Nigel Tonkin
I wrote to Mark Bridgeman from Victoria after the Nationals, and congratulated him on winning the Spangle class with a magnificent Spangle Grey cock bird. I also posed some questions to him which he very kindly answered.
Mark, congratulations on winning the class with a beautiful bird. Could you please tell us a little about yourself.
Firstly, thank you for your congratulations on our win at the Nationals. We worked long and hard to achieve the success and were very pleased with the result. I am in fact, a member of a partnership which consists of my father Kevin, my mother Margaret, and myself, hence our registered ring, code B3. It was somewhat disappointing that our birds were not correctly entered in the name of the partnership in the National Competition.
I am married to Marianne and have my own home in another suburb of Melbourne. My parents undertake the day to day caring for the birds. Dad does most of the cleaning, carrying etc., and Mum takes care of the medicating, ringing, hand feeding etc., as well as caring for her own stud of Border Fancy and Fife Canaries.
What is your history in the fancy? How and when did you start and who did you get the most help from?
My parents always kept birds (budgies, pigeons, parrots and canaries), so as a child I developed an interest in birds of all types. In 1976 when I was 12 my mother, who is a teacher decided that it was time to find a hobby which would keep me occupied, as I was keenly interested in nature and fixing things. With this in mind Mum took me to the Glenroy Budgerigar Club and joined me up as a junior member. My move to the Novice section five years later, marked the formation of our partnership, and by this stage Mum and Dad had accepted positions on the committee at Glenroy.
In our early years, we received the most help from one of the life members of Glenroy, Charlienbsp;Bush. Charlie is known as a great worker in Victoria and has contributed much to the fancy in this State over many years. Charlie taught me a lot about what the desirable features on a budgerigar are, and more importantly, how to pair birds to attain those features. Another person to help us in our early days was John Bainbridge, a former member of our club and in fact, just about to move to Queensland at the time we joined up.
We did quite well with our "Australian" birds, but this all changed when the English birds started to appear on the show bench. Virtually overnight, our birds went from being very competitive, to struggling to get a place. About this time I met Nigel Tonkin at a show at which I was judging and was very impressed by his birds. Nigel and I quickly became good friends and remain so today. The English birds were a new ball game and Nigel was instrumental in helping me to learn about the imports.
It was with Nigel's help that we were able to obtain English birds, and twice have travelled with Nigel to England to purchase birds for importation. Without doubt, Nigel is one of Australia's best breeders, and based on the birds I saw in Europe in l994, his birds would compare favourably with the best birds in England.
I am currently a senior judge on the Victorian Judges Panel, as well as a member of the National Judges Panel. I am also on the Victorian Judges and Standards Committee. I have been a member of the Victorian Judges Panel for 14 years. My father is the Treasurer of the Glenroy Budgerigar Club, Mum is the Secretary and I am the Vice President.; Mum is also the Secretary of the Budgerigar Council of Victoria.
What birds did you start off with and what colours are you running now?
Our current birds can be traced back mainly to three English breeders being Mick Joines, Doug Sadler and Alan Adams. In 1990, when we went to England and purchased our first imports, the best aviary of birds that I saw belonged to Mick Joines. Mick sold me a Spangle Grey cock which was a truly magnificent bird. I am yet to breed or see, a bird of his equal in Australia. To this day, this bird remains the ideal standard which we are trying to replicate in our birds. From this bird we started a line of Spangles, of which both the Spangle Grey cock and hen at this year's Nationals descend. Not only is Mick Joines an excellent breeder, he is a terrific bloke as well, and a good friend of Doug Sadler, who is another thorough gentleman. The bird I bought from Mick, could be traced back to Doug's birds, if you went back far enough in the pedigree.
At the same time as I bought the Spangle Grey from Mick, I bought a Normal Grey Green cock from Doug. The bird from Doug has been a terrific breeder, both in terms of quantity and quality, and we have obtained great results by working the offspring of these two birds in together. A Cinnamon Opaline Grey cock from Alan Adams and a Spangle Cobalt cock from Tommy Williams have also produced quality birds for us. After struggling to get the Spangle Cobalt to produce, I lent it to Nigel, and from it he produced the bird which won the Spangle class at the 1993 Nationals held in Adelaide.
What diet are your birds on?
We use a standard seed mix of Canary, Japanese Millet, White French Millet, and Panicum. We feed Bandicoot oats during the winter months and during the breeding season. Soluvet (a mineral and vitamin supplement) is added to the water all year round, although this is supplemented by Calcivet (liquid Calcium) in the lead up to, and during, the breeding season. Soaked Triticale is fed to all pairs with chicks. Hard gravel grit (obtained from Bill Davis from Broken Hill) is offered throughout the year, as well as the softer shell grit and cuttlefish. Peppers Millet sprays are fed throughout the breeding season and we have found them invaluable for encouraging young UBCs (unbroken caps or, in other words, nestfeathers) which are reluctant to start to begin feeding themselves. Any setback to the youngsters during this critical growth stage will permanently retard their development, and for this reason the millet sprays are well worth their weight in gold.
