by Bernard Kellett
Over the years I have visited many birdrooms in all parts of the country and it has been only on very rare occasions that I have seen one where just one variety is kept. In view of the face that many, if not most, fanciers tend to have a favorite variety, this apparent reluctance to specialise is something of a mystery. Only possible explanation is that fanciers have become pre-occupied with quality and they pursue their objective rather than concentrate, on one colour or mutation. Thus, when culling takes place, it is the poorer birds which go end the better ones which are retained regardless of colour. Of course, the policy of “keeping the best and selling the rest” is also followed by the specialists, but the birds they retain are obviously the colour variety of their choice, whereas the non-specialist may well be holding on to birds of a colour or range of colours -which, given the choice, would not be his real preference. Another explanation for the existence of so many non-specialist studs is that most beginners start off in this fashion. They purchase the odd bird from a variety of sources, and are never quite sure what to expect from their pairings; consequently, normals, cinnamons and opalines etc., are bred in a mixture of colours and the colour pattern of the stud is somewhat at a lesser state, when fanciers are more experienced and committed to the hobby, it may well be that they embark on a certain degree of specialisation which could eventually become complete. It would be interesting to discover in such cases just ,what factor causes a fancier to select a particular variety. In my case, and I suspect many others, it was simply that for some reason one particular mutation happened to display a greater degree of quality than the other type I kept, and at the same time it was to me a particularly attractive bird; this was the normal cinnamon.
After a two year absence I came back into the hobby in the early seventies. I purchased several birds from well established fanciers, amongst which were three birds which, unknown to me at the time, became the foundation stock of my present cinnamons. Those were a Normal Grey Green from Alf Clayton whose stock had originated from Maurice Finey, an Opaline Light Green,100% Rothery, from Bert Williams, and a Normal Skyblue from Paul and Joe Trigg. Once again, I did not seek to specialise, but within 2 - 3 years I was breeding cinnamons which, when shown, gained several Challenge Certificates against strong competition. It was at this point that I decided to develop and extend this family with the desire intimately of having a stud of quality cinnamons. But I have to ask myself the pertinent question: what would have happened if, instead of cinnamons, it had been good quality normals which had emerged from the new stock? To be completely honest, the answer has to be that I would have concentrated on normals!
As readers will know, the cinnamon variety is a mutation, which means it is a deviation from the normal. This deviation arises from the wing markings being a brown shade instead of black, and the body markings being approximately 50% the strength of the body colour of normals; in other words the melanin factor is in a dilute form. In addition, it is a sex-linked variety which has to be taken into careful consideration when pairings are being contemplated. I prefer the normal cinnamon to the opaline cinnamon, which I also keep, because one doesn’t have to be concerned with the interminable 'dirty-V' problem of the modern opalines. With regard to body colour, I have no particular preferences and am happy to accommodate light green, grey green, grey and blue Within the cinnamon group.
During my time in the hobby, I have heard many statements about cinnamons which
could have been off-putting if I had not challenged them, and eventually ignored
them. For example, many fanciers claim that cinnamon birds are, or tend to produce,
small-spotted birds. I would counter this by stating that the
problem of spots is not confined to the cinnamon variety are there not many
normals and opalines with small spots? It may be that because the cinnamon is
flecking in melanin compared with normals and opalines, there is a de of truth
in this, but for me the main fault lies with the fancier, not the variety. Lack
of careful thought or the availability of well-spotted birds in the pairing
up process is probably the major cause of small spots. Another factor lies within
the shrouded secrets of Mother Nature; why is it, for example, that from two
well-spotted birds had any variety small-spotted birds sometimes appear in the
nest despite our knowledge of their pedigree?
Another fallacy about cinnamons is the claim that they are fine-feathered birds.
