A Passion To Breed The Best Crests

If you’re visiting the Stafford Spring Bird Show this weekend, look out for co-organiser SHAUN SMITH, a lifelong fancier whose interest was revitalised when he bought his first crested budgies... at Stafford! Putting the questions: Sam Wildes

- Sam Wildes

BUDGERIGARS

SHAUN Smith’s start in the hobby was inevitable. Both his grandfather on his mother’s side and his own father kept budgies, so he grew up around birds. One of the most treasured pictures from his childhood (see right) shows Shaun aged three holding a baby budgie in the back yard of his home. He is from Helpringham in Lincolnshire.

Sam Wildes: How many budgies do you currently keep within your stud? 

Shaun Smith: Too many if you ask my wife! I have probably got about 150 birds at the moment. For the past three breeding seasons, I’ve bred roughly 250 chicks per year.

SW: How many cages and flights do you have and use within your birdroom? 

SS: My main birdroom has a 3m x 90cm (10ft x 3ft) flight and a 1.8m x 90cm (6ft x 3ft) flight along with 20 breeding cages and a couple of “nursery” flights. However, last year I used a second building in the garden with six more breeding cages during the spring and summer months. My set-up is pretty small when compared to some places I have visited. The main birdroom is approximately 4.5m x 3m (15ft x 10ft).

SW: Which varieties do you keep and why?