What medications does your medicine chest contain, and how often do you give them
Our veterinary needs are met by Avian veterinarians Dr Cameron Wood and Dr David Madill, with whom we work closely. As we value our birds very highly and pride ourselves on the way we care for them, we do not hesitate to call for veterinary assistance. Our medicine chest contains Tricon (Chlortetracycline), Emtryl (Dimetridazone), Fungalin, Pscittavet, Linco-Spectin and Ivomec. Tricon is a broad-spectrum antibiotic and is given to any bird diagnosed as having a bacterial infection. Emtryl is given for canker (trichomoniasis), Fungalin for Megabacteria and Ivomec is used as a treatment for worm infestations. We are in the process of purchasing a microscope to enable us to do or own analysis/diagnosis of the birds (I have studied micro-biology at University) and we have found a set of highly sensitive electronic scales (sensitive to one gram), invaluable for determining whether a bird is gaining or losing weight, or how close it is to its normal weight, or the average weight of a healthy budgerigar. Emtryl is given to the entire aviary at least twice a year, and Fungalin and Ivomec are used on an "as needed" basis.
Virkon S is used extensively for cleaning.
Please describe your aviary to us
We have five main aviaries, which are together in one block. These aviaries are fifteen feet long, eight feet high and three feet wide. The frame is made of one inch water pipe, and the wire used is one centimetre square mesh. The flights are 3/4 covered-in, with the front sections open to the sun and rain etc. Apart from this, we have two indoor flights which are completely covered in. These flights measure ten feet long, seven feet high and five feet wide. Our breeding room is separate from our aviaries, and consists of a double-brick room which measures eighteen feet long, fourteen feet wide and ten feet high, with a coloured concrete floor draining from a central point to a collection point in the rear, from where it is pumped out. This room is insulated, and absolutely mouse-proof. There are louvre windows right along the front and both ends of the room just below the ceiling, which are operated by remote control, plus two sliding windows lower down on the front wall. The room contains a sink, with hot and cold running water, and is equipped with a ducted vacuum cleaning system (less noise, larger capacity), storage cupboards and power and lights fitted with Triton Sunlight globes. The lights are controlled by a timer and come on for a period in the morning and again at night. We have a dimmer connected, to fade the lights out at night
One of the most useful pieces of equipment we have in the room is an Aironic ioniser which we purchased through Nigel Tonkin. (Nigel is an agent for Aironic) Mum suffers from asthma, and the ioniser is of great assistance by removing most of the dust from the air The back wall of the breeding room is fully covered by a bank of forty breeding cages, eight across and five high. These cages are made of custom board and are painted white. The nest boxes for these cages are located between the rows of cages, (one top, one bottom)and the nest boxes are as deep as the cages.. The cages are 28" wide 13" deep and 15" high. Aside from these breeding units, we have a bank of sixteen wire cages. We get far better results in the wire cages. The wire cages are 28" wide, 13" deep, and 13" high. The nest boxes on these cages are attached to the outside of the front of the cages, and measure 8" deep, 6" wide and 9" high. These nest boxes are made of plywood and have interchangeable bases made of pine.
When do you put your birds down to mate and do you visually or pedigree pair up?
We prefer to pair our birds from the middle of August onwards. A bird must have some visual attributes for us to use it, and when pairing birds we have a strong preference for having both a visual match and a genetic relationship. To establish a winning stud of birds you must line breed. Having said this, the line must obviously be based on birds having the right visual attributes or you will be wasting your time. It is impossible to constantly produce winning birds if you continually outcross unless you are able to get hold of excellent birds to outcross to. It shows your skill as a breeder to be able to produce your own winners from a line of birds you have established.
How closely would you mate your birds?
On occasions we have paired half-brothers and sisters, although this has been rare. We prefer to use cousin to cousin, uncle to niece, aunt to nephew matings.
At what age do you cull your birds and how do you do it?
We never cull our birds until they are through the young bird moult. We find that the demand for our birds exceeds the number we can afford to dispose of. The selling of birds is one aspect of the hobby which we do not enjoy. We would hate to overcharge for a bird, but at the same time, you have to get a fair price for your birds. Some people try to pressure you into selling your better birds and we find this very off-putting.
How did you breed the winning Spangle?
The Spangle Grey was the result of line breeding. His grandfather on one side, was the original Spangle Grey obtained from Mick Joines and the Grey Green cock bird from Doug Sadler on the other. The mating was planned as a result of the successful mating which provided the winner of the Spangle Class at the 1994 Nationals in Perth. The Spangle Grey this year, was a full cousin (on both sides) to the Spangle Dark Green of 1994. The pair that produced the Spangle Grey were well-matched visually and ideally-matched genetically.
Your winning Spangle has lovely power in the chest and head regions. If there are any weaknesses in the bird, how are you planning to improve them this year, and what bird are you going to mate him to this year?
