All my birds are natural bred and 100% free of I.V.F.
Willie and his wife Jansje live in a beautiful thatched house in the village called Heerde in the east of Holland. The house is surrounded by a big manicured garden that includes a big pound and an orchard and also a vegetable patch to supply his birds with fresh vegetables through the year. His Bernezenner dog can be found either in the garden or the house, Willie and his wife have a great passion for him in a different way as for the budgies.
Willie is in the hobby for a good few years but had a few breaks for various reasons. His budgie passion can be divided in two periods, the first one was 25 years ago when he had birds from Dutch breeders, that time he admired the stud from the Belgium breeder Jos Backx who had great feathering on his birds even in those days. Belgium that time had good breeders, but the cream of the crop was to be found in Great Britain. He loved his journeys to Brittan especially the passion the British breeders showed in talking about their hobby and their hospitality was second to none when visiting. A few times he brought a bird from Ernie Sigston home.
About 4 years ago Willie made a restart in the hobby. He first orientated on a practical inventory for his bird room. While visiting the German partnership Shiller and Lautenslager (now Schiller) he found what he was looking for their bird room was fitted out with products from the company called OESIG in Germany. He paid a visit to the family Oestringer that own the company and became great friends with them, Siegbert Oestringer is also a passionate budgie breeder and he helped him out with the ins and outs of the modern budgerigar world.
The house where Willi and Jansje were living 4 years ago was up for sale so he needed cages and flights that could be moved easily. The cages were made to size the way he wanted them and could be extended whatever way he wanted. The 60 sqm bird room Willie has now is fitted out with 60 breeding cages and 6 flights on wheels, they can be moved outside through the French doors to be cleaned with a power hose. The cages and the flights are made from aluminum and a hard PVC.
The bird room is situated in the house and next to the bird room there is a similar size utility room fitted with a small kitchen unit with hot and cold water this area is also used to prepare and store the food. Willie is very strict on hygiene and washes his hands with F10 before and after he visits the bird room. Although he keeps 300 to 400 birds in average one can’t smell the birds for he has 3 big extractor fans and the windows open whenever it’s possible. OESIG also fitted a completely automatic, light, heat and humidity unit in his bird room. The light glow up in the morning till full strength and fade down in the evening , the humidity is kept on 70% with an automatic spray device and the temperature is kept constant by either switching on the heating or starting the ventilation.
The fluorescent light are not the ordinary type but once that radiate UV rays, he also installed two “endrokines lights”, these were developed by a German doctor who treated patients that suffered with depression and before that these lights were used in the Zoo s in the parrot section. So all and all the birds Willie has are living in a small palace.
Although F10 is a disinfectant Willie likes to feed his birds with natural products that are not being sprayed. His vegetable garden is a great help in this as I mentioned before. His feeding system is more or less taken over from Reinhardt Molkentin (SA). As seed Willie mixes three brands, Melior (Lutolf mix Switzerland), Weiss (a mixture from a German breeder who grows his own seed) Versele Laga Premium and in separate bowls they get a small seed called Fonio paddy.
The egg food is called Animal Premio Vital (also a German product with a good amount of animal protein) mixed with a few hard boiled eggs. Sprouted seeds as in fast sprouting oats and barley are added as well as vegetables containing, carrots, beetroot, broccoli, parsley etc.
As additives he uses Breedmax and Vogel bio a herbal product and also an oil called Megabectol, these are all added to the egg food mixture. Grit and minerals are always available. The water he uses is treated and is given as a sparkling water to this he adds cidervinigar three times a week.
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