great news

[Waxbillman]

:)

i've discoved a nest of Strawberry chicks!

well i walked into the shed this morning, i did my usual look round, and i noticed in an old nest that i thought the avadavats had abandoned a week ago, there was two little faces looking at me, i thought that's strange, they have black-beaks, so i looked round the outside aviary and saw the breeding pair with two of the chicks from a few months ago, so to my surprise they are a new round!!

i cannot believe it, i've never heard them call or anything since i disturbed the nest 9 days ago. this means that the chicks are around 12 days old, they looked pretty well developed as well.

i heard the strawberry chicks in the other aviary that are the same age, begging very loud now, so its a mystery. a happy one at that! my only explanation is that the nest is in the indoor aviary and the sound is muffled, and they probabily have been calling but i've been at uni so i most have missed feeding time.

matthew:)

[jimmy]

Nice one Matthew :)

Hope they do well.

Looks like you are having a better day than me, found one of my new canaries dead this morning, seemed fine yesterday.

Jimmy

[Waxbillman]

sorry to hear that Jimmy.
strange i wonder what could have caused it.,

matthew

[laurab]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your canary Jimmy :-( Great news for you though Matthew :razz:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew and Jimmy,

Great news for you Matthew well done mate, things are looking good for Strawberry Finch breeding for the next few years at least!:grin:

I'm sorry to hear you lost one of your Canaries Jimmy, was it an old Bird?:neutral:

Paul.

[jimmy]

Hi All,

Thanks for your comments.

Its was an 05 hen i bought at Stafford, worried what i will find when i get home from work tonight. :?

[chris]

Hi Matthew,

great news you lucky sod!:grin: i hope they reach maturity for you:wink:

Jimmy, i'm sorry to hear about your canary mate, i think the cause is the sudden change in our weather as i lost a greensinger mule the other week, came very close with a weaver this morning and Laura hasn't been having much luck lately either:?

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

thanks Chris.

well i've had enough go wrong this year i think i deserve to get some chicks at least.

matthew

[Waxbillman]

hello everyonesome more great news, i came back from uni today to find that at least 3 strawberry chicks from the other nest have fledged:grin: i say at least because it was very talk and could only see the birds in the indoor part of the aviary.

Matthew:grin:

[chris]

Great news matthew, you'll be suppling the country at this rate:-)

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

:lol: i think i have going to change my screen name to strawberryfinchman


matthew:grin:

[chris]

Why not just Strawberryman, you can be my sidekick then we can have 2 superheroes on the same forum:lol: :lol: :lol:

Chris:wink:

[laurab]

Congratulations Matthew! :razz: ;-)

[Waxbillman]

thanks Laura.

Great idea Chris, :lol:

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Good on ya Strawberryman!!:grin:

Nice one mate, I'll be very interested to read your 05 Strawberry Finch total soon!:wink:

On that subject would it be OK for you to post breeding results here from the Waxbill Society when they are published in the magazine??

Paul.:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Paul,

well i've bred 9 straws so far this year,

go to www.waxbillfinchsociety.org.uk (http://www.waxbillfinchsociety.org.uk/) the breeding results for every year are on there, no names mentioned though obviously. just totals of a species.

there are nearly 300 members however less than a quarter bother to fill in breeding returns, so the numbers bred are probabily a fraction of what is actually being done.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Strawberryman,

9 young Strawberry Finches this year is fantastic mate,:grin: I hope you are proud of your acheivement!!

And thanks for the link too!:wink:

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

thanks Paul, i'me very happy, should have been around 25 successfully bred, but, 9 is brilliant all the same, theres not all that many who will have bred more in this country.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello Matthew,

I've checked out the link and I'm convinced mate,:grin: please bear with me for a while and you will be gaining a new member by the name of Paul Hearn!!!

Paul.:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

What should have been doesn't count, but the nine you have bred will go far in an attempt to establish the Strawberry Finch in UK Aviculture for many years to come, good on ya mate you will be even more proud when your breedings become what could be part of the future of Strawberry Finches in the UK for many years from now!!

Paul.:grin:

[Waxbillman]

thanks allot Paul!
great news about you joining, the society has come along way now, i've been a member for 4 years now, and it has come on leaps and bounds, with many things as you will read.

hopefully this will be an incentive for Laura to join, she escaped by not going to Stafford, we'll get her to join one day. seriously though you lot could operate the weaver/whydah side of things

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

I'm partly to blame for Laura not joining so far as I was supposed to bring her the info regarding joining the Waxbill Society from the last Stafford Sale.:roll:
However after the link you have provided of course you have also convinced me to join, but you may also convince others to join in the future too?

I have some more good news regarding Strawberry Finches mate, mine have laid a full clutch and are incubating at this later date in the year, I hope all goes well.

Paul.:grin:

[chris]

Hi Matthew,

i haven't forgot about joining either mate, as soon as i get some of that ever elusive cash i'll sign up:)

as for the weaver co-ordination side of things, i vote Laura as the one to run the orange bishop breeding programe, and Paul to run a scaly weaver breeding program. i myself will go for whatever i breed first out of the 3 weavers, possibly all 3 if i can manage it.

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

hello Paul,

no pressure mate, i'm glad to hear that you two may well be joining us,

great news about you straws them, will you be wanting to do swops for some my bloodlines? they are lovely chunky birds.

