My Early Journey

My Early Journey in the Fancy

I started in the hobby initially because of ill health. I was serving in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), working a second job and doing other part-time work; consequently, my body could not take it and I had a nervous breakdown. I guess a few hours’ sleep per day was not enough and the battery went flat. I was basically told, after a lengthy stay in hospital, to change my lifestyle and attempt to find a relaxing hobby.

It was around this time I was asked by Bruce Patterson, a fellow RAAF member and keen bird fancier, if I would look after his birds (canaries, budgerigars and, I believe, parrots and finches) whilst he was in Queensland doing a course. He was a neighbour. We were both serving in Wagga Wagga, NSW at the time. It was disastrous for me and I suggest more so for Bruce, as vandals broke in and let a number of his birds out, mostly canaries as I recall. In a way he was lucky, as my wife rang me at work to say there were some canaries flying around the house. So, I hot footed it home, discovered the issue, and patched up a number of aviaries, saving a lot more birds from escaping.

I guess the seeds were sewn then, as I was so impressed with his budgerigars—the colours, the size—they were so different to what I had assumed budgerigars to be. This impression led me to a point where I needed to know how to breed these different colours, thus the book ‘Cult of the Budgerigar’ by Watmough was purchased. I read and re-read this book until the pages were near worn out, in particular the chapters on ‘Colour Production’ and then ‘How to Breed Winners’ and ‘In-breeding’. I still find I go back to this wonderful book today, just as a refresher, especially the latter two topics. (I was also very impressed with the Gerald Binks book ‘The Challenge’, a book that should be ‘up to date’ for years to come. The ‘All About’ series by Roy Stringer and Fred Wright were also very useful.)

I questioned fanciers. Albert Humphries of Wagga Wagga and Bruce Patterson must have got sick of me asking about things that I thought were important but were probably trivial or second nature to them. I also knew of fanciers in Kyabram, Victoria—my parents-in-law resided there. Ray Coldwell and Bert Saunders were of particular help to me.

After about 12 months of ‘researching’, I purchased three pairs of birds from Ray and two pairs from Bert and returned to Wagga Wagga. I paid $5.00 each for them. I was naive enough to show two of these birds at Griffith in NSW. One, a Grey Green Cock bird, won its class and eventually was runner-up to the winning Cock Bird in the Show. I guess this suggested I was in the right paddock, so to speak, as far as purchasing goes. I have not shown a purchased bird since.

I left the RAAF, moved to Mount Gambier in South Australia in 1981, joined their Bird Society, paired up these few birds in the back room/office of our newly purchased house, and made contact with Ray Coldwell again to purchase some more birds. His asking price, I believe, was then $20.00. I thought—and probably suggested to him—that I only wanted to purchase budgerigars, not some gold with them. How things have changed, and how horribly wrong I was to question the gentleman that kick-started me. He must have forgiven me as he gave me all of the books he had on budgerigars, which were many. I was able to repay him in some small way some years later by giving him a good pair when he decided to upgrade.

Geoff Smith from Adelaide, South Australia, was my next stop—there was a difference between the Victorian and the South Australian purchases. He and his wife were beautiful people and so embracing. The Victorian birds were probably more stylish, whereas the South Australian birds were advanced in the head and spot region. The blend of these birds worked tremendously, although you would not feed them today, as the advancement since importation has been that great. I was lucky enough to get Reserve Champion Cock of Show, Reserve Champion Hen of Show, Champion Novice, Champion Novice Opposite Sex, Reserve Novice Cock, Third Best Novice Cock and Third Best Novice Hen at the Budgerigar Society of South Australia (BSSA) Young Stock Show—there were 1100 entries. Kelwyn Kakoschke won Grand Champion and Champion Opposite Sex. This was in March 1984. In May of the same year, a record entry of 1300 birds were benched at the BSSA Annual Show, with young and adult combined. Kelwyn again took the honours; a Young Cock Bird of mine made Third Champion Cock in Show, plus I again achieved Champion Novice and Champion Novice Opposite Sex. This was frightening, as I was promoted from Novice to Open, and basically I was an apprentice in the hobby, given that I paired my first birds in September 1981.

