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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.