R&t's Breeding Journal

[renee 0]

Hello there everyone! It's been a while since I posted here -Thank you to Kaz who prompted me to get back on-line

 

I have high hopes for this year's breeding season. I bred 70% hens last year and I can't wait to see what they produce for me in the next few months.

 

I breed 7 varieties: Normals Green, Blue; Dominant Pieds; Recessive Pieds; Double Factor Spangles White and Yellow; Albinos and Lutinos.

 

This year I have 37 breeding cabinets at my disposal so it promises to be a busy one LOL!

 

I breed in my garage which has brick walls and is East facing. Six weeks ago I began by giving it a spring clean and every week end since my handy hubby has been making adjustments and maintenance to the Holding cabinets and Bbreeding cabinets - not a wobbly perch or loose cage front to be seen!

 

Ten days ago we caught every single budgie and I judged them in classes to select the top breeding birds and they went straight into 12 Holding cages (per class/variety) for 2 weeks. During this time I have conditioned all the birds to the sound of the vacuum cleaner and their new feeding regime. Happily some of them have paired up already so it makes selection all that easier.

 

This week end I put them down.

 

Now I am very lazy when it comes to photos but will happuly oblige if someone wants to see something in specific, say my top pairings .... but I ain't taking photos of all 80 birds!!!!

Edited January 14, 2012 by **KAZ**

[Taylor 0]

Hi sounds like you'll ve busy!!!

Could you take some pics of your df spangles?

I really like that variety as well as dominant piers...

Edited August 10, 2011 by Taylor

[kochy23 0]

good to see you back on renee, ill be very keen to see some pics of your top pairs!

[Pride 0]

Good to see your back renee,

Edited August 10, 2011 by Pride

[renee 0]

okay Pride here is a photo of the Grandaddie to my Green Series Dommie Pied line. He is a John Kobilanski 2008 bred.

 

 

He has a lovely big head and has a very long tail However, his major fault is that he is very heavy flighted. He is slouching a bit in this photo but even so he does need some more length in the body to balance with his tail. He is paired to a Grey hen who is nothing special but she doesn't have heavy flights and more importantly he fancies her and I am hoping to breed some greys to put back into my Albino line next year.

 

I am busy tomorrow driving around Perth getting the last of my accessories but I will post a photo of his daughter (who IS longer in the body) and his grandson who does not have the heavy flights on Friday. Depending how I go I will then take photos of my DF line (which is something special).

 

Thank you for your feedback

[splat 0]

Hi Renee, It's good to see you back. Sounds like you are going to be very busy, good luck with your breeding and look forward to see your results. Your pied boy is lovely.

[Pride 0]

Renee he looks stunning, good to see you getting back into the swing of things.

[Maddy 0]

Congratulations on making it back to us Renee

That cock looks amazing, you should get some nice chicks with him.

 

Good luck with all your breeding, hopefully you get another high percentage of hens this year as well

[Daz 0]

Welcome Back Renee

[**KAZ** 0]

Good to see you back on board kiddo

[Finnie 0]

Renee!! Glad to see you back! Just the other day I was missing you on here and wondering if you'd be back.

[GenericBlue 0]

welcome home hun wish you all best for your breeding

[renee 0]

Many thank for your kind welcomings and Thank You Taylor for the birthday wishes

 

So first of all apologies for taking this long to figure out that I had to use Mozzilla Firefox browser to use Photobucket efficiently ....

 

Any way as promised here is the daughter to JK, the Grandaddie of the Dommie Pied (green series) featured above:

 

 

And here is an aviary photo of the grandson, as you can see he is a lovely long bird, no heavy flights .... but visually does not possess the wonderful head of his Granddad - this year I may learn if he is carrying it genetically or whether in my effort to correct the wings and breed in length I have lost that feature ...

 

 

I am breeding with all 3 birds.

