Serinus mozambicus barbatus.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

I may have had a first UK breeding of this sub species of the Green Singing Finch by producing a single chick from the only egg to have hatched in the first round of four eggs? This was witnessed by Laura Bryant owner of this website.

But these birds have gone on to hatch three more chicks from their second clutch of three eggs, providing a witness can this also be registered as the second breeding?

Paul.;-)

[Waxbillman]

, a very well done to you, your name will forever remain in the history books, of breeding the first and perhaps the last few in British aviculture

this site is filled with dedicated breeders, and i'm glad to be a part of it

Matthew

[Tomir]

An achievement that will not go unnoticed or unrewarded. :)

[chris]

Hi Paul,

welldone chappie:D i don't have a clue how you'd go about registering the birds as a first/second in the UK, maybe you have to go through the FBL or similar? might be worth a letter in C&A to find out

i hope the 3 chicks fledge, although i don't know if you'll have much luck finding unrelated birds at stafford


Chris

[laurab]

I can confirm that I saw the little one being fed by the parents :-P

[Strawblady2000]

Terrific job!

Must feel great to have a first...and a second!!!!!!

I'm thrilled for you and aviculture as a whole.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for the replies.

Matthew,

Thanks for your praise mate, but as you have said before, if my head gets any bigger then I may need that shopping trolley to carry it around,:lol: I also admit to seeing the funny side of that comment more than slightly late in the day, sorry mate.:roll:

Tomir,

Thank you too.

Chris,

I'm hoping that as a member of the Foreign Bird Association, that I will find whether or not that this could be a possible first and second UK breeding?

Unfortunately I have lost one of the chicks from the second round due to what seems to have been a very bad sinus infection, but the other two chicks are growing very well.

Laura,

Many thanks for witnessing the single chick from the first clutch, cheers mate.;)

Nikki,

Thank you too, I just hope I can find another keeper/breeder of these birds to find unrelated to pair with the birds I have bred.

Paul.:-D

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

Before now my main concern was in finding unrelated birds to pair with the youngsters bred from my original pair which so far is looking to be a huge order,:-( but to make matters worse I have now lost my breeding cock from the adult pair.:cry:

I had hoped to keep a pure strain of these birds going for the future, but all I'm left with is a proven breeding hen that is related to all of the potential mates for next year, her own youngsters:x

For others who haven't seen these birds it may seem that I'm making a big fuss over something that is just a sub species of a commonly kept African Canary, but they are truly distinctive in many ways.
Thankfully the adult hen has continued in rearing the two chicks that are currently due to fledge, but without the correct unrelated birds available the few birds I have will end up paired to nominate Green Singing Finches/Yellow Fronted Canaries and any chances of keeping these birds pure will be lost.:sad:

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

thats terrible news Paul

Matthew

[harry]

Paul,at the Carlisle sale last sunday Steve Squire's had a pair of them,can't remember the price(£40 i think),might be worth getting in touch with him as he did'nt sell them and will be at Stafford

Cheer's Harry

[chris]

hi paul,

have you asked any european dealers if they have the birds your after? good luck with the birds that harry has mentioned. personally i'd risk a bit of inbreeding to keep the species pure, rather than making a cross knowing that the genes introduced from the ordinary greensingers could never be completely removed.

provided the original pair were completely unrelated then the risk of creating problems from inbreeding now is still low. it only becomes a problem when it's repeated continuously over each generation and the genepool becomes smaller and smaller. so the chances are you won't cause any problems from breeding mother to son this time round. this would also provide more time to find another pair of birds which cold then be used to breed to your current stock and reverse any problems that may have occured through inbreeding.

as i say though, cross with a greensinger now and it doesn't matter how many times you breed back to the original species in the future there will always be some greensinger in them, not worth the risk

Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi all,

As gutted as I am in losing the cock from the breeding pair,:( I'm pleased with the info from Harry that a pair of birds of this sub species are still available, thanks matey.:-D
The other good news is that the hen of the pair has done a great job and the two remaining chicks both fledged today.:-D

Whether or not I continue with breeding from these birds next year, if they are still available I will buy the pair from Steve Squires and hold these birds together as a breeding group for myself, or whoever I end up selling them to.

Chris,

It now seems that I wont have to resort to the measures I felt I had to carry out before now,:-D if I end up in selling them on to another breeder I hope they will continue to be kept pure, and even moreso if I manage to track down breeders of these birds on the Continent.

Paul.