The Australian National - Worth the risk?
By Brett Doran
I read an interesting article by Ron Norman in the Budgerigar Breeders Club "Budgie Review" of December 1998. Ron is a breeder with over 50 years experience and great success on the show bench in South Australia and Nationally. In it he suggests that consideration should be given to reformatting our Australian National Show, held in May every year, in a similar way to the All American Show held annually in the USA where all exhibitors birds are held separately at all times. I believe the same is true for the Budgerigar World Brazil Show. Thanks Ron, for your thought provoking article, I have shared the same misgivings for a long time. I thoroughly endorse you're views and those of Kelwyn Kakoschke. The reasoning behind Ron and Kelwyn's views are the current method of transporting and housing state teams for the Australian National. In both the above instances birds are transported over vast distances as are birds competing in the Australian National. Perhaps it is time for a rethink on how we do things.
Constant separation of the birds works well for the Cage Bird National held annually in July. Sharon and I were involved with the local selection process for this show in 1998 and have seen a system that keeps the birds separated from when they are selected until they return to their owners. The Australian National is a wonderful event, but in my opinion, anyone who believes the best budgerigars in Australia are seen at the National are only kidding themselves. While many magnificent budgerigars are present, many outstanding breeders both well known and some less well known are conspicuous by their absence at this event. What you see are the best birds available from those breeders who are prepared or can afford to risk them in Interstate teams. We, as with many other breeders are not prepared to risk our best birds and will only put up for selection those birds we are prepared to loose in the case of a mishap. Some years due to breeding results we are not in a position to risk any of our youngsters. When our birds come back from Interstate competition they go through normal quarantine procedures for 6 weeks as would any new purchase. How many other breeders do the same and take this commonsense precaution?
The first thing newcomers are advised to do by vets and experienced breeders is to isolate any new birds brought into our aviaries for a minimum of 6 weeks so as to minimise the chance of disease being introduced into our aviaries. It also allows the bird to assimilate to our methods and hopefully enter the flock in an as stress free a condition as possible. Commonsense will tell you that this is the correct thing to do. Except of course for the 9-10 day period of State Team Selection and the National. During this period quarantine and isolation is not necessary, as luck will prevent a disaster from befalling the studs from which the birds have come, when the birds return from competition. Let me say here that the team carers who travel with the birds to this interstate event do a great job of looking after and preparing our birds for competition, but this is not where the potential problem lies.
Once the State Team Selection is held the weekend preceding the National you have 48-50 birds from many different studs thrown together in unfamiliar surroundings, with unfamiliar feeding, unfamiliar water, unfamiliar handlers and left to sort out a new "pecking order" in holding cages or a small flight. If this cocktail isn't enough to stress our birds there's more to come. (This stress may account for why so many breeders have poor breeding results from these birds when they return home and enter the breeding program). Late in the week, the birds are boxed up in a carry box for a flight of up to 5 hours and then put into new holding cages at the National venue. Unless the carers take seed and water, the birds will now experience another change of seed mix and water. New housing, new pecking order to be established. Sexual tension is also a potential area of concern in a small holding cage. Separation of the sexes in an unfamiliar circumstance is vital. We all know the damage a hen can do when she goes on the rampage. Two cocks fighting over a hen can also be a recipe for disaster. We have all heard of birds not being fit for the show due to fights during this period in holding cages, which have damaged feathers to the point of being unshowable. Any of the above stresses are enough to trigger any underlying ailment, weakness or virus.
So far we haven't contemplated the diseases any of the birds could be carrying before they left their own aviaries. Fights and birds with bad attitudes are hard to predict, but the potential passing on of disease can be managed and reduced. The Budgerigars gregarious nature leads to the most efficient way to pass disease from bird to bird, ie via beak to beak contact. The eating of droppings is another way of transferring disease amongst a flock very quickly and efficiently. As we all know some birds can carry disease without showing it. Birds from one aviary may have built up immunity to a certain disease while birds now mixed with them may have never been exposed to that disease before. I'm sure you can see now why many breeders are wary about exposing their studs in this way. The argument will be put forward by some that a major disaster hasn't happened in the past, maybe this has just been good luck. How much longer will our luck hold out? Recent outbreaks of Newcastle Disease in Sydney and the reported devastation of three aviaries by Psittacosis in Hobart only serve as further warnings to the budgie fraternity of potential disasters just waiting to happen. It appears that the Newcastle outbreak was contained to the poultry industry, this time.
The health of our birds should be paramount in all our undertakings in the hobby and strict quarantine is vital to our success. I'm sure with a new approach and a little thought to a system of quarantine the number of exhibitors seeking state representation would increase dramatically throughout the country. Perhaps we could take a leaf out of the Canary breeders' book and learn from their approach to the Cage Bird National.