26 Bird Scene - November & December 2015 by Theparrotsociety

BIRD ISSUE TWENTY SIX: NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015

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THE MAGAZINE FOR HOBBYIST BREEDERS AND CONSERVATIONISTS

THE CHICKEN SYSTEM OF BIRD HEALTH

THE CELESTIAL PARROTLET

DON BURKE

LES RANCE

14 ISS TH U E D 2 20 EC 7 O 15 EM UT BE R

FR EE

NATIONAL EXHIBITION

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CONTENTS

BIRD SCENE: NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015

CONTENTS 38

DONATE TO OUR CONSERVATION FUND… CLICK THE LINK BELOW: www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/donations.php

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SHOW REPORTS RECEIVED - THE NATIONAL 2015 ECUADOR – A LAND OF LOST BEAUTY By David Steptowe THE CHICKEN SYSTEM OF BIRD HEALTH By Don Burke

ON THE COVER

BIRD ISSUE TWENTY FOUR: NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2015

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NATIONAL EXHIBITION

THE CHICKEN SYSTEM OF BIRD HEALTH

THE CELESTIAL PARROTLET

DON BURKE

LES RANCE

THE CELESTIAL PARROTLET By Les Rance

THE MAGAZINE FOR HOBBYIST BREEDERS AND CONSERVATIONISTS

14 ISSU TH E D 28 20 EC O 15 EM UT BER

DOES YOUR PARROT REALLY WANT A MATE? By Rosemary Low

BIRD SCENE: Issue Twenty Six: November / December 2015 BIRD SCENE is run by The Parrot Society UK, 92A High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2BL, England. FOR SALES AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRES Telephone or Fax: 01442 872245 Website: www.theparrotsocietyuk.org E-Mail: les.rance@theparrotsocietyuk.org

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INTRODUCT

Les Rance, Editor, The Parrot Society UK | www.theparrotsocietyuk.org | les.rance@

ell here we are the twentysixth edition of Bird Scene. What a cracking National Exhibition we have just experienced the P.S. Council were delighted by the 6,750 visitors to the event and very heartened by the favourable comments from our trade supporters many along the lines of ‘the best sale day ever’. As the roof of Bingley Hall is in the process of a £1,000,000 refurbishment there were some lighting issues but I am sure they will be resolved by the time of our next visit to the Staffordshire County Showground. The clubs associated with the National Exhibition were full of praise for the way the exhibition is developing and with 4,510 exhibits they have every reason to be happy it might sound very confident but an 11% increase in birds staged next year would take us to the magical 5,000 birds a number not seen at any UK show since 2003 when the last Birmingham NEC National was held. I am sure it can be done and it would be great to achieve this figure in 2016. Neil Randle our resident photographer was busy all day and managed to take 700 pictures, he was working very hard and this will 4

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give us plenty of material for future publications. The autumn months are always so busy for the Parrot Society office as no sooner have we finished The National Exhibition than we start to build up for our ‘Help Bird Keepers’ Show also at Stafford on Sunday 6th December this year. Tickets and tables can be booked from the PSUK Shop on our website. We are really becoming attached to this publication because it is without doubt ‘the way to go’ possibly the most interesting question in relation to ‘New Technology’ is when will all bird keepers have both the interest to grasp this type of publication and when will they have the hardware to access this form of offering? Bird keepers already have a hobby and a very rewarding one it is; they do not need computers and all that goes with their purchase, installation and maintenance. Currently they can obtain everything they need via bird related paper magazines but eventually that will change and when electronic magazines become accepted by the majority clubs will have to take the hard decision as to whether to continue with the paper

TION

BY THE EDITOR

LES RANCE

@theparrotsocietyuk.org magazine. But may I say that at present The Parrot Society have no plans to go down that road. Regular readers will know that Bird Scene has been produced to publicise The National Exhibition held each year at our October Sale Day/Show and to promote our Conservation efforts for threatened parrots in the wild. Previous editions are still to be found in an archive at the foot of the Home Page of our website and if you would like to see earlier versions then do

please visit the Bird Scene archive. I do hope you enjoy reading this issue of Bird Scene as much as I have putting it together.

Previous editions are still to be found in an archive at the foot of the Home Page of our website and if you would like to see earlier versions then do please visit the Bird Scene archive.

THE N EXHIBATIONAL I PAGETION: 06

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SHOW R RECE

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FEATURE

REPORTS EIVED

HE ONAL 015

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THE IRISH FANCY INTERNATIONAL

e are pleased to say 213 Irish Fancy canaries were benched. Paul O’Kane from Derry Northern Ireland placed the awards, Paul chose a Clear Buff Cock Owned By M,O’Connor as Best Champion Un/ flighted and Best Irish Fancy in Show, Eammon Wolohan took the Award for best Champion Flighted with a Clear Buff Hen. Best Novice and best Ladies

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Award’s went to a Variegated yellow Hen shown to perfection by Lynn Gill, Jed Morrison took the award for best Novice Flighted with a clear buff Hen. We are very pleased to say we had a few Junior Exhibitors. The award for best Junior went to a Heavy Variegated Buff ,owned by Catelin Wolohan, The overall Standard of the Exhibits was high.

