The meeting was called to order and our Chairperson welcomed all and introduced our guest for the evening, the one and only  “Make'm Breed” Brian Sweeting.

Brian’s evening was a film slide show with very detailed commentary and answering all questions as he went along. The first pictures were of his aviary, outside and in, which was approximately 28` X 9` with 33cages on one side and 22 on the other side.  Brian currently has three Sheds, however, one will be removed this winter, the other is used as an overflow following the breeding.

He only puts down 55 breeding pairs now (was over 65), and only when they are ready to breed.   They mostly choose their own partners as he puts the desired birds in a small flight and watches to see their interaction together. He then puts them in the breeding cage.

Within the bird room he has a 12-inch fan running from 7am – 10pm, at the other end a velux window is installed in the roof to allow free airflow from that end to the fan, he’s a great believer in movement of fresh air, which helps to keep the birdroom fresh and promotes better fertility (of the birds!). All Vydex products are used plus other treats and vitamins, complete with auto watering system, which makes life a little easier.

Breeding cages are aprox 24”x18”x18”as he believes depth of cage to be very important for the breeding pairs.

Brian uses lots of homemade innovations, which assist in his breeding and makes time for him to carry out other duties.  A homemade hospital cage is set into a cavity in the flight wall on a heat tray (Wine makers type)

As the film slides portrayed, the quality in depth and different types and varieties of stock kept, he mentioned bringing in European out cross blood to improve feather on head of his birds, along with length of bird. When showing his birds he prepares them well and only shows fit clean birds, and his show record proves he is right.

The main slide show was complete and we had a little time left.  Brian showed us his power point presentation on the history of the Pied Budgerigar from the very first types to current day standards, which was very interesting and not shown before.

With the birds benched John Duce was asked to judge the pairings, assisted by Brian Duncombe.  Whilst the members watched you could hear light conversation in the background about all sorts of ‘birdie things’.  Once the judging had finished the rest of us had to try and place them in order as best pairings to breed from and were marked to see who came closest to Johns selection as the Judge of the evening.

The winner of the competition was Malcolm Freemantle with Ted Fitzjohn a close second. Refreshments were ongoing and raffle tickets sold, etc

General discussions on various birds continued, as there were all sorts there from big buffs to yellow feathered dilutes, flecked and barheads (Bio security was maintained) 

The evening then concluded with the raffle and all were wished a safe journey home.

The meeting was called to order and our Chairperson welcomed Ted Fitzjohn who joined tonight and comes from Lymington, and then gave a short introduction about our two guests from Wales and their achievements and winning the club show.

David started by giving a run down on how he started in birds back in 1977 when only 12 years old, with Zebra finches and won at the ZFS show.  He won the Best junior AA at the 1980 club show.

He became a Welsh BS panel judge at 21 years old and won BestYB at the WelshBS show in 1992.  His aims were:

• Only show your own rung birds and not brought in birds
• Show at Championship shows only
• Keep only the quality birds with the desired features and dispose of others

Gary explained how he and David got together as partners and they both talked about their feeding and supplements and treatment of the bird room for diseases etc.

During the slide show of their birds and aviaries we were given a running commentary on all aspects of their bloodlines and from whom they brought stock

They said they had entered 14 shows in 2005-06 and won 6 BIS, which shows the depth of quality in their studs.

Second part of evening was in question / answer format

Question: What do you look for in a good hen?
Answer:  She has to sit on the perch well and not lie across it and also stand well up. However, we look for that feature in all our birds; style is all important as well as everything that makes a good bird.

Question: Do your hens have trouble getting in and out of the nest box?
Answer: No trouble at all and as I previously said, the chicks don’t come out so soon and therefore we don’t have as many problems.  They are fed that bit longer within the next box and are more able to cope then if they come out too soon.

Question: Where do you get your seed?
Answer: Countrywide seed with pellets it is very good clean seed and our birds seem to do well on it. You can get it in the West Country and other local agents now.

