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And Mrs. Stephens can fill the bill, by the dozen, in assorted colors. All over the country people are buying parakeets. These colorful birds are the current rage and fast becoming the nation's number one pet. Not one, but two or a dozen to the household. Blues, greens, yellows, greys, take your choice, but take a half-dozen. That's what most people are doing. The birds can be taught to do many amusing tricks, and if training is started early, they may be taught to talk. Some birds become fluent talkers, with a vocabulary range of well over 100 words.

Two years ago, Mrs. Stephens had no idea of going into business, particularly the parakeet business. She was a busy housewife with an invalid husband, a married son and a grandson, and a grownup daughter. But fate has its way of bringing things about. When a friend brought over a young parakeet as a gift to Mr. Stephens, the way was unwittingly opened to Mrs. Stephens for her present fascinating and profitable hobby, that of raising parakeets, or budgerigars for sale.

Because of sky-rocketing demand for parakeets, or "budgies," as the breeders call them, the business of rearing the birds has become increasingly important. From the breeding of unpedigreed birds to the careful cross-breeding of the rare species, the interest and enthusiasm is at a high level. Two national budgerigar societies exist, the United Budgerigar Society and the American Budgerigar Society, each with a large list of members who are engaged in raising the birds, either as a hobby or a business.

Parakeets, or budgerigars, were introduced into England from Australia in 1840 by John Gould, the famous naturalist. It is said these birds, when taught to talk, brought fabulous prices, some as much as $1,000 each. While the current market price for the birds certainly does not reach this astronomical level, the increasing demand makes the business a worthwhile one. Budgie fanciers say they are the most intelligent, amusing, and colorful pet to be found. Other pet owners may dispute this, but ask the man who owns one. The name budgerigar means "pretty bird." The Japanese call them "shell parakeets," because of the shell markings on the wings. Both names are truly descriptive.

MRS. STEPHENS'S first budgie was a beautiful turquoise bird, Sweetie. Sweetie became a wonderful pet, sharing bits of toast at the breakfast table and loved perching on the percolator to watch the coffee bubbling up. One winter evening, hearing the family coming in from a drive, Sweetie darted through the door and disappeared into the dusk, leaving the family desolated with grief.

Hearing of their loss, Sweetie's donor brought over a replacement, a handsome chattery turquoise male, Jimmy. Soon, a neighbor learned that the little blue bird found in her garage belonged to Mrs. Stephens, and brought Sweetie home. The bird-donor friend suggested a mate for Jimmy, and Sue, a yellow female, was added to the family. Then another friend offered a gray female, an odd one in her aviary, so Gracie joined the group. With these colors there had to be a green, so Mrs. Stephens bought Dickie, a beautiful green male with a yellow face. These two pairs started her in business.

With this group to care for, an outside cage was built, near the bedroom window, where Mr. Stephens could watch the birds. This first cage was little more than a packing box, about the size of an average cabinet radio, with screen wire across the front. The birds occupied this outdoor cage through two severe Texas winters of ice storms and snow. In extremely cold weather the cage was placed in the garage, but when left outside, a heavy blanket was draped over the front to keep out rain and snow.

When in the summer of 1951 the thermometer climbed to 107 degrees in Dallas, Mrs. Stephens wheeled the cage on the screened living porch and turned the birds out. For the first time in two years of sitting on perches in a crowded cage, the birds had freedom for flying. By now there had been added Snowball, a white male with azure body, green Lulu, and yellow Spunky.

"It was a beautiful sight," Mrs. Stephens recalls. "The birds had a wonderful time, and so did we, watching them. They made sweeping power dives and loops, and perched and chattered along the upper ledges of the porch. Our coming and going into the yard or house did not seem to distract them, and they made no attempt to go into the house. They were a lovely flash of color, and we loved to watch their clowning. But one night I almost had heart failure. I could not find Sweetie, my original pet, to put her to bed in her cage. I called and whistled, but no Sweetie. With all screens fastened and no escape possible, I knew I must find her before I slept. Searching the upper ledge of the porch, I noticed a movement in a green prune juice bottle, the round flat kind we used for ivy. And, sure enough, there was Sweetie, imprisoned in the bottle. How to get her out was a problem, as the neck of the bottle seemed smaller than Sweetie. Finally, I let down a strip of strong cloth into the bottle. After almost giving up, she caught and held the cloth in her beak long enough to be pulled out."

