Good Looking German Roller

This saddle backed marked German Roller is one of my favorite birds.

He always gets a generous corner of soft white bread. His bread fits nicely between his rape dish and water dish in the front of his show cage.

Kale has been particularly good at the market and reasonable priced at 99 cents a bunch.

He sometimes leans down and gets a bite of kale. At times, he picks it up and holds it on his perch for an easier bite.

Other times, he stands on it!

Note how his vent "cock" feathers are hanging down, indicating he is moving along toward breeding season.

As I write this, my husband Pat is stirring these veggies to go in a big dish of Shrimp Paella.

Necessity - Making A Canary Mix

Cold Weather and snow has finