fordmob

There are people out there ,like you just described Taboo.Who have won at the Nationals ,who are on the pension and who have never spent a lot on birds.They do exist and will win at the nationals again,simply because of there skill as breeders not there deep pockets. I agree PJI. And if I had the disposable income available then I would buy those great birds too. One day I might have the money there, but in the meantime I need to use my noggin. Jealousy can be a bit of a curse in the hobby, as clearwing says, I reckon you should enjoy what you can do with what you have.

Good fallows, they should get snapped up. Would be happy to get hold of a couple.

I don't agree that you have to spend a fortune to breed good birds. Buying non visual well bred stock is the way to go for most of us of meagre means. When you do breed a couple of good ones then you need to utilise them. It's a great challenge to do it this way and as Splat says, very satisfying. They year before I lost all my birds many years ago I placed in 4 shield classes. I was no star but just starting to develop a reasonable stud of birds. At that stage I did not pay over $50 for a bird, and most were $20-30 birds or were older birds that were given to me. I have a heap of kids and we survive on one wage. I have "popped one out" with non visual smallish birds many times. I have also seen it in many other breeding rooms. We don't want people to be discouraged from getting involved in the "hobby" because they can't afford four figure birds. I don't begrudge anyone going out and spending money on good birds, it can certainly be a short-cut to success. You know what they say about how to skin a cat and all. EDIT: You don't have to spend a fortune, but there comes a time when you may need to pay for certain features, hopefully by that stage you can fund it with you own sales.

Hi John Good to hear Mark and the club did so well. How did the fallows go?

anxiously awaiting reports!

The cinnamon looks a ripper.

You are welcome to Harvey Norman, Tiger Woods and Paris. Harvey Norman I mis-named because he showed "no interest" but turns out he just needed the right girl.

Check re Kaz above or do the pieds have a band or clear area around the chest/shoulder? Can you put some pics up of them? Clearflighteds are recessive aren't they?

LOL :D :D and you didnt even check our pockets LOL And I'm sorry I just WASN'T going to check down either yours OR Kens pants!!!! So many lines....................

ahahah, it's finally official. If my wife ever reads this thing I'm gonna pay.

hehehe, yeah he did.

Some great birds. That light green and cinnamon are rippers.

Chrikey Dan you make me laugh. lol Hey which award are you talking about. That platinum wings thingo. I reckon that post was worth it. How do you get one? Who gives them to you? I want one cos you've got one

When shaking hands with ladies I used to have to wear gloves, I come from very fertile stock. Legend has it that three of my grandparents children were concieved by eating from the same soup spoon. I would have been a good stud cock before being gelded, not a lot of feather up top anymore though. When do you reckon I will win one of those award thingys that you have won Splat?

I suppose that you could also use treated pine posts and shadecloth over the top to shield the sun. The second roof doesn't need to be waterproof, you could then detach it in the winter. It would also be cheep.

I have four kids splat.....I was so fertile that measures had to be taken to stop it.

Thanks, I think a high protein soft food is important and the key to fit younguns and feather. When I said I practiced polygamy I meant with the birds, not personally. I do have very good fertility however, personally that is.

I think I'm a size 57 in hats.