MRS. STEPHENS'S birdhouse was the result of a misfortune. One night the garage burned, catching fire from electrical wires whipping in a high wind. When the repairs were finished and the charred lumber left stacked behind the building, Mrs. Stephens had the bright idea of using the burned timbers, mostly two-by-fours, and shingles, for building a birdhouse.

So, on August 1, 1951, the hottest day on the calendar, Mrs. Stephens with a carpenter's help, planned and began building the little house that started her in business. First, the carpenter measured off a plot six feet square and set the framework from the salvaged lumber. The top was flat and sloping, seven feet high in front and five feet in the back. It had a solid side wall on the north and the other three sides were screen wire and hardware cloth.

"I was not pleased to leave it as he set it up," Mrs. Stephens relates. "He had put strips across the top to nail the shingles on, hung the door, and filled in the north side with material left from cutting a ceiling vent on our porch for the attic fan. The door came from the stairway to the attic, not needed after a trapdoor was built for our insulation project.

"I searched out the full length shingles and climbed up in the cool of the evening to nail them on, using the garage top as a model. I had never shingled a roof before. But I got it covered, even removing the rustproof nails from the old shingles to use. I took an old cedar cardboard closet apart and ceiled the house, tacking it on with white one-inch moulding, like a beamed ceiling. Next, I added a porch or flight, three feet in width as far as it would go against a redbud tree. From scrap lumber I pieced and patched the solid section front and designed and made the trellis to cover the cracks and piecing of the boards. I had taken the screen from our living room because it had rusted. I painted the rusted screen black, hanging it on the clothesline with clothespins for the operation, and painted the burned timber white. By this time fall was rushing by fast. I could work only at odd times, often taking my husband out in his wheelchair to watch."

When the house was finished, Mrs. Stephens dug up bricks that had edged her flower beds and laid a brick floor under the roofed part. She bought ½-inch and ¼-inch dowel sticks for perches and put them high under the roof. She took the lid of a cheesebox and suspended it by brass chains from the hardware store for a feeding box. Old embroidery hoops made swing and trapeze arrangements and two fruit jars with poultry feeding fountains furnished the water supply. For sanitary reasons these were placed on small shelves, above the perches. A miniature birdcage, originally an ivy planter, held the grit. The drawers from a child's doll dresser, also in the fire, were nailed up for seed boxes.

Finally the house was ready for occupancy. It had cost less than $25 in cash outlay. The house stood in the corner of the yard, shielded by honeysuckle vines on the metal fence, a redbud tree on the south, a peach tree on the north, and watermelon pink crepe myrtles blooming nearby, an attractive place. It is crude, Mrs. Stephens acknowledges, compared with the $200 aviary a woman built on her lovely landscaped grounds nearby for her husband who had suffered a paralytic stroke. Always, except in bad weather, he sits out all day watching the birds.

WHILE THE winter climate in the Dallas area varies from the moderate sixty-degree to the upper- or middle-twenty-degree weather, there are no prolonged periods of extreme cold, and successful raising of parakeets is carried on throughout the winter in outdoor aviaries, protected from drafts and weather-proofed against dampness and fog. With plenty of room in the flight area for wing exercise, the birds can stand the cold and even snow, growing more thick and beautiful plumage. It is a mistake, says Mrs. Stephens, to pamper the birds by keeping them in heated rooms for breeding. Too much warmth causes them to drop their feathers, and it only keeps the weaklings alive and does not develop stamina and endurance. With proper protection from drafts and dampness, and plenty of good food, the parakeet will prove that he is really a tough little guy and can take it.

Mrs. Stephens's aviary gets light and warmth from the sun on the south side, which it faces. Plastic screen is placed over the wire in winter for added protection, and removed in summer. The other three walls of the aviary are weather-tight, and with perches placed high near the ceiling. No artificial heat is used. While the birds can stand freezing weather, it is not wise to subject them to such weather suddenly. If birds are to be placed outdoors from a heated house, they should be acclimated slowly, first taking them from heated to unheated rooms, then into a closed unheated garage for a few days, and then to the outdoor aviary.