After seeing Kelwyn’s birds, in particular in his aviaries, I had to make a decision. It was an easy decision: I needed to upgrade. I sold between 50 and 70 of my birds to purchase one of his, plus I worked heaps of overtime to get a second. These birds blended in with the best of the birds I kept and gave me further success. I later purchased some birds from John Scoble of New South Wales —again I sold numbers and worked every bit of overtime I could to get a couple of pairs, sight unseen. What a pleasant surprise it was when I opened the box after arrival by air. These birds were that far in front of what I had, it was ridiculous. I paired these birds together and won my first National with a Grey Green Hen in Hobart; that was in 1988. Fred Sherman commented that, in his opinion, this was the best bird in the show.

The National Show does not have a Best in Show. It is a team-based event where each class has three birds entered from each State/Zone only of which there are 7, and they compete for points. Points are allocated for the best two birds from these States/Zones. Thus, if Victoria had 1st to 3rd in the Lutino Class, the first two would be allocated 14 points and 13 points respectively, and the third bird would not obtain points.

In 1998 there were three birds selected and only the two birds shown per team per variety and explaining to the fancier that had the third bird left out was a challenge—thus they are all now sensibly included. The third bird was always the spare for that class at that time if per chance another dropped a tail or had other issues.

Below are the classes for the show in May 2026. It needs to be reinforced that there are 3 birds selected per class per team (State/Zone), there are seven teams thus 21 birds can be benched per class of which 14 are awarded points, the 3rd placed entry per class per State/Zone do not achieve points.

National Event – Show Schedule 2026

NORMAL GREEN
NORMAL GREY GREEN
NORMAL BLUE
NORMAL VIOLET
NORMAL GREY
NORMAL YELLOW FACED
NORMAL AUST. GOLDEN FACED
BLACK EYED SELF COLOUR ASC
DILUTE ASC
LUTINO
ALBINO ASC
DARK EYED CLEAR ASC
CLEARWING ASC
GREYWING ASC
CINNAMONWING ASC
SPANGLE DOUBLE FACTOR ASC
OPALINE ASC
OPALINE ASC, AOSV
CLEARBODY ASC, ASV
LACEWING ASC, ASV
FALLOW ASC, ASV
SPANGLE ASC
SPANGLE ASC, AOSV
DOMINANT PIED ASC, ASV
RECESSIVE PIED ASC, ASV
AUSTRALIAN WHITE CAP ASC, ASV
CRESTED ASC, ASV
HENS ASC, ASV
ANY OTHER STANDARD VARIETY OR EXHIBITION CLASS

Strangely, when the Kakoschke and Scoble birds were paired together in this period of time, they did not blend, but they worked okay if they were bred with their own families or were put to the progeny of the remnants of my original birds. John Tanner of Melbourne lent me four birds that were of excellent quality, and they matched well with the Scoble family.

My “English” bloodlines, which were purchased later into my commencement in the fancy were mainly Doug Sadler, Mick Joines and Tom Williams background, but not necessarily all were purchased directly from these gentlemen. I also purchased birds with Leo Endres, Reinhart Molkentin and Jo Mannes backgrounds. The birds with the Mannes background were purchased from various breeders throughout the UK. I was fortunate to be able to obtain an Opaline Light Green Cock from Frank Silva—“the fancier of the future”, I believe I called him when I first met him. In fact, I wrote in his visitors book in May 1994: “What a super start—look out everyone else”. This man was so methodical, so gifted with animals, that one could sense in his first years that he would be a successful exhibitor of budgerigars. He proved me to be correct; he is no longer involved in the fancy and has not been for many years, to the best of my knowledge. I was also able to ‘squeeze’ a quality Dominant Pied Sky Blue Cock out of Jeff Attwood, plus ‘squeeze’ a very good Grey Cock out of Bernard Kellett. The latter two birds were UBCs, or bar-heads. Another useful purchase was a Cinnamonwing Grey Cock from Fred Wright with an Attwood background. Fred offered this bird for purchase and it was initially declined. Toward the end of purchasing for various members of a syndicate at that time (when Australia permitted this practice), we were short of the sort of birds we were looking for and, as Fred had been very helpful, we decided to visit once more. This time the Cinnamonwing Grey Cock was purchased for Leon Akritidis of Melbourne—and boy this bird made an impact. Leon went overseas for a period of time and I paired his birds at my residence and used the birds as I pleased. This one again shone out with its progeny—it did not matter what it was paired to, something of quality emerged.