 

Now moving on to the Recessive Pied line. This is my most advanced line due the good fortune of having bought a pair of prolific breeders from Dom Manno (no longer active in the hobby but reknowned for his RPs) early on. Then I was very fortunate to acquire a couple of very nice birds from Gary Armstrong a few years ago.

 

Against all advice to date I have consistently paired Recessive Pieds to Recessive Pieds within families and in 2009/2010 this produced some absolute stunners, one of which travelled to Nationals as a Reserve. Last year I lent out 2 of the best so this year is the first time I will breed with them. All up I have 4 really outstanding birds and happily for me the best Armstrong line hen has paired up with the best Manno line cock. The progeny of this pairing will be the basis of my own line. Sorry about the photo, they are down already and I didn't want to pull them out just for a photo so here they are on the perch (obviously much longer than this angle suggests):

 

 

Here's a better photo of him in the aviary:

 

 

Now I have got the hang of photobucket more photos will follow, DF Spangles specially for you Pride

Edited August 15, 2011 by renee

[Taylor 0]

LOL, I love pieds both kinds. I have to say there is nothing cuter in my opinion than a dom/rec pied, there's just something about them! I also own one, well actually a Dom pied cinnamon opaline sky blue hen but you get my point. Hope to get at least 50% Dom pieds from her and my grey green cinnamon cock. Finnie figured that out on my journal post.

 

Any way good luck for breeding.

[Pride 0]

Good luck and you have some fantastic birds.

[**KAZ** 0]

LOL, I love pieds both kinds. I have to say there is nothing cuter in my opinion than a dom/rec pied, there's just something about them! I also own one, well actually a Dom pied cinnamon opaline sky blue hen but you get my point. Hope to get at least 50% Dom pieds from her and my grey green cinnamon cock. Finnie figured that out on my journal post.

 

Any way good luck for breeding.

Assume most cocks are carrying cinnamon and opaline these days..........99.9% of them are....so you may end up with a nest of 50% cinnamon opaline normals green series babies and 50% opaline cinnamon green series dom pieds

[renee 0]

I decided today that I haven't quite finished with the Recessive Pieds yet ...

 

Here's a not particularly flattering photo of the boy who went to Nationals, he had a tail then ... alas no more! He is a much better looking bird now than he was back then, and althought you can't see it in this photo, he has a magnificent blow

 

 

He is the best cock bird of the Armstrong line

 

He is paired to my best Green hen and I sincerely hope that tail or no tail he does the business - she is quite in awe of him so it bodes well

 

 

 

Now here is a photo of a cock I bred last year, evidently from the Manno line - he is longer than his Dad, featured in the earlier post, and happily I managed to get rid of the heavy flights .... I have not shown any magenta rung birds and this is the first time he has been in a show cage (yes, a feeble excuse for my photography skills and lack of patience)

 

 

Here's a better photo of Dad - note the heavy flights ...

 

 

 

And changing the subject, here is a typical breeder's cabinet that I use

 

 

All mine are second hand and have the usual bits and pieces : round and square perches, feeder, soft food dish, finger tray with Murphy's Minerals, Calcium Block, greenery, drinker and nest box.

 

 

 

[Pride 0]

Very nice setup renee hope you get good results this season.

[renee 0]

and now for the Double Factor Spangles

 

The DF Yellow line is something I have been playing around with for for a number of years, sadly I lost 2 of my best Spangle hens last year .... these things happen. But anyway here are some photos of the boys

 

First of all a bit of background. To date all my best cocks and hens come from a Barry White? SA cock bird I bought from Fran McLoughlan about 4-5 years ago

 

R&T Red rung

 

 

He is paired to his R&T Blue rung cousin, who looks just like him

 

 

This is her brother

 

 

 

Then this year I have been extremely fortunate to purchase an outcross for this line, an 07 Gary Armstrong cock

 

 

He came second at the 2008 Nationals

 

 

 

And this is the foundation bird for my DF White line, I purchased him at last year's SWBC Auction

 

 

He gave me 5 chicks late last year, 2 hens and 3 cock birds. The hens are down but the cock birds are in the aviary, I think they are still a bit immature for this year's breeding. This is a line I need to play around a bit with.

