Barbara Moizer tells

Jorge de Pina Story (part 1)

(Budgerigar World Magazine, January 1996)

It wasn’t unlucky thirteen for Jorge de Pina because it was at that age that someone gave him a pigeon as a present. Off went Jorge to the pet shop to buy it a mate and he ,arrived home with great plans for his entry into the pigeon fancy - but, the best laid plans - Mum said 'no way".

They lived in a flat in Brazil, a hot country, and his mother could visualise windows being left open for Jorge's pigeons to come in and out, then being joined by every vagrant pigeon looking for a free meal, and the subsequent mess. Back to the pet shop they both had to go. And that is how Jorge's life changed because he exchanged his two pigeons for a pair of Budgerigars. Two, very small Light Greens with no spots to speak of and heads that would "pass through the eye of a needle".

Early succeess

About six months after this, Jorge found out that there was a, bird club in Rio de Janeiro and he' went along. The club sold rings and books. He could not believe that Budgerigars like those in the books existed. but the desire to own birds like that was born. He joined the club, attended shows and began to breed for the first time. His first 'birdroom' was a couple of cages and a tiny flight, all hanging on the wall of the laundry room in the flat - but the birds bred. He began to acquire outcrosses from 'English ored' birds and within three years he had won his first "best in show' award with a young Pied Dark Green hen, this was 1968, he was still a teenager and had beaten all the 'old timers". He was over the moon. Several of the regular winners wanted to come to see his birds, some wanted to buy his hen, but she was not for sale. Jorge realised that he could not expand as he would like to while living in a flat and so he.went into partnership with a breeder who had space for an aviary. His partner had not been successful in the past but Jorge changed all that and they won many, many specials.

Innocent abroad

Throughout the seventies, Jorge continued his success and their in 1980, he decided that to proceed any further he must go to England to buy the "birds from the books ". He and his partner, who shared about half a dozen words of English, flew across. They had some hair raising adventures. getting lost on stations, catching the wrong trains and meeting a variety of English breeders, some good and helpful, others only too happy to take money from the "foreigners" without giving value in return. Jorge admits that he made many mistakes with the first birds he bought over here but he learned a great deal.

During his travels he met a number of fanciers who gave him help in various ways. Gerald Binks was one of the early teachers who tried to instil into him the finer points to look for. Experience and patience helped him to develop what Harry Bryan called "the eye". Jorge feels that he now has the eye and knows almost automatically, which bird to pair with to achieve success. Jorge's partner travelled extensively and found it more and more difficult to look after the birds and so dropped out of the hobby. Eventually, Jorge bought a home of his own and was able to build his own aviary. His present establishment is an impressive building housing a large range of stock cages and flights. The main birdroom is nearly 100 ft long with a smaller room at the front which houses a further 20 breeding cages and flights. A further building of about 80 sq. Ft. is used - purely as quarantine quarters.

The famous softfood is developed

While learning to speak English, Jorge continued to come across to England each year and soon his stud consisted of 100% English birds. Here read every book he could find on Budgerigars and made a particular study of nutrition. Trill is the basis of his birds’ diet but he is sure that there is not suficient protein for the birds’ needs in seeds alone (Brazilian "Trill" is quite diferent from ours). Partly through his studies of the subject and partly through trial and error, he developed a soft food which is fed to his birds every day of their lives. He finds that they seem to know the right amount for their needs, using increasing amounts during the breeding season. He and his aviary attendants, he has three, watch carefully to see if any soft food is being left, and if it is, the amount being fed is cut down until demand picks up again, as it does at different seasons of the year. (The recipe for his soft food, and remarks, is given at the end of this article).While in England, Jorge began to attend shows and was a regular helper at the B.S. Club Show for many years.

He watched the B.S. show procedure until he knew it off by heart. He would like to have introduced new ideas into the Brazilian shows but the big Brazilian federation had strict rules which made it impossible. He felt that some of these regulations were not really fair on the birds for example, any club which wanted to run a show had to run it for a whole week which meant that the birds had to stay in the show cages for a week.

