Exhibitor Spotlight: Glenda Pullum
By Blake Ma
--> (This article was featured in the Oct/Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Agapornis World)
At Nationals in TX this year, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Glenda Pullum at the banquet on Saturday night. I got to spend the night chatting with her, and she is one of the friendliest people you will ever meet. She is also very knowledgeable and her beautiful love birds provide for fierce competition. Glenda began showing in 1990 and currently resides in Lakewood , CO and cares for her aviary, Tweeties Lil’ Sweeties. She had 2 first places in New Mexico this year and 2 first places in Denver also of this year. She had 1 goal as she went to Nationals this year and that was to have a good time and to place 1 bird on the top bench. She not only had a great time, but placed 3 birds on the top bench at the 2005 Nationals. Glenda also gave me some tips on breeding my rares and Eye-Rings. Since I do not have easy access to palm fronds, willow, or honeysuckle, her advice was “Timothy Hay” from the pet store. It turned out that my Black-cheeked and Fischer’s loved this material, and after 3 weeks of coming back from Nationals, both pairs are now sitting on eggs. Thank you Glenda!
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What type of birds do you breed, and how did you settle on love birds? I used to breed cockatiels and finches but was more intrigued by breeding love birds. What drew me to love birds initially were all the different colors. I also have a breeder pair of derbyan parakeets and a pair of senegals . With finches you can’t really handle them, and I find cockatiels harder to handfeed than love birds in my opinion.
How is your aviary setup? Currently, my aviary is setup indoors, but I have full intentions on moving them out onto our covered back deck this summer and see if they do any differently. I would like to see if my birds in an outdoor style aviary will increase fertility and hatch rates as well as produce babies with more intense coloring. I do have some flight cages that are 3x3x3 in size. My breeders I keep 2 to a cage, unless I let a pair parent raise. I have 2 bird rooms that have lots of windows and in both I use vita lites with everything set on timers. My aviary produces anywhere from 10-40 babies.
What type of food/seed mix do you feed your birds? I feed a basic parakeet mix with added extra oat groats and pellets(pretty bird gold) along with fresh (out of my garden) veggies all summer long and Volkman’s soak and cook bean rice mix along with fresh or frozen veggies mixed in. Volkman’s is the egg food product I give to the parents when they are feeding babies and as weaning food for the babies.
How did you get into exhibiting lovebirds? I was co-show manager of the Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture show in Denver , CO in 1990. I thought to myself, what the heck, I’ll show my 2 love birds. The judge was Paul Crow, and I was nervous. I was really surprised that a Pet Smart bird won. I took first in show at the 1 st show that I went to!
Did you have any help from others when you first started exhibiting? What do you look for when you keep a bird for showing? Gary Morgan and Dave Arthur kind of took me under their wing and taught me what to look for in show birds and breeding stock. I look for good confirmation and size.
What method have you gone about producing better offspring? What mutations/variation have you worked the hardest at perfecting? To produce better offspring, I try and establish other lines with good stock. One of my nice hens was an older hen, and I lost her this last spring, so I’ve put a couple of new pairs together that are related to her and have better chances of producing show quality offspring. I’ve worked the hardest at producing better violet pieds, blue pieds, and dilute Fischer’s. Good and even markings make a nice pied bird. (Note: Glenda’s Violet Pied was the best Violet Pied at Nationals this year and also placed 11 th). I’m starting to work more with the dilute Fischer’s, and I currently have 2 pair that are producing some nice babies, and I am still learning more about them.
Tell us about your most special love bird pet. I have a violet pied hen that was a 2001 hatch, and she is just a doll. I sold her originally as a handfed pet to a college gal, and she had really worked with this bird. A few years later she called me and wanted to know if I could take her back as she was getting married and was going overseas to do some student teaching. I told her sure cause she was one of those birds that you kick yourself in the butt for selling(she’s beautiful). When I’m cleaning the bird room, she wants to be on my shoulder, and she likes to play on my computer. Nothing else that’s too funny except she does like to attack my Chihuahuas . She’s one of my best show birds. She does have a mate, but they just hang out. She is one of those hens that just does not want to be setup for breeding, hehe.
Do you show train your birds in show cages before a show? How do you get a lovebird comfortable with the show cage? I put the birds into a box the night before a show or the night before we leave for a show if there’s a road trip. I think being in a box for too long stresses them out and some will start to pluck(I had this happen to my good blue masked hen this year after Nationals, and she had been in the box for a week). I start when they are babies before they are weaned, and I start putting them in a show cage during weaning. I think when hand feeding they are always a lot calmer in the show cage.
Would you like to work towards becoming a judge? Yes, I feel that I have a good eye for good birds and it would be a lot of fun getting to meet all the great love bird breeders and seeing all the different love bird mutations.
What advice do you have for new exhibitors? Don’t be scared to show your birds. Just because there are advanced people, it doesn’t mean you can’t win.
What are some ways you think we can get more people involved in showing? And youths? I think if you start by encouraging 1 person, others will see what you are doing and will jump in and get interested as well. Our club always has a member raffle at our show, and I will donate a nice love bird and a show cage for it. I have also given love birds to junior members who want to get involved and have been beaten in our local show by a couple of them. On a local level love bird people can find a youth in the club interested in lovebirds that they could mentor. For those exhibitors that have mentored and worked with new exhibitors, keep up the great work in your mentoring programs!
Why do you like being a part of the African Love Bird Society? I have met a lot of really neat and great people. It is one of the best organizations I ever joined. I look forward to the show season every year.
What direction would you like to see the African Love Bird Society head towards in the future? How can you help contribute? I would like to see ALBS do their best to hold more and more love bird shows and help encourage more and more birds to be entered into the shows. I do my best by attending as many shows as I possibly can and supporting the fundraising efforts of the society. I can also contribute by being a more active society member.