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REPORT FOR BLUE LIZARD SECTION

lue Lizard section, the show saw 36 Blue lizards benched slightly down on last year with bad breeding reports, this was to be expected. Best blue Lizard went to Lloyd le Page from Guernsey with a Clear Cap Blue hen this bird displayed good spangles. This bird took best Blue Lizard and Best champion winning the Kevin Skinner president’s Trophy. Best broken cap Blue went to Stan Bolton, best Non Cap to S & A Martin which also took the award for best Novice Blue lizard. Best Over-year Lizard went to first time exhibitor K Robey. I would like to thank the judge Kevin McCullam for doing a good job and finally I would like to thank all those who exhibited their birds and hope to see you all next year and a few more. David Allen show secretary.

REPORT FOR LIZARD SECTION

he lizard canary saw 56 lizards benched, again down on last year. A poor breeding season has been the main factor for this and hopefully we will see better numbers next year. The principle winners were, Best Lizard and best Silver was Stan Bolton with a Non Cap Silver Cock that had a good amount of breast work and usual Stan Bolton dark leg’s. Stan also won Best Champion gold and 2nd best Champion with Clear cap gold hen. The novice section was won by S& A Martin with a really nice Broken cap gold hen, the partnership also took the best Novice gold and 2nd best Novice awards. I would like to thank the judge Joe Coakley for doing a sterling job and his stewards Steve and Amanda Martin but the show would not be a show without the exhibitor’s thank you all. I hope to see you all again next year and many more exhibitors and birds. David Allen show secretary.

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REPORT FOR THE LONDON FANCY

he London Fancy Canary Club section at the National in Stafford had a total of thirty-four London Fancies benched, which is a record for London Fancies. The previous best was in 1897, when thirty-three were benched. The birds were exhibited by three exhibitors, Bernard Howlett, Andy Early and Piet Renders who travelled from the Netherlands. The winner of the best London Fancy was Piet Renders with an over-year jonque (yellow) cock. There were seven birds in this class, all of good quality. The other classes were Class1, current year bred jonque cock was won by Piet Renders, this bird was third best London fancy, class 2 a jonque hen was the only bird in this class, benched by Bernard Howlett. Class 3 clear, or nearly clear mealy (buff) cock, was won by Piet Renders. Class 4 clear, or nearly clear mealy hen, was won by Bernard Howlett. Class 5 spangled jonque cock, was won by Bernard

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Howlett. There were no birds in classes 6 or 7. Class 8, spangled mealy hen, was won by Bernard Howlett. Class 9, clear or nearly clear jonque cock or hen, was won by Piet Renders. Class 10, over-year clear or nearly clear mealy cock, was won by Bernard Howlett.This bird was also second best London fancy in show. Class 11, over-year spangled jonque cock, was won by Bernard Howlett. Class 12 spangled mealy hen, was won by Bernard Howlett. Piet Renders also benched some white London Fancies and some birds with brown markings, instead of black. These birds were not in the competitive classes, but were benched for interest only, if these birds were exhibited in the competitive classes there would have been over forty London fancies. A great deal of interest was shown in the birds, with many favourable comments. The London fancy Canary club would like to thank Brian Hogg for judging the birds.

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REPORT FOR GLOSTER FANCY SPECIALIST SOCIETY

his report has been prepared by the show Judges Jan and Ferre Willems. It was a great honour and a real pleasure to be invited to judge the Gloster Fancy Specialist Society show as part of one of the greatest and biggest bird shows of the UK, as the New National Show at Stafford surely is. We also highly appreciated the warm welcome and the hospitality of John Herring and his wife Josie, especially after our long journey from Belgium to England. So after a good meal and a refreshing night of sleep we could start with our challenge: selecting and nominating the best birds in each of the sections. And a challenge indeed it was: we were pleasantly surprised with the high level of quality of the birds, in each of the classes: not only in the champion but also in the novice and junior classes. So it took us some considerable amount of time and discussion in order to come up with our final results. In that sense, we would also like to express our thanks and appreciation to the stewards, who were of great assistance in this quite challenging task. The end results are some really beautiful birds that can be called the prize winners amongst a high quality pool of birds every participant can be proud of. Here are the winners:Best in Show was won by Peter Bull, showing as a Novice, his unflighted 3 parts dark corona hen won against strong opposition, this bird also won Best Novice, Best Novice Corona and Best 3 parts dark in show. Peter also won Best

Yellow in Show with an unflighted yellow corona hen. These were just rewards for travelling all the way from the Isle of Wight to support the show. Best Champion went to Kevin McCarthy with an unflighted Buff corona cock, this bird also won Best Buff in Show, and Best Champion Corona. Kevin also had more success as his unflighted Cinnamon Corona hen took Best Cinnamon and Best Champion Cinnamon.Best Champion Consort went to Mick Kelham with a flighted Buff consort hen; with the remaining Champion Specials going to John Cronin who won Best Champion Yellow with an unflighted Consort cock, in the White section he did even better as his flighted Fawn corona cock not only won Best White and Best Champion White it then went on to win Best White Canary in the whole Show. R & C Lootes had a very pleasing day in the Novice section winning Best Novice Consort with an unflighted 3 parts dark Consort hen and Best Novice Cinnamon with an unflighted Corona Hen; with son Michael taking Best Junior it was a good show for the Lootes family. Best Novice White was won by Ian Gooderham with a Consort Hen. Allow us to conclude with some congratulations to the organizers of this beautiful bird show, and we wish John and the entire GFSS team all the best, and good luck with your continued path of such nice bird shows.