Budgerigar World' Show Brazil is born

In 1989, while staying with Gerald Binks, Jorge asked if it would be possible for him to run a show using the name "The Budgerigar World Show of Brazil", which would then be independent of the Brazilian Federation. Gerald agreed, and when Jorge got home, he began to organise the first independent Brazilian Budgerigar show. Craig Binks and Roy Aplin were the first.two judges invited. The first show was not very big, only 450 birds. Six years later, the entry has risen to 1,700.

Right from the start, Jorge realised that he could not hope to cover all the expenses himself just through entry fees and looked around for sponsors. Persuading business people to part with money to support a Budgerigar show was not easy, but Jorge had some novel ideas. First, he gave all the door entry fees of the show to charity. The one he those was a charity for paraplegics. This meant much needed publicity. Because it always supports charities, his show always features on prime time T.V. and in the press. Members of the charity collect all the show entry money at the door and naturally display their logos, posters, etc. publicity, with Jorge's persistent tenacity, helped to persuade firms to give the show their support.

Show cages supplied

Trill donated all the necessary show cages, free of charge. Brazil is so big that exhibitors have to travel thousands of miles by plane with their exhibits and the show promoters must supply the show cages when they arrive. As the show has grown, Jorge now has 2,000 show cages stacked in his attic - mostly paid for by Trill! Varig, the Brazilian national airline, was persuaded to give a draw prize of a free return ticket to London and has done so every year since. The printing of schedules and catalogues costs nothing, another firm sponsors those. Posting copies of the schedule to addresses world-wide each year is another expense which is paid for by a sponsor. Jorge asked CocaCola if they would supply a couple of dozen cans of Coke free – they sent a couple of dozen cases. of cans the first year, but when they saw how much publicity Jorge's show could attract, the amount donated each year is now incredible. The show hall is free, it is donated by a bank, the Entremares Hotel, hosts the judges, the list is mind boggling. Jorge is convinced that the way ahead for all clubs must be with ponsorship. He agrees that it is hard work, especially at the beginning, but he is sure that all the big national clubs are going to have to appoint someone with ideas who will pursue this route to successful shows. Jorge is tireless in trying to attract publicity for his sponsors. Every time he is photographed for the press or for.T.V. he wears a tee shirt carrying the message of one or other of his sponsors. The show hall is lined with posters and banners advertising their wares or services. He never fails to mention their names in any interview. He allows other charities to put up stands at the show to attract funds - but it also attracts publicity to the show. He has even had firms approach him offering sponsorship which, reluctantly, he has had to turn down because the product in question would have clashed with that of one of the present major sponsors.

Super Champion

Jorge would love to live in England where he could take part in the English show season, with many shoks at which he could compete. In Brazil, his birds are so far ahead of any other breeder, even those who have come to England to buy birds, that he really has no competition at all. At the first five "Budgerigar WorldŽ of Brazil shows, he won every one of the top specials, then some of the other breeders complained to him that they could never hope to win any specials. Jorge thought for a while and then came up with the idea of a new grade, a sort of super champion - he was the only member of this grade. This gave the other breeders the opportunity of winning the top places in the ordinary champion section and they were happier. However, when it came to best in show, best young bird and best opposite sex, the champion birds stood no chance, Jorge won them all. Last year, he came up with the new idea of not showing at all to give others a chance, and so for the first time, there was another name on the best in show special. He decided not to show again this year, to give the others another chance.

Jorge works very hard throughout the period of his show. He stores all 2,000 cages which have to be in perfect condition ready for the birds which arrive. He takes all the entries, and is working on his computer until the early hours of the morning of the show. He produces the paperwork for the catalogue and results sheets and manages the show. At the same time, he has to accepts the responsibility for entertainmg the judges from all over the world, most of whom don't speak a word of Portuguese and have to be escorted everywhere, then when the show is finished, all the cages have to be transported back home, cleaned and stored away again. Now the media descends and he has to find time to give interviews to all and sundry.

Judging world-wide.

Jorge has judged all over the world, Holland, Switzerland, Africa, America, and England so many times he can't remember them aII. He first judged in England in 1987 at the Budgerigar World show at Blackpool and has judged here every year since, many times at area society shows. Last year he judged at L.E.A. and at Northdowns, this year at the Southern Classic and Dudley as well as Texas and Canada. He has had tentative requests from several countries for next year.