Daryl

Well done on the LW babies GB and on beating the odds: 3 hens from a split cock in a single round is pretty damn good! I also like 2-1-3. Finally, please forward the name and number of the breeder who's not so keen on your LW's as I now know where to buy MY next LW's from

Congrats on a well deserved win nubbly, he's a very nice bird.

Glad you liked it. Nubbly I often get told I have too much time on my hands but it's simple really: forgo sleep

This should work. Have a look at the link below before it disappears: Hitlers Budgie Breeding Dilemma For maximum effect make sure the volume is up!

You may have seen the parodies on the Web where the subtitles in a portion of the movie Downfall have been replaced. I had a go at this and came up with Hitlers Budgie Breeding Challenge. I hope you enjoy. I'll rehost it somewhere later, looks like it already been blocked.

Have you ever thought of writing a rare varieties book? Aside from yourself and Ken Yorke I don't know of anyone that knows much about some of the mentioned varieties.

I think all of us, and even the top show breeders, throw a few names at our birds from time to time, especially favourites like Jewel has become. Looks like a nice split too

In light of the discussion regarding the 2010 National winning YF in the Wood and Drew auction thread I thought I would reopen this thread for further discussion. I agree with everything written in the OP by nubbly except that I'm having difficulty being convinced of the existence of a M1 and M2 as two separate mutations. And let me state at the beginning I'm totally open to being convinced but remain notso at this point. At the moment I'm of the opinion that the apparent variation in M1 and M2 may be attributed to natural variation in the variety. When the original "English YF's" were imported in 1990 they were also called "Lemonface" due to the reduction in yellow pigment intensity in the mask when compared with our Aussie GF's. I recall that even at this early point there was variation in the variety. As stated elsewhere in this thread we can get variation in the intensity of yellow in the face of the bird, even in green series. We can also get variation in the amount of yellow spillage throughout the body. For me M1 and M2 are so close that these variations in intensity and spillage can be used to explain the differences we see. The first 3 birds above have been referred to as SF M2 with the 4th bird being labelled DF M2. The difference I see in the 4th bird is that; 1. the yellow is less intense, 2. the bird is also dark factor and therefore better hiding the suffusion through the body, and 3. the bird appears quite young and possibly not fully moulted out (especially in the wing area) thereby appearing to have less suffusion. Therefore, could this 4th bird be the same as the ones above? The first of the 2 YF M1 pieds is also quite young and appears to me to be in baby feather so it would show little wing suffusion at this age whereas the second one shows a lack of intensity in the face but still has a degree of yellow in the flights. The final YF Opaline is hard to pick from the picture but appears to be of deeper yellow and not much suffusion (ie M2 mask and M1 suffusion). Now for me I can see them all being classified as the old, imported English YF (which we probably call M1). I know in my case I've bred a DF YF M1 (ie with a white face) and both parents, especially the mother, would be called M2 by the photos and description above, but the DF son should have had some yellow in the face if this was the case. So, is it possible that M1 and M2 can be the same mutation but exhibiting natural variation? Or have I just missed something vital in the explanation? I'm sure RIP will set me straight if I've just wasted 15 mins writing this

Lovely hen, first time I've seen her.