Question: What do the Loutoff birds bring to your stud?
Answer: We think that the features they carry are the future of the modern bird; they have broad faces that continue down the neck and into the body. We took a grey green hen over to see him and compare the style and ended up doing a swap.  We also purchased other birds, but when you go to buy birds you have to think of it as wasted money because you may not get them to breed or they may die.   Also, they may not add to your stud or improve the quality so just be prepared to lose the money.  If it goes alright it is a good investment. However all studs need a fresh supply of new blood to improve fertility and you will probably only keep 10 /20 % of the new outcrosses youngsters.

Question: Do you get many aviary visitors to your birdroom?
Answer: No. People don’t seem to want to come over the bridge to come and see us!  However that suits us as we have our families to consider as well.

Question: What do you think about the ring size and do you have to cut many off?
Answer The physical structure of the birds has changed and they are bigger in the frame all round, but we don’t have many problems.

Question: How many shows do you go to in a season?
Answer: Normally 3 and the club show. Last year we took in Yorkshire and had a good weekend away, which we enjoyed.

Gerald also talked about the value of having large flecked headed large spotted hens as stock birds, which you will see in the aviaries of all top breeders.  However, you must know how to breed with them properly. 

All the time Gerald was judging he was asking for comments from the floor.

Our thanks to Nigel Darley for assisting as Chief Steward/Show Manager while our real Show Manager, Ricky Watts, is ‘down under’.

Also, welcome to two new members, George Wilson from Southampton and Mrs Katie Pearson from Basingstoke.

The meeting was called to order and our Chairperson welcomed everyone.  There were three apologies. Chris said providing the refreshments & doing the washing up was always left to the ladies and asked the men for their help as well. Our guest for the eveing, Ian Fordham, was then introduced and he took the floor.

The meeting was called to order and everyone was welcomed by our Chairperson.  There were no apologies.

As our President was ill at the time of the AGM, he was introduced by Chris so he could give his annual address and thank all of his committee members for their hard work and putting together a great program of speakers for 2007.  Gerald said that this was his second year of three as President and he was enjoying it very much.

Phil took the floor and explained what he was going to talk about during the evening.  He started by saying how long he had been in the hobby (almost as long as he had been on the M25 today!) and about the different breeders he had received help and stock from in the early years.

He was then taken under the wing of Vic Smith and Stan Wainwright, a very successful Sheffield partnership and also by Harry Makinson. Then started a very valuable and influential friendship with Mrs Moss, who also shared his love of horses.

He went on to explain the modes of inheritance of other features such as sex linkage, double factors and feather types (broad feather and narrow feather).  Phil gave a running commentary, taking questions from the floor and giving explanations to ensure everyone understood what was showing on the screen.

He explained that similar principles applied to Yellow and Buff feathered birds, where you are able to produce yellow split buff chicks which are not as impressive as their buff siblings but capable of producing buff birds if paired correctly.  These yellow split buff birds are the ones that produce the super surprises for new owners from time to time - how often do we hear the comment about a super chick "the parents look nothing" (they are yellow split buff birds)

A detailed explanation was given on various breeding techniques, line breeding (related stock) inbreeding (very closely related stock) outcrossing (generally allsorts) and backcrossing (grand parents etc.). The various "ups and downs” were explained and which should be avoided.

On purchasing birds Phil advised to buy features such as spot, body length, depth of shoulder and, most importantly, fertility.  However, remember when using the above breeding techniques that families of birds also have hidden faults which inbreeding could bring to the surface and you would then have to work around.

He continued with a running commentary of the blood lines and the tremendous influence of birds purchased from Jo Mannes in Germany on many features present in his stud.

The bird of the evening was any Cinnamon ( 4 birds this time, next time who knows how many?) and they were judged during the break by Clive Mayers who awarded the winning rosette to an Opaline Cinnamon Grey belonging to Tony Cash, 2nd was John Gorrell, 3rd Jackie Fox and 4th Rickie Watts.