Steve Hutchings Budgie Site

Cinnamons, a variety has Lost its power on the show bench, and in too many birdrooms. George Jenkins

 

Back in the 1970s when I was successful at the major shows, Cinnamons were at the top. The variety were taking plenty of best in show awards at the major shows, It seemed that in those days it was not just the Cinnamons that were doing well but the Cinnamon Opalines were winning equally well on the bench. Some wonderful Cinnamons and Cinnamon Opalines were to be seen taking best in show awards. Many were good coloured Cinnamons and Cinnamon Opalines and have remained in the memory of the exhibitors of the period.

 

One of my favourites were the Grey Greens with hot mustard colour. Greys and Light Greens were frequently successful and to a lesser extent Skyblues. At that time colour was an important factor with a top show bird. Breeders were careful to use the Yellow-face factor with their Cinnamons and Cinnamon Opalines. Any Budgerigar can be a Yellow-face, but it is only the white-faced birds that appear as Yellow-faces. A Green series bird which naturally has a yellow face can in fact be a Yellow-face. These are the birds that carry that extra depth of body colour and it is the Grey Green that shows this quality to best effect providing a much deeper colour.

 

Cinnamons are a sex linked variety and they can dominate a stud. It is vital to

understand how they are produced. It is important to appreciated that a Cinnamon.

cock produces all Cinnamon hens, but will produce all Cinnamon cocks if the hen is a Cinnamon too. Using a Cinnamon cock without the understanding of how the variety reproduces in the breeding room can be a recipe for being over-run with Cinnamons.

There is nothing wrong with a birdroom full of Cinnamons but it is almost impossible to produce good numbers of Normals once Cinnamons have been established throughout the stud.

 

Over the years there has been talk of not pairing Cinnamon. to Cinnamon. There reason being given that it brings about loss of feather and loss of size. I have never found this to be true, but if Cinnamons are to be paired together they must be good Budgerigars and good Cinnamons. Colour can be a problem with Cinnamon’s, just as colour can be a problem with all budgerigars. It is just that a poor coloured Cinnamon is more noticeable than a poor coloured Normal. Never pair two poor coloured Cinnamon’s

together.

 

There needs to be good reasons why good number of top quality Cinnamon’s and Cinnamon Opalines have been lost to the show bench. There are perhaps several reasons. Many of the better Cinnamons of the past were produced through Cinnamon Opalines. When the changes to the show standards were made regarding flecking, which naturally centred around Opaline,and hence Cinnamons Opalines, many Opalines were excluded from the top studs. Fanciers became too frightened to use flecked birds

in their breeding teams so the qualities these birds carried were lost.

[MAIN PAGE] [G. JENKINS PAGE]