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PARROTLET INTEREST GROUP RESULTS 2015 Class 18: green/ wild colour 1st Hayley Baker 2nd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan 3rd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan Class 19: Blue 1st Steven Fisher 2nd Fran Smith 3rd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan Class 20: American 1st Gareth Courtney (only rung bird in class) Class 21: Fallow 1st Fran smith 2nd Fran smith 3rd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan

Class 24: Ino 1st Fran smith 2nd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan 3rd Kathryn Davies Class 25: Dark Factor 1st Gareth Courtney 2nd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan 3rd Hayley Baker Class 26: Spectacled (none closed rung current year) 1st Sue Carver and Tracy Hayward) Class 27: Green rumped 1st Hayley Baker (only rung bird in class) BEST 2015 PARROTLET – Fran Smith BEST IN SECTION – Hayley Baker

Class 22: Marbled 1st Steven Fisher 2nd Hayley Baker 3rd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan Class 23: Pied 1st Steven Fisher 2nd Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan 3rd Fran Smith

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JUDGES AWARD – Fran Smith EFFICIENCY AWARD Johan Kortenray and Tom van Watermeulan

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ECUADOR – A LAND OF LOST BEAUTY BY DAVID STEPTOWE

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Introduction My visit to Ecuador was part of a 20 member group of World Challengers and was organised through my school, Brentwood County High. World Challenge is a school expedition company that provides educational expeditions to the developing world. Trips are designed to teach life skills and expand student’s life experiences beyond the classroom environment. Our 1 month trip to Ecuador was designed to foster team spirit and leadership skills and to provide an opportunity to work on a local community project. The trip has to be entirely self funded and over a period of approximately 18 months, I had to raise over £3,700 which was no easy task! I organised lots of fund raising events, cleaned garden ponds, pressure washed patio’s, painted fences, participated in several sponsored activities and secured a job in a local leisure/sports centre. My parents and past and present Parrot Society Council members were generous in their individual support for me, for which I offer my sincere thanks. The PS Secretary, Les Rance, must be singled out for his generous sponsorship and for his personal encouragement for me to complete my fundraising.

Quito, Ecuador

The Expedition We first touched down in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, early on a Monday morning, around 1am local time. Even in this hour of the morning the streets were buzzing with people

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and taxis were running all through the night. Initially getting into Ecuador had been a tiring process, with long waits for foreign nationals to pass through security before moving to baggage collection. When we finally re-grouped and hailed a taxi to take us to our first hostel of the trip, I was tired and in real need of rest. We spent the first full day in Quito acclimatising ourselves to our new surroundings. One noticeable thing about Ecuador is its height above sea level. Quito alone sits at an altitude of 2,850 metres; twice the height of Ben Nevis, Britain’s tallest mountain. The change in altitude was a real shock to our bodies and as we walked around the city; many of us suffered due to the altitude and the high temperature. My first impression of Quito was one of an under developed industrial city, with lots of market traders lining the 08 20

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streets and many more run down shops, hotels and other establishments making it a world away from home. The only task for the day involved preparation for the trek commencing the following day and so travel was arranged before taking time out to relax and recover from the long day of travelling we had just completed. Day two was an early start as the group prepared itself for the first of many days of trekking. Back packs were made ready with all those essentials including sun cream and insect repellent, water bottles were filled and purified, and walking boots tested for comfy fitting. Our fist day long trek was the ascent of llalo Peak, a small mountain just outside the capital. We started the trek at 2,850 metres, climbing to 3,200 metres by the time we reached the peak. Although this seems like a small

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ascent, it was ideal to ease the team into things and prepare us for the challenge of walking at altitude. To put into context how difficult it was to acclimatise, the first part of the trek which consisted of a steep incline up a dirt path tired the group out so much, that within 15 minutes we had to stop, with most of us gasping for breath! However, the first day was a success and provided a good introduction to trekking in a high altitude environment The following day we awoke early with the intention of travelling down and reaching El Chaupi in the early afternoon, leaving us enough time to complete an ascent to a base camp. Our plans were soon to change however; with no direct or easy method of travel from Quito to El Chaupi we were severely delayed; not arriving until late afternoon. Due to failing weather and light conditions we had to abandon our first trek and so setup camp, cooked dinner and had an early night before our trip the following day. Day two in El Chaupi was more successful; we completed a 25km hike which was the ideal opportunity to prepare our bodies for the physical challenge of trekking over large distances. By this point it was Friday we had been in Ecuador 5 days and our main trek, the ascent of the volcano El Altar, starting Sunday, was soon approaching. Saturday brought a long 8 hour coach journey far south to Riobamba; the start of our main trek. Upon arrival the group had to buy enough food for a 4 day trip, also repacking our bags with warm clothes and other group

