Budgerigar Council of Victoria

The Budgerigar Council of Victoria Inc (A10055P)

Prevention or Cure? Deep litter or not?
Stephen Mow
Certainly our little pastime of keeping budgerigars has changed enormously from our humble beginning, Without question the majority of breeders would have changed their husbandry methods compared to methods used when they commenced keeping their initial birds. I personally believe that one of the reasons that our number of active breeders is diminishing is because our husbandry skills and the time and cost involved have dramatically changed. OR HAVE THEY? If we use my own experience. relating my methods when I first commenced breeding and keeping budgerigars compared to today's methods I am certain that comparisons to your own situations will occur.
I began feeding my stud on:
a). Premixed Seed ratio: 60% Plain Canary, 38% Mixed Millets, 2% Hulled oats.
b). Silver beet every 2nd day.
c). Shell grit.
d). Cuttlefish.
e). Clean aviaries once per month.
f). Clean breeding units at completion of each round.
g). Clean nest box between rounds.
h). Change water every 2nd or 3rd day.

I also make mention that there were no artificial lights.

Currently
a). Separate seed bowls containing Plain Canary, Japanese Millet and White French Millet.
b). Tonic seed containing a blend of Niger, Panicurn, Mung Beans. Sunflower, Canola. Oats, Rye Grass, Red Millet, Clover (with Molasses).
c). Soaked Seed Mixture which combines Triticale, Plain Canary, Japanese and White Millets, Sunflower, Cracked Corn and Canola. Added to this mix which is fed daily is a rotation of Silver beet. Carrot and Broccoli, along with a prepared high protein (22%) additive.
d). Shell grit.
e). Hard grit.
f). Cuttlefish.
g). Iodine Blocks.
h). Mineral supplement.
i). Vitamins via water 2 days per week.
j). Calcium via water 2 days per week.
k). Citric Acid via water 1 day per week.
1). Oranges or lemons.
m). Fresh lucerne when available.
n). Gum leaves and branches.
o). Set medication program to prevent:
1 . Canker
2. Megabacteria
3. Psittacosis
4. Worms, lice,mite and scaly face
5. Coccidiosis
p). Aviaries scraped, sprayed and vacuumed weekly.
q). Breeding units scraped sprayed and vacuumed weekly.
r). Nest boxes vacuumed, sprayed and sawdust replaced weekly.
s). Feed bowls cleaned weekly.
t). Water containers cleaned daily.
u). Birdroom benches and floor cleaned 3 times per week.
v). Birdroom cleaned top to bottom and surface sprayed for spiders every year in July after the Summer and Autumn spider breeding season.
w). Lighting 6.00 am. until 10.00 pm. everyday.

When I list everything I wonder where I find the time and I guess I could ask myself compared to my initial regime, is it actually worth it. The answer is yes it is worth it, as I am passionate about my hobby. The question that needs to he asked though. is there any benefit to having my current husbandry regime as opposed to my initial one?. Certainly my cleaning habits make my birdroorn a nice environment to be in for the birds, visitors and of course myself. I don't have an environment where old feed and faeces are allowed to accumulate and breed bacteria or fungi, both of which are greatly harmful and major causes of disease to both humans and birds alike I know that my family and I take precautions via diet and supplements to prevent illness and we certainly live in a clean environment.
Does all this attribute to a more successful result in the breeding cage?
To answer this, prior to my current husbandry regirne I averaged 2.75 offspring per cage and for the last 10 years have averaged 8.25 offspring per breeding cage, consistently breeding over 200 budgerigars per year.
The quality? Well that's always questionable.