Sunnie

Thanks for the advice guys

It's a late auction because it is held after the show and it's usually a fairly smallish auction, I think an add on to the show. They usually try to get someone from interstate to judge and bring interstate birds also, but werent able to this year.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful story. I dont think you could have gone to anyone with more expertise than Dr Marshall. Good luck and I wish a speedy recovery for all your babies

I have a hen who laid about 6 eggs, then tossed out 3 of them and sat on the last 3, with only one of those 3 being fertile. Friday, the fertile egg hatched and the chick is doing fine, but on checking this morning, the hen has now tossed out the other two eggs that werent fertile. I am just concerned that now it is only her and the chick in the box and the chick doesnt have any support from eggs around it and of course, she will be sitting directly on the chick. Would you either foster the chick to another pair or add eggs from another box, which she would probably toss, or leave her to raise her only baby.

Lovely birds BK. If you would like some advice and help on pairing your birds, I am pretty sure that someone in your club would be happy to come and visit. That way, they could see the birds up close and personal and you could get an experienced breeders advice and commentary on why they would be pairing which hen to what cock

Sounds like a little character hehe

On your question of medication - Sue is pretty fastidious with the health of her birds, they shouldnt need medicating

I dont know that I would be attempting to pet them at this stage, they are still developing trust and petting can be seen as pretty scary by most birds and a lot dont really like it, as much as we want to stroke those beautiful soft feathers. Just keep persisting with quietly having your hands in their cage so they get super used to them and dont feel threatened. Once they arent afraid of your hands, it makes it much easier to get them to step up onto your fingers when they are out of the cage. Good luck! Persistence and Patience

Nice name!

I have a couple of hens that I havent used before and their eggs are getting a bit dirty. I know the perils of washing eggs, Ive had my regrettable accidents. I was just wondering if you guys do it and if you think it's necessary or not. I have heard different things like, a dirty egg can contaminate the developing chick and also that a dirty egg can make it harder for a chick to hatch by "cementing" the egg together. I usually run the egg under warm water and rub at the dirty spot with a cotton bud. Nine times out of 10 this seems to work okay, but every so often I am not as careful as I should be and a piece of shell might come away with the dirt, leaving a hole in the egg and of course a non viable egg. I am just interested to hear others views on this and other methods?

Great post Clearwing

I've not seen a show cage for a while but I was sure the dowel rods are just screwed in from the back. Can't the dowel be changed to the different size? That is exactly right, but when you have 40 show cages and pay $1.50 a pair for the perches only to have to throw them away.........well I know its not big money, but its a total waste of money. Cant do anything with the useless new perches if thats the way it goes.

Great response Splat and I think it's a great thread also. I dont know if I have pictures of my first show types, but some of my early birds would be here on this forum I think. I have been exhibition breeding for about 3 years. When I first decided to get serious, my partner and I spent around about $700 on I think about 11 birds at our first state auction. I did what a lot of people say not to do, and started with birds from all over, just buying what took my eye. Since then, I have learned a bit about breeding and as Splat mentioned, about what I really like as far as breeders and varieties go. I started with reasonably good stock and now I believe I can improve. Also as Spat said, I now only have a couple of breeders I prefer to buy from and I really think at this point, I dont need to buy more birds in, as with good planning, I really should be able to improve my stock without out crosses at this point. I suppose I am the "in between" type of breeder. I didnt start with small birds and build them, but I havent spent thousands on my birds either. With each breeding season, I am more excited by knowing the genetics of my birds and who they "click" with and looking forward to the next one to experiment and improve more. Now I'm starting to ramble, but thats a bit about how I started

Welcome back Little One. My visits have been sporadic also, but there are still a few familiar "faces" around