RIP, Regarding the benching of 3 birds, it was THE hot topic of discussion at this years Nationals amongst the people I spoke to. All were for it, as am I, except one. To clarify a point you made, the intention is not to have 3 birds benched AND scoring points with a 4th reserve. The method as I understand it is this: Each state would select 3 birds to travel to the Nats (as they do now) with all 3 being benched. The benching of all 3 birds removes any inference, implied or otherwise, that the team carers are biased in their selection of which two birds are to be benched. Then, instead of 14 birds being judged in each class, the judges are now tasked with sorting through 21 birds. However the awarding of points is EXACTLY the same as it is now. Say for example the WA birds were placed 1st, 2nd and 6th in the class of 21 birds. Then WA would gain 14 pts for 1st, 13 pts for 2nd but NO pts for 6th. In all cases the lowest placing bird from each state does not gain pts. This points system is exactly how the Vics have scored the Young Bird challenge (Frank Gardner Shield where their Nat team is selected) for years and it seems to work okay. So why would we bother with benching this 3rd bird. I look at it like this. 1. The first reason is as stated above, there is no bias in selection of which birds to bench. The birds which were selected at State level to attend the Nats will all have a chance of gaining points. And who's to say that the team carers will get it right anyway? The judges on the day may see the birds differently on the bench to how the carers see them before the judging. 2. There are 22 variety classes. This means at each Nats there are 22 X 7 = 154 birds which go through the entire Nats process of selection, transport, housing and associated stress only to return home for pretty much nothing. 3. The owners of the unbenched 3rd bird have no way of knowing how their bird stacks up against the National competition. You could well have the 3rd best bird in the country for a given variety in that year but you'd never know if your bird remained in the back room, unbenched. 4. To me it seems grossly unfair to the owners of the birds that they have to undergo the disappointment of missing seeing their bird judged at Nats level even though it is in the next room primed to go. We have an exhibitor in SQ who has had at least 6 birds go to the Nats but has never had one benched. Imagine how disheartened this person must be. The main negative I can see with benching 3 birds is the initial cost to have the staging modified to accommodate 21 birds. Housing and transportation costs would remain the same as the total birds attending remains the same. Thoughts? I'm sure there are plenty of others with opinions on this and I can't believe it has taken this long to become an issue.

Got back late Sunday night and it was definitely worth the trip. Met up with CB09, so it's nice to put a face to the name at last, and reading thru his post it's almost the same as I was going to write! The winning Green was an amazing bird, so too the winning Grey Green. In fact I thought the depth in the Grey Green class was fantastic and have posted the 8th bird to show this: I also noted the first 4 Lutinos were rippers and I was impressed with the second Albino which I photographed in preference to the first Albino. Here's my picture: The first few Cinnamons and the first Opaline Cinnamon were also standouts. Sitting in the audience viewing the Dom Pieds being judged I had the Kobilanski Pied, which eventually ran 4th, pegged as the winner as it was a beautiful bird. In his address the judge noted that it was missing flights which I later confirmed during the viewing. Here is a heavily cropped photo I took seated in the audience (hence the drop in photo quality): Got a shot of Hanno's 6th placed Lacewing which also looked nice. As you can see this is taken with the camera pressed up against the bars of the cage (no flash of course as I'm not in the business of scaring the cr#p outta birds ). Understandably the stewards got a bit upset with me at this so the rest of the shots I got were the standard old "prison bar" type :grbud: A final thought on the birds: when watching the judging from the audience it was obvious the birds were quality, but when viewing them up close later some were just amazing and HUGE! Here's a shot taken from where I was seated in the audience of the judges in action; Gary Gazzard and Alistair Home doing the Grey Greens on the left, whilst on the right are Stephen Mow and Macolm Loveridge judging the Greys. Also you can see the lighting stand (it's black) which was a success but got in the way of all my photos . A picture of the audience viewing the judging: A shot of the Saturday night Dinner: And finally a shot of the Ipswich club members who attended the 2010 Nats: Garry, Heather, myself, Anita and Phil. Phil and Anita ran 4th in the Greys and 2nd in the Spangles which was a great effort. I hope to be able to attend next years Nats in Canberra and encourage anyone who has thought about going to make the trip as it is an event to remember

I'm flying out of Brisbane on the 6AM redeye to arrive after 7 in Rocky on Sat morning. Just wondering if anyone on the forum will be attending. Really looking forward to it as I haven't been to the Nats since 1992 when it was held on the Gold Coast.

Top price $1600, only 2 other birds made more than $1000. Quite a lot of birds in the $300 - $600 range. Quality was mixed, although there was some bargains to be had. Cheers, thanks Heath.

Unfortunately I'm definitely a candidate for this as I get the itchy skin from seed, allergic to dust and dust mites, runny nose at large bird shows and react to any enclosed bird room I enter that is not completely ventilated. In my previous conventional avairy cleaning was a nightmare and even when wearing a face mask I would often exit with nose blocked, coughing continously, sometimes coughing up blood. However I changed the way I keep budgies and it is now non-conventional as far as us budgie breeders are concerned. I use a series of suspended aviaries (like a lot of parrot breeders use) so the cage floors are all suspended wire and the birds are exposed to the elements much more than an enclosed environment. As it is an outdoor setup this results in a dust free environment and I have none of the previous problems. It's not for everyone as it limits the number of birds I can keep due to space and cost of the aviaries but at least it lets me partake of the hobby. A side benefit is I feel my birds are also healthier now. Great article by the way, people need to be aware of this.

Interested to know what the price range was like and how it compared with previous years.

Very, very nice. Especially like the Cinnamon Light Green cock.

I'm with Heath, would never get time to do this (but I wish I did). My routine is exactly the opposite, I call it "the show routine for the time poor". Here is what I do. About a fortnight before the show the birds (up to 8 birds) chosen to go are placed in my smallest holding cage (about 1.5m long X 0.7m wide by 0.9m high) and in it I have placed an old show cage. Each day I place on the floor of the show cage whatever treat they are getting for the day. This way they are encouraged to go in, explore the cage and hopefully feel comfortable in there. This is all I did for the show I took my birds to a fortnight ago. Prior to that some of them had never been in a show cage. I realise it's a far from ideal routine but aside from weekends I have no opportunity to devote the time to train them fully. Anyway, it seems to work as most were fairly settled at the show. I believe showmanship is bred into the birds and with the right breeding they will display (or not). The alternative if you have the setup is of course to attach a show cage to the end of a training cage. My unconventional setup does not allow that at present. About 2 months before the show I make a mental note of the birds I think I will be taking but I don't do all the stuff you read about with pulling flights and tails etc. Spraying starts when they are in the holding cage and spots are pulled over 2 days in the 3-4 days before the show. Birds are also washed about this time and tails and flights straightened. Maybe if I ever get something up around National standard one day this routine will have to change but for now, that's it. P.S. The show cage is slowly getting destroyed each time a show team are place in the holding cage as the hens rip the front rail to pieces! Luckily I don't show very often.

Really sorry to hear about this splat. First your good hen and now your dog you must be due for a change of luck soon. We almost lost our old dog in Oct last year (tic) but she just pulled thru although I don't think she's the same now. The family was pretty upset through it so I can only just begin to imagine how you must be feeling.

Thanks Kaz, good to be able to put faces to the names.

Congrats nubbly on the awards, especially the Lacewings :thumbs_up: I remember the Grey it was a really solid bird. You've done well to get such a young bird to the show and win. They always are aren't they. But well worth it. Kaz, any chance of ID'ing any of the people shown in your pics as I'd guess none of us on this side of the country would know many by face.

Gee Dave, going on that last post I don't think he's looking too good to clock up any frequent flyer points

These interviews are a great read and the questions are fantastic. Congratulations and thanks for your efforts Kaz.

Here's a link to a trailer from their new DVD by one of the most successful exhibition budgerigar partnerships in the world. And a link to details of the DVD's contents. DVD Details

Here's an ATO Website explanation. No short answer but almost all of us don't need to worry about the ATO knocking on the door to explain the source of funds obtained from bird sales.

You're on the right track by switching to macro mode and placing the camera against the bars. The reason that some cameras will still focus on the bird and some won't is that each are different in the minimum focussing distance specification. Most of the Canon's (like Kaz's) will focus quite closely. Before you buy a camera you will need to research it and determine what this distance is. Some are as close a 1cm whilst others can be up to 5 cm. Focus is generally achieved in compact cameras using a contrast detect method. What this means is that the camera is looking for a big light/contrast/colour difference in the edges of two subjects and from this can determine the distance from the subject. This is why focussing on a white wall for example is difficult as there is no difference in contrast. So, when focussing on a bird in a show cage the cage front nearly always presents the camera with a convenient contrast detect point and thus focus is achieved on the front instead of the bird. Placing the camera hard against the front (or wire) can force it to focus on the bird as the cage front is now too close to achieve focus on. Finally, using a SLR type camera will allow more accurate determination of focus as these cameras usually use a combination of contrast detect and a focussing beam of sorts or even manual focus. However the hurdle here is that if you want to take the super close up with the camera pressed against the cage front you will probably need a macro lens as most standard lenses will not focus that closely. Final tip: if possible try to photograph in good light. Birds are fast moving little suckers and the use of a decent shutter speed (>1/100th second) is recommended in most cases to freeze any motion. If you're indoors and especially under artificial light you may have white balance issues (but these can be overcome) and the camera will struggle to achieve a fast shutter without cranking up the ISO and possibly getting a lot of noise/grain through your picture.