MRS. STEPHENS'S aviary is arranged for colony type breeding, where several pairs of birds share open quarters and breed and nest together. During the first season of her project, when she had a smaller group of birds, the aviary was divided in half by a screen wire partition. One side was used for the breeding and nesting birds and the nursery, the other for resting couples and the young birds after they had left their nests and had a week's care from their parents.

As the project grew, however, there was a need for a separate flight where the birds could have wing exercise and the breeding quarters could be enlarged. On the sunny east side, a space four feet by nine inches was enclosed with mesh wire or hardware cloth, with plastic screen on top to keep out the rain but not the sun. Perches were placed across each end for the long sweeps of flight. Mrs. Stephens replaced the brick floor with cement of the ready-mix variety, which she mixed and laid herself. The bricks had been difficult to keep clean, while the cement may be swept and hosed off when desired.

Not more than four nesting boxes are placed in compartments made by partitioning off the west side of the building and making them secure with small screen doors. Each group has its own seed and water supply. The growing birds now have their exercise and food without interference. With twelve nesting boxes up and the eventual increase of birds, many of which she will keep to enlarge her aviary, Mrs. Stephens plans next to make further separation of birds so that each color—blue, green, yellow, white, is kept to itself.

"Colony type breeding is the usual procedure for small aviaries, where pedigreed stock is not to be produced," Mrs. Stephens says. "But when blood lines are to be maintained, each pedigreed pair is kept to itself. In colony breeding, the papa bird will sometimes leave mama bird on the nest and mate with another, then skip back to his first family, leaving the second little hen with a family to rear and feed all by herself."

THE PARAKEET does not build nests as other birds do. In their native haunts they nest in hollow trees or protected branches. For breeding purposes a nest is provided for them. This nest is usually of plywood or soft pine and may be made by a person with small knowledge of carpentry, but it can be bought fairly cheap in pet shops. The nest should be about six by seven and one-half inches and about eleven inches deep, with a concave bottom. The eggs are laid on the bare wood, although a spoonful of sawdust may be added and removed when the boxes are cleaned.

This nest may seem large for so small a bird, but the parakeets raise almost unbelievably large families, sometimes as many as ten, although five is the average. Some of the newest nesting boxes sold in pet shops at around $1.75 have removable concave bottoms and a front that may be raised to facilitate the cleaning and scraping that must be done to keep them sanitary. The plain style nests, with removable top for checking the growing families, sell for about $1.10.

Near the top of the nesting box is a round window for entrance and exit of the birds, with a three-inch long perch which is half in and half out of the box. The purpose of this perch is primarily for the partnership feeding process. When the ever-courteous father bird fills his craw with food, he flies to the little porch roost where he pecks at the window to notify his little mate that groceries are being delivered. When mama flies up inside, he regurgitates the food he has brought and she in turn feeds the babies in the same way. In the five or six weeks' stay in the nesting box, while rearing her family, the mother bird comes up more and more often, at times just to rest, at others to have her head feathers groomed by her mate. As the babies grow older, she stays out at night, sometimes starting another clutch of eggs before the last babies are out of the box.

THE FEMALES lay a clutch of four to ten eggs, which hatch after eighteen days, one every other day. The babies grow amazingly fast, as they are fed by their parents all through the night, as well as the day, four times each hour. After three weeks they are fully feathered out, colors distinct, and their eyes open. After five weeks in the nesting box they are almost as large as their parents.

The five-weeks old budgie now tries to reach the inner perch and climbs and scratches until he finally pulls himself out of the nest and almost tries his wings. But if mama thinks he's too early in his venture, she pecks him back and occupies the window opening herself. But after many efforts the birds reach the inside perch and can look outside to an interesting world. The oldest bird may not always be the first to try his wings. The watchful parents discourage their babies from coming out too soon, for their beaks must harden first so they may be able to crack the seeds and feed themselves. But after a few days, the proud parents watch from the top of the nest and really encourage the departure. Once the birds leave the nest, they seldom go back. Papa bird takes over their feeding and training for the first week outside, leaving mama to a well-earned vacation.

Once the family is on its own, the whole process of laying, incubating, and rearing begins all over again. Most, breeders desiring to produce healthy strains do not try to produce a maximum number of birds, but limit the breeding to two nests a season. If a first or second clutch should prove infertile, the hen may be permitted to lay a third clutch. Rearing the young birds taxes the strength of the parents, but when their task of feeding the babies is over, they are placed on a balanced diet fortified by cod-liver oil and mashed egg yolk, and soon regain their vigor and sprightliness.

