Colorbred Winners Modesto Bird Show

Cobalt was Best New Color, Best Colorbred and Best Canary in Show - David and Edith Benites Exhibitors

Yellow Frost 2nd  Best Colorbred and Best Lipochrome, note the even frosting again David and Edith

Gorgeous Melanin Black Red Mosaic

Dan Griffin Judge

Columbia Canary Club Show

This weekend, November 3 and 4, 2012, I will be judging type canaries at their Canary and Finch Show and Sale at the Red Lion Hotel, 100 Columbia Street, Vancouver, Washington. For details see their web site: www.columbiacanaryclub.com or Call Faye Silverstein 503 788 3753 or write Sam Diaz at diaz16Sam@gmail.com.

This is a great show, hope to see you there! I will be doing lots of sharing information not only on Saturday but all the judges have seminars on Sunday.

Quick Fix - Nervous - Poor Wing Carriage on Show Bench

As I judge the shows, I am surprised by the number of birds that are so nervous that they flap their wings and some carry their wings poorly letting one or two wings drop.

It is important to feed a show bird a reduced calorie diet. Feeding high fat seeds just gives them too much energy to stay relatively calm in the show cage.

Even if you only have a couple of days till the show, you can make a big difference by feeding only water with Purina Canary Finch Mix. This product calms and is the very best at correcting poor wing carriage. It is sold at Petsmart and my store has it marked down till the end of November to $6.49 for two lbs. instead of $9.99. They will waste the white millet but what they eat is of superior nutritional value! It is excellent for improving confirmation. Should you have thin Borders get some of the Tropical Snack Mix by Purina. It is very good nutrition but also the dehydrated fruits are very fattening. They do waste some of it and the only birds of mine that take to it well are Borders and Columbus Fancy.

My second choice is feed water and plain L'Avian Plus. Also a fortified seed and at $35 per 25 lbs, it is a mix that you can feed a large aviary.

When using vitamin fortified seed, it is important to remember that adding regular seeds to the mix decreases the nutritional value of the mix as unfortified regular seeds are deficient in a number of nutrients. Using the mix as it is brings the best results.

My third choice is straight canary but you need considerable vitamin supplements to improve the confirmation like the fortified mixes do.

Even with fortified seed mix, I use extra vitamins in the water. Now I am using the dog vitamin Boost but others such as poultry vitamin/electrolyte, or vionate dog vitamins or other vitamins will work. If you use those with amino acids you may get breeding condition (cocks flapping their wings) so it is somewhat easier to use the plainer kinds of vitamins at this time of year. Birds that are in top condition show better confirmation.

Central California Caged Bird Show and Bird Mart

This weekend, October 27, 2012,  9 am to 4 pm, I will be judging my first show of the season in Modesto California at 819 Sunset Blvd.

Show Divisions and judges include American Singer Canaries - Ella Galik, Finches and Softbills - Sally Huntington, Type I Canaries - Linda Hogan, Type II Canaries - Robert Wild, Colorbred Canaries - Dan Griffith, English Budgies - Donald Denny and Kitchen Canaries - Linda Hogan.

Check it out at www.mycccbc.org or contact Ted Brandvold 209 988 9109

Hope to See You This Weekend!

Good News: Petamine Again Available

News Flash: Petamine is now being made by Volkman seed. It is available at Bird Supply of New Hampshire!

Cleaning Tip: Getting Rid of Unsightly Mold

Have you ever seen a dark edge on a water container? At first it seems so minor it is barely noticeable, most often seen following antibiotic therapy in the water or extended use of KD in the water. Without care, it expands to the lip of the drinker.

A particularly effective way to get rid of this mold is to wash and brush the container with Vanodine. I either pour a small amount in the drinker or in less severe cases I make a solution and brush with that.

I also like to put vanodine in the aviary sink occasionally to help clean out the drain.

Big Bird's Test Kitchen - New Purina Products

Big Bird loves to test new products and so more experiments continue in my aviary. My latest test products are made by Purina Mills. Available at PetSmart, Tropical Snack Blend is fortified with many extra nutrients and pro-biotics and sells for $5 per package. (I was amazed at how many different products are available for canaries at PetSmart.)

Have you ever fed your canaries dehydrated fruits? Do you think your birds will eat raisins, pineapple, papaya etc? What would be the advantage of this product?

In addition, I am also evaluating the Purina Mills Garden Recipe Canary & Finch Seed Diet Mix. The ingredients list is about an inch and a half long with many nutrients and pro-biotics.

This product is also sold at PetSmart in 2 lb packages for $10 each.

How about helping me out and test a bag of these product? 

 I especially need some serious show breeders to test the seed mix on a few select birds that might make the show bench but need any of the following: perfect wing carriage, narrow tails, or feathers very tight to the body as we see in finches. 

In addition,  I need Border breeders and other type breeders to test the Tropical Snack on birds that need better confirmation, more distinct head and back rise, better lines and are not fat - Birds that need something more to Gain A Competitive Edge!

Does It Work? Poultry Conditioner

I have been very pleased with MannaPro Poultry Conditioner. A number of birds showed remarkable improvement, marked narrowing of the tail (piped), improved wing carriage, and overall tightening of their feathers and health. Not being able to put birds down, I keep a special cage just for the old timers and they perked right up on MannaPro. But what really impressed me the most was "She".

"She" is a Lovely Crested Columbus Fancy and was originally sexed by the breeder as a Hen. I gave her every thing I could think of - lots of vitamin E etc but "she" just would not come into breeding condition! In fact, "She" failed to lay a single egg!

Being a last year bird (2011), "She" kept her sex a secret until I feed her MannaPro Poultry Conditioner and the very next day her secret was out, "She" started singing just like the other males!! To test it, I took him off the MannaPro and sure enough no singing but each time he gets MannaPro he starts singing again!

Hope He won't mind me nicknaming him "She"....

("She" is a hard bird to photograph and was flying wildly till I thought I would not get an acceptable picture. "She" looks better than this as this was the last shot I took and he had been frantic for a half hour as I just kept shooting.)