Midland Foreign Birds

[chris]

Hi,

just thought i'd mention that MFB have now got there website back up and running with a full stock list:grin: they have orange bishops, yellow crowned bishops, various waxbills, mannakins and for paul, SPICE BIRDS:wink:

i know where i'm off to when i get this blasted aviary extended:lol: , i reckon i may have got the wrong cock bishop as when i picked up the golden bishops a while back, there was a yellow crowned bishop just coming into colour also in the same cage. so to be on the safe side i'll pop back soon to pick up a pair of yellow crowned bishops and then i'll see what breeds with what:?

Chris

[laurab]

Thanks for the info Chris, I hope you find what you are looking for :razz:

[PAUL HEARN]

Thanks Chris,

I will check out the Website, nice one mate!

I would also like to add that Jim who runs Midland Foreign Birds is one of the nicest dealers in the trade, he is honest and upfront and the Birds he has are very good.

Paul.:smile:

[Waxbillman]

i've just checked out the website, and thats is the best dealer's site i've ever seen, very smart indeed. he has some very interesting birds there, like Chris says, spice birds as well!!! at £45 a pair tragic really, i remember when they were as common as muck in a cow field, just like Strawberries now look at the situation and its probabily only gonna get worse. i'm just glad that i set myself up with Strawberries just before they stopped coming in the country, my garden wouldn't be the same with out those churpy birds singing, - both male and female.
a big thumbs up to Jim an MFB

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi all,

I take back everything good I said about Jim:grin:, £45 for Spice Birds:-|.

Seriously though it just goes to show how when a certain common and cheaply available Bird Species can go through the roof price wise when availability is severely restricted.

This situation should be a warning to those people who keep Birds as an easily available ornament in a small aviary, for many years we in the U.K. have been far behind the Continental Birdbreeders in breeding the Birds we own.

The urgent need for breeding from the few Asian Birds we have has been highlighted by many people, but this message also extends to the Bird Species that are currently freely available, including what we in the hobby regard as Common African Finches, Waxbills, Mannikins and a few Softbill Species such as Zosterops etc.

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

I second that Paul!!
we are seeing the changes now in the African finch market,
for decades now the market has been saturated with cheap waxbills such as orange cheeks and red ears, very few have bothered to make the real effort to breed these birds becauses they were so easy to replace, what we are seeing now is the more rarer or less often birds imported and less and less of the common species imported so eventually the prices will go up, in australia the prices of these birds are through the rough people paying hundreds of $ for these birds.
any one with any sense should recommend not to mess about with a pair of this and a pair of that but to have at least 3 or 4 pairs of one species thats the only way we shall get waxbills established in this country.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for backing me up on my last post, I will also back you up on your points, not through a scratch my back policy, but because it is a fact!!

As you say the biggest problem is the fact that it is far cheaper and easier to buy imported Red Eared and Orange Cheeked Waxbills etc than it is to invest a small amount to breed them.
The same can be said for various Mannikins such as Bronze Winged, Black and White, Rufous Backed and even Cut-Throats etc.

But if I were a serious breeder of any of the above I would pay above the going rate to buy Captive bred Birds.

I have bred a few Common Bird Species over the years, and the satisfaction of this has nothing to do with the money making factor, but everything to do with the fact that I have achieved something that few others have enjoyed.

To see Rufous Backed Manninins or Orange Cheeked Waxbills on the day of leaving the nest is a very pleasing experience, I just hope that over the next few years we in the U.K. will enjoy such simple things a great deal more.

Paul.:wink:

[dave85]

hey paul,

Ive not seen many rufous backed mannakins owned by breeders like me and you, as ive been after a trio to go with my lone one. So thats why im considering selling my lone one as i cant get hold of any :(.
You interested in breeding them paul? ill soon have my pair of orange bishops and a pair of red headed fiches :D :D are they both needed species in aviculture?

Thanks
Dave H

[chris]

i don't know if this has already been said on this forum, but MFB is no more, Jim has thrown the towel in. not exactly new news so i'm sure most people already know

Chris

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

I wasnt aware of this mate, on a personal note I'm well and truely gutted to hear of the first Bird Dealer to go to the wall, but I'm certain many more will follow in the future.

The fact is this, despite the actions of the AR, Bird Flu has become the timely saviour of the AR in helping in their cause of shutting down our hobby, without the Bird Flu Virus I believe that the AR would have their work cut out for them in closing us down.

With this on their side I believe that the AR have everything on their side to kill our hobby, with this in mind I have felt like giving up, but after speaking to RogerB I have found the fight within me to continue to help protect everything we are looking to look after.

So thank you Roger in helping me to back up the rest of the members here in fighting for the future of our hobby.

Chris, Matthew, Jimmy, Kenny, Laura, Roger and myself challenge the AR to beat us into quitting our hobby, bring it on people.

Paul.:mad:

[Waxbillman]

i had heard this news sone weeks ago, when someone was selling his cages,

i hope he returns, but with the situation we are in, it is unlikely.

and too right Paul, i would sooner die than give up my hobby,

as Churchill once said "let it end when each one of us chokes on our own blood" the hopefully it won't come to that.

Matthew

[kenny]

hi matt/paul
the cage fronts that i bought last week came from the bloke who is selling all the stuff from midland birds,i went back to get some drinkers at 30p each but some one who is cashing in on somone elses downfall had bought the lot a few hundred all told

ken

[kenny]

chris/paul/matt
as far as giving up is concerned they will have to drag me kicking and screaming from my bird room before i give up,ever since i had my birds nicked in 88 i vowed to myself that no one will ever stop me again and them b*******s will not be the ones to stop me ,imust admit when i have been feeling down i have had thoughts of it but nothing gives me more pleasure (apart from the obvious )than keeping my birds stuff and the horse they rode in on


ken:evil: