December 2017

The December ‘Social and Christmas Raffle’ at Wellow Golf Club was a great success again and it excelled from last year with a turnout of 41 members and guests.

Apologies were received from Steve & Loretta Bailey, John Burton, Martin Terry, Kevin Burnett and Paul Gover.

With everyone sat down with their drinks we started with the first round of skittles (with Chris leading), before the meal, which was served at 8.15pm.

After the meal we had the Christmas draw (73 Prizes) and this was followed by the second round of skittles. This was played with some hilarious moments to say the least, with Trevor, Peter’s friend over from Lanzarote, being the main winner of the evening.

As I left before the end with my driver David Rice, our President, he thanked Peter Merritt and his family for all the hard work they had put in to make the evening a success.  He asked them also to thank Les & Miranda’s Sophie & Robbie for picking up and replacing the skittles etc.

Later Mick Freeborn thanked everyone for coming and the staff for the quality food and service they provided. He also thanked many others for their contribution during the year to make the club a success. He said what a good atmosphere there was in our club these days, which would stand us in good stead for the future.

LONDON & SOUTHERN COUNTIES B.S. - INTER CLUB COMPETITION RESULTS

SMALLFIELD – SUNDAY 19^th NOVEMBER 2017

Click on Image for Larger Picture

November 2017

Jim Lawrie, our acting Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there (28).  Apologies were read out from Paul Gover, David Blackeby, John Burton, Kevin Burnett, Martin Terry, Brian Bailey, Jane Cooper and Mark Edwards.

With that I explained the format for the evening, with the paperwork I had printed off to be filled in by the members; they had to assume it was their birds and select the best  pairings to breed with and why.

With the 20 birds benched and ready for the fun judging, our judge for the evening to choose his best 6 pairs was David Rice, so whilst he was doing his pairings we carried on with club business.

Jim then mentioned the London & Southern Counties BS Inter Club competition to be held on Sunday 19^th November and thanked in advance all who support it by entering their birds as part of the team of 12 classes; he said it would be nice to win again this year.

He then handed over to me to say a few words about our last meeting, which was the Members Show that Richard Hooper had judged and also to give an update on the 2018 & 2019 programs and speakers booked.

Everyone was asked to keep their pairing-up paper work on them until part 2 of the evening.

After lots of lively discussion and the sharing of ideas between the members it was time for a tea break. Once the break was over I asked David Rice to start part 2and explain his own choices on which birds he would pair.

David said he had some heavy feathered birds and needed to refine them, so he picked his pairings to improve feather /style & deportment which would help resolve some of the problems.

We then asked various members to come up with their selection and give their reasons for wanting to pair the birds they had chosen, which was very entertaining as most members had a go.

As the evening was drawing to a close it was evident that most members chose different birds for various reasons, as we all have different problems / requirements needed in our birds to improve them.

So many thanks to all who brought birds along for the evening.

The evening was very interesting, especially with comments from the floor as well! It was an enjoyable evening with most members participating, which is what club meetings are all about.

After the raffle Jim Lawrie, our acting Chairman, also thanked the members for bringing their birds. 

He then closed the meeting and wished everyone a safe journey home.

October 2017

Jim Lawrie, our acting Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there, including our judge for the evening, Richard Hooper. Apologies were read out from Bryon Shaw, Steve Bailey, Mick Small, Martin Terry, Kevin Burnett, and John Burton.

With all the birds benched and ready (42), he then handed over to Richard, who had travelled some 80 odd miles to do the judging.  

Whilst the main judging was being carried out we dealt with club business and general matters regarding the sponsors of our Open Show for 2018 and the need to keep them and see if we could add others to that list!

We also didn’t collect monies for the adverts in 2017 in the schedule as agreed, as most members had contributed to the costs anyway and the same will apply to 2018. This was discussed at our committee meeting on 21-9-17, with the decision that members’ adverts would be reduced to a half page and free. Other adverts from breeders that don’t contribute any thing to our club would be taken out. Peter read out the show accounts to all there (27) showing a profit of £474.33 on the Open Show.

