make a beginning in March, which provides sufficient time for the second round youngsters to complete their baby moult before the nights are long and the sunshine and warmth of summer are no more.
If the last clutches are not hatched until late August or early September the chicks miss in the earliest days of their lives-when their future health can be made or marred-those advantages which are enjoyed by the older youngsters, the sunshine, the longer hours of daylight and their genial warmth, the wild greens and the seeding grasses.
Chicks which have their first moult in late autumn or in the winter usually change their feathers slowly, and a slow moult is never as satisfactory as a normal one.
Youngsters born in the fall of the year are often slow in their development and it is not advisable to breed from them in the following season.
All this provides an argument against those who are opposed to making a commencement before April, and those who even advocate deferring putting the nest boxes up until May is in.
But of much greater importance than the date when the fancier commences the season is the condition of the birds when they are mated. It is of vital importance that they should be ripe for breeding before they are provided with nest boxes. If this rule is strictly observed, the possibilities of egg binding, infertility, and eggs being cast out of the boxes by the hen, are reduced to a minimum.
Budgerigars are only in the desired state to go to nest when they are in perfect health, alert and full of life and activity, free from any sign of moult, with their feathers tight fitting and carrying that bloom which denotes physical fitness, with their wattles bright in colour, and when they are displaying obvious signs of desire to breed.
If you follow my advice you will have prepared all your matings on paper some time before you even think of actually putting the pairs together. As the cock and the hen in each of the pairs on the list both come into the condition which I have described, then and then only should they go into their breeding quarters. Obviously the pairs will not be ready simultaneously and, therefore, it is unusual for one to be able to mate all the pairs on a specially selected day. The actual mating process is generally spread over a period.
Breeding Ages
There are differences of opinion as to the minimum ages at which cocks and hens respectively should be mated, but I think it can be accepted that the average view of the breeders as a whole is that cocks should not breed until they are ten months old and hens not until they are eleven months old, though in our own aviaries we do not lay down quite such a hard and fast rule. We allow the actual development of the individual to govern the matter to a certain extent. Some birds seem to mature more rapidly than others, and one can exercise a little licence in such cases. All the same, the figures I give above are safe ones, and I advise my readers to adhere to them approximately, bearing in mind that as a general rule it is preferable for the birds to be older rather than younger than the minimum ages stated, if the fancier can so arrange matters.
Some authorities fix the minimum breeding