January 2011

20 January

Arguably the quietest month of the canary calendar, the birds have been seperated in their flight cages since mid december and have been subject to a number of treatments in advance of the new breeding season.

The final acquisitions, 2 flighted buff cocks from Gerald, were brought in just before Christmas. One is the full brother to a heavily variegated buff cock I took in last year, I bred some outstanding birds from him so hopefully his brother (who won several colour specials for Gerald in 2009) will produce birds of similar quality. The other bird, a three parts dark buff cock is a three year old and has fathered a number of show winners, I had his son last year and bred three birds of superb quality out of him (including best three parts dark at cornwall) so he's another great addition to the stud.

At this time I update my pedigree sheets and finalise my breeding programme. My dark line is now set with two key family groups, they are related at great great grandmother level, indeed that particular bird ( a three parts dark yellow hen) has blood in 26 of the the 34 birds that make this years breeding team. The clear line, which produced my best champion clear and third best champion in show at North West, remains in development but i'm hopeful it will produce further quality this year, and my latest project is to establish a good quality cinnamon line.

From my experience developing a quality line of breeding birds can take around 3-4 years, that's not to say you have to wait that long to develop winning birds, but it does take time to set the line and fix size, type and overall quality. I have some nice quality cinnamon birds to work with and would expect, all being well to get them on the bench in the next couple of years. Patience is the one key ingredient that many unsuccessful fanciers lack, they can have the money, the set-up and even the eye for a good bird, but without a plan and patience they'll always struggle to breed continuous quality.