As I had also issued a completed 2018 program to members by email on Saturday morning we had a lively discussion regarding the events and speakers for the year and then it was time for a tea break.

In part two Richard gave a running commentary on his final decisions and placing of various birds, with questions from the floor.  Jim Lawrie then read out the results as follows:

Our congratulations to the main winners of the evening:

·       Best in Show                             Jim Lawrie       Sky Cock            3-1

·       Best Young Bird in Show          Peter Merritt     Grey  Cock         105-1

·       Best Opp Sex Young Bird         Neil Cawley      Cin Green Hen   310-3

·       Best Opp Sex AA                       Peter Merritt      Cin Green Hen   10-1

·       Best Champion AA                    Jim Lawrie              3-1

·       Best Champion YB                     Jim Lawrie             17-2

·       Best Intermediate AA                 Peter Merritt            9-1

·       Best Intermediate YB                 Peter Merritt           105-1

·       Best Novice AA                          David Rice              201-1

·       Best Novice YB                          Neil Cawley            310-1

·       Best Beginner  AA                      Derek Ham              203-1

·       Best Beginner YB                       C&K Bellows          301-1

·       Best Junior                                 N/E

Our thanks to Neil Cawley, our chief steward again for the evening, who did a great job working along side Richard Hooper (Thank you Richard)!

After the raffle our Chairman thanked Richard for adjudicating and not accepting any ‘expenses’ and all of the members for bringing their birds.  He then closed the meeting and wished everyone a safe journey home.

September 2017

All were welcomed (31) at the BBQ at Steve and Jenny Cox’s house, which started from 7.00pm.

Apologies were received from Paul Gover, Bryon Shaw, John Burton, John & Lesley Mullen, Peter Church, Brian Bailey, Ray Nichols, David Rice, Martin Terry, Neil & Paula Cawley, Linda Ham, Tony Cash & Barbara Davis, David Blackeby, Mark Edwards, Steve & Loretta Bailey and Andy Thorpe.

South Hants’ BS maintained its annual tradition with holding a summer BBQ last Friday evening (officially 1 September is autumn) for its members. This year it was held at Steve Cox’s place in Bassett, Southampton.

To ensure continuity and tradition Peter Merritt again unselfishly slaved over a hot B&Q to cook the sausages, burgers and kebabs. But he says he enjoys doing that. His wife, Chris also helped with the food preparations.

There was a good turn out of members, with 31 people in attendance. The weather was also good for us, though it did get chilly later in the evening. Steve’s son also acted as DJ and entertained the group with music that everyone enjoyed.

 Indeed some enjoyed it more than others with their Karaoke attempts (we won’t mention any names, but they are advised not to give up their day jobs – those still working of course).

A particular highlight of the evening was to see inside Steve’s new birdroom. He has a 30’ x 10’ apex wooden shed, with 32 breeding cages along the back wall along with a counter top and underneath cupboards, a sink and two flights at the end of the birdroom.

There is also further storage with seating on top on the other side of the birdroom to watch and admire the birds.  The birdroom is finished to a high specification, which he is quite rightly proud of.

Again another great night enjoyed by South Hants’ members.

The BBQ finished at approx 9.30pm, with members starting to drift off and all were wished a safe journey home.

August 2017

Steve Bailey, our Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there (26) for our pre-show meeting, which started at 8.15pm.  We also welcomed Bill Farr back to the fold!

Apologies were received from Paul Gover, Bryon Shaw, John Burton, Steve Cox, Malcolm and Pam Freemantle and Andy Thorpe.

With all the Unshowable competition birds’ benched (11) and ready for discussion later on, we started on how we were going to run / organise the Open Show.

After lots of lively discussion re procedures regarding the Open Show (which will be back in the main gym again this year only, as new heating is being installed in our original hall) and team duties it was time for a tea break with more discussions in various groups.

