October 2019 - Members Show

While it was a good show, it was a shame that some members did not make it, leaving just twenty birds for Les Underwood to Judge. Les judged with due diligence and the result was:

Best in show: Cobalt cock owned by Graham and Sandra Cornwall.

Best In Show

Best bird Any age: same as best in show.

Best young bird: Albino hen owned by Jeff Plummer.

Best Young Bird

Congratulations to Graham and Jeff and well done to all other exhibitors who brought their birds.

Aviary Visit - Wendy Thorogood & Tony Jeffrey - 17th August 2019

It was an early start on Saturday as we had planned two visits; a third to Rick Watts was postponed due to possible heavy traffic congestion in the area where Rick lives which was down to an Air show in the area.

The first visit was to Wendy Thorogood in Portslade Sussex.

We were given a warm welcome by Wendy and her son. After a cuppa and chat during which Wendy told us she has not been in the hobby long and was still a beginner, we were invited to see her aviary. Wendy told us she is being mentored by Tony Jeffrey and she is doing well for the assistance Tony is giving her.

It was plain to see that Wendy is very enthusiastic and willing to learn all about the hobby. As Wendy said it is a smallish aviary, but on saying that she has some quality birds with more coming through. We were then invited to have some food from a buffet Wendy had prepared and it was during chat while we were eating she told us that we were the first BS to visit her.

We were a bit surprised about this because Wendy had put on a very meeting for us and was very confident in her manner throughout the visit, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

The second visit was to Tarring Neville to meet Tony Jeffrey. Again we were given a warm welcome by Tony and enjoyed a cuppa before being invited to see his Aviary. Tony's aviary is much bigger than Wendy's, which is to be expected bearing in mind the length of time he has been in the hobby.

He has many quality birds which is proved by the awards he has won. A chat followed whilst we had another drink sitting is Tony's sunny garden, which is also home to his birds of prey and his second hobby of Racing pigeons. Tony told us he would rather help fellow enthusiasts out with birds than just to sell them. Wendy is a great example of this.

A long day but worth every minute of it.

Our thanks to Wendy and Tony for their hospitality.

Aviary Visit - Jim Lawrie - July 2019

The weather was wet and dismal on Saturday morning, 20th July, but cleared up and the sun came out in time for Northdown BS' visit at 1pm to Jim Lawrie in Andover. On arrival, all received a warm welcome and the offer of plenty of food and variety of refreshments.

Once fully replenished, the group then went inside Jim's birdroom, which he had recently extended by 16' x 8' This section of the birdroom had two box-aluminium flights (with a sliding divider) approx 8' long x 3' wide and 6.5' high.

One housed last years' birds and the other 2017 rung and older birds. Jim mixes the sexes in both flights as he believes that this is more natural condition for the birds. It also stops hens getting fat by being chased by cock birds.

In the extension, Jim also has a kitchen worktop and sink, with hot and cold water supply, and underneath cupboards. He wonders how he managed without this facility for so many years!  All the walls are lined with white plastic and the floor with ceramic tiles for easy cleaning.

In his original part of the birdroom , a 14' x 10' apex shed, Jim has 18 breeding cages on the right hand side as you enter, with underneath cupboards. And a bank of 9 plastic cages, also with underneath storage again the floor is covered in ceramic tiles.

Jim was preparing some birds for upcoming shows, which he had in the new plastic cages. With the dividers removed, the cages became two tiers of stock cages of 6' long each. Although the birds were not all fully in show feather condition, Jim took birds out and placed them in his 3 show training joined together and in the extension part of the birdroom.

He then explained what he thought were the good and bad point of the birds and even caught up parents (and other related birds) from the flights to show the group. Over the years' Jim had selectively bred his birds the emphasise directional feathering in the face/head. This feature was certainly evident in Jim's birds. He also recognised that there was more to a show bird than simply head qualities, and Jim was also working to improve other features and remove bad features.

Jim was uncertain as to whether he should show his birds the following day at London & Southern Counties BS Specialist & Rares Show. In the end he took 8 Pieds and Spangles and won 3 CCs and two Yellow and Green dots. A testimony to the standard of his birds!

Northdowns Aviary Visit to Steve Bailey - June 2019

For me any Aviary visit is good, as I am still learning about the hobby and the different breeders / showmen do things slightly different so it was at Steve’s.

Steve’s Aviary is housed in his garage, which is the first time I had seen this. Steve had some good birds which he was keen to show off and quite rightly so.

The more senior members of the club (and I don’t mean the older ones) spent a fair bit of time reminiscing over days gone by and other showmen. Steve is obviously a very knowledgeable member of the hobby and this was evident from what he was saying.

Steve gave us a warm welcome and was keen to tell us about his birds and his various procedures and routines. We spent approx. three hours with Steve and it was well worth the visit.

Paul Munro

Northdowns Young Stock Show - May 2019

It was a disappointing turn out by members with only three bringing birds to show. In total there were twelve birds, eight of which were shown by Derek Ham.

Due to the lack of birds it was decided to restrict the classes to

• Best Bar Head Cin Grey Spangle

• Best Novice Young Bird and

• Best Opposite Sex Young Bird.

The Best Bar Head was won by Graham Cornwall and the other two classes were won by Derek Ham.

I would like to thank our Judge Les Underwood for coming up from Portsmouth to do the honours and to Sue Wadley for doing the refreshments.

April 2019

Unfortunately, Ron Payne cancelled at the last moment as he woke up with blood shot eye. He said, "It doesn't look pretty but they have told me I should recover in a couple of weeks. Apparently I have a hematoma in the eye."

However, the meeting went extremely well thanks to John Bird. He fully participated in the meeting sharing his views on the hobby as well as letting us know how he and his daughter care for their birds.

It was nice to see Charlie Edwards - a blast from the past!

Graham Cornwall presented Harry Wadley
with his Presidents Chain of Office.

Harry Wadley will be arranging a couple of aviary visits in Oxfordshire to replace the cancelled visit in June.

March 2019 - Pete Smith

Pete started by giving a brief of his history in the keeping of birds in general, starting off with foreign birds and being a member of the Cirencester CBS.  His first ever show was at Gloucester, where he bought some budgies from the sales class, which was the start of him keeping budgies 21 years ago.  Like many breeders he has moved about and built a few different aviary’s/sheds/lofts up to his new present one which is 20` X 10` with all wire breeding units (having tried all sorts of units etc and found these worked well for him). Pete talked about his breeding results over the years and the different stock he had brought in from various breeders/bloodlines to try and breed the winning bird! One thing which showed up from his meticulous records was that if a pair had clear eggs on the first round then it was 85% certain to have clear again in the 2nd round (interesting). He said he was laid off / redundant from his job as youth officer a while ago as part of the general cut backs. He now works  2 days a week at Paradise Pets which he loves! This then brought up a few interesting comments from various members.