September 2012

4 September

Spent a large part of the weekend moving birds and sorting out cages, birds are taking shape nicely, one or two i had high hopes for have fallen away a bit yet others seem to have come from nowhere. The next few months look like they're going to be very busy, and looking at the schedule for specialist shows and this years judging commitments i'm not sure how i'm going to fit everything in!!.

Enquired today about the cage fronts for the new shed venture, have almost finished the North West schedule (which i'll load up here and on the club site as a down-load) and really need to spend some time looking over my show cages. Can't believe we're in September and the First shows are a month or so off already.

Starting to have a proper look at the birds now, some of the later bred youngsters are just starting to come through where they've only got heads and shoulders to finish off, as these, for me, are the starting points for a good fife i'l wait and see how they finish. The type on the clear birds has definately improved, but what struck me yesterday was the depth of colour of a number of them, a lovely almost orangey colour on a couple of the clear yellow cocks.

There's four really nice blue cocks, including one that has pretty much come from nowhere, really short with great width across the shoulders. I've got 52 birds as potential for the show team and over the course of the next few weeks will start to whittle that number down. It can be a little bit frustrating this time of year as there aren't enough hours in the day over the weekend to get done what needs to be done and to spend enough quality time with the birds. Still it can have it's benefits as the birds develop daily and a few days without close studying is great for taking a fresh look at them.

14 September

Club business is dominating the agenda at the moment with the schedules for the North West Fife Fancy Canary Club put together and sent out earlier this week, proper little production operation on the dining room table on Monday night (apparently i'm impatient and heavy handed with a stapler!) I've spent a fair amount of time on the club this year, having taken on the reins after last years show unofficially, and then officially being appointed general secretary at our AGM. Ultimately, as with a majority of clubs, our number one challenge is securing our long term future, this means not just financially (although that is a challenge) but securing the commitment of more than 3 or 4 individuals to support the show weekend.

Back in the birdroom things are taking shape nicely, have had a few visitors, which is always good to get a fresh pair of eyes, hoping to get a team out at Hull, just need things to cool down a bit to help the birds finish off the moult. This weekend i'll check up on my show cages, I have real good intentions each year of bringing them out in July to check and touch any up, but each year it never seems to happen!!. hoping to get three more 6 boxes to enable me to take a team of 24 with relative ease.