Chris

glad to hear you might be joining too, i understand your situation, being job-less.

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew and Chris,

Matthew,

If I do manage to breed from the Strawberry Finches of course I will be looking to swap youngsters with you,:wink:

Chris,

I haven't forgotten about the proposed Weaver and Whydah Society,:wink: if this ever to be born then I'm certain it will be as a result of breedings such as Lauras and of course other non Feathered Friends breedings too, I'm sure that a Committee can be proposed next year with yourself included whether or not you manage to breed from your Weavers.
On a personal note I don't see why you have to be a breeder to be a Committee Member of this newly proposed Society?
Your passion to make this organisation work should be your qualification to be a key member!

Paul.:grin:

[Waxbillman]

hello Paul

very true, i'm glad to hear you are still intersted in setting up the society, i think its a brilliant idea. brewed up by a genius.

i seriously recommend you to contact Tom Broderick, as he will have plenty of contacts, not only that he must know more about whydah's and weaver's than anyone in the country so i would recommend getting him involved if he wants to.

let me know anyway if you want any help of any kind, maybe if it does get going i could advertise it in the WFS magazine, certainly on our website.

Matthew

[dave85]

hey everyone,

Congratulations all on your success's!

Only birds i have breeding - deliberatly are my gouldians on 2 chicks :D :D

i also have a pair of ringneck doves & a budgie on eggs on cage floors since i stopped all breeding near enough do to new flight build, so may have a late spurt of breeding soon!

Jimmy,
What canaries do you have? you looking for some? as im thinking of selling my collection of them bout 10-12, if youre intersted?

Thanks
Dave

[jimmy]

Hi Dave,

I'm sorted with canaries thanks mate.

Just got some nice Fifes, hoping to produce Miniature Mules with them.

Jimmy

[laurab]

Hi Matthew

I have posted my application today :razz: ;-)

[Waxbillman]

hello Laura

great!! well done.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks mate for your offer of help in setting up the Weaver and Whydah Society, but I thought Laura, Chris and yourself were going to get things rolling?:shock:

I'm just the bloke who keeps poking his nose in on other peoples great ideas.:lol:

By the way who is this genius you mentioned, I thought this whole thing was your idea?:lol:

So there you go Chris and Laura, you need to contact Tom Broderick for contacts to get the Society started, I'm only too pleased to be able to pass on Matthews suggestions to you, Matthew of course is also available to help you in any way he can:grin:

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

:lol: ok point taken i'm no genius, but yes i came up with the idea, Paul i certainly think you should be on the team, as your you are very knowledgeable on the the subject as is Laura and Chris.

i have moved the rest of this reply, to a new threat, so it better found.

matthew

[chris]

so 'middle man' Paul,

are there any great ideas of matthew's that you want to pass onto Laura and myself today?:lol:

Chris:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Matthew and Chris,

Matthew,

You are a genius mate, the idea of a Weaver Society is a great one! And I'm sure the person responsible for adding the Whydahs to your idea will pop up soon and let themselves be known.:grin:

However I've yet to see why I would be of value to this new Society as my experience of breeding Weaver and Whydah Species equals a big fat zero?

Chris,

I can't quite remember any of the further information Matthew gave me?:roll: Apart from his recommendation of yourself and Laura as key members for the Committee of the Weaver and Whydah Society and of course Tom Broderick as a valuable contact regarding the formation of the Society.

Paul.:wink:

[Waxbillman]

well Paul,

you have more experience than me.
breeding is only a part of experience as you know theres far more to bird keeping than just breeding.
Tom Broderick has never been able to breed Whydah's yet, but by ekk he is probabily though most knowledgable man on the subject. when you join the society you will see his article, in the coming months, he is the man that did that talk on them i told you about.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello Matthew,

Point taken matey, I will check out Toms information when I join the Waxbill Society.

Paul.:grin:

[laurab]

Lets hope that my Roger's Yellow Mantled Wydahs breed next year ;-)

[chris]

Hi Paul,

i also have a big fat zero for experience regarding breeding weavers, so if i can be a 'key member' then so can you matey:grin: :wink:

we definately need to get some sort of breeding program for the various species sorted as i reckon it won't be long at all before we face a complete import ban on all bird species, and i know of no-one who breeds 2 of the species i have so the chances of finding unrelated pairs without such a program will be slim.

Chris:wink:

[Waxbillman]

i agree we need to get the ball rolling fast because, if it did happened in the next year i should have though most will dissapear over night

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

I too hope Roger manages to breed from his Yellow Mantled Whydahs next year, but lets face it, he does have a great source of information from his other half!!:grin:
Roger has his head screwed on and he only needs to ask you for advice!

Paul.:wink:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris and Matthew,

I agree with you both,

Chris,

Breeding programmes do need to be established for all imported Species, with Weavers and Whydahs being the underdogs of the Foreign Birdkeeping World, moves need to be made to establish many Species in UK Aviculture.

Matthew,

I also agree with you that the proposed Weaver and Whydah Society does need to be born very soon, if we are to try to establish Weaver and Whydah Species in UK Aviculture, steps need to be taken now to ensure that our efforts are to make a positive impact on keepers of these Birds in time to convince keepers to become breeders!

Paul.

[Waxbillman]

we'll have to see what the future brings.

matthew