breeding-for-proportionate-birds

Using the Standard as a Guideline to Breeding for Proportionate Birds

PleaseNote: The following is my own personal thoughts, and not officially endorsed by either Cockatiel Society. You have just come away from a Cockatiel show in awe of the size of the birds you had seenthinking WOW! My birds look like parakeets compared to those birds. How did they do it? If size was the only impressionable thing you noticed, then you only noticed part of the picture. In addition to size, the bird should also be proportionate, and have a balanced look on the perch, with a nice topline. If you missed seeing this, please do not be discouraged in thinking your birds are inferior. Forget about size for a moment. If you use scales as a gauge on how well you are doing, put the scales away. The scales can be your worst enemy. WHY? Because as you are focusing on increasing the weight of your birds it is easy to lose perspective in trying to increase the overall proportions of the bird. When focusing on size, you are also focusing on one specific area of the body, which is usually the breast and chest cavity. Ideally, you want ALL areas of the body to show a noticeable increase in proportions. If you use the word Big when describing your birds, dont. If big is the only focus, then you can easily get in trouble. Now, go look at your birds with an objective eye. Notice how they look in profile. Does the bird have good posture (also called the Topline) while on the perch? Sometimes, as breeders we do have our favorite birds, and can be blind to their faults. It takes some practice but when you look at your bird try to paint the bird Black in your mind, with an imaginary red line going down the back.

Then look to see if you have any noticeable faults. Shown below are some things you do not want to see.

You want to take note of how your bird looks above and below the perch. This will let you know what areas to focus on. Such as, do your birds consistently have small heads? If so, your best course of action is to breed them to birds that have larger heads. If you do not have any, then you may have to ask around, and purchase birds that have good head size to

incorporate into your line. Please note, this is not an instant resolution. Sometimes these new traits may not be achieved and seen until the second generation. Thus, you may have to hold unto the offspring of such pairings to see how they mature, and select the best ones of the group to work with to see what they produce. Other traits such as a long tail, from my own experience, do not show up until the second generation. Therefore again, you will have to see how the offspring mature. Select the best ones that show other desirable traits. Breed them to your best birds and the length will show up on their offspring. Once you have the length set on several birds then breed them to other birds that you need to improve upon. A bird with an awesome topline, regardless of its size, is indispensable to help breed out faults such as crossed wings or dropped tails. Repeat the steps above. Bear in mind that this does take time and patience. The other thing you want to pay close attention to is the body length. This is the area from the crop to the vent. Ideally, you want to see a long body cavity. A short body cavity, if continually introduced into your line can lead to serious health related issues, and reproductive problems. For example, lower fertility, heart, liver, renal issues and/or failure, siezures, lock-jaw with babies, crop issues, such as large over-stretched crops just to name a few. Breeding for larger eyes can evolve into droopy lower eyelids Breeding for larger head size contributes to a higher chance of DIS in the nest because there is less clearance for the chick to turn in the egg and successfully hatch. In the years I have been interested and breeding cockatiels, observation, personal experience and helping others online it seems like many of the major health issues that have trickled down to the pet trade originated from a few show lines. I often wonder what health issues will evolve next? For instance there tends to be a trend towards heavier, over sized brows. Thinking of the 'Cause and Effect' factor how does this have an impact on the sinus cavities? If the sinus cavity size is altered from breeding to set this trait will sinus and respiratory issues follow suit? When is it time to say 'Enough is Enough!' If a breeder is experiencing some of the mentioned issues they might want to examine and/or research the backgrounds of their birds to find the originating cause. In addition, rule out contributing causes such as diet and caging size. If the birds consistently are having problems and it is passed along to the offspring it would be best to retire these birds from breeding programs.

Short-bodied birds also tend to rest their abdomens on the perch because they may be unable to hold the excess weight up. This in turn gives the bird a very unflattering and faulty Topline.

The streamlined silhouette of the Cockatiel is totally lost. It is the short body style that you want to avoid introducing into your breeding program.

If your bird looks like the bird in the center of the above illustration, you are very fortunate, and have an excellent starting point to work with towards breeding nice, healthy proportionate

birds. Before I go on, I would like to point out that I have not shown birds, I have only bred birds with the goal of improving each generation. What I am good at is doing collages and illustrations like those shown above from my understanding of what I have learned as I worked to improve the birds I had. The above were my personal guidelines of what I wanted and did not want to see with my birds. I have asked on online friend Lori Rill for suggestions on what to include in this article. She is a wealth of knowledge, and she presents it with a practical and common sense approach. Below in bold italic are her suggestions to those interested in breeding to improve what they have. I will add some of my thoughts to her suggestions. Again, I would like to point out these thoughts and responses are only my personal opinions. 1...Know the standard. This cannot be stressed enough. You cannot breed for show if you do not know what the bird should look like. Do not go by someone else's opinion alone. You need to be able to understand why and what makes one bird a better bird over another. I would also like to state up front that the only thing I personally disagree on is the Written Standard of both Cockatiel Societies. It states that the Ideal goal is for a 17" cockatiel. If a person stops and thinks about it, in the 30+ years since this was written this goal has not been obtained. In reality 17" is unrealistic. I strongly suspect that when trying to obtain this goal breeders focused on weight, and this in turn has lead to many of the health issues some of the larger birds suffer from today as discussed above. I believe that the 'Ideal' should be more realistic and obtainable, such as a 14" Cockatiel with a max average weight of 125-135 grams. In addition to breeding for the 'Ideal' we also need to take the birds health into consideration. In looking at top of the line cockatiels in other countries and talking with the breeders it appears that this trend for larger birds and the resulting health issues is exclusive to the United States. That alone tells me that we are not breeding for the benefit of the birds, but I suspect it may be motivated by egos. In that respect I would like to encourage newcomers to breeding to breed responsibly, with the goal to improve each generation with healthy strong beautifully proportioned cockatiels. And to the established breeders that may be at fault to do the same to reverse and breed out the faults that have developed over generations to some of the known, yet not openly discussed family bloodlines. In order for things to change people need to voice their opinions and insist that the Written Standard be changed to a realistic and obtainable ideal. Once the 14" ideal has been obtained consistently, then the Written Standard can/may be revised. Once a realistic Written and Visual Standard is available then it would be nice that it could be adapted worldwide. It is interesting to note that Australias Written Standard has 14" as the ideal. It's time we speak up! http://www.cockatielsociety.org.au/articles/showing_and_judging.htm

2...If you can, find a mentor who will teach you things you need to know.
A good place to start is to talk to some experienced local breeders He/She should be able to answer your questions, and give you contacts to other breeders that are in your area. In addition, with todays technology, if you find a breeder that has a specific style or trait you like, you might want to see if they might be interested in doing a video chat using Skype, http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home In doing this you can show the person your birds, look at potential birds they have for sale, and discuss what you need to improve upon. 3...You also need a goal(s) These will change as you advance in experience. Make your goals achievable. A good starting point is to sit down and decide the direction you want to go with your tiels. Do you want to sell to the pet trade, show, or work on specific mutations to improve the quality in future generations, or all all of these things? Evaluate how much experience you have in breeding. If you are inexperienced or have limited breeding experience join some forums, find a local or online mentor, and be willing to listen and learn. Once you know the direction you plan on going, evaluate the birds you have. If working on improving the proportions list what you need to work towards. If working on specific mutations learn as much as you can about the mutation, such as the best pairings, and what not to pair with the bird. For example, some mutations such as lutino and fallow are prone to balding, research and learned the best pairings that will help to breed this fault out of your line. Evaluate the time you have to devote to the birds, such as daily care-taking chores, and plan a schedule, so that both you and the birds are familiar to this daily routine. If you have an outside job, this may make it harder to determine if and when to breed. For example, if you work parttime you will have more hours within each day to devote to the birds. If you work full-time, and have pairs setup and plan to handfeed the babies, you can plan your hand-feeding schedule around your work hours. Or if you get a vacation every year you can plan your pairs to be set up prior to your vacation and time it so that babies start to hatch out once your vacation begins. In addition look at the space you have to work with. Set a limit in advance of the maximum birds you can devote time to and care for. Look at the size and types of caging you have. Also how many birds can be comfortably housed in each cage? Ideally you would like to have cages for everyday living, breeding cages, and larger flights for resting and exercise. This is an important aspect to cover and is applicable to step 5 listed below. Print out the illustrations within this article, including the inspirational quote below. Or you can email me at: cockatiel.mutations@gmail.com for a set of illustrations. Put ARTICLE ILLUSTRATIONS in the subject line of your email. Close your eyes and try to visualize your ideal cockatiel you would like to breed towards. You

can hang an illustration of the Standard on the wall or a photo of a bird that you admire. Bear in mind that to reach your goals you need time and patience. Don't expect instant gratification. If you have a mentor, ask for constructive advice. You can also post photos on a forum for constructive advice. Try not to be thin skinned in regards to negative advice if the advice was meant to point out areas that need improvement.

4...Buy the best you can afford. You can get show birds from birds sold as pets, but it will be a much longer route. If your goal is to show then your best option is to buy from an established show exhibitor and breeder. The seller knows their birds best. Ask for their advice for the best pairings for their birds. Ideally you will want to buy a pair of birds, since they would be from an established line with specific set traits. If your funds are very limited then do not lose hope. Be selective in the birds you buy. This means to select birds that have traits that you can build upon. For instance, for me, the main criteria is a good topline, long body cavity, and length and feather quality to the tail. From there I will work these traits into my birds. It takes longer, and a good parallel is like buying a Ready Made Cake mix, to gathering all the ingredients to make your own cake. The second option can be trial and error, take more time, but with diligence is achievable. 5...As a Novice, you need to understand that you cannot keep everything...and believe me...you are going to want to. You've heard the words, Cull or Downsize, and they may sound untasteful, but in the real world it may be something you might have to do. In any case it can be a traumatic and difficult decision to let go of some birds that you have put alot of time and effort into. But, if you find you are running out of space, and losing perspective, then it has to be done. Take a deep breathe and look over all your birds. Paint them black in your mind with the red line going down the back representing the topline. Have 3 cages ready so that

you can sort the birds according to desirable traits and qualities. Cage one will be definite keepers, which are the birds that show all the traits you've worked towards. The second cage can be late bloomers or birds you want to see mature. The third cage can consist of birds that show traits you do not want to see. Bite the bullet and sell the birds from cage three. If they have great dispositions place them in a pet situation. With cage two, you have two options. Either hold onto them for a few more months to see how they mature, OR if you have some breeder friends you might sell or trade birds. This option allows you to keep tabs on how the bird has developed, and how well it has reproduced it's positive traits when outcrossed. 6There is no set in stone set of rules for show venues and there will be ups and downs. It is important to remember... There is not a single person in the hobby that has not been where you are right now. 7...It may be an old one but here it is... Ask questions, as the only stupid questions are those unasked. 8...You will meet great people, great birds and make new friends from all over. Even if you don't plan on showing, watch for upcoming shows. If there is one within your area go to it. Watch the show. Don't be bashful, approach someone to ask questions or advice. You will find that most show people are warm and welcoming people and will be glad to help and advise. In addition, the special bonus is that you will meet and make wonderful friends along the way. 9...Most Importantly: ENJOY THE RIDE! Hobbies are supposed to be FUN!