Introduction by Terry A Tuxford
Yvonne and I spent a long enjoyable weekend at Bala in North Wales,
at the home of Budgerigar World Director and Publisher, Gwyn Evans and his
wife Ann. The town of Bala is small and has a population of some 2,000 residents, with the
main activity being farming - mainly sheep.
Gwyn Evans first began keeping Budgerigars
prior to the second World War, his interest being stimulated by the town Solicitor, who
also kept them. They were housed in a flight and bred on the colony system. The war came
along and with it National Service and the birds were disposed of when Gwyn was called up.
Some time after the war, he was in Malta and there he saw some Budgerigars and instantly
his interest was rekindled. On returning home he once again took up his former hobby but
this time, rather than colony breeding, they were bred in individual pairs, each housed in
one half of an orange crate, with the front covered in mesh. Nest boxes were not used in
those days but instead, half of a coconut shell was stood on the floor in the corner of
the cage. Gwyn told me, "The birds bred quite freely then, in fact the
hardest job was trying to cut the coconuts in half to make the nest bowls."
The Double Garage Birdroom
Today, the Evans stud is housed in a converted double garage. There
are outside flights to the front and rear with access from the front to a large inside
flight. The rear flight is connected to large stock cages which double as breeding cages.
These breeding cages, which have a double layer wire mesh separating each cage, are on
either side of the birdroom and along the back wall are work surfaces and a sink with
mains supply water connected. Heating is provided via water filled radiators which are
connected to the nearby greenhouses. The coconut husks are also gone and conventional
style wooden nest boxes, mounted on the cage front, are now used.
He is what we call in the UK, a late breeder, with adult birds being
paired up in March and April and the previous years youngsters not being paired until
June. Gwyn views any chicks to be produced from the adults as bonus birds and as something
to hold his interest early on, while most other breeders are talking about their successes
or otherwise. The birds that he really concentrates on are the last years youngsters. It
is also interesting to note that while many others find if fashionable to use hens at a
very early age, Gwyn will not pair them up until they are around a year old.
Sense of Humour
Having spent many hours talking to Gwyn about his view of the fancy,
it is evident that he is most concerned over what appears to be a dwindling level of
fertility within our birds. There is definitely something lacking that we are unable to
provide. "Mind you", he said laughingly, "There
is an easy solution, all we have to do is to teach them to talk and they will tell us why
they don't breed."
However, on a more serious note, he suggested that although many
hens appear to be in breeding condition, they in fact are not. A very good test of
breeding fitness is to hang a nest box or two in the hens flight. The ones which fight for
the boxes are those that should be paired up and the other, left until they show interest.
He says that he can never understand those people that select a date on the calendar and
then proceed to put down 40 pairs on that day.
In addition to being a respected fancier, Gwyn Evans has also been
contributing to the pages of Budgerigar World for many years. Initially with his Feather
Dusting column and now through the Gwyn Evans column. The following links are to some of
Gwyn's more recent articles.