The main items that we discussed to be in place for the show were:

• Steve Cox / Steve Bailey / Ray Nichols booking in. (S&S will also do the “CC” colours later).
• Peter Merritt will be helped in the show office by Malcolm Parsons & Aiden Bird.
• Adjust colour allocation as Geoff Bowley is fit etc.
• John Mullen in kitchen / bacon rolls in morning, we will buy a new George Foreman grill.(TC backup).
• Chris will be assisted by her daughter Sara in kitchen for the lunch time.
• Bill Farr & Mick Small getting the bacon and bread rolls by others.
• Neil Cawley on Bio-Security. (Mick to bring F10 & Tony to bring Bio mat etc).
• Mark Edwards will be in charge of handing out rosettes’ to the winning bird cages.
• Bird Auction to start at 3pm. (John Mullen to do shouting).
• Thursday 2pm - we will meet at Peters for loading staging on to horse box ready for Saturday at 2pm to erect in hall. After the show and loaded up again, meet Peter Monday at 10am to unload staging at store.
• Doors /Gates open for setting up - Sunday open at 6.30 am.
• Booking out Sunday, as last year, with Champions& Intermediates’ through main doors and Novice & Beginners at side doors.
• Brian Bailey & Peter Church manning doors for public in afternoon. (Rear doors to car park locked).
• Bag of seed, bottle of malt whiskey, bottle of wine & box of biscuits for main raffle.

We looked at the birds during the break. As there were some birds with bad faults there to talk about, we got Mick Freeborn to talk about the faults and how the long flights/tails are affecting the judges at open shows with some still winning “CC”s.

After that we had the raffle and Steve Bailey thanked the members for bringing their birds and closed the meeting, wishing everyone a safe journey home.

July 2017 - Ray Piper

Jim Lawrie, our Vice Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there. Apologies were read out from John Burton, Bryon Shaw, Malcolm & Pam Freemantle, Ray Nichols, Mark Edwards and Steve Bailey.  (24 Members Attended) Tony Cash then introduced our speaker for the evening, Ray Piper, who is the Chairman of Havant CBS and has kept all sorts of birds in his time in the hobby.  His present stock is aprox 200 birds of all varieties (or so his better half said who travelled down with him for support / navigator!) Ray started by telling us about his life in birds from his childhood aged 7 to the current day, which was very interesting regarding the types of birds he has kept over the years. He set up and did a power point presentation starting with a video of his large garden, which was full of all sorts of flights / aviaries. He then went on showing us and commenting at the same time on some of the species he kept, which was very enjoyable as Ray is a great speaker.

While discussing the birds and explaining some of the pitfalls in breeding some of them, he carried on the show of some of the rarer birds that he keeps now and breeds from. This went on until the tea break, with lots of comments from members, some of whom kept or used to breed some of the birds shown in Ray’s show.  After the break Ray rounded off by taking question from the floor before ending his brilliant presentation! Once again, we all showed our appreciation to Ray for a very entertaining and very professional evening and to his good lady for prompting at odd times.

Thanks also to Chris and Kerrie in the kitchen and to those that brought birds along. After the raffle the evening concluded and all were wished a safe journey home.

June 2017 - Harry Hockaday

Steve Bailey, our Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there. Apologies were read out from John Burton, Geoff Futcher and Andy Thorpe.  (34 Members Attended)

Steve then gave a short introduction about our speaker for the night, “Harry Hockaday”. Harry started by giving a brief about himself regarding birds and the hobby in general and about when he sold up to Alan Adams with some conditions if he came back, which he did! He spoke about the nice people in the hobby and said that was probably the reason why he started back in the hobby again after all the messages / contacts made to him by many breeders.

He then went on to talk about the birds in his stud.  He said when you use a particular blood line you work with it to bring out the best features that you, the breeder, perceive to be the bird of your choice / the ideal budgie.  Therefore, when you pair up birds within that stud even the weakest chicks should be carrying some of the good features you’re working with, like the distance from the cere across to the eye from a frontal view.