After a week's care by papa bird, when the young ones have learned to feed themselves, they are ready for sale. Training should be begun at this stage, which is usually six weeks of age for the birds. It is important to get them finger tame and gain their confidence by calling their names and talking to them, and by taking them off the perch and stroking or fondling them in the hand several times a day. Early in the morning and in the late afternoon they seem to have periods of concentration. When separated from other birds they prefer and thrive on human companionship. They become very much attached to their owner, and their owner to them.

PARAKEETS DO not have the strong harsh voice of their cousin, the parrot. The parakeet has a small voice, but clear and capable of perfect imitation. They love attention, and when they begin to talk they pick up words and whole sentences very quickly. They are apt to drop earlier learned words or sentences from their vocabularies as they learn new ones, unless they are repeated frequently.

Birds to be trained to talk must be reared alone, as they can not be taught to talk if reared in pairs or colonies. Several of Mrs. Stephens's birds, sold the past season, started building vocabularies at around six months old. Few talk under six months and more after a year. For training a talker, it is best to obtain a young male bird, about six weeks old, from a reputable breeder. The bird should be kept alone. The male is distinguished from the female by the blue cere (the skin around the nostrils). In the female, the cere is brown.

Teaching a bird to talk is much like teaching a baby to talk. It takes time and infinite patience. The words, or sentence, should be repeated several times, each time the bird is approached. The parakeet may acquire a vocabulary of a hundred words or more. The author had a turquoise blue parakeet, Cochise, who had a range of well over 100 words in a number of complete sentences, and spoke quite clearly. Parakeets are happy little fellows when living alone in a cage, provided they are allowed wing exercise around the house.

The talking parakeet is mentioned in the writing of Aristotle. He describes their faithful articulation of human speech. Ovid composed an elegy in praise of his favorite pet, a talking parakeet. In Nero's time these birds were called "human-tongued."

Parakeets can be taught to pull small carts, rock in a rocking chair, go through tunnels, ring bells, and do many amazing tricks. As with other trained animals, such training requires patience and time. But the little budgie can learn almost anything, as he is very intelligent. While the female can be taught to talk, they are not as easily trained as the male. They are said to be much more easily trained to do tricks, however, than the male.

When the young birds are all out of the nest, the box is scraped and cleaned and dusted with disinfectant powder, then aired, provided mama bird has not already started another clutch of eggs. Thus, systematically, they go about rearing another family when the last one is able to feed and manage for itself. The babies are expected to develop their social instincts without any further attention from their parents.

THE BREEDING season of budgerigars is necessarily governed by the climate of the region where the birds are kept. In Australia, their "spring and summer" extend from September to February. In England, the winters are too cold, so the birds breed in spring, summer, and fall and rest in the winter. In the southwestern area of the United States, the summers are too hot and the birds rest until September or October and breed through the winter and spring.

The average number per hatch, as with any fowl, depends on the fertility of the eggs. Some birds raise two or three from a clutch of five or six eggs. "My grey hen, who always produces cobalt babies, never fails to hatch every egg," Mrs. Stephens says. "She raised eight birds in one hatch last winter, nearly always a white (powder blue body) in her nest. I'd say three or four to a hatch make better chicks, as the parents work so hard to feed them, so even two in the nest makes stronger birds. In hatching time I press two boiled eggs through a sieve, take two slices of whole wheat bread, crumbled, with plenty of greens (celery stalk and leaves, never lettuce) and keep it before them. This will feed several pairs of nesting birds a day."

It is of great importance to keep plenty of seed and grit before the birds at all times, whether growing families or resting adults, and plenty of clean fresh drinking water. The cock, especially, drinks a lot of water while feeding the youngsters. The usual seed mixture is two parts of millet (white and yellow preferably—red millet has the same amount of nourishment, but the shell or husks are harder for the young birds to crack) to two parts of canary seed. If one tablespoon of codliver oil is mixed with a pound of the mixed seed and let stand twenty-four hours before using so that the oil may permeate the seed, it will serve as a fortifying food for parents and growing birds. Oats or oat groats may be fed separately in a dish in cold weather for warmth, and less in warm weather as they are very fattening. The birds are especially fond of oats and will kick out the other seeds to get them first. Also, a moderate amount of greens, celery leaves and stalks, green cabbage leaves, well washed and dried make a good addition to the daily seed issue. Some even use sprouted seed from the seed swept from the aviary. Never feed lettuce. Many diseases and breeding troubles are caused by poor nutrition and faulty feather growth is often the result of inadequate feeding.