Mick Joines sold a Spangle Cock to Mark Bridgeman of Melbourne and that made a serious impact in his breeding programme back then, and Ernie Sigston let go a Cinnamonwing Grey Cock and a Grey Green Cock directly bred from Mannes stock—again giving major improvements.

Rodney Harris parted with a couple of birds—purchasing the worst, or close to the worst, in the nest was the option that was available and taken. Jim Hutton and Brian Byles also parted ways with a Mannes-bred bird at that time.

A Grey Yellow (now Dilute) with the background of Leo Endres of Germany certainly had some impact and may have had a major influence on this variety across Australia from then until now.

Visits to Alan and Gina Adams (An Opaline Cinnamonwing Grey Cock from this partnership gave great value in the breeding room) and the McGovern establishments were enlightening, and both appear regularly in the winning list as of today (2026).

I hope I have not offended any UK fanciers by not mentioning their names, but a lot of birds were purchased for other fanciers during this period all those years ago, and many had success with those purchases.

I never ever did get rid of all of my ‘Australian’ stock, as the Scoble birds, the Scoble/Tanner cross, and the blend of both to ‘my line’ had many of the features one was looking for, or were at least a good starting point.

I purchased a couple of birds after that importation, some year later. I found it difficult to purchase that good one, although I was extremely lucky in that I could go to a number of fanciers who had purchased birds from me over the years, grab something back that took my fancy, and split the nest—hopefully helping both parties out. Ross Loats, Leon Akritidis, Ross Grant, the Bridgeman family, David Estreich, Rob McKie, Stephen Mow, and the Podger & Ritchie partnership, just to name a few. In the main, this was a two-way arrangement. Most of these guys did well at the National level and the remainder did very well at major shows.

My feeding programme was totally modified in 1998. I could not believe the numbers of chicks that Frank Silva was producing, and chicks of quality, during this period of time. He gave me the ‘recipe’ that he uses for a soft food. Being somewhat busy, I could not keep up the routine of making the mix, so I went searching for a ‘manufactured’ equivalent. In the ‘sample bags’ given out at the NSW-hosted Nationals in May 1998, there was a product called Budgie Starter. This product is manufactured in Adelaide by Passwell Pty. Ltd. The following is an extract from the information sheet on this product: “In the wild, budgies feed their chicks a high protein diet of seeds, fruits and insects and although caged budgies may be genetically removed from their wild ancestors, they do retain much of the wild bird digestive physiology. The addition of insects to the diet not only increases the quantity of protein but also improves the quality. This means that breeding budgies need a supplement that contains a higher level of better quality protein than the normal seed diet.” Budgie Starter is in granular powder form and had a minimum crude protein content of 22% (in 2026 this might have changed). It was a product that was recommended to use without additives, but I did add three hard-boiled eggs to three cups of the granular powder, and further to that I added three cups of sprouted seed that had been rinsed and left to drain for approximately five minutes. All of this was mixed together and fed to the birds—whatever was mixed was used. I find that most of the birds consumed the majority of what was on offer. This mix was fed each morning and, if it was a warm day, removed within hours. Sprouted seed was fed each evening and removed in the morning (I would not use this in 2026 – I believe it is a potential risk health wise for the birds if it goes ‘off’ and may contribute to Avian Gastric Yeast). All breeding cages and aviaries had separate containers of Plain Canary, Jap Millet, White French Millet, Red Panicum, Bandicoot Oats (Garlic oil or Combi oil [a blend of 8 seed oils] was added to this), and Grey Striped Sunflower. The birds were also given an even mix of Canary, White French and Jap Millet, to which Cod Liver Oil and Wheatgerm was added. Finger drawers supplied: (a) two types of hard grit, one from Broken Hill and the other from Adelaide (Budgie Bill from Broken Hill graded and sold these grits at this time); (b) wild seeds that were able to be purchased at the time. Cuttlefish and calcium bells (iodine and charcoal) were also used. Silverbeet was fed each morning; gum branches/leaves were presented weekly to fortnightly; and lucerne (fresh) again weekly to fortnightly. One-eighth of a lemon was fed to each breeding cage per week and half a lemon to each aviary over the same time span. I added Pentavite to the water daily and Vitamin B12 three times per week. I had been using other vitamin products previously. Over a two-year period of these other products’ use, I had a number of birds with deformed legs and wings—I could not guarantee that the birds were getting too much or not enough of anything, but my vet at that time thought the signs were that there was too much of a particular substance. I had 20-odd birds afflicted the first year and 35-odd the second; up until that stage there had been no perceived problems. Once reverting to Pentavite in that first season, I bred 130 chicks more than normal and had no deformity problems. The only difference to the diet in the ‘off’ season was a reduction in the Bandicoot Oats and the sprouted seed, and the water was presented free of vitamins.

All of the above occurred whilst I lived in Mount Gambier—a city in South Australia near the border of Victoria.

Because of Jennie’s (my beautiful partner in life and with budgerigars) diagnosis of various cancers, we found it difficult getting the treatment she required at the one location. We would travel to Ballarat, to Warrnambool, and to Adelaide for the various tests and treatments that were required. The treatments etc. could not be faulted; it was the travel that was so difficult for Jennie after these treatments. We were fortunate enough to own a couple of rental properties in Adelaide, and when one set of tenants defaulted on their rent and disappeared (a real blessing), I left my job and we moved to Blackwood, in the Adelaide Hills—the best thing we could have done. We were close to Jennie’s family, close to the treatment (15 minutes at the maximum), and I am sure this gave Jennie more time on this earth to share her artistic, photographic, caring gift with many. She passed in late 2019.

Around 2017, I met up with a young fancier (Beau Schutz) that I had known from many years earlier. This was at Flinders Hospital near home. Jennie was in palliative care and Beau was visiting his wife. We met at the lift; Beau was leaving as I was entering, from memory. We chatted and not long after we commenced working together. I had the birds at home and not a lot of time, as Jennie was in and out of palliative care over this period and I was her full time carer plus I was working (from home), and Beau did not have the room; thus a partnership was agreed.

Working with Beau and his family is so easy—very honest, compassionate people—and Beau is so keen on the budgerigars, it is exciting to witness. Beau and Kate have in recent years upsized to a semi-rural property in Cherry Gardens about 15 minutes from Blackwood, and an aviary/breeding room was built. All of the birds are at Cherry Gardens now and Beau is the main contributor. It is exciting to see the progress that is being made presently and to see that keenness grow further.

Breeding Preparation – back to the past

My preparation for the breeding season was ongoing. I was always mentally pairing birds throughout the year. The breeding season proper probably started a lot later for me than for a number of exhibitors—I relied on nature a fair amount. When I saw the ‘local’ birds building their nests, it was usually pretty close to pairing-up time for me, assuming that the budgerigars were in good breeding condition themselves. Some years it might be late July; other years it might have been as late as the end of August. Not all were paired at once—as they came into condition, they were paired—thus some pairings were as late as November/December. A number of pairs only had one round taken from them. Pairing this late creates a slight problem when aiming to exhibit. I missed most of the ‘early’ shows, although the ‘spill over’ from December were rung in January with the new issue of rings, and there was always a possibility of producing one or two for the shows for the following season. I used to put a large block of hardwood with thick bark in each aviary around late June/early July and the birds seemed to be stimulated by this, destroying the bark in very quick time. I also separated the cocks from the hens at this time. I kept the mature young birds separated from the adult birds. From mid-June to early July through to the completion of the breeding season, vitamins were added to the water, plus the Bandicoot Oats and the sprouted seed volume was increased (as mentioned earlier I would not use soaked seed these days)

Once the features I was looking for were being achieved or getting closer to what I was looking for (I don’t think one is ever totally satisfied – it is a progressive beast), full on close breeding was employed. A number of the birds, had some relationship, genetically but the early days was to try and get that ‘plus (cock) bird’ from the collection of birds that were being bred with, that I could work on with vigor to try and standardize the quality of birds throughout the establishment.