As thoughtful fanciers will noticed, the degree of feather texture ranges from
fine (yellow) to coarse (buff); this factor is present in all the varieties
of budgerigars I have known, and consequently the feather texture of any particular
bird is the result of the genes inherited from the parent birds rather than
being a characteristic of e particular variety. In my birdroom fine-feathered
birds are paired where possible to coarse-feathered partners, and in the main
this rectifies the problem of having too many fine-feathered birds.
Yet another claim against cinnamons is that they tend to be smaller than normals or that they have a tendency to lose size. I am sure that this is once again a characteristic of all varieties and something we all have to guard against irrespective of colour or variety. The modern budgerigar is the result of selective breeding and good management by generations of fanciers since the mid-nineteenth century, and what we have to realise is that we are facing a constant battle against reversion. Birds Will become smaller, spots will shrink and masks shorten if we are not careful, because of the natural inclination of our birds to revert to the features of their wild counterparts in Australia. Another important feature which we have to consider is that within any particular blood-line or family we may possess, there is a maximum in terms of quality; once this is reached it becomes very difficult to maintain standards whether by line-breeding or in-breeding and quality often falls drastically unless suitable out-crosses are obtained. This is why even the most eminent of fanciers are always on the look-out for out-crosses which will enhance their studs.
Up to this year, even though I bought to specialise; I was not sure about the pairings which produced the best cinnamons. Two of the best cinnamon greens I have produced were bred from Opaline Split Cinnamon cocks paired to Normal Cinnamon hens and accordingly I will always use one or two of these pairings. This year however, my best cinnamons have come from a normal cinnamon light green cock and an opaline cinnamon hen. The cock was the direct result of line-breeding over the last ten years, and the hen contained 50% of the same blood plus 50% from an outcross well endowed with spots and melanin. Thus I am getting a little closer to the ultimate of breeding pure normal cinnamons from pure cinnamon parents perhaps next season I will go the whole hog and use many more of these pairings. However, the main criteria will remain the same: that of producing budgerigars as near to the Ideal as possible and this demands as much attention to size mask, head qualities, style, spots etc. as it does to producing a desirable variety.
Since I became serious about cinnamons, however, I have not had Ii great dee~
of luck in producing them in great quantities. The family I started in the early
seventies almost died out for a. number a: reasons in the 1980-82 period, but
this year, out of the 155 birds bred so far, about a quarter are normal cinnamons,
and I now feel in a reasonable position to increase the degree of specialisation.
There are several Causes of action I can take and I hope that beginners who
are contemplating specialisation will note the following choices. Firstly, I
can go flat out for specialisation and sell off any non-cinnamon birds prior
to the breeding season. Having adopted this policy, any future stock needed
to improve quality would have to be normal cinnamon. Also, I would have to expect
a degree of opaline cinnamons appearing from these normal cinnamons which happen
to be split for opaline; these too would have to be culled.
Miss Kirby-Mason has often stated in this paper that the only good partner for
a Lutino is another Lutino, but one has to remember that with Lutinos the all-important
factor is that of colour and the big fear is that the use of non-Lutino partners
can cause unwanted green or blue diffusions in subsequent offspring. Another
factor is that Lutino breeders don't have to worry about the size of spot or
the depth of mark. Accordingly I would have some reservations, at the moment,
of ridding myself of all my non-cinnamon birds, many of which are split for
cinnamon or bred from the cinnamon family, because they have so many useful
bleeding features.
This brings me to the second course off action I could follow: that is to keep
certain families, alongside the main cinnamon families, which can be used to
out-crossing. There are several advantages to this system:
1) It is much easier and cheaper to acquire an outcross should this be necessary
for purposes of spot, mask, fertility, colour etc. Of course, subsequently,
when the optimum had been reached with my particular families, I would have
to seek an out-cross of superior quality (and what a gamble that could be!)
from elsewhere.
2) The non-cinnamon birds used for will tend to “knit” in well because
they are of similar blood lines.
3) Any out-crosses purchased from other breeders could first be used with the
non-cinnamon birds. This would allow me to see their potential benefit or otherwise
to my stock without impairing the cinnamons which is always a risk when out-crossing.