The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1953-03-19
Caldwell Woman Turns Hobby OF Raising
Budsersars Into Local Profitable Business
BY Mary A. Cisar

Have you ever walked into
room, about II feet square, to
find $50 birds awaiting you?
We did just that at the home
of Mr.. and Mrs. Robert Lyons,
Lewis street, last week.
Greeted at the door by Mrs.
Lyons, we were soon joined by
Blue Boy, her pet budgerigal,
who made himself very much at
home on my shoulder.
What is a budgerigar? 1t is a
small bird, similar to the para
keet, and very beautiful. A Won
derful pet and it's no worry TO
find somebody to care for it if
you're away from home for
while. These little birds are so
likeable that the neighbors are
tickled to have him or her while
you're gone.
Ten years ago, Mrs. Lyons
bought her first pair of pets in
a GAINESVILLE dime store. At that
time, they were fairly unknown
in this area. inexperienced in the
care Of feathered friends, Mrs.
Lyons said the first pair died
after short time. The third pair
she bought finally began family.
Since 1850, she has raised bud
gerigars on a salable scale. This
winter, there were Is pairs that
mated. At Christmas time, she
sold approximately SO for pets.
They are sold for from $500 to
$4,000 each, depending on the
breed. One room downstairs IS
filled with 25 cages that at the
present time house in the neigh
borhood of $50 "budgies."
Five Individual breeds are in
cluded in her family" CHINA
mon Wing, Opalines, Gray Wing,
Albino, Yellow Face Blue and
Normals. There are five of the
rare Albinos in her aviary.
All Of the birds are banded
with an American Budgerigar
Society number a society of
which Mrs. Lyons is member.
A strict record, from the time the
egg is hatched, is kept in her
files.
She spends about three hours
of every day caring for the bud
gies. The temperature in the room
is kept between 90 degrees and
70 degrees, although the pets will
thrive as long as the tempera-
ture is not freezing in the room.
After mating, the hen lays one
egg every other day in her nest
box, which is attached to the
cage. A normal number is SIX
but the clutch sometimes includes
as high as nine. 1t takes II to 10
days fer the egg to hatch and
the oldest of the clutch will be
sprouting feathers when the last
little bird matches. We saw an eX-
ample of this when We peekcd
into a nest box ourselves. The
oldest bird was half his mothers
size and the youngest was a max
ed little thing, only few hours
old and about the size Of d small
caterpillar. At the same time,
there were two eggs as yet un-
hatched.
When Junior" is four to five
weeks old, he is taken from under
his mothers wing In the nest box
and must face the world alone.
By that time, he is well-featured
and makes a reasonable facsimile
of his dads chirp.
Their feed is a combination OF
ABS supplement, canary seed,
millet and oats. The supplement
contains egg and cod liver oil
and once in a while, they are
treated to little bit of celery.
Mrs. Lyons remarked that she
feeds 800 pounds of food to the
budgerigars each month. She also
sells seed to other owners on a
small scale. This does not include
the grit given to the birds.
Although she takes special
pains with her group, it must be
remembered that she is raising
the future pets on a large scale
and cannot afford sickness that
would spread and affect all the
budgies. The mortality rate in heE