Selecting the Show Team

What to look for

As with all exhibition stock a model of the "ideal" Fife has been produced (a copy of the model is available on this site by kind permission of the Fife Federation). Key things to look for in an exhibition Fife are size, the fife is a diminutive breed, roundness - from all angles, good width across the shoulders and a nice free neck.

Selecting the Show Team

Once the moult has completed (mid-late September for the early bred birds) the process of selecting and finalising the show team can start. I like to have between 24-32 birds in the team, although this will obviously depend on the quality of the birds bred in the season. The show team are housed singularly where possible or nest mates avoiding keeping two cocks together - plucked tail and wing feathers will ruin an exhibition Fife.

I like to able to compete in a number of classes - so my show team will usually consist of clears, variegated, heavily variegated, selfs, white ground and the occasional cinnamon bird. The birds are entered up to two weeks prior to the show and reviewed both the week prior, 4 days prior (when they receive their last spray) and the day prior to the show for general health and condition - only enter fit birds to a show!. I like to enter my team the night before the show to enable them to settle in the show hall prior to being judged.

Training

I recall being slightly bemused at the thought of training a canary - however the importance of training an exhibition canary cannot be overemphasised. The success of a bird on the showbench is obviously down to its' overall quality (no matter how much you train a bird - if it's not up to scratch to start with no amount of training will help it win!). However the quality will count for little if the bird is not trained as a bird not used to the show cage will pull out of shape.

Training starts by placing training cages (usually old show cages) on the front of the youngsters cages at about 6-8 weeks old - some green food and condition seed will entice them in. After a few weeks of them running in and out of the training cages I take them away and place them on a side bench for 10-15 minutes. Over the coming weeks the time they remain in the show cages is gradually increased until they remain in show cages for a large part of the day (ensuring they have plenty of fresh food and water as they would have in a show)around this time I also pop the radio on in the day just to bring some new sounds into the birdroom.

The early CBS shows whilst great to attend in their own right make good run outs for the birds ahead of the specialist Fife shows.