From a Pedigree vs Visual perspective, I went by both initially: first visually, then genetically. In the main, most of my birds had a common genetic background (Williams, Endres & Molkentin). Mannes-bred birds purchased from Ernie Sigston probably had the most positive impact in my aviaries—or should I say the sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters, of a particular Cinnamonwing Grey Cock did. A Grey Green Cock, purchased by the Bridgeman family at the same time as the Cinnamonwing Grey, and related, produced some quality in the first season but unfortunately he did not produce again and neither did many of his offspring. Another great purchase was a small, non-visual Spangle Yellow Faced Grey Hen from Rodney Harris that had super parents and brothers and sisters. She was paired to the Cinnamonwing Grey Cock and the jackpot was hit; she also saw the Kellett Grey Cock—another jackpot. These birds’ progeny blended so well with the Endres/Molkentin/Williams birds that had already blended with Sadler/Joines and my original line. The Silva and the Attwood progeny were also receptive to these birds. Both Jim Hutton and Brian Byles were each generous in releasing a quality Mannes-bred hen to me—these did not produce large numbers but their progeny were very useful nevertheless.

I paired Father to Daughter, Mother to Son, Brother to Sister (rarely), Cousins (close and distant), Uncles & Aunts to Nieces & Nephews. I had reasonable success with all of the pairings, but the best would be Cousin to Cousin. The Brother to Sister mating gave mixed results. One mating many years back just produced absolute garbage, with secondaries the length of primary flights—beaky—just horrible. That family was declared out of bounds and disposed of.

I used to treat all of the birds with Psittavet (Doxycycline hydrochloride 40 mg/g) twice a year: once prior to the breeding season and once midstream of the breeding season. This treatment was for seven days at a time and appeared to have reduced chick mortality considerably.

Most birds that I paired had one round only, but some would go two and the odd one might get three. I usually tried to have five chicks per feeding pair.

I guess I have a love for the Spangle. Don’t ask me why, but I do. I had reasonable success on the show bench with the variety over a number of years. The hardest thing to retain/obtain on this variety is the wing markings and the correct throat spots. I guess we should take some advice from the now late Jo Mannes, who suggested to me to pair Spangle to Spangle and then pair the double factors produced back to quality Normals, to improve the wing markings and no doubt the quality of the budgerigar overall. I don’t think that the Opaline or the Cinnamonwing varieties are good for the purpose of the exhibition Spangle and the clarity of the required markings, but I did have a few of these that were reasonable budgerigars. I also like Normals plus the Cinnamonwings, Opalines, Lacewings, Dominant Pied and the Recessive Pieds. On the show bench, I just love seeing a good budgerigar regardless of the variety.

I did not particularly like Dilutes (Grey Yellows), but one arrived in an early import shipment – of Leo Endres background. Seemingly after the introduction of ‘a Grey Yellow’ and the on selling of some of the related birds, problems with Greywings (Dilutes), Dilutes (Greywings), Black Eyed Selfs (Grey Yellows) were impacted on the show bench. What can we do to overcome this problem? Clearwings are also part of the story below.

I will refer to Chapter 8 of the book Genetics for Budgerigar Breeders by T.G. Taylor, M.A., Ph.D., and C. Warner. The title of the chapter is Multiple Allelomorphs. I will shortcut the chapter by way of explanation. This chapter considers a series of multiple allelomorphs that are responsible for regulating the intensity of colour on the wings and body of budgerigars. Birds of the normal Green and Blue series have black wing markings and ‘full strength’ body colour. It is the particular distribution of melanin pigment which determines this normal pattern. Various changes can occur in the distribution of the pigment granules, changes that result in the formation of Greywings, Clearwings and Dilutes (Whites & Yellows) [and one could slot the ‘Australian’ Black Eyed Self into this group]. They are caused by different mutations of one and the same gene; they thus form a series of multiple allelomorphs. These allelomorphs, or alleles for short, produce the same sort of effect, i.e., a reduction in the number of pigment granules, but to differing degrees. In the Greywing and Dilutes, the reduction in melanin is uniform throughout the wings and body, but in Clearwings, the melanin in the body feathers is only slightly reduced, while that in the wing feathers is reduced to an extent similar to that observed in Dilutes. The relationship between Greywing and Clearwing is interesting in that neither one is completely dominant to the other. When a pure-breeding Clearwing is mated to a pure-breeding Greywing, all of the young are known as Full-bodied Greywing, in which the body colour is that of a Clearwing, while the intensity of wing markings is that of a Greywing. Dilute is the most recessive gene of the multiple series. Dilutes of the Green series are known as “Yellows” and those of the Blue series as “Whites”.

