Posted December 7, 200816 yr Hi everyone, Dean from New Zealand here. I have purchased about 13 birds of varying quality in the last few months to begin getting some experience under my belt. I have had one pair go down with 6 eggs, all of which hatched but the last one was crushed by the oldest chicks the next morning as i had no other nests to swap it with and i couldnt hand raise any due to my working schedule. Glad to be here, hope to add to my growing knowledge as i continue to read and search out information online before deciding whether to breed for show or for colour (or perhaps both down the line). My preference is to seek out and breed stock of outstanding colouration - ie brightness, depth, quality of feather and fullness of tone etc. My secondary interest is showing budgies, but i have some personal dislikes with the current state of the show birds - believing them to be oversized and far from the graceful bird it once was. But then that is just my opinion and i am still learning Im eager to learn, open to advice and correction. Looking forward to meeting everyone and reading your posts. Thanks for your time!
December 7, 200816 yr Hi Dean and welcome to our forum We have a few New Zealanders here so you will feel at home, and you may even get to like a few of us aussies and our american friends too :hap: We would love to see pictures of your birds when you can. People here just lap up photos How to post pictures is a link in my signature at the bottom of this post. Cheers kaz Edited December 7, 200816 yr by KAZ
December 7, 200816 yr Hi Dean Nice to see you that you've joined us here. It's a great forum to learn from
December 7, 200816 yr Hi Dean :hap: It sounds like a few people share your opinion of the current show budgies. I wonder if the power of public opinion is going to start to have an effect on the future standard of show budgies??
December 7, 200816 yr Author Hello to you nev nice to see a familiar face :hap: Thanks everyone for your posts! I would love to hear opinions on the current state of show budgies and the direction the fancy has taken. I've been reading a lot of posts in this forum during my search for information, especially interested in (correct me if im wrong) daz's thread showing his new aviary being built. Im always keen to learn ways to improve the living conditions and space available for my birds, so you can bet i'll be scouring the messages here!
December 7, 200816 yr I wonder if the power of public opinion is going to start to have an effect on the future standard of show budgies?? I doubt it :hap:
December 7, 200816 yr Author I wonder if the power of public opinion is going to start to have an effect on the future standard of show budgies?? I doubt it :hap: Come on KAZ We'll never get anywhere if people don't support us at a ground level hehehe. I would love to see a splinter group of budgie shows that support colour or 'best mutation' - ie you are marked on how close your mutation is to the ideal. Too often i see muddy opalines, weakly marked spangles (or spangle markings that fade) etc etc and so forth. Why have we become so proud of new mutations within the fancy only to back shelf them for breeding by 'specialists' if they prove harder to breed than dominant genes? Tis a shame!
December 8, 200816 yr Hi and Welcome Dean... Have you looked in the "show" section there is great info in there and a great place to discuss the topics and your views that you have put across .... It will get all the show breeder out of the Closets too Look froward to hearing more about you and your birds, Like Kaz said Alot of us lap up photo's ......
December 8, 200816 yr Welcome Dean. You know There is one thing that really annoys me is an opaline with heavy flecking, it should be discoured but I have seen these birds win and place 2nd and 3rd at nationals, It is as good as saying breed away it's fine go ahead and breed these birds. Edited December 8, 200816 yr by splat
December 8, 200816 yr Hi Dean. Good to see another kiwi on here. The Aussies, Americans and Canadians on here aren't that bad (they're actually kinda cool, but don't tell them I said that )
December 8, 200816 yr Author Welcome Dean.You know There is one thing that really annoys me is an opaline with heavy flecking, it should be discoured but I have seen these birds win and place 2nd and 3rd at nationals, It is as good as saying breed away it's fine go ahead and breed these birds. Thats exactly one thing i was trying to think of as an example!! Couldnt agree with you more! As you said, birds with heavy flecking being placed anywhere tells people these birds are okay to breed, and yet time and again we are told it's a bad show trait and should not be bred or given recognition. I have seen a local show breeder get into a position where his best birds were flecked and rather than be heavy with the cull, he kept them because of their other qualities and now half of his flock has some moderate to heavy flecking. *sigh* Looks like i have to go off to the show breeding topics and stir up some debate :star:
December 8, 200816 yr So.........those of you that hate flecking.... Is it a narural trait or a breeding fault.... like, which came first ? The chicken or the egg ? Is it part of a natural progression of a budgie or is it a show breeders fault ? Debate away....
December 8, 200816 yr Author So.........those of you that hate flecking.... Is it a narural trait or a breeding fault.... like, which came first ? The chicken or the egg ? Is it part of a natural progression of a budgie or is it a show breeders fault ? Debate away.... I have to go upstairs and make popcorn before watching a movie with my wife so i won't have time to elaborate, but here is some info i found: (Source: Opalines) It is generally accepted that flecking first appeared on Opalines, and so they have been blamed for spreading it to every other variety -- even Albinos and Lutinos. Once again I blame the breeders, because some flecked Opalines had wonderful feather texture, they were crossed into every other variety. To make matters worse, some breeders appeared to have the mistaken idea that any flecked Opaline, even one of low quality, could be used to improve other varieties, including Normals.
December 8, 200816 yr Welcome Dean. Hope you enjoy your time here... I can tell your going to be a fun member
