 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
My daily routine
varies very little throughout the year. My first task of the day is to feed and water the
birds. Checks are made on the general well being of all the birds, whether they be in
cages or flights. Seed is fed in 3 separate dishes. One contains a plain canary seed,
supplied by George Bucktons that is enriched with vitamins, another dish contains
mixed millets and the third one tonic seed. A good quality grit, cuttle fish and iodine
blocks are also available. Even during the non breeding season the birds are given a
limited amount of soft food which consists of groats soaked in a solution of Colloidal
Silver mixed with a soft food mixture and any vegetable (finely chopped) that may be
available. You will perhaps gather from my earlier remarks that I am not a fan of
additives. |
| The Breeding Season I have two kinds of breeding cages.
Half being the traditional wooden construction with wire fronts and the others being the
new all wire type. After using the new all wire cages for only the past breeding season,
there appears to be no difference with the breeding results from the two types of cages.
The one main advantage of the all wire ones are the ease of cleaning. I have the ones with
the removable trays and I find these are very quick and easy to clean. My nest boxes are all of the
outside type, measuring approx. 9inches long by 6inches wide and 8inches high. These all
have deep concaves and sterilised sawdust/shavings are used. I do have a number of other
styles of box as I find occasionally if a hen doesn’t take to the usual boxes then a
change to a different style sometimes does the trick. |
|
|
My daily routine
does not vary much whatever the season. My first task in a morning is to just check around
all the birds to make sure all are fit and well. Then in the breeding season I will
carefully check the nest boxes and any chicks in them to make sure that they have been fed
and if necessary move any chicks to other boxes if possible. I then feed and water the
birds and finally clean and tidy up the aviary. The birds are fed on a similar diet
all the year round. The only difference in the breeding season is that they are fed
softfood every day, when they are in the flights they get softfood only twice per week. I feed plain canary seed,
mixed millets and tonic seed all in separate dishes, grit, mineral blocks and cuttlefish
are also fed. The softfood consists of Bucktons Softfood mixed with any finely chopped
vegetables that may be available. Twice a week groats are soaked in a solution of
Colloidal Silver and mixed with the softfood. I am not a believer in additives and
supplements, in fact I am sure that these are the cause of many of the problems
experienced with our birds. I am sure that by feeding a variety of good quality seeds
together with plentiful supplies of softfood in the breeding season will provide the birds
with everything they need. Nothing is added to the drinking water as I now have an
automatic water system fitted that runs straight from the mains supply. |
Any birdroom needs to have
plenty of fresh air to ensure a good atmosphere. I have an extractor fan fitted at one end
and in the middle of the birdroom a Safari Select Air Cleaning System. I am always amazed
at how much dust this takes out of the atmosphere and it is my intention to fit an
additional filter in the near future. The door and windows are open every day unless
the weather is very extreme.
If the birds are in breeding
condition the flights are full of noise and activity. I keep the sexes mixed together and
I am sure this helps with their condition, especially the hens as they are kept moving
about by the cock birds “chasing” them about. If a bird is in breeding
condition, it will be very active, very bright eyed and can often be seen “sparking
up” to birds of the opposite sex. Hens especially will also be chewing anything that
they can find.
|
Attention To Pedigree Trying to keep a good line of
normal greens, I pay quite a lot of attention to the pedigree of birds when I pair up, but
irrespective of pedigree, birds must be visually suitable for each other. It is no good
pairing up two birds with the same fault even if they are suitable in other ways including
their pedigree. I prepare the cages and then
put in my selected cock birds, after the cocks have been in the cages for about a week to
ten days I introduce the hens, leave them together for about five or six days and then
place the nestbox in position. I never mark eggs unless I
have to move them for any reason. A very good friend told me years ago that whatever you
do to an egg will not help it become fertile or hatch, but certainly by handling it you
could cause all sorts of problems, especially if you are careless enough to drop it! I
don’t put up pairs especially as fosters but I do move chicks around if necessary and
I always try to “even up” the nests by moving chicks about after they are rung
to leave birds of similar sizes in each nest and also if possible similar numbers in each
nest. If a pair produces a complete
clutch of clear eggs I leave them until they would be due to hatch, then I clear the
nestbox out and leave them to lay another round. If the next round proves to be clear I
will either change one or both of the pair. |
| I handle the
chicks as often as possible in the nest, and if possible they are checked both morning and
evening. I like to check that they are well fed and that their beaks and feet are not
fouled up with either food or droppings. I like to see a youngster that is well fed and
has plenty of size when it is just a couple of weeks old. Then as it develops I watch for
a good width of head and plenty of feather developing. Usually if a chick shows plenty of
width, size and feather at about three to four weeks old then it should develop into a
useful bird. Any promising looking chick I mark on the nest card and any chick so marked
would never be disposed of until it had fully moulted and matured. I like to leave the chicks with their
parents as long as possible, and sometimes, if there are no problems, this may be until
the next round is due to hatch. The chicks are moved to a small flight cage for a few
weeks and then into a larger flight when they appear to be feeding and growing well. When
they leave the nesboxes they are given millet sprays to eat in addition to all the normal
diet, and these are also made available in the flights for some time. |
|
I use nestbox cards during
the breeding season then the records are all transferred into a breeding register that
lists ring numbers of birds, their colour, sex , date of hatching and parents. I can trace
quite easily every bird I have bred since staring to keeps birds seriously in 1969.
However progress is starting to catch up with me and I have recently purchased a computer
program to keep my records on.
