NZ Federation Clubs Newsletter July 2012 Another show season is almost complete with only the Grand National in Christchurch left on the show calendar; hopefully most of you have tasted some success on the show season and have enjoyed catching up with your fellow fanciers around the country. For those of you travelling south to the Nationals I m sure you will experience great southern hospitality and I look forward to seeing you there. This month s newsletter features a newspaper report on the North Taranaki show featuring junior exhibitor Nicole Bellringer, and articles on the Future of our Grand National by Stephen Silk and Gearing up for the breeding season by Monty Wright. On the final page of the newsletter you will find some bird accessories which may be of interest to you. Contact Don Birch email: dbbirch@clear.net.nz if you are keen to place an order. Birds, fanciers flock to show ROBERT CHARLES/Fairfax NZ FEELING CHIRPY: Nicole Bellringer, 10, claimed three awards at the North Taranaki bird show with her border canary, Candy.
Show attracts bird-lovers from all over North Island By Hannah Fleming Canaries, budgies, parrots and lovebirds all put their best feathers forward at the 37th annual North Taranaki bird show at the weekend. More than 350 birds from around the North Island flocked to Mangorei Hall where they were judged in their respective categories. Welbourn school student Nicole Bellringer scooped three prizes with her border canary, Candy. The 10-year-old, who looks after the bird with her sister Simone, 12, won the best novice, best current year and best junior prizes at the show. Nicole said she was surprised at the win, despite Candy's outgoing nature. "She'll come up on the perch and chirp at you all the time," she said. The yellow canary was given the name Candy in memory of one of Nicole's first Border. "We have about 30 other borders. I love the birds but sometimes they're hard to look after because you have to feed them every morning and every afternoon." Secretary Jillian Bellringer said it had been a successful show that attracted people from all over the North Island. "It was a great show. It's enjoyable to experience the satisfaction that comes with showing your birds," she said. The bird show circuit runs from May to July, said Mrs Bellringer, and would finish up later this month with the nationals in Christchurch. The Future of our Grand National By Stephen Silk Over the last few months I ve been thinking about the future of our Grand National and wondering what can be done to ensure that we can keep having a National show every year.with the Grand National scheduled for Hawkes Bay in 2013 and Gore in 2014 we need to come up with a plan for 2015 and beyond. Historically the Grand National has been hosted by a Federation club that has spent some years in planning, securing venues, sponsorship and carrying out enough fund raising to ensure that the club was in a sound position to hold the event. Over the last few years it has become clear to most of us that in the future only a few clubs will have the resources (financial and manpower) to hold a National. I think the time is right to have a rethink on how we run the National and I would like to present my thoughts for others to consider. I would like to make it clear that these are my personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federation. The Federation Accounts currently receives approximately $3,000 in revenue from Parent Club/ Specialist Society subscriptions ($1,175), Parent Club member levies ($481) and interest ($1,300). This represents a shortfall of $3,000 - $3,500/ annum in regards to meeting the Federation annual operating costs. The National Trust Fund receives approximately $3,000 in revenue from Specialist Society member levies ($430) and interest ($2,600). The National Trust Fund is used to make a contribution to the running of the National Bird show i.e. $3,500 currently. To address the current short-fall of revenue required to meet the on-going costs of running the Federation and to ensure the future of the Grand National I would like to present the following ideas - I welcome your feedback. 1. The introduction of a NZ Federation of Bird Clubs annual affiliation subscription. Proposed subscription fees;
Exhibitor membership: Single $20 Family Partnership $20 Junior $8 Partnership (different addresses) $40 Non-Exhibitor membership: Single $10 Family Partnership $10 Junior $5 Based on the 2012 Yearbook we have approximately 300 members (including partnerships) who are exhibitors and 550 members who are non-exhibitors, the above subscription rates would generate approximately $11,500 per annum. 2. The Federation would finance the Grand National, paying for the venue hire, judge s expenses, advertising costs and any other peripheral costs in running the show. 3. The Federation would provide the Show Secretary and be responsible for setting the Show Schedule and the provision of the Show Catalogue. 4. The Grand National Show to be rotated around New Zealand on a 5 yearly cycle, if we used the Super 15 New Zealand franchise regions (Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders, Highlanders), clubs within these regions would be asked to host the National once every 5 years. 