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Harrie AardemaDutch Master
We have all heard of the great Dutch masters
and have at some time in our life admired
their work. Their number are too numerous to list
here in full , but we are all familiar with, Rembrandt,
Van Gogh, Rubens, Vermeer, Bosch, the list goes
on and on, and it has continued to this day. In this
article we feature one of the modern Dutch Masters
but this one does not use the brush stroke to create
his craft, but the blending of feather. I asked Harrie
to give me some insight into his passion for
Budgerigars and in particular for the beautiful
Lutino. He related the following. I started breeding
Budgerigars when I was 8 years old.and I am now
64, but in that period of time I had ceased breeding
for two periods in my life, for a few years each time.
All in all, you can say that, I have been breeding
Budgerigars all my life. I think that experience is
very important when breeding budgerigars. When I
was 16, I won a local show against a lutino man.
Since then, I try to match that success (joke).
Everything in my hobby has always been focused on
breeding Lutinos as good as possible . I never
actually deviated from that. I do not know exactly
why I do it. I am generally fairly loyal and consistent
in the choices I make. I have been married to my
wife Annemieke for 44 years. You have asked me
how do I go about creating my birds, particulary how
do I increase the feather density? Well
I think it is a process which has taken
many decades. Every year I try to take
a step further to improve the body. I
do this mainly by breeding birds that
compensate and improve each other's
characteristics. For example, a bird
with a broad head, a bad color and a
moderate feather length if that is
possible to pair with a bird with a narrow but high
head, a good color and a longer feather. In my
opinion, such a method works best with line
breeding. That is the best way to improve the bird’s
characteristics. I pay particular attention to the
qualities of the grandparents, because properties
often skip a generation. You should of course be
careful with inbreeding just for inbreedings sake. I
try to prevent that by buying one or two birds every
year from the best possible breeders. I never buy
lutinos, I only buy as good greens as possible with
properties that I can use to improve my lutinos.
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The basis of my current lutino strain comes from
the eighties. The first lutinos came from the
stud of the Dutch breeders, Henk Bakker and Jack
Cornelissen. In the eighties I tried to improve my
lutinos with green birds which came from the line of
the Belgian breeder André Vermeir, who incidentaly
had won the NPC clubshow for years on end. In the
nineties I tried to get birds from Jo Mannes, because
he was the undisputed number 1. From 2000 to 2006
I had to take a break from the hobby because I was
too busy with my work. But in 2006 I was in a
position to start again and fortunately I was able to
buy back 38 birds from my own line from my then
parakeet friend Cor Koppes, who had at that time
quit the hobby. Those were mainly grays and albinos,
so I had to create lutinos again. I have been working
on this line since 2006. I have brought in one or two
birds from Daniel Lütolf every year, because I was
convinced that he bred the best birds, and he still
does that in my opinion. Sometimes I try something
different. In recent years, for example, I brought in
some birds from Willie Dokter, Mike Ball and
Maarten Heylen, because they too have great
bloodlines. With these outcrosses, I try to breed splits
and chicks that can provide blood changes. In the
nineties I visited Margery Kirkby-Mason and Harry
Harrison. I was particularly impressed by the
beautiful deep yellow color of the birds of Kirkby-
Mason. I bought a few, but when I put them on my
own birds the color paled and the physical properties
deteriorated. That is why I did not go further with
that. I try to avoid Lutino to lutino because it usually
leads to physically lesser chicks, I do it only by way
of an exception, but only if I know that the parents
and grandparents all inherit excellent characteristics.
The yellow color can also be improved by paying
attention to the yellow pigment in the greens. Pairing
two light-colored lutinos does not really produce
deep-colored lutinos. Lutinos can indeed continue to
develop physically in their second half year, but
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.according to me this also applies to some normals.
The yellow color is always lesser among the young
birds than among the older birds, but you also see
differences among the young birds even then you
can select by colour.
In general, my birds have no problems with fertility
over the years. I bred 250 youngsters last season.
With line cultivation you can strengthen all
properties: the good ones, but also the bad ones. You
must therefore also select for the preservation of the
fertility and breeding behaviour of the parents and
grandparents. If you pay attention to that, you can
also strengthen the fertility with line cultivation. I
like to use Opalines, because they often bring a
coarser and longer feather. This is especially true for
flecked Opalines - and flecked is not a problem for
developing Lutinos. But I also like to use
cinnamon's, because they often bring back a finer
feather. It is always about the ideal mix of
properties. To improve the colour of the
Lutinos I like to use birds with a dark factor.