Harry said that a good stockman will always succeed with his stud, as he works with it to improve all the time.  He said he went to a stud to purchase the outcross that possess the main features in depth in that stud that he is lacking and he uses it to add that feature onto his stud, without putting in any of the hidden bad features if he can. He is concentrating using birds with broad feather against the long feathered birds, which seems to be working and giving him the birds for the future. (Back to the Future)

A collection of birds is where you ‘buy in’ birds from many different aviaries and pair them up to others in the collection you already have.  You might breed the odd good bird and also some very poor birds that you discard all the time, but you can still breed that odd winner which keeps you near the top of the showing list.

There are three kinds of breeders, Line Breeders, In Breeders and Out Crossers, but to succeed to the top it is best to breed with related stock (Harry’s opinion).  When breeding stock you must breed show birds with style, balance and deportment as well as stock birds, or you will never catch the judge’s eye if they are slumping across the perch.

When accessing your birds look at the feather, i.e. shortness of feather will give you rounder spots and the longer feather will give you the throw required to give that blow on the head, which we all are trying to achieve. Why are breeders trying to breed cock headed hens as it’s not desirable at all and not as nature intended?  Breed good looking hens and they will breed you good quality youngsters.

When pairing up, most breeders catch up a good looking cock bird then go to the flight to look for the correct hen for him.  What I do is compare two cock birds, ie, look at the desired features the two birds have, decide what I’m trying to put on to my birds and use the best one to breed with the lesser one’s daughter. The daughter will have the feature I am trying to improve and, because I have a stud of birds with most of the features built in, the good features will prevail and come out in the youngsters.

Part two of the evening “back to the Future” was dedicated to showing the birds from when he sold his stud to Alan Adams to the current young he has bred now. He used the same techniques as described above, bringing different blood from Belgium breeders with a softer feather around the head.  The proof was there for all to see and the presentation finished up showing super babies / birds which proved it is working for Harry.

John Mullen judged the birds and made the Cin Sky cock, a worthy winner, so thanks to John & all who brought the birds tonight!

Harry concluded at 10.20pm, with a round of applause in appreciation of a very professional presentation.

After the raffle the evening concluded and all were wished a safe journey home.

May 2017 - Young Stock Show

Steve Bailey, our Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there. Apologies were read out from John Burton, Bryon Shaw, Peter Merritt and Wally Sheppard.  We also welcomed prospective new members Steven Murdoch and wife (wife Beverley not present), who will join as a partnership from Southampton. (33 Members Attended)

Steve then handed over to me to give a brief of the format for the evening, which was asking Malcolm to choose Best Young Bird overall, best Opposite Sex and Best Barhead, as well as section winners. 

I also mentioned that our Show schedule had been sent to the BS (Beverly Hutt) with me and Peter Merritt working on it for a while and Steve Cox doing a final check for mistakes before we sent it off.

I read out the minutes of the last committee meeting from the 22-3-2017, which was held at Peter Merritt’s house.

Malcolm had almost finished his judging by the break, so after refreshments he selected the main winners of the night.  He gave a detailed assessment of the birds he had chosen, with a  Spangle Hen up as Best Bird, saying it had some growing to do to become a super budgie!

Malcolm then started to give comments regarding the quality of the birds benched and the faults and good features that were in front of him.  He also explained the types of pairings he liked and what he was trying to put on to his birds.

Best Opposite Sex	Best Barhead

With each bird commented on, along with comments from various members, he then took questions from the floor.  There were lots of positive and interesting comments, so ‘well done’ to all the winners. 

The winners on the evening were:

• Best Young Bird: Jim Lawrie with a Sky Spangle Hen (Best Champion)               
• Best Opp. Sex Young Bird: Neil Cawley  
• Best Intermediate Bird: Peter Merritt 
• Best Novice Young Bird: Neil Cawley 
• Best Beginner Bird: Les & Miranda Underwood
• Best Barhead: Ray Nichols

Well done to Malcolm for his Judging and not taking any expenses’ and to all who brought birds on the evening!

The meeting finished at 10pm with the raffle. Steve thanked all members and closed the meeting, wishing all a safe journey home.