5. Currently the Federation pays the hosting club $3,500 towards the running of the National. This payment would continue to be paid to the hosting club/clubs by the Federation in recognition of the work required of host club members leading up to and during the event i.e. working with the Federation in securing local sponsorship, venue selection, and providing club members to fulfil the roles of Show Manager, benching, de-benching, door entry, sales table, morning and afternoon teas, social events. 6. A profit share agreement should be explored between the Federation and the hosting club/ clubs if the Grand National was such a success that it returned a profit. 7. The current levy of 50c per affiliated NZ Federation club member and Specialist Body member paid respectively to the Federation account and the National Trust Fund would be discontinued. Soon it will be breeding time By Monty Wright The winter has been a long one for some areas, but as we clean the show cages and put them away till the club young bird show next autumn it is time to look forward to the new breeding season. Unfortunately, if spring arrives late as it did last season it often means that we don t have the breeding success we all won t until early in the New Year. If things go wrong and we have mixed results in the first round often we can t catch up. Therefore we need to do everything we can to ensure that if we do have a successful season by capitalising on every opportunity we have, to breed as many youngsters as possible in the first round. During any season we all get nests where only one or two youngsters hatch and it almost seems a waste of the hen s time to spend three weeks feeding a single chick when she could be on a more successful second round. For this reason it is often to your advantage to hold some eggs back for two or three days so you can set three or four hens at the same time. This is all right if you have several pairs of birds, but this is not always the case if you are a small breeder with only five or six pair. With several pairs hatching at the same time it allows you to move the singles or couples to other nest and reintroduce the cock for the second round. The hen will then go about her domestic duties again and hopefully lay another clutch of eggs.
When moving chicks mark under the wing with marker pen and record it on the card that has all the parents details and information about the family on it. This allows you to place the correct closed ring on the chick for future reference. Some breeders feel that these short cycles can tire a hen, but egg-laying does not usually exhaust the hen as long as she has received a good soft food mix before laying. Rearing a nest of youngsters is much more demanding on the hen, and it is often better to reintroduce the cock to assist as soon as possible after the chicks are rung. Some hens don t mind this but others will. Each hen has its own personality and this is something you have to learn from your own stock. Write these things down on your breeding notes for the future; it saves a lot of trouble. I suggest that if you allow the parents to rear the last round if possible. This will fulfil the natural desires to complete a full breeding cycle and not breed out of the birds the need to rear as well as lay. Over the years I have tried to put young hens as close to where they were bred in the breeding room. This will often give a young hen better security than putting her in a different place in the bird room. This is using the record books again. I can t express writing down information enough. It can save you a lot of trouble over the breeding season. Of course there is one problem that we all come up against and that is when you have brought in new stock. Mainly hens. Some times this can be infuriating. First you have to have them long enough to get them settled in your set up. They have to be used to your soft food, seed mix and movements in the bird room. Even the bangs and clangs can upset some new stock. It is like cheese, good things take time so be patient. As soon as the shows are over run the pairs together for a few days just to see how they accept each other. This again can save you time when the days are getting longer and it is time to start the breeding. This is generally when you have at least twelve hours of light which is required for good feeding time of the youngsters. If you are having problems with some matings that you really do won t to use, it gives you time to hang a cage on the side or a wire partition between them so they can come accustomed to each other. Time spent now is well worth it later on. Do you have any news or photos from your club which you would like to share with other clubs around the country? Please email silkyglosters@gmail.com with any items of interest. Feeder/font RN102.7/512. Or #537 (water)100ml Mini feeder 60 ml. Weekend Feeder RN 102.6/520 $2.50 each $1.00 each $3.50 each
#102.5/523 Weekend feeder #529 Carousel #102.25 $3.50 each $8.50 each $3.50 each RN 102.39 Metal Salad Rack. 5.5 x 8 x2 cm RN 101.17A $3.00 each $3.00 each Clear or Plastic Treat cups $4.00each $1.50 each RN 101.30 RN 101.4 Small Bath Large cage bath Seed Trough with 18cm Perch Egg Drawers $7.50 each $3.00 each $2.50 each $6.50 each R.N.101.5 Egg tongs R.N 101.22 Cuttle holder 102.43b Finger Drawers 102.43a 102.16/509 102.17/511 $3.00 each $3.00 each.80c each.60c each $1.00 $1.50 ALL COLOURS OF PLASTIC NUMBERED RINGS WITH APPLICATOR $3.50 FOR 10 BLACK "D" CUPS $2.50 EACH 5cm 9cm