Where only one or two birds are kept as pets, seed mixtures for parakeets are available in pet shops, with special mixtures for moulting periods, bitters, tonics, bird biscuits, and a general miscellany of supplies. In the case of one or more birds, it is best to get the packaged seed at pet shops, but it is not necessary to try out all the various mixtures. Keep a seed cup filled with the regular mixture and fresh clean drinking water, with an occasional piece of apple, a piece of celery, or other greens, and the pet bird will be healthy and happy. They have small appetites and average about a tablespoon of seed each per day, in some cases more.

Mrs. Stephens sweeps and cleans the birdhouse every day, cleaning perches, wiping out shelves with disinfectant once a week, and scraping and cleaning nesting boxes and dusting with insect powder after each family of new birds departs.

BUDGERIGARS AS produced today are generally divided into two groups, the normals and the rares. The normals are the original colors, beginning with the green which was the first of the budgerigars found in Australia, the yellow, the turquoise, gray, cobalt, and white or powder blue.

The rares are what the name implies, colors that have been achieved by years of breeding and generations of crossing colors. There are violet budgerigars, the yellow face blue, the Lutinoes (solid colors with red eyes but no shell markings on wings or head).

The standards of the ideal budgerigar were set up by the British Budgerigar Society. "While the raising of budgies or parakeets is a fascinating hobby, it is not a matter of luck or just checking up sales receipts," Mrs. Stephens said. "There is much reading and study to be done."

To enable her continually to add to her knowledge of her business and hobby, Mrs. Stephens became a member of the American Budgerigar Society, Inc., Indianapolis 1, Indiana (E. B. Hudelson, secretary; 2619 E. 12th St., Indianapolis); the United Budgerigar Society, Inc., Detroit, Michigan (Mrs. Carol Centofiani, secretary, 14123 Westwood, Detroit); and the Budgie Club of Texas, Dallas (Mrs. Evelyn Reed, secretary, 2312 South Buckner Blvd., Dallas). The Texas club has a membership of more than 300, with regular monthly meetings where qualified speakers discuss problems of rearing and supply prices. The national societies are very cooperative in helping members with problems. Monthly bulletins are issued which instruct and advise on feeding and rearing. "The aspiring breeder of parakeets should certainly join one of these groups," Mrs. Stephens says. "It is almost a must, and well worth the small membership fee."

The objectives of these societies are to encourage interest in the budgerigar as an outstanding exhibition species as well as an interesting pet, to study the breeding habits, and to promote better nutrition in their dietary requirements. They also make continuing study of their relatively few diseases, and disseminate current information as to the best methods for their cure.

These national societies have adopted a system of closed bands and detailed pedigree requirements for the protection of their members. The closed band authorized by the American Budgerigar Society is a small aluminum or plastic band stamped with the year of hatching and the code number of the breeder. This is for identification of the bird and for protection of the purchaser. The band is slipped on the leg of the baby bird when it is six to nine days old. The bird's foot soon grows so that the band can never be removed. There are also open bands that are fastened with a clamping tool. But these are more tedious to apply and sometimes may come off in the nesting box and must be done over.

When a budgie wears a closed band the purchaser is assured that the breeder has sufficient knowledge to produce better budgies, that he is selling birds of his own raising and can furnish the exact age and parentage in every case. The purchaser is protected from buying diseased or imperfect birds, many of which are smuggled into this country and sold at very low prices. Breeders term these imperfect birds, which cannot fly, "creepers" or "crawlers."

The American Budgerigar Standard describing the Ideal Budgerigar was adopted by the Budgerigar Society of England, the Yorkshire Budgerigar Society of England, the South African Budgerigar Society, and the Budgerigar Societies of Ireland and Australia. The color standard of the Ideal Budgerigar was drawn up by the Budgerigar Society of England and was published by the American Budgerigar Society, in a 19-page booklet which sells for 50 cents. It is available to members of the American Budgerigar Society.

One of the points by which the birds are judged is the shape of the head. It must be round and full with no visible break at the neck and no narrow or pinched forehead. The eyes should be well set in the center of head, with a bold fearless look. The position on the perch should be erect, not droopy, the plumage shining and smooth. The mask or bib should extend down on the chest. The spots, or necklace, should be round, uniform, and black. In the blue and green classes, the cheek patches should be violet.

Mrs. Stephens hopes that too many breeders will not class all normals (green, blue, yellow) as just birds, and all rares as exhibition stock. "I have heard them classed as such," she says, "but I know of owners of normal blues and greens who refused to sell them for $150. I have also seen rares I would not give perch room. I feel that nature created nothing more beautiful than a light green or cobalt. We appreciate the beautiful blending of the new rares, but the normals should not be underestimated."

SINCE STARTING to sell in November 1951, Mrs. Stephens has sold birds to wholesale dealers in New York as well as to her neighborhood pet shop and to individual purchasers. From her original three pair she produced and sold in less than a year $200 worth of birds, in addition to keeping all greens and blues hatched for fall breeders.

Merchandising the birds at first was principally through interested friends. The first hatches were bought up in pairs and there were not enough birds to go around. Even when a good friend wanted the twins of her turquoise "Sweetie" she could not refuse. Later nestings brought more birds which she disposed of to her neighborhood pet shop dealer, who was glad to take all available birds at the current wholesale price of $60 a dozen.

Retail prices vary as to the individual breeder, location, and clientele. The wholesale prices are quoted by the largest bird buyers in the world and come by airmail letters each month. These are the standard prices accepted by the pet shops and other dealers. So far the price for a bird five to six weeks old, ready to train, ranges from $6.95 to $7.50 each. Breeders or adults average $15 a pair. From the first hatchings in September, through Christmas and past Mother's Day, the demand and prices for these colorful little pets reach their peak.

Mrs. Stephens's aviary, or budgerigar strain, is registered with the National Societies as the "Ruthlyn Aviary," from her first and middle names, Ruth Lynton. Any bird she bands is subject to registration with the A.B.S., Inc.

Dealers in New York, Chicago, and other large cities advertise in the pet magazines and have representatives scouting the country for birds. One of these learned of Mrs. Stephens's aviary and called at her house. He bought one dozen birds for $60. Since that time she has received weekly airmail letters asking for birds and could sell all her hatches to the New York dealer. But that is not necessary, as there is a steady demand through her local pet shops and she gets many telephone calls from persons who have seen or heard of the birds she sold and would like to buy more.

By last Christmas the season's sales had reached $110, although Mrs. Stephens had lost several of her breeders in an accidental escape through an open door.

The net profits for the spring months were not as much as previous years, for several reasons. Money received for birds went back into improvements in the birdhouse, and in new breeding stock. An open flight, which gave the needed exercise, was added to the house. This cost around $25. Nesting boxes of the improved type were added, a dozen or more. On account of the great drought which affected Texas, Colorado, and the Middle West, prices of feed went up. The little parakeets must be well fed and have an abundance of greens. Eight pairs of matured stock were added, making sixteen pairs. These were obtained by exchanges with friends of females for males. In this way most of the proceeds from stock went to building up the aviary. Even so, the parakeets paid their way, built up the stock, paid for improvements and new nesting boxes, and the added value to the aviary as a business has been estimated as $150 for the spring months.

"In following my hobby there has been no intention of establishing a commercial business," Mrs. Stephens says. "There is no limit to what that could reach. There are beautiful and expensive establishments which cost many thousands of dollars and which produce thousands of birds each season. My pleasure and aim is to develop healthy and beautiful birds, and the number of friends and neighbors who find them amusing and entertaining adds to my happiness. Many go as gifts to shut-ins and children. So, the time I spend in my aviary is not all work, nor all for profits, but it is a diversion. Another year may bring another addition to the birdhouse, which will be made possible by the selling of my surplus pets."

Mrs. Stephens advises buyers to be cautious when buying parakeets, as with the lifting in most states of the ban on importing Psittacine (beaked) birds, there have accumulated on our southern borders vast numbers of the birds, mostly from Japan and the low countries of Europe. Smugglers, much like the bootleggers in prohibition days, are well organized and slip across our borders at night with the birds. That is the secret of the greatest outbreak of "parrot fever" or psittacosis. Mrs. Stephens believes it is better to buy parakeets from persons who have raised several generations of healthy birds.