John was having to ship several of his Budgies to the United States and it was necessary for them to be given a physical examination prior to shipping. Rather than bring the birds in for the exam I offered to do a housecall. This would not only reduce stress to the birds but it would give me the chance to examine their management and housing.
We made arrangements and I walked into his large aviary. The place was very clean and organized. In the front area was a large glass enclosure with a dozen Budgies. I assumed these were the birds I had to examine and as I waited for John I watched their behaviour and movement in the cage.
I was surprised to see that there were 11 blue budgies and only one green one. In a few minutes John showed up and informed me that those weren't the budgies he was shipping, these ones were the ones he put on display for the public to see.
When I came to the back room I could see he had lots of green budgies so I had to ask him why he only put one on display for the public in a sea of blue budgies.
"Well," he explained, " if people think it is the only green one, it kind of stands out as special and they usually end up picking it and I simply replace it with another green one. If I have a year with a lot of blue budgies I put a lot of green ones out and only one blue for the same reason. I get to sell the more common colour budgies that way." I smiled realizing what a clever salesman he was.
