AT THE RIVERBEND: "Bird Lady of Napoleon"

Pauline Maria Wilhelmina Helmke was the daughter
of George J. Helmke and my paternal grandmother's
sister, Anna Spoering Helmke. I remembered
my father talking about his cousin, Pauline, but
I never imagined the celebrity she was in
the world of birds.

An article by Karen Arnos in the May 24, 1982, newspaper, The Marketeer recently caught my
eye while researching the Spoering family. What
a well-known breeder and seller of parakeets Pauline was!

"BIRD LADY OF NAPOLEON

by Karen Arnos

Marketeer Staff Writer

NAPOLEON -Lots of people have a parakeet as a pet, or maybe even two. But you'd have to be a real bird lover to keep as many as 500 pairs at one time.

Pauline Polker is a real bird lover.

Today, Mrs. Polker has about 200 breeders plus about 60 young birds, 'but if you think that's a lot, I used to have 500 pairs,' she says.

It all began more than 30 years ago. 'I started with one bird. Then I bought a female. After my mother died in 1956, I started raising more to have something to do. 'I just love birds.'

Mrs. Polker, who lives with her husband, Harry, at 403 E. Washington St., raises the parakeets from babies and sells them retail and in pet shops as far away as New York.

Seven years ago, her grandson took over the business which she operates in a small building behind her home. But when he decided to go into the ministry four years ago, Mrs. Polker returned to her first love.

However, the time has come for her to part with the business again - this time for good. Her husband has asthma, she explains, and has been advised by his doctor to move to a warmer climate during the winter. Since her parakeets cannot move with her every year, Mrs. Polker, 69, has decided to sell the business. 'Otherwise, you couldn't beg, borrow or steal them from me.'

Mrs. Polker hopes to sell the operation as a unit, including about 200 breeders, 56 breeding cages, six flight cages, toys, other equipment and her own special seed and breeding formulas. The young birds are still available for sale individually, of course.

Mrs.Polker's parakeets are not just the ordinary variety, either. Along with normals, which are green or blue and have bars up their backs and on their heads, she also has Pieds (variegated colors with a square patch on their heads, coloring at the top, and white or yellow flight feathers); Harlequins (coloring at the bottom and no patch); Selfs (grey or same color wings); Albinos (white with pink eyes); Lutinos (yellow with pink eyes); Opalines (any color with a V on their backs instead of bars); and Fallows (colored with pink eyes).

Except for normals, the other varieties are relatively rare, she says, noting that her first bird was a blue normal.

Mrs. Polker, who volunteers to teach ceramics at

the Henry County Senior Center, says it takes about

45 minutes once a day to feed and water the birds.

Cages are cleaned once a week, which takes about

two hours

Mrs. Polker explains that female parakeets lay an egg every other day. It takes 17 days for an egg to hatch and five to six weeks for the baby birds, which resemble miniature young turkeys, to leave the nest. After they are six weeks old, the birds are available for sale, and after nine months, Mrs. Polker begins breeding them.

The parakeets are kept in special cages which
she made herself. Old fashioned large bread pans

are used for the bottom of the cages and can be

slid in and out instead of using a small door,

making feeding easier. She also made all of the

ceramic dishes.

Mrs. Polker, who volunteers to teach ceramics at

the Henry County Senior Center, says it takes about

45 minutes once a day to feed and water the birds.

Cages are cleaned once a week, which takes about

two hours

At her peak, Mrs. Polker shipped 150-200 birds

a week. And during the past 30 years, she

estimates she has probably raised 'millions' of

parakeets. Of course, 'you have to love them to

raise them,' she warns.

'And I get so attached to them that it's hard to put them in boxes and send them away.'

Although, she now considers parakeet raising her hobby, it was once the family's livelihood. 'When I started, there were at least 10 breeders in this area. I guess I just stuck to it longer than anyone. Now I'm the only one around.'

But her business is still booming. People come from as far away as Kentucky and Pennsylvania to buy her special brand of seed, and birds have been shipped as far away as California.

Her son, Raymond, who lives in Grand Rapids, also raises and sells normal and fancy parakeets and cockatiels and now has 900 pairs. The Polkers have three other children and 15 grandchildren, many of whom keep parakeets as pets.

'Birds are good company, especially for older people,' says Mrs. Polker, who has won ribbons for her birds from the Toledo Aviculture Society, along with a state trophy. 'They give you something to talk to. You can watch tv or listen to the radio, but you can't talk to them, and you need something that will respond.

If the birds are purchased as babies and the owner begins playing with them right away, they can easily be taught to talk, she explains. In fact, many of them even pick up accents.

'But a lot of people think you can bring them home, set them in a corner and expect them to talk. it doesn't work that way. I can't guarantee a bird will talk unless you are willing to talk to it and play with it.'"

Pauline, born in 1913, passed away in January, 2016. She is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Napoleon.