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In recent years Fred has worked and bred Budgerigars
without a partner. Ten years ago Fred began to purchase birds from Jo Mannes in Germany
and has returned at regular intervals to make further purchases. These imports have done
well for him and the type of birds Fred breeds has changed. The stud is dominated by birds
with a modern, European head and face. The feather quality is good, so the colour of the
birds is a major feature. The birds excel in “width of face” and “top
end”. Fred’s aim with Budgerigars for many years
has been to build a large stud of quality Normal Budgerigars. After years of breeding and
showing, his interest in the showing of these birds became far less important for him. The
aim was to breed when the birds were is the best condition for breeding – and that
was always in the spring and he carried on breeding right through the summer and did not
take the last boxes down until September or even October. With the emphasis on breeding,
the interest and drive to show them has slowly disappeared. Fred now says he really shows
his birds to stay on the BS judges’ panel – and judging is something he really
enjoys. His diary gets filled up many months and sometimes years ahead with judging
engagements. |
At the end of 2002 Fred’s
birdroom was hit with a virus and more than half the birds were lost in four months. He
found this extremely depressing and has been fighting hard to get back to the position he
was at during the autumn of 2002. It was back to the pedigree books, and to use some birds
that under previous circumstances would not have been used for breeding. The original
Mannes blood bred true and better birds than could ever have been expected, but that is
something the Mannes stock does when it is paired correctly.
While this virus had hit the birdroom, Fred had
birds in quarantine that he had previously purchased from Pat & Gerald De Beer in South
Africa. They were birds that were totally unrelated to his own stock, so were complete
outcrosses. They were much longer, and carried more feathering, especially around the face
– these were features that he intended to introduce. But having lost so many birds,
these outcrosses became far more important than had previously been anticipated. |
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Six years down the line, Fred has
re-built and re-grouped. He does not believe he is totally back to the position he was at
when he was hit by the virus – but not far off! The stud is dominated by top quality
Normals in all the main colours with a few Opalines and a handful of top quality
Cinnamons.
Fred’s aim has never been to breed two or
three super birds a year – it’s been to establish a very large stud of top
quality Budgerigars. Usually, in excess of 300 Budgerigars are bred each year. He loves to
show his birds to visitors and one of the comments made by many people is that it’s
one of the better studs in the country, but disappointingly, they rarely get seen on the
show bench. |
Working with Clubs and Societies
Fred has always been committed to working with
local clubs, his regional society, the London & Southern Counties BS and the national
body – The Budgerigar Society. He is past Chairman of the London & Southern
Counties and was a member of the Budgerigar Society’s General Council for many years.
His writing
Some 20 years plus ago, he was encouraged to write
for magazines about Budgerigars. Since then he has become a prolific writer and has
articles published all over the world. Together with Roy Stringer, Fred wrote a series of
books – the “All About …” series of nine books about all the colours
and varieties of Budgerigars. These books have become extremely popular.
Every article that Fred has written has been about
promoting Budgerigars, their care and management – and not about promoting himself.
He was trained as a teacher and all his writing is about “educating” people
about Budgerigars. |
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