equipment we would need. We dined in a local Ecuadorian restaurant that evening, paying a reasonable $6 for the local Al Museo, Ecuador’s traditional dish consisting of a broth style soup, meat or fish with rice and a fruit smoothie, each unique to the shop that created it. We woke early Sunday morning and then set off to meet our coach and guide, Fausto, who took us up to the start of our main expedition. Ahead of us were 4 hard days of trekking, something that the group had been preparing for since we arrived. The first day was tough as we climbed from 3800 metres to 4000 metres. The boggy conditions on the way up made the ascent a lot more difficult than it would have been had it not rained. We arrived at our camp mid-afternoon, set up our tents and collected as much wood as we could ready to cook dinner. Day 2 brought the start of poor weather conditions and even thicker, deeper mud. As we started to climb higher, reaching 4200 metres by the end of the day, we were hit by heavy rain, which was made worse by low drifting clouds making the air thick and moist. By the time we reached our camp site everyone was soaked

The itinerary for our Ecuador trip had been meticulously planned and time divided up to give a blend of challenging treks, community work and Rest and Relaxation days.

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through, so much so that we had to use an emergency shelter to prevent us from becoming wetter and to provide some much needed warmth. Day 3 brought little more than disappointment. The hazardous weather conditions prevented us from completing our ascent; the ridge we were supposed to be trekking through was hit by strong winds making the journey extremely dangerous. The only sensible solution was to descend to our previous night’s campsite, before giving ourselves a head start on the final descent the following day. Although this was a devastating blow to us all, there was one redeeming factor, the spectacular view from our tents. We filled ourselves with the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner before setting out, returning to day 2’s campsite by mid-afternoon. Day 4 brought our final descent back to ground level and the return of our coach taking us back to Riobamba. We spent our final night in Riobamba, relaxing and showering before travelling for a further 8 hours south to Tena and our overnight stay before a day of rest and relaxation. We had been in Ecuador for nearly 2 weeks and sadly had seen very little wildlife, let alone parrots, but the jungle phase of our trip was approaching and I was hopeful to see and photograph at least a few animals and birds. The itinerary for our Ecuador trip had been meticulously planned and time divided up to give a blend of challenging treks, community work and Rest and Relaxation days. Day 14 08 22

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in the country provided the opportunity to do some white water rafting. We were split into three teams, each with a team leader and local guide and spent the day rafting down the fast flowing waters of the Amazon basin. Our guide had us complete all sorts of tricks including the very scary ‘death’ spin which was fantastic fun and exactly what we needed to recover from the El Altar assent. The sun was shining; the surrounding views beautiful and we were all in a much happier mood, ready to tackle another 6 hours of travel to Macas for the start of our rainforest trek. The Rainforest Macas was much hotter and humid than we had been used to and these conditions were ideal for mosquitos, so the whole group started taking malaria tablets and using lots of insect repellent. As with previous treks we spent the first day exploring the town, buying supplies and meeting our local guides, Merutio and Sunki. The first day in the rainforest was a long trek, but we did stop regularly to look at the different types of trees, lots of creepy crawlies, tree frogs and lizards, but sadly no parrots! We spent the evening at a local tribe’s cabana and having eaten, were guided to a local waterfall to shower and cool off. The setting was like nothing I have ever experienced before; the tall tree’s providing perfect cover from the beating sun and a chilled mist from the waterfall cooling our faces. The following day we had the opportunity to try out a blowpipe, the

FEATURE A small local park centred in the heart of Quito

The view as we walked El Chaupi

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The outlook from our tent

locals preferred tool for hunting. The pipe which was about a metre long needed a fair amount of puff and a keen eye to hit a target, but I managed a 50% success rate hitting a piece of fruit hanging from a tree. We travelled to another cabana and after dinner the tribe entertained us with traditional music and dancing. The tribes Shaman (spiritual leader and healer) carried out a cleansing ceremony on each of us, which entailed him drinking a strong alcoholic substance made from fruit and leaves and spraying this liquid over our heads whilst flapping 3 large leaves to remove any bad ‘spirits’ from our body. A truly unique experience and one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The next morning we packed our rucksacks and walked down to a cable crossing post which would allow us to cross the mighty Amazon river. Once every - thing was across we boarded small carved out wooden canoes, our transport down the Amazon to the next village camp. Here we were able to swim in the turbulent waters of the river under the watchful eye of our local guides. Our campsite for the night was a small area of open ground right in the heart of the rainforest and as darkness fell we set off on a night trek to view some of the more unusual wildlife, including frogs, insects and bats. Even in the night we could hear many different bird calls, but sadly we could not see any of them! The evening finished with another Shaman playing a handcrafted guitar accompanied by A view from the canoe

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The central ruin of Inca Pricaletion.