Also the use of spangles (which often bring
more fertility) and dominant pieds (which
often bring more body) can help. Sometimes
the wing feathers become a little too yellow,
which is sometimes seen as an error. You also
have to compensate for that again. It is
important that you get good control of the
breeding of budgerigars. First I would breed
a few years with relatively lesser birds and not
set your requirements too high. If you like
breeding and once you know how to improve
birds, you could start with Lutinos. My advice
is to buy some Lutinos from the best possible
Lutinos line and then to improve them
consistently with green out-crosses. Many
people sometimes quickly stop breeding
Lutinos, because you inevitably breed more
lesser quality birds. Then they prefer the good
Greys and Greyish Greens and do the lesser
Lutinos and split away again. That is
understandable, but if you want to build a
Lutino family it is important to have a lot of
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patience. You also have to dare to use splits that are
of lower quality, if you believe enough in the
underlying properties. So always insist and opt for
the long-term build-up, that is the only way to build
up a stud of Lutinos. And at the same time building
a good administration course, because all those
Lutinos in a family are very similar! I do not believe
that the use of greens necessarily leads to a green
suffusion. Just as the use of Cinnamon's leads to
brown deposits. Cinnamon also inheritance is sex-
linked, just like ino and opaline. With all these
characteristics you can play in the breeding
I can now use a maximum of 56 breeding cages, but
until a few years ago I bred with 20 breeding cages
and that goes fine too. But with more cages you can
of course experiment and select more. Usually I grow
with 30 to 40 couples, from August to April. Almost
every link is with a Lutinos: out cross x Lutinos, split
x Lutinos and Lutinos x green chick. I use the
summer months for cleaning, renovating, selling, and
so on. I do not use blocks on the outside of the
breeding cage, because then I just run into it. I do it
in my own way, with Van Ellen blocks and fronts
and a self-made conversion, without drawers. I mix
the seed itself (basis: Gar) and I give the birds an egg
food every other day. I mix the seed myself and I
give the birds and egg food mix every other day
along with grit, sepia, vitamins, occasionally green
food, and so on.
I do not use an automatic water system, but drinking
fountains that are cleaned every day. That is a lot of
work, but fortunately my wife has helped me
tremendously during the last few year
For a long time I had little time for the hobby as a
result of my busy work and that is why I preferred
to spend all the available time in cultivating and
selecting and selling the birds, and not preparing
them for the shows. I really like that. I do receive
regular visits, especially from April to August. So
people can see my birds live if they want to. I also
try to visit some big shows, such as the Europe show
in Karlsruhe, but unfortunately that also takes a back
seat. Slowly but surely I will get a little more time
now, so who knows, I'm going to show myself more
often on all kinds of occasions.
The standard budgerigar of the future is in my
opinion a bird with a short body feather, a broad and
high head feather and a perfect style and upright
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position. Such birds can also fly well. That
combination is not easy to develop, but it is possible.
Especially Daniel Lütolf is currently working on it
in an impressive way. As far as I can see, many
breeders still select fairly and unilaterally for an
extreme a feathering as possible .
Wherever this type of feather is present it often leads
to plump, ugly birds which just hang on the perch -
or even just sit on the ground and can hardly move.
If such qualities are also strengthened by artificial
insemination, I think we are about to kill the hobby.
Birds must be able to reproduce themselves.
Budgerigars are naturally cheerful, active birds. It is
therefore vital that they have enough space to fly and
play. With many breeders now breeding the birds in
too small cages. Usually they do not come out of the
cage anymore and enjoy the space which a flight
can give them. I believe in the power of movement,
sun and space. As for the question as to whether or
not the Internet has ruined the Exhibition side of the
hobby, all I can say is, it is possible that local shows
have less participation, but this applies to more issues
in modern life, such as shops and newspapers. But
the Internet has also created a new dimension, where
people around the world can share their hobby with
each other. I now receive quite a few visitors from
distant countries. In that sense there is an absolute
enrichment of the hobby.
Exhibition Budgerigar World would like to thank
Harrie Aardema for his time in constructing this
article and thank him for giving a wonderful insight
into his breeding methods.
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