 

and I almost forgot .... Here is another one of mine bred from Carl Alder Spangles who is down to one of the daughters

 

Edited August 17, 2011 by renee

[renee 0]

Next my Albinos, a line I am very hopeful about .... and hope to see results in a couple of years time

 

Here is the foundation cock bird, a Cec Gearing 2008 bred

 

 

He was reserve bird at Nationals

 

He produced a number of nondescript crosses the first year I put him down (I am using one this year as a bit of a curiosity) but last year I got a better hen for him and he pumped out 9 chicks - 6 hens and 3 cock birds, a number of the hens are particularly nice.

 

So now I have the numbers I can start playing around a bit and introduce some outcrosses, 2 of the hens have gone down to a pair of DF Grey brothers I bred back in 2008, they 100% John Kobilanski to add a bit of length

 

 

 

Once again I stress, my photos do not do my birds justice ... LOL

[Taylor 0]

What are the red stains?

[moglet 0]

Sigh, Renee your birds are gorgeous!!!!! drool drool drool over your albinos. They are my faves. I had a beautiful Albino cockbird who had Tony Luxton line hen for a Mum but had a disaster with a !@#$ butcher bird.

Edited February 26, 2012 by **KAZ**

[renee 0]

What are the red stains?

 

Every day my birds get a soft food mix of Carrots, Beetroot and Hulled Oats. Fresh carrots and beetroot stain the masks

 

Sigh, Renee your birds are gorgeous!!!!! drool drool drool over your albinos. They are my faves. I had a beautiful Albino cockbird who had Tony Luxton line hen for a Mum but had a disaster with a !@#$ butcher bird.

 

 

Thank you so much moglet

 

Yes, I do have very nice birds (she says throwing modesty to the wind) but as you know you have to breed them and then improve on them some ..... now there's the rub.

 

Without exception, all my birds have faults and alas some even have more than one!!!! But slowly but surely I am breeding towards a bird I find appealing.

 

I haven't really shown since the SWBC Show in March 2010 and don't really intend on doing so this year. Currently I am in the Never-Never Land of Intermediate, which I consider to be a complete nothing of a grade and in which so many breeders become stuck for years on end. However, I am still intent on making it to Open and of course to do so I will have to show next year .... I doubt I'll get there by 2013 - but I'd like to. And of course once I start showing next year I will have to reconcile myself with the reality that maybe what I like doesn't cut it on the show bench. Such is Life.

Edited February 26, 2012 by **KAZ**

[Pride 0]

I agree with moglet those albinos are amazing.

[renee 0]

okay now for the Normals Green and Blue lines. These are actually quite related as I hit the jackpot with a John Kobilanski Blue hen and Neville Schoemaker Green cock bird pairing in 2009 who both were carrying Jeff Lloyd bloodlines. They produced I think 4 lovely chicks of which I only have 2 left (a cock and a hen) .... I also lost the Green cock Dad to cysts growth at the age of 2 so was never able to repeat the pairing.

 

Anyway, here is the Blue rung cock

 

 

 

And here is his son bred last year, he has a beak issue .... What causes that???

 

 

Believe it or not all the other offspring of last year's pairings are all hens!!! I am hoping for a number of good Green birds this year in order to put back some into my Lutes and possibly Recessive Pieds.

 

 

Then the Blue line, or what I refer to as the seed paying birds. I really do need to focus a bit more on these birds but I am not really motivated as I don't need them for my specialist varieties.

 

Blue rung Cock

 

 

 

His Magenta rung son

 

 

 

 

 

Wayne Retzcalf purchase from a couple of years ago at the SWBC auction

 

Edited August 17, 2011 by renee