Contact details: Villa Maria Jose, Parja Salado Alto 24, 30640 Abanilla, Murcia, Tel: 0034 966846897 Mob: 0034 670816962 e-mail: rayferFS1@gmail.com

Born 6th March 1948. Redditch, Worcestershire,
  United Kingdom.
I began when I was about 13 years of age. I bought a pair of Budgies from a pet shop, nailed some chicken wire on an orange box, hooked on a pet shop nest box and bred six chicks at my first try. I joined a local cage bird society (Northfield & Worcester Cage Bird Society), I met other young Budgerigar breeders and got the bug. I built my first aviary with Slate laths and new potato boxes and lined it with roofing felt. My father would only let me have electric lights in the aviary so I installed a greenhouse paraffin heater.
It went wrong one day and killed all my birds. I bought a few more birds but my parents moved house and I could only have an 8ft x 6ft shed. I was now 16 and getting interested in a different type of bird.

It was fifteen years later that the Budgie bug struck again. This time I thought I knew what I was doing. I built the aviary first, 12ft x 6ft containing 12 breeding cages and 2 indoor flights. In addition to this I built 2 outdoor flights, 6ft x 6ft at each end of the breeding room. I joined Birmingham B.S. and bought birds from some of the champion members. One of those members was Roy Stringer. One day Roy asked me to fix up an electric supply to his new aviary. I completed the task and when he asked what he owed me I replied, a nice young cock bird. Roy sorted me out several birds from which to choose from. I picked out a flecked Opaline Grey Green. Just as I was about to leave I told him that I had nothing to pair it to and asked him if he would let me have a hen. After some discussion I chose a Dominant Pied Grey Green. Roy told me he had tried to breed with her for the last two years but she had not even laid an egg. Yes you guessed correct, 8 days later she laid her first of 12 eggs in two clutches. Amongst the youngsters were 2 Dominant Pied Grey Green Hens. One out of the first round and one out of the second. This was my first show season and these hens were winning Best Beginner Breeder at local shows and one went on to win 5th best Beginner Breeder at the Budgerigar Society Club Show along with Best Beginner Dominant Pied. Now I was well and truly hooked. There is nothing more compelling than winning shows to make you want to go on and improve and win more awards.
I always felt that I served my apprenticeship in the proper manner. Every year I won at least one Best Breeder in Section at a major Open Championship Show.
I did not win my first Challenge Certificate until my first year as a Novice and the first was with a bought bird from Don Ashby. In my second year I won a CC with one of my own bred birds and went on to win CC’s every year after that. I won my first CC at the BS Club Show as an Intermediate and my first BEST IN SHOW came in my last year of Intermediate at Bedford BS with a young bird in 1987.

In 1988 I became Champion. I was told by many breeders that I would find it very difficult winning in champion sections. I love a challenge and in 1988 I won Best in Show at Bedford with a young light Green Cock. This is the best bird I have ever bred. At Bedford the first Championship Show of the season I won Best Adult, Best Opposite Sex and 6 CC's. I never looked back from that time. The highlights were Best In Show at the MBA Area Show and Light Green Breeder CC and Second Best Champion Breeder at the BS Club Show. Harry Brian offered me £2000.00 for my Young light Green but I turned his offer down. I completed my 1988 season by taking the overall BS & Trill Breeder of the Year awards.

There is a story to tell about the Light Green Cock. Early on in 1988 a very good friend of mine and good budgie breeder Mick Payne was having problems and needed to sell his stud of birds. We agreed a price and it was in the middle of the breeding season so I took an empty nest box to his aviary, collected all the eggs and chicks and took them home and distributed them amongst my breeding pairs. If you haven't already guessed the Light Green was one of those eggs. We were never completely sure what had bred it.

My success continued and in 1990 Bill Saundry asked me to go into partnership with him. Bill is a very knowledgeable breeder having kept many varieties of birds all his life. He never showed a lot but had an excellent stud of birds and everyone in the hobby that knew Bill always respected him. I felt it was quite an honour to be invited to go into partnership with him. At the time we were both flying around 300 birds and both were using 48 breeding cages. After long discussions we agreed that in the first year each pair would consist of one of his birds and one of mine. We bred over 500 birds in this year. We looked at the pairs that worked well and the pairs that did not work well and reduced the total stud by some 700 birds keeping only the best. In 1996 & 1997 I again had two brilliant breeding seasons, wining Best In Show at many shows. It looked good for the 1997 BS Club Show. This year I was invited to Judge the Club Show, a great honour that I could not turn down. I had a Cinnamon Grey cock bred late in 96 that won Best Budgie at the National in 96 and in 97 won 6 CC's and 5 Best in
shows , in addition to him I had a Grey Green cock that had taken 3 Best in Show and 8 CC's also in 97. But of course I was not allowed to show them.
The Heals won that year with their Grey Green Cock. I spoke to them after the judging and they said they were very pleased that my birds were not on the show bench. I told them that their bird was a worthy winner. These two amazing Grey Green cocks never did compete against one another.

In 1999 Bill Saundry decided to retire due to his wife's ill health, I took over the complete stud, but I could not handle so many birds and reduced it by approx half. I continued my success until 2001 and was away from my home on holiday. On my return I found that I had lost many key breeding cocks. I never really recovered from that.

In 2003 I was made redundant and quite by accident we decided to sell up and move to Spain in 2004. Last year,2008 I decided to try and breed some birds
again, drove back to the UK bought 10 pairs from local midland breeders, Don Ashby, Bill & Malcolm Hough and Colin Lamb. That brings me back to Spain.

A few things I would like to add to my story to help other breeders just starting. It is a great advantage to breed in numbers but it is no good breeding large quantities of poor birds. Sell the birds that don’t come up to the standard that you are aspiring to and only keep the best. If you feel that you have good birds but want something different try loaning or swapping birds. I would often swap a bird for a season. This means that you do not loose the bird completely and if the other person has bred with your birds there should be some outcrosses available back to you. Well, John I could go on for ever about my time in the fancy, I have enjoyed every moment of it and if we can create just a little of what we had back in the 90, in the UK, here in Spain it would be absolutely marvellous .

Best wishes

Ray Fern