April 2017 - Terry Sayers

Our Chairman, Steve Bailey, opened the meeting and welcomed all there.

There were 32 members in attendance.  Apologies were read out from Tony Cash, John Burton, David Cummings and Neil Cawley (4). John Burton sent a message thanking the members for making him an honoury life member.

With the birds benched (any Green Series bird) and ready for viewing later after Steve Cox had judged them, we dealt with club business.

Steve introduced our guest speaker for the night, Terry Sayers, who was doing a presentation on ‘Parrott’s & Birds of the World’.

Terry first showed a film (about 50mins) about Australian wild birds, which included budgies.  We all noted that our budgies can’t fly like those wild ones!

After a break we looked at the birds (11) that Steve Cox had judged.

Terry then showed a second film about a Spanish bird park. It was a great pity the language was Spanish (!) and he eventually aborted the film, as it was nearing 10pm.  

All enjoyed Terry’s videos and we thanked him in the normal way.  

After the raffle Steve Bailey thanked every body.  He then closed the meeting and wished everyone a safe journey home. Our thanks to Terry for not taking any expenses’!

March 2017 - AGM

Our Chairman, Steve Bailey, opened the meeting and welcomed all there.  We then had a minute’s silence for Alex Whitman & Geoff Dell, both of whom were laid to rest this week.

Apologies were read out from Paul Gover, John Burton, David Cummings, David Blackeby, Les & Miranda Underwood, Peter Church, Brian Bailey, Martin Terry, John Mullen and Pam Freemantle. (11) There were 22 in attendance.

With the birds benched (any Blue Series bird) and ready for viewing later, we dealt with club business / AGM.  Peter Merritt had previously handed out the 2016 accounts for members to take home to see if there were any ‘anomalies’ that they would like to raise tonight .

South Hampshire Minutes of AGM 2016:

These were taken as a true account by members and there were no comments.

The Minutes were taken as a true account.

(Proposed by Neil Cawley – Seconded by Jim Lawrie)

The President’s Report

The President, Mick Freeborn, started by saying a thank you to everyone connected to the club for the work they did and apologised if he had forgotten anyone.  He said that both Tony Cash and Peter Merritt had put in a tremendous amount of work over the year to ensure that South Hampshire BS remained one of the best clubs in the south and that there had been some great meetings with entertaining speakers, which was very good indeed. He said he was a founder member and had been part of the club for 35 years and was pleased that it was one of the best clubs around, with 49 paid up members.

Installation of New President 

Mick Freeborn then asked David Rice to come forward and receive the Chain of President for the coming 2/3 years. David said it was an honour to be President and hoped he would make a good job of it.

The Chairman then gave his report

Steve Bailey, the Chairman, got up and said how well the club was progressing, which was due to the membership all pulling together to make it a very successful Society. He said he hoped it would continue in 2017 and beyond.

General Secretary’s Report:

Tony Cash started by thanking the committee for all of their work during the year, which had contributed to the success of the club. He said all of the meetings had been well attended during the year because of the quality of the program / speakers and with the line up this year it should be even better for the members. 

Treasurer’s Report and Membership

Peter Merritt went through the profit and loss/balance sheet reports that had been given out to members. Peter said that, compared to 2015, there were not a lot of differences and he gave a full detailed explanation of the accounts that showed an overall profit of £602.03. Peter thanked Malcolm Freemantle for his work on the accounts. (Auditor)

Also we picked up 4 new members during the year.

(Accounts Proposed by Tony Cash – Seconded by Steve Bailey)

Election of Officers:

The President took over the chair for the election of Chairperson and officers.

Regarding the Open Show in August, we will be having an auction of 9 birds again to raise funds for the club and we have thanked all those who contribute towards helping the club have a successful open show.  We will discuss the entry fees and incentives at the Committee meeting to be held on the22nd March 2017 at 1pm at Peter Merritt’s house.

The AGM finished at 8.55pm.