The secluded waterfall

The outside of the school upon completion

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his brother singing in native tongue, a song about a Toucan. Even during the day the forest birds remained elusive, probably due to the noise made by our large group. My camera was always ready, but I was unable to photograph any parrots. Parrot watching is I believe quite specialist and within Ecuador there are three main regions that house a lot of the bird species, the first and largest of which is the Orellana Province, which contains the Yasuni National Park. Here can be found various Parrots and Parakeets, including Scarlet Macaws and Blue-headed Pionus parrots. Another popular location for bird watching is the Podocarpus National Park in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, home to the rare White-necked Conure which appeared on the front cover of the February magazine (see appendix for further details). Our final day in the rainforest was spent visiting a nearby hollow, one which legend has it, used to contain a tribe of giants who would walk side ways due to incorrectly positioned feet. We returned to camp, packed our kit and boarded a bus back to Macas where we would spend our last evening before travelling west to Cuenca. The 8hr journey to Cuenca was one of the more enjoyable ones as we navigated mountain roads with breath taking views. The town was very modern and far removed from the rainforest villages we had been staying in. We had a very enjoyable meal in a 26

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local restaurant then settled into our hostel for an early night. The next day we visited Inca Prica and the 13th century Inca Ruins, they were much smaller than we had expected but still very interesting and thought provoking. Community Project The following day we again travelled west, first to Guayaquil, then on to the coastal town of Puerto Lopez, where we were to spend the next week on the community project phase of our trip. We were greeted by our host a local Pastor and shown to a school classroom that would provide our accommodation for the week. The Pastor was our DIY construction supervisor and over the course of the week we refurbished much of the school. We painted desks, benches and fences, built playground equipment including swings, laid a concrete floor in the schools kitchen, plastered and painted walls and generally tidied up the school grounds. One of the last tasks was to paint a mural on one of the outside walls, which would hopefully, remind the community of the time we spent with them and the work we completed. We were all very sad to leave the school and the local community who had made us so welcome, but it was time to move on to the Isle de la Plata, the ‘Poor Man’s Galapagos’ Island. We arrived at the coast and boarded a boat for the very bumpy 90 minute crossing to the island. The crew had

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loaded a box of cucumbers and as we approached the island some were thrown overboard to attract the wildlife. Very soon we had 3 large green sea turtles swimming around the boat, which was a fantastic sight and I felt very privileged to be so close to such magnificent creatures. Having reached the shore we decided to take the path that took us up to the cliff face, giving us an opportunity to look at some of the birds nesting there and hopefully spot Humpback Whales off the coast. Our guide who was very familiar with the island advised us “to be careful of the boobies”, which at the time seemed a rather odd thing to say, but further up the path we were all surprised by the rather strange but stunning Blue-Footed Booby birds. I have always had an interest in wildlife and have visited many zoo’s over the years, but being able to walk no more than a foot away from the Blue-Footed Boobies was by far one of the best experiences of my life. After a few hours we boarded the boat again and were taken to a small coral reef, where we did some snorkelling. We were only in the water for a short time when a Humpback Whale and her calf swam past us, so we quickly climbed back onto the boat and set off in hot pursuit and fortunately spent another half hour in the whales company. Experiences like this are rare and I felt incredibly privileged to have been there and it seemed a fitting finale to our expedition.

Our final day in Ecuador was spent on the beach, relaxing and reflecting on what an amazing month we had. It was with much emotion that we said our goodbyes and set off for Guayaquil airport and the long journey home to the UK, a brilliant trip and one I will never forget. Credits: The fantastic parrot photographs were all taken by Nick Athanas who has a website called antpitta.com. Nick kindly gave permission to reproduce his pictures in the Parrot Society magazine, but I would recommend you visit his website to view more of his stunning pictures. Nick is American (born in New Jersey), Co-founder of Tropical Birding and a professional bird tour leader. For further information on Bird, wildlife & photography tours visit the website: www.tropicalbirding.com

DONATE TO OUR CONSERVATION FUND… CLICK THE LINK BELOW: http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/donations.php

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O W T T R PA SERIES IN A

THE SYST BIRD BY DON BURKE

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CHICKEN TEM OF D HEALTH

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aving rabbited on in my previous article ‘A New Approach To Disease Control in Budgies’ about birds’ immune systems and how disease prevention is vastly more important with birds than it is with humans, it’s reasonable to expect that some people are dubious. Many breeders do not use the high sunlight system that helps birds to stay healthy through greater Vitamin D3 production. Yet their birds seem to be fine, so perhaps we should look at what they do. Chickens The basic idea of healthy poultry through better management systems was developed by scientists working with chickens. Fundamentally, it is called the deep litter system. It is now widely used with poultry all over the world, both in commercial farms and also in some backyard coops. At modern chicken farms, you encounter the sort of bio-security that you could expect at the US high security Ebola Clinics. Inside everyone wears special uniforms – white overalls, gloves, gumboots (or shoe coverings), face masks and hairnets. To enter you walk through antiseptic footbaths. All of this serves to prevent disease entry. The chicken barns are sealed against the potential entry of pigeons, sparrows, rats and mice. Air conditioners control temperature, humidity and dust particles. Above and beyond everything else,

