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SELECTION OF BREEDING TEAM I stand a good chance of upsetting some of the more hardened fanciers here! There are four main areas to consider, age, fertility, feather quality and Budgerigar quality. If a bird in breeding condition is mated to proven mates in breeding condition, when all other pairs are breeding well, but fails to generate enough fertile eggs then it should be discarded. Most birds are described as infertile, most fanciers interpret this as males which have never “filled” an egg. Infertility can also be a problem for a hen. Many cases can be due to external factors such as incompatibility. If all the environmental factors are at an optimum then the suspicion must be placed on the birds. I even remove birds from the stud which are “sub-fertile” which just do not “fill” enough eggs. Any hen that fails to lay after two attempts should be discarded. Any birds which fail to rear adequate numbers of chicks successfully should have all chicks fostered and be discarded once sufficient have been reared under foster parents. Hereditary faults need to be critically assessed, especially if the stud is inbred. This includes line breeding or breeding in families, there is no difference between these. It is only a matter of how often related birds are mated together or how closely related the birds are. Be harsh on flecking, poor deportment, feather cysts, epileptic birds and birds that have generated feather dusters. Ideally remove all of these. Practically out-cross to well bred. inc feathered, clean birds to reduce the incidence of these defects. |