To give a comparison of this bird to his grandfather (the Spangle from Mick Joines), if the original bird was given 100 out of 100, this bird would rate about 9O. The original bird had greater width of shoulder (somewhere between l/4 and 1/2 inch more) and a greater frontal rise. It is in these two areas that we are aiming for improvement.
Will you let him foster out some of his eggs or let him help them and why?
We will foster out some of his eggs (as insurance in case of disaster) but will definitely let him read some young, be they his own, or fostered. We believe that it is important to allow the birds to act according to their instincts whenever possible, and that by not allowing the birds (especially hens) to feed and rear young, it denies them of an important stage of the reproductive cycle.
You also came fourth this year in the hens class. Please tell us about her breeding and your plans for her.
The bird which came fourth in the hens class is a full cousin of the Spangle Grey cock which won the Spangle class. When I say "full cousin" I mean that the hen which produced the Spangle Grey hen, was a full sister of the hen which produced the Spangle Grey cock. Both of the mothers were daughters of the original Mick Joines Spangle cock. The father of the young Spangle Grey cock, was a full brother of the father of the young Spangle Grey hen. So, in effect, we had two brothers mated to two sisters, and the resultant chicks are, therefore, full cousins.
When we are ready to breed with the young Spangle Grey hen, she will be one of the hens mated to the young Spangle Grey cock. This appears to be an ideal mating, given that the birds are both visually and genetically well-matched. Later in the season, this hen will be paired back to her uncle (the father of the Spangle Grey cock).
What are the prices like for average and good birds in Victoria?
We haven't bought many birds in Victoria over the past couple of years, because we generally are able to get anything we need from Nigel, and we feel very comfortable dealing with him, because he is very straightforward and honest. Having said this, I think it is not unreasonable to pay $400 or $500 for a really top bird (if you can get one). From what I have seen, average birds sell for $75 and $150 in Victoria.
What would you suggest new fanciers start out with?
I would suggest that a beginner should start out with Normals, Opalines, Cinnamons and Spangles. I think that it is important that they have a few different varieties to work with and show. The reason I suggest these varieties, is that to be successful with any variety, you need good Normals to breed with. Spangles are a variety which you can treat virtually as a Normal for breeding purposes. Single factor Spangles will produce Spangles, and Normals when paired to a Normal, giving more varieties to show. Beginners should also learn about the different kind of feather appearing in the Spangles, and Jo Mannes stressed to me that the best birds in Europe at the moment, are either Spangles, or the Normals bred from Spangle to Normal matings. From my own observations, I&enspam; inclined to agree with him. What features must a breeding bird exhibit before you will consider mating it?
A bird must have strength of body and either good feather length, or good directional feather, or come from a family which is strong in these features. I like birds to have good length of body, and have found that little birds invariably breed little birds.
We all know a bird must have power in the upper areas, but should people starting out use a stronger hen or cock, or doesn't it make any difference?
From our experience, it is far more important to have strong cock birds than hens. My ideal breeding hen is one which has good length of body, medium to short length of feather, no major faults, and comes from a family which has good length of feather or directional feathering in its background. The big strong hens with the super width of shoulder and length of feather, are generally the source of much heartache and very little else in the breeding cages
Is there much sharing of nests in Victoria? Here in South Queensland and I know in area of New South Wales, if a breeder has a cock and didn't have a suitable hen, he would share a nest with the owner of a suitable hen.
We prefer to swap birds rather than sell or buy. We tend to work closely with members of our own club. We believe that a certain amount of sharing of nests does happen in Victoria however, it is a subject which is perhaps best avoided.
What do you think of the National Championships and would you encourage fanciers to attend?
The Nationals are a great way to meet breeders from other states. I have no doubt that the best young birds in Victoria are entered, and think that anyone who claims that the Nationals are a second-rate competition, and that the best birds in the country aren't exhibited, are either jealous, scared of losing, or fooling themselves. The Nationals are the most prestigious competition in Australia and the Victorian shield, which is in effect the preselection for the National competition, is the best show in Victoria, by far. The Victoria Shield tends to bring the exhibitors from the different clubs in Victoria together as a team, and regardless of how the State fares in the competition, I think the team spirit developed is a good and healthy thing for the bird fancy in Victoria. I encourage any fanciers who are able to attend the Nationals, to do so, because not only are the best young birds in the country on display, but the social aspect it terrific as well.
What direction can you see the fancy heading and it this good?
I see the fancy as heading for greater National control, and in years to come, as communication becomes quicker and easier, the National body will assume greater importance in the co-ordination and running of the fancy. I would also like to see all States adopt a similar set-up to Victoria, where we have one governing body (the Budgerigar Council of Victoria) whose members are elected by way of an open election, and to which all the clubs are affiliated. I think this system is more democratic and far preferable to one where you have one larger club in control, with the other clubs affiliated to it and restricted by its rules.
I sincerely thank Mark for passing on the interesting and educational information above on behalf of the K M & M Bridgeman Partnership.
Original text Copyright © 1995 Nigel Tonkin
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