February 2012

Monday 13

Things are relaively quiet in the birdroom at present, the birds are in advance condition but I have no plans to single them off as yet, the fluxuations in the weather mean i won't consider parining up until the late part of March at the earliest.

I have a couple of refinements to make to the breeding programme but will again use my priority pairing approach this year having used it to great effect last year. My cinnamon programme is in year two of its three year plan, I have a fawn cock and a couple of cinnamon yellow variegated hens in the mix last year and hope to build on my best cinnamon special at a local cbs by putting a team out in the specialist shows.

I have 6 white ground birds in the breeding team this year, three self/foul blue cock birds, 2 self blue hens and a variegated white hen. I've always been a fan of the blue fife, i think it stems back from my first real success on the show bench a best novice with a self blue hen. The blue cocks are bred the same way as my 7th best champion at North West (a self green yellow hen) and are half brothers to my best Green from last years North of England so the quality is there. As in previous years my run up to the season is slow and deliberate, greens are given once a week, calcium and multivitamin supplements offered in the water a couple of times a week but, as was the case last year, i'm not yet giving any soft food.

Monday 20

Had a couple of visitors over the weekend to see the birds, they seemed impressed with what they saw and it was good to return the invitation given that I've been visiting one of their birdrooms for pretty much the last eight years now.

The birds are really bouncing and this week i'll have to seperate off the cock birds before there's any trouble in the shed! the hens are also coming into condition nicely. I picked up some nest felts over the weekend but i'm trying to hold them back for a few more weeks yet, ideally i'll look to get going around March 19th so i get the extra hours daylight at the end of the day for when they're young in the nest to tie in with work.

The nest mate to my best self green, a foul yellow hen, has really come into tip top condition, she'd struggled through the moult and i thought at one stage she wasn't going to make it but she's in great form now. I'll run her with her half brother, a 3 year old three parts dark buff cock, he's also her great uncle as she is bred down from a half brother out of the same stud cock bird.