Heathrow

Wouldnt it be great to be retired, and have time to do all these things. For some of us time poor people that is unrealistic. But im sure there are other ways of getting protein into the birds. A breeder i know for animal protein uses ground up dog food pellets, has been using it for 20 plus years.

Great Discussion point Daz, wish i was more qualified to contribute to this one. Feeding high protein additives does not make short feathered or small or narrow birds become Top show birds. Feeding is about giving the birds every chance to breed up to their genetic potential. Whilst i know of breeders who have been succesful feeding birds on seed and water alone, there success was shortlived.

Daz - can you elaborate on the water additives Bob uses. Never heard of baby formula and white egg powder added to water before.

I quite often give my bird a cooked chicken carcass, in a few hours there is virtually nothing left. Haven't tried raw meat products.

Jimmy - My routine is about doing things as quickly and as efficiently as possible, while juggling the demands of a young and growing family. Goes something like this home from work 3.30ish open birdroom check everything is okay, vacuum floors 15mins Prepare softfood/soaked seed mixture, and feed before 6.00pm (dont like feeding softfood after 6pm), at same time monitoring birds for any problems 30mins 9pm - check chicks, ringing, supplementary feeding any chicks if required, updating records etc spray and lock- up birdroom 15 -30mins My cages contain enough seed for at least 2 weeks, but are monitored frequently. At weekends I clean all nestboxes, cages and flights and change any pairs as required, maybe spend 2-3hours a day on weekends again depending on Netball, soccer, music lessions and other home duties.

Pearce - I prefer to mix my own seed. I like my seed mix to contain Red Pannicum, which most seed mixtures dont contain. 50% Canary, 20% Jap Millet, 20% White French Millet 5% Pannicum and 5% Red Pannicum.

Riverina seed mix is made by Howard Martin from Berrigan. Agree with Liv's comments not enough Canary seed. Looks to be predominatley White French Millet.

Yes Macka pluck them as most my birds have really heavy down In addition to this, I'd be interested to hear your method and progress on running the Spangle Grey Green cock with up to 3 hens. I've never had much luck with this due to pair bonding.Hi Daryl to start with I put one hen in a show cage with the cock for a while to see how they like each other if all good I put the hen and cock in the breeding cage for the 1st day and let them bond and the the next day I take him out and put him in the show cage with my second hen and if all is well she goes in the breeding box with him. So up till now the cock is with the 1st hen over night and then in the morning I put him with the second hen, if I only run him with 2 he will stay with the second hen till 4 or 5 o'clock then he goes back with the 1st hen.But if he is with 3 hens i put him in the show cage with the 3rd hen to see how they go and all is well they go into the breeding box. So the 1st hen has him over night , the second gets him in the morning till lunch time and the third gets him from lunch till about 4 or 5 o'clock in the late afternoon.Some breeders find it doesn't work for them and prefer to leave the cock with the hen until she has laid her eggs then move him on which is much easier but normally I find running him with 3 hens works for me and when i put him in with the next hen she welcomes him and they go for it straight away.My reason for doing it this way is because this cock is quite old and i want to try get as much as i can out of him this year. I hope I helped Daryl. Sounds like a lot of work Splat - I'm with Daryl i havnt had much luck running a cock bird over multiple hens at the same time. I prefer to wait until she has laid and then move the cock on. I have found that you get more fertile eggs.

There is no reason why a Cinnamon cant be split Greywing. A couple of years ago i breed a nest of chicks from a similar situation. The cock was a Sky normal and the hen was a cobalt Cinnamon. I breed a Oplaine Greywing sky, Sky Greywing and a Dilute (winner of AOSV class adelaide National). Both parents i have pedigrees going back 3 generations (no Greywing) Since then that family has thrown a couple of Dilutes for me and other people.

Hmm - So it up to the individual clubs to decide on the elevation of members, that can cause BIG problems, like you have highlighted Daz. At least with the Vic system the points are there for everyone to see on the internet. Everyone can look up BCV website and see how many points Splat has or I or anyone else for that matter. Macka is also right with there being a log jam in Open. Until a few years ago breeders only needed 30 points in open to be elevated to Champion. Before the current changes there were around 30 -40 champion breeders, so they lifted it to 60 points from Open into Champion. At our show last weekend 70% of the birds were in open section, so now we have Champion breeders complaining that there is not the exhibitors in there section to met minimum numbers for points!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like a Greywing to me!!!

I agree Daz - each state has different elements to there classification system that could make a National system. In doing so we could get a equitable system that is fair to all exhibitors. In Victoria you can have a bird finish 4th at the YBS and go to the Nationals and finish 4th again and not get a point. I beleive if you have the 4th best young bird in the country in any variety you should recieve points.

Daz - Splat has got it pretty right. You also get points for best adult depending on number of exhibitors and number of birds. I think the Victorian points system is about to be revised. There are some major problems that favour the top end breeders. It amuses me that we have a National Governing body (ANBC) yet we dont have a National Classification system for exhibitors. It makes it really difficult when we show against breeders registered in NSW who can only show as an open breeder but they would be considered a Champion breeder in Vic. That's my gripe for the day!!!!!

This might be contentious but i let mine have 3 rounds if they are still in condition and have had no previous problems. I know lots of other breeders that do the same. Liv i'm not so sure it's a big No No. Interested to hear what other people do.

Lacewing hen

And they generally dont breed

All great advice Daz - The first year i bought in my foundation stock, the first generation were nothing like what i expected and i could've culled them out. But those ordinarily looking hens have now become the most important birds in my breeding program. The point to make re. purchasing birds - i much prefer to buy in cock birds and pair them to my hens. I have found that hens take a long time to acclimatise to a new setup and this can affect breeding performance, cock birds are much more adaptable and can be better utilised.

OW from NSW might be Owen Watson?????

There's a Lloyd down the end of my street, not sure if breed's budgies or not. LOL

No No No No Splat - The watson birds in Eastern auction were from Roger Watson - a breeder from Melb, Not Gary Watson from Leeton. Big Difference

That's why i asked what the relationships were

Is there any reason why i arent considering the Df Spangle. From what i remember of him, he has good feather length, which would be a good match for the sky hen???????

Splat - whats the relationship between the Sky hen and the GG Spangle and also the Violet cock. I agree with Nubbly the 2nd violet is better than both the 1st violet and the sky. Is the sky the one you bought at Geelong auction??

What was the rationale for not continuing with the AOSV class at the Nationals????? When varieties have become national classes, they have improved immensely eg. crests My hat goes off to anyone who breeds some of the harder recessive varieties (clearwings in particular). It's hard enough breeding normal varieties.

Victoria follows the ANBC matrix, i.e. 1. Green 2. Grey Green 3. Blue 4. Grey etc We dont seperate the greens or blues