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Doctors and vets both recommend against over-use of drugs, especially antibiotics. The logic is that overuse of antibiotics leads to diseases developing immunity to the drug. This is truer than vets or doctors know, because modern research has revealed that antibiotics are natural regulatory chemicals used by microorganisms for day to day functions. the meat chickens wander around on Deep Litter. This super-dry bedding is composed of a 30cm (1 ft.) layer of pine sawdust and shavings. This dries out droppings very rapidly, preventing the spread of disease. As each batch of chickens leaves the barn at around 12 weeks of age, the barn is stripped out, cleaned out to “hospital cleanliness”, then new sawdust is put in and the process recommences. Layer chickens live in wire cages in quarantine with around 2 other chickens. All poultry are fed medicated sterilized food and treated water from special metal nipples. These barns do not allow the entry of direct sunlight, only light through clear

glass or fibreglass. Hence the need for disease protection. If diseases ever got in, all hell would break loose. Budgie Breeders Some of the most successful budgie breeders do much the same. Inspired also by the European budgie breeders, they build totally enclosed aviaries and birdrooms – virtually a home away from home. Some use deep littler composed of pine shavings or similar. The aviaries are kept totally dry to prevent disease spread. Floors, walls and ceilings are kept cleaner than those in any house. Dust is ruthlessly removed. It mostly comes from the budgies’ feathers in the form of powder down. This dust acts to protect budgies’ feathers, but is also suspected of distributing diseases such as French Moult. One might worry that mite or louse eggs could move this way too. Wire budgie breeding cabinets, concrete or tiled floors and metal everywhere tend to stop disease spread. Wood is a known transmitter of diseases so it is avoided wherever possible. Water and seed dishes are relentlessly cleaned. The maintenance of these birdrooms and aviaries is very, very high indeed. But the system does work to a certain degree: breeders produce large numbers of healthy babies. Drugs Doctors and vets both recommend against over-use of drugs, especially antibiotics. The logic is that overuse of antibiotics leads to diseases developing immunity to the drug. This

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is truer than vets or doctors know, because modern research has revealed that antibiotics are natural regulatory chemicals used by microorganisms for day to day functions. Since they use antibiotics (e.g. penicillin) regularly as needed, they also have other chemicals to turn these chemicals off. That is, immunity to most antibiotics existed long before the use of these drugs on people or animals. So drug resistance is both rapid and inevitable. Hence the sound advice to people to avoid overuse of antibiotics. This advice is even more sound when applied to budgies. Budgies don’t have the ability to recover from diseases to the extent that people do: Live Fast, Die Young is their evolutionary strategy. So we need to conserve

antibiotics in case of an emergency. The budgie guys that use the “Chicken System” also use a lot of drugs: • lots of regular use of antibiotics • use of products (e.g. Emtryl) to control canker • coccidiostats to control coccidiosis • sulphur drugs Plus probiotics, Vitamin D and calcium supplements etc. These drugs are mostly used as preventative measures. Even though it sort of works in this system, this is, as previously mentioned, considered disastrous by veterinarians, doctors and scientists. Since budgies have a weak immune system when out of direct sunlight, the use of a high level of antibiotics etc. is BIRD SCENE 31 09 25

thought to be necessary by many who use the “Chicken System”. With an elite management system such as this, large numbers of birds can be bred each year. One significant weakness is susceptibility to virus disease. Antibiotics is the word used to refer to antibacterials which are drugs that mostly kill bacteria. Some antibiotics control fungi and a few other disease-causing organisms. Antibiotics do not control viral diseases. As with humans, budgies suffer from many virus diseases (e.g. polyoma virus and other feather-loss viruses). Up to now, we don’t have much in the way of virus-killing drugs. To repeat, antibiotics, as generally used, do not control virus diseases. Another significant problem with the “Chicken System” occurs when new budgies are purchased by the person using this system. ONE new budgie with a few new diseases (and they all have them) amongst a whole flock with impaired immune systems can cause havoc and many tragedies. The Big Worry As I have said, budgies produced by the “Chicken System” tend to have unchallenged immune systems. That is, in theory, if you buy one or two and put them in a dirty set of aviaries with disease around, they will likely die. No experiments have been carried out to test this, but the basic theory here is rock solid: use this method and you will produce very vulnerable babies. This is precisely why the commercial chicken people run their farms like Ebola Clinics in the USA. To visit these 08 32