Australia may have created a rod for its own back by promoting/accepting, and in fact standardising, the combination of two mutations/varieties. The original mutation of Greywing did not have ‘Body Colour: approaching full intensity’, but 50% body colour was deemed as the norm. As previously mentioned, by combining the Clearwing with the Greywing the end result was a bird with grey wings and close to a normal body colour. I am not one for the changing of The Standard from an original mutation; the mutation should become The Standard and we should aim to keep it as pure and perfect to its origins as possible—although one cannot argue with seeing a quality fully bodied Greywing on the show bench and it is definitely imbedded and here to stay.

Judging Uniformity

How do we get uniformity in judging these ‘difficult’ varieties? We, as judges, should have, at the National level, annual workshops (and we do now) discussing these varieties, with the results of the workshop being written up and sent to each Zone for distribution to all judges and the fancy in general. It is difficult if one year a ‘dirty winged’ Clearwing wins at the Nationals under one team of judges and the following year a similar bird is presented to another team of judges and finishes near the end of the group. It confuses the dedicated breeders of the variety. Sure, some of the ‘new style’ Yellows (Dilutes) might have “met The Standard” of, say, the Black Eyed Self. The Standard is only a guide of perfection and faults are permitted and points deducted; (this relates to all varieties). I have judged during this period what some might call Yellows (Dilutes) in a Black Eyed Self class and, in conjunction with other judges, have passed them as Black Eyed Selfs with visible faults and penalised heavily. I might add that in the same class a bird was disqualified birds that was not within a bull’s roar of the variety. Anyway, a poor exhibitor might front up at one show with a ‘winning Black Eyed Self’ only to see it heavily penalised or disqualified at the next.

This challenge is being actively addressed today (2026), and the emphasis on the allocation of the 40 points for Colour and Markings for the Black Eyed Self in The Standard—specifically the requirement that ‘Colour and absence of body colour suffusion are of paramount importance’—is intended to ensure that this issue is managed as best as is possible.

I believe these ‘Judges Workshops’ are a positive step in creating uniformity in judging these varieties.

My initial introduction to judging was under the guidance of Gordon Lowe, George Duffield and Kelwyn Kakoschke. Gordon was a hard taskmaster, and I enjoyed stewarding for or judging with him, as he gave great insight into why he was placing the birds where he did and would step on you if you were too close to his judging space to ensure that it was understood that is was a need to stand back and assess the birds whilst judging.

Where to with the Fancy

I am not sure what we can do to stop the decline, although there is a lot of work happening within Australia promoting the hobby (the 2020s) and there seems to be some positive responses with growth in some areas.

What are the restrictive issues?

- Are fanciers charging too much for birds?

That is for others to respond.

- Are the many auctions and online auctions, where what appear to be excessive prices being paid for an individual bird, the cause?

You cannot blame the seller at auctions for the prices they obtain, the buyer is the one parting with the money.

- Are we not sponsoring juniors?

I believe we are but the above might frighten a number away.

- Is the hobby now a business?

Some possibly see it this way.

It is a big worry as the hobby itself is a relaxing pastime that can be seen as assisting with mental health in this fast-moving world, it was certainly of value to me just prior to and when I left the RAAF.

I prefer to judge than exhibit. The hobby is a great leveller. I enjoy the travel, be it intrastate, interstate or overseas.

I have met some of the most wonderful people going around throughout this vast world that we live in.

Australian National Championship Show is Unique

The National Show brings together a group of dedicated fanciers annually for a great social event, which has a competitive spirit. It gives the opportunity to compare some of the best birds of different varieties in the country.

My concerns are, that we could potentially price the National event out of the reach of a number of fanciers. We must remember that not all fanciers have deep pockets and these major events should be within the financial grasp of all to continue growth and therefore the promotion of the hobby.

My final comment is ‘you only get out of the hobby what you put in; be observant; do not put off until tomorrow what needs doing today; and be assured, you never stop learning’.

The previous is mostly of what I did over a period of time from 1981 and perhaps another article in combination with Beau Schutz could be considered at some point to show what is occurring today.

Note: A number of the fanciers mentioned in this document have sadly passed. Their contribution to my growth will not be forgotten.