We carried on after a tea break with Peter Merritt talking about his latest bloodlines and his successful breeding season this year and why.

After the raffle Steve thanked every body, closed the meeting and wished all a safe journey home.

February 2017 - Roy Aplin

Steve Bailey, our Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there. Apologies were read out from John Burton, Bryon Shaw, Peter Church, Brian Bailey, Mark Edwards, Andrew McKendrick and John Mullen. (7)

Six birds were benched and ready to be judged by Roy Aplin, our guest speaker tonight, for discussion later on.

The main sub titles tonight were: The Early Days, Management, Success with a Small Stud, Showing and General Stuff / Meetings and How has the hobby changed.

Q1.  How and when did you get interested in budgerigars?

Roy started in the early sixties with various varieties of birds, border canaries & foreign   birds then in 1969 started budgies with a pair of Greens. 

Q2.   What was your first aviary set-up like?

He refurbished his dads old shed into a birdroom with an inside flight down one side. He was 23 years old and used to show at the Poole & Parkstone CBS show, one of the many visitors to him was the late Harry Bryan (The Master)

Q3.   Can you remember your first major Out-Cross?

Used to buy from various breeders in the district, he also used to drive Harry Bryan around to different breeders and on one visit to Angela Moss’s he brought a Cin Green hen for £30, which he paired to his stock and bred 2 Cin Greys which did very well for him.

Q4.   Did you ever come out of the hobby?

May have cut back hard, but always had a few pairs breeding.

 Q5.   What appealed to you about budgerigars?

Started with a pair when I was 8/9 years old, later on was helped by Jim Goswell.

Q6.   Who have been your major influences?

Harry Bryan, Angela Moss, and Ken Farmer - three all time greats.

Q7.   What is your current set-up like?

Better than the first one!! Now have a 22` long aviary at the house in Wareham with a 12` X 6` out side flight & 32 breeding units (only use 24)

Q8.   What are your views on outside flights?

Yes, I like to see the birds out although they mainly go out late afternoon. The back of the flight is covered-in to help protect from the elements!

Q9.  How many birds and what varieties do you keep?

Several different varieties kept, odd Blues & Greys but mainly Cinnamons - about 150 as normal stock level going up to 300 after the breeding season.

Q10.   Describe your daily management routine?

I don’t spend as much time in the aviary as I used to, but keep it clean and feed general seed and soft food daily as well as doing the waters.

Q11.   What do you do differently during breeding, resting, showing?

I believe in keeping the soft food going all year round with seed mixture the same, most birds are flighted apart from the show team & a few odd pairs breeding.

Q12.   Describe diet, supplements, softfood etc. Do you ever try new products? How influenced are you by what others are doing?

Lots of new different product now on the market to use, but don’t change your system of feeding unless you have problems. I feed lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, millet sprays & red millet.

Q13.   What lighting times do you use? How do they vary throughout the year?

Lights come on at 7am until 10pm all year round with no breaks in-between and a dimmer system to bring on night lights and then turn off the fluorescents.

Q14.   What gadgets are there in your birdroom?

Only a Safari Select fan and extraction fan!

Q15.   What special features do you look for in a budgie?

Deportment / style a must, being careful not to use very buff untidy birds with short masks.

Q16.   What is your approach to pairing up, and how important is pedigree versus visual, colours and varieties?

Need both pedigree and visual when pairing up, making sure you are trying to improve the birds and not go backwards, creating feather problems or dusters if they are in the back ground of your stock.

Q17.   How long will you leave a pair together before splitting them up?

3 / 4 weeks most times, if they are not interested in each other, but sometimes if you really want some thing from a pair, then I might persevere with them a little longer.

Q18.   With a limited number of breeding cages how do you manage a clear first round?

I will let them go again to see if I can catch them / get them on the correct cycle.  I will also pair love couples I see in the flight if they are compatible. 

Q19.   What are the benefits of working with a small(ish) number of birds?

I find I have enough stock / breeding pairs. If you remember Jim Hutton used to use only 12 breeding cages and did very well in numbers & quality.