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Another very big worry is that by using the Chicken System, genetically weak birds will survive to pass on their bad genes to their babies. Each generation of any animal species produces weaklings that evolution usually weeds out before they can reproduce. This is a very good thing, but it doesn’t happen with the “Chicken System”. farms, you must suit up like health workers at the Ebola clinic. They can’t risk any disease contamination at all as their birds could not cope with it. Is this the world that we budgie breeders wish to live in? Another very big worry is that by using the Chicken System, genetically weak birds will survive to pass on their bad genes to their babies. Each generation of any animal species produces weaklings that evolution usually weeds out before they can reproduce. This is a very good thing, but it doesn’t happen with the “Chicken System”. Although wild budgies seldom recover from diseases, in captivity where they have constantly encountered diseases due to close confinement, it stands to reason that budgies must be beginning to develop a better ability to recover from or to resist diseases more. This has been borne out by my tests on my bush (i.e. wild) budgies – they don’t deal with diseases anywhere near as well as my healthy 100 years captive-bred budgies. The birds that die from disease in a well managed budgie

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system (as opposed to the “Chicken System”) are helping captive budgies to adapt better to captivity. The survivors have better genes for disease resistance and recovery. What do you do? If you are going to purchase birds from the “Chicken System” guys or clean freaks as you could call them, even quarantining these birds at your place will do more or less nothing. There are plenty of budgie breeders who have experienced serious losses or a lack of fertility from birds purchased from certain particular aviaries. If you must buy some of these risky birds, the best idea is to purchase birds from these guys in pairs and then introduce the babies only from them into your flock (via baby budgie cages and quarantine etc). That is, you put the purchased birds into breeding cabinets to breed as soon as you get them home. Leave them there as long as possible. Remember that once they arrive in your aviaries, they might get lethal diseases from your birds. So there you have it:

If you are going to purchase birds from the “Chicken System” guys or clean freaks as you could call them, even quarantining these birds at your place will do more or less nothing. There are plenty of budgie breeders who have experienced serious losses or a lack of fertility from birds purchased from certain particular aviaries.

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Last issue’s system – sunlight, immune system building via such things as Manuka honey, apple cider vinegar with garlic, Orego-Stim and healthy birds with functional immune systems helped by Fluorescent full spectrum light including UVB light. cleanliness, high antibiotic drug use and very high maintenance which produce very healthy birds that are open to catastrophic disease infections. Perhaps the really smart breeders will come up with a hybrid system which uses parts of both of my systems covered in my two articles. What do you reckon? Does this fit with your experiences? Please feel free to disagree or to argue the point. After all this is a very important issue.

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ARTICLE BY: ROSEMARY LOW

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DOES YOUR PARROT REALLY WANT A MATE?

rom Sweden came this request: “Can you help me find a mate for my darling Lorikeet?” He is eight years old and “extremely tame and social”. His owner wrote: “Now I feel he needs a woman in his life?” Right? No, wrong. Why do owners of single parrots suddenly decide that the bird needs a mate? It could be that it is showing signs of sexual maturity and guilt sets in because the bird is being “deprived”. Or perhaps it is becoming nippy and hard to handle. This is the human view. Now look at it from the bird’s viewpoint. This cherished “darling” lorikeet has been a companion for eight years, receiving the undivided attention of its adoring owner. Suddenly, another bird arrives -- a competitor for attention. There is no doubt at all that most companion parrots feel

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jealousy in this situation -- at least initially, if not permanently. The owner has encouraged the original bird to bond with him or her, even to regard the human carer as a mate -- often to be preened and even to be the subject of courtship behaviour. The newcomer is therefore often attacked as a rival. Whether it is actually attacked or just treated with suspicion or indifference depends partly on the species. For example, the Grey Parrot is not an aggressive species but a social one that lives in large flocks. When a friend with a Grey rescued another bird of the same species that urgently needed rehoming, the original Grey ignored the newcomer completely. Two years down the line, it just pretends it does not exist. No potential mate there! Lorikeet behaviour is very different. Even though this is another social species, occurring in flocks outside the breeding season, all lories and lorikeets have an aggressive trait that is especially apparent in hand-reared birds. If the owner of the hand-reared male Lorikeet had acquired a female, the chances are that it would have been quickly attacked or even killed. Lorikeets have very fast reflexes and the deed could be done before the owner has a chance to intervene. I can recall the

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Perhaps an owner has decided that the parrot should have a companion, rather than a mate. The same considerations apply. Jealousy and suspicion are most likely to be the initial reaction from a bird with a close bond with its owner. Or perhaps it is not a decision that triggers the purchase of another parrot but an impulse buy. case of someone who kept a female Blackcapped Lory as a pet, a tame and sweet bird. She decided to give her a mate and acquired a male that had also been a pet. The male killed the female within minutes. Given the nature of this species (all Lorius lories are aggressive), that sad event was 99% predictable. The owner was heartbroken. Perhaps an owner has decided that the parrot should have a companion, rather than a mate. The same considerations apply. Jealousy and suspicion are most likely to be the initial reaction from a bird with a close bond with its owner. Or perhaps it is not a decision that triggers the purchase of another parrot but an impulse buy. As demonstrated by a recent happening, this can be even worse. The owner of a Grey Parrot was tempted by a tame and adorable Black-headed Caique in a pet shop. He was not prepared for a second bird. The shop owner generously offered to lend him a cage. This offer was unwisely declined. What did the purchaser do? He took the caique home and put it in his Grey’s cage.