Splat, that Cobalt is far better than any bird I have ever owned, I have his son and daughter and a number of relatives. As far as quarantine goes I bought my birds from 2 sources. I have paired them together separately at this stage and have kept a close eye on them. I did give them all a dose of coccivet, I have no troubles when using Amprolium (coccivet) before breeding or even during so i was confident enough to dose them. I wasn't as sure with the Ronidazole (Tricho Plus) treatment so I have only dosed a few birds that I am holding on to for later with that. If you pair up birds straight away from the same source quarantine isn't an issue, they were all in the same flight anyway. I think most breeders will pair birds up straight away if they have purchased pairs from the same source. It's different to dumping a couple of outcrosses in the flight and hoping for the best. I gave the birds vitamins and watched them pretty carefully. I did separate one suspect and am keeping an eye on her. She is an older hen so she could just be a bit tired. She isn't wet or vomiting, just lethargic so I will watch her. As for a plan I am lucky enough to have bought what was growing into a stud. I have a number of related birds that go back to top breeders and in that lot I also got a nice Gary Armstrong light green and two of his sons who are dark greens as ready outcrosses. I also bought some birds from a great and esteemed local breeder and forum member. I won't use birds with long secondaries or heavy flights as it extremely difficult/impossible to get rid of. I wont use any bird that has a skinny head or very short mask. I am happy to use small birds that are well bred that have all the good features. I also won't get birds with hinged tails, and I try to avoid lumpy bumpy backlines. Small spots aren't a problem as it seems to be the easiest feature to repair. Big opalines can help with that I reckon and it will be something I have to work on with that cobalt/dark green line. I suppose it comes down to what you see as faults and what you see as deficiencies. I don't think you should keep birds with faults. Deficiencies are things that you can work on improving, faults need to be eliminated completely in my opinion. I have little concern about variety at this stage. I just want to breed good birds, especially hens. This season I will pair traditionally but as soon as I start to get a number of good hens I will start to use polygamy. I have found it the best way to get more quality. I will put down a number of pairs then just to be feeders. It won't worry me to only use 5 or 6 cocks in my main varieties, though not all cocks are suited to it. I previously did this with a Kakoschke bird and it got me going. (After a couple of years I lost all my birds in a bad storm when my aviary blew away.) As for pairing I spend ages stewing over what to pair with what. One of the pair is usually a showbird, it stands off the perch, has a straight backline and tail, ie it has a good structure, even if it is lacking in size or feather. One of the pair will have good size. At least one of the pair will also have feather. I personally place more emphasis on visual pairings, I won't pair related birds together just for the sake of it. I think close linebreeding should only be done when you are using very good birds. I have never worried about maidens, experienced birds etc, but my previous birds had good fertility so time will tell how I go this time. Like everyone I had probs with young hens not feeding. I used to dip an A.I. tube in some warm baby soy milk and give the new chicks a feed and transfer them if need be. It works a treat. I would also give a maiden hen a 4 or 5 day old to feed and that would often get her going. As far as a plan goes I just go with the flow. Being my first season with these birds I will get an idea once I get some chicks out of them what I need to work on, what birds throw on etc. This year is really all about trying to get some quality and numbers out of any variety. In a few seasons if I have five or six really good cock birds in the main varieties they will be all I will use and will cull heavily. Feeding is crucial too and I try to keep it simple because I don't have a heap of time. I feed oats along with the usual seed, I feed a lot of seeding grassses, greens, corn, silverbeet and carrot. I also sued to feed the birds a mix of soy linseed bread mixed with baby soy milk but I guess many would shudder at that but I got really good results with it. I am going to try something different and use a mix of passwell parrot crumbles, egg and carrot or silverbeet. I am also mixing The Good Oil in the seed and do vitamins a couple of days a week. I have two pairs of lutinos down and one pair of fallows. I might try to pick up a few more fallows. That's my plan in a nutshell seeing you asked Renee. I am by no means an expert though and there are people who have been in this caper for a lot longer and done better so take it with a grain of salt.

I named one of my boys Harvey Norman, when I stuck him in a breeding cage there was " no interest".

Thanks Kaz. Looks like I stuffed up with the photo sizes, I thought i resized them properly but a few got past me.

Thanks all. Bird number 2 who I have named "magic" is a bit of a key. I have 2 of his sons and a number related back to his mum who was a Henry George bird. As pride says if I can get some fit youngsters out of them I will be doing okay I think. I have been lucky to pick these up and have potentially saved myself some years of hard work.

That is a Grey Greeen Opaline spangle. It's not a bad bird Wayno. How old is it? Does it have a purple ring?

Nice birds and great names Dave