Q20.   How many times do you show each year and how many birds do you show?

I only do about 5 shows a year now, it used to be many more with lots of travelling.

Q21.   How has the hobby changed?

It has changed in lots of ways, some for good some for bad.  With the judges training course now it has produce some good judges for the hobby, but others are still in the old days regarding the modern budgie.

Q22.   My time as President of the BS:

I had turned it down before, but it was one of the best times I had for me to represent the BS around the country and abroad. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was unusual as I followed Maurice Roberts, so we were both from the South West of the country.

During the interview there was lots of interaction between all members while having a cuppa & looking at the birds Roy judged at the beginning of the evening, while we dealt with club business. It was a great evening with all members creating a friendly atmosphere with most people contributing in some way.

We all (31) had a lovely evening listening to Roy’s answers to our questions on various subjects on  breeding & problems and how to overcome some of them in this great hobby of ours.  Many thanks to all that brought birds for the meeting. 

After the raffle Steve Bailey thanked every body.  He then closed the meeting and wished everyone a safe journey home. Our thanks to Roy for not taking any expenses’!

January 2017 - Breeding Problems

Jim Lawrie, our Vice Chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed all there. Apologies were read out from John Burton, Bryon Shaw, Steve Cox, Andrew McKendrick, John Mullen, Steve Bailey, Bill Farr, Pam Freemantle and her sister Janet. (9)

Nine birds were benched and ready to be judged later, in the order that they would be used for breeding with.

Jim Lawrie then handed over to me to explain the format for the evening, which was talking about our breeding problems and medications / vitamins in the first session, then looking and talking about the birds that Neil Cawley was going to judge during the first part of the evening.

With lots of discussion on day old chicks dying and various ways to eradicate this we went on to talk about all sorts of problems, as well as feeding methods etc.  Jim Lawrie said he was having a poor start to the breeding season with others having a great start.  Peter Merritt said he was off on a flyer this year and explained what he thought was the reasons for that.

We discussed the various additives we were all using, with a lot of similar products being used by many.

One of the new products / renamed was “Carr’s AD-Herbs Original for pigeons.  Sizes come in : 250ml, 500ml, 1000ml and 2500ml
Ingredients : Helianthus annuus oil, essential oil of origanum (Without menthol)
Directions: Blend 5ml thoroughly into 2kg of feed.

Use everyday to maintain good condition. Use feed within 5 months. Shake well before use.

Also, a product that Peter Merritt uses now called Zooserine that comes from Portugal.  Peter went on to explain what he used it for and said he would try and acquire some for the members!

(Zooserine is indicated for the treatment of mixed infections of the respiratory tract and digestive tract. Chronic respiratory infections, traqueobronquites, pneumonia, and tuberculosis and mycoplasmosis gastroenteritis caused by salmonella and e. coli, as well as the clamidiose, are among the main indications.)

This then brought up all types of diseases and medicines to treat them.  Below are some of the medicines mentioned that are used by or required by the members.

Treatments/ Medicines:

• Terramycin - As directed
• Ronivet-s - 2Grams to 2 Litres
• Triple C - As directed
• Orego-Stim -100% Natural Supplement
• Baytril Oral - As directed
• Harkers 3 in 1 (Trichomoniasis /Canker /Coccidiosis)
• Mega –S  (Waga Waga in Australia)

I have saved various sheets of information on birds’ illness & stress / feeding, which I can email to members if requested.

Peter Church & Neil Cawley mentioned (with their  Dorset & District BS hats on) about the Dorset Spring Convention and Show to be held on the 21^st May with Phil Reaney & David Woan as speakers with Roger Carr in the chair as always to keep order over the  meeting!

After this we asked several members to express their views on the birds and most agreed with the positions that Neil had placed them in.

We all (29) had a lovely evening talking about our breeding & problems and how to overcome some of them in this great hobby of ours.  Many thanks to all that brought birds for the meeting (some were sold).  Maybe we should have sales at each meeting?