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I found it shocking that a parrot owner could have so little understanding of a basic need of a parrot -- its own space or territory. And shocking that he was unable to see the possible fatal consequences of his actions. Next day the caique was taken back to the shop. The Grey had attacked it and ripped out its tail feathers. The caique was lucky not to suffer serious injury. So can the introduction of a second bird ever be successful? The answer is yes, it can, in certain circumstances. The attempt is most likely to fail if • As already mentioned, the original bird is closely bonded to its carer. • The original bird is hand-reared and has never been socialised with its own species. Those that have been kept exclusively with humans might be confused about their identity. They identify more with humans than with other parrots. The attempt is most likely to succeed with: • Parent-reared and wild-caught birds that remember living with their own species. • Birds such as Cockatiels, conures, parrotlets and lovebirds that can quickly lose their tameness when given the opportunity to be with their own species. • Birds that are removed from their original home and are no longer in contact with the person to whom they were bonded. In these circumstances the jealously element has been removed.

Separated from everything it has ever known, it is likely to be very stressed. This lack of confidence would make it extremely vulnerable to attack from another bird. Some breeders take a rather casual attitude to introducing new birds -- yet this is something that should be carried out with the utmost caution and care. The very worst action that someone can take is to introduce a new bird to an aviary where the other one has long been an occupant. It will be attacked as an intruder into established territory. The best way is always to place the two birds in adjoining aviaries or cages without a visual barrier. When they show an interest in each other, the bird of the dominant sex (usually the male, except in Eclectus and Psittacula species) should be introduced into the other bird’s aviary. In this way, the more subservient bird will have the psychological advantage, because it is in its own territory. Remember: you hold their lives in your hands. Caution is better than remorse.

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What happens in the unfortunate circumstances in which someone is forced to part with their pet and has an offer from a breeder who wants to pair up the bird? If it was very tame, bonded to its owner and has lived all its life within a home, this would be a huge upheaval in its life. BIRD SCENE 43 09 25

BY LES RANCE

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THE CELESTIAL PARROTLET

his bird is also known as the Pacific Parrotlet or Lesson’s Parrotlet as it was discovered by Lesson in 1847 and is 5 inches in length. Its native habitat is Northwest Peru from Trujillo and Libertad north along the pacific side of the Andes to Rio Chone in western Ecuador. They were imported into this country on a regular basis before the restrictions on importation of wild caught parrots came into force in 2006 and were fortunately well established in aviculture before this date because they produced a number of mutations and this ability made them popular with hobbyist breeders interested in this aspect of our hobby. As they are free breeders they are excellent birds for the beginner to consider especially if you are short of space to build aviaries. Celestial Parrotlets are a big parrot in a small body, with comical behaviour and an adventurous nature. Parrotlets are tiny, streamlined parrots with wedge-shaped tails and large beaks for their size. Most species of Parrotlets are less than 5 inches in length, but much longer-lived than most other small parrot species such as Budgerigars and the various species of

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Lovebirds, they are one of the smallest species of parrot in the world. Parrotlets make ideal pets for those living flats or any residence where noise might be a factor as they are not loud enough to disturb neighbours and do not scream or squawk. Parrotlets have no problem entertaining themselves all day with their toys while their owner is at work or school, but when you return they expect to come out for a ride on a shoulder or hide in a pocket.

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Although small they need a cage large enough to provide plenty of exercise and that can hold plenty of toys and perches. These toys should be rotated and replaced regular. They can learn to talk and are quite acrobatic when playing with toys or hanging by their beaks and toes. They have the personality of their larger cousins but cannot eat the dinning room table or the door frames. Celestial Parrotlets are beautiful coloured parrots that can come in vibrant shades of blue, yellow, green and also other colour mutations. A Parrotlet makes a wonderful companion and with good training can learn plenty of tricks such as fetch, playing dead, waving, shaking hand and so on. They eat much the same as Cockatiels, seed, pellets, vegetables, fruit, pasta, rice and clean water. Their normal life span is between 10-12 years but they are known to live for 18 years plus, some says as long as 30 years. When breeding is attempted the ideal size of nest box is 6 inches wide by 10 inches tall by 7 inches deep filled with 2inches of wood shavings, hung on the outside of the cage looking in. 19-21 days

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incubation is normal and the average clutch size is 4-8 eggs. They can be sexed from 5 weeks of age, the males has darker shades of blue around the eyes and wings and some times on the rump. Parrotlets can start breeding from 7 months but should not start breeding until a year old as the cock is not able to feed and rear correctly until a year old. Housing should be 24 inches long, and 24inches deep cage, also a 3-6 foot long flight is acceptable. A healthy diet should have cockatiel mix seed, pellets, millet sprays, vegetables, carrot, broccoli, peas and so on, fruit should include apples, bananas, grapes to mention a few, nuts and beans and also human food such as un-salted whole grain bread, pasta, rice. Their food needs to be high in

energy as they use lots of it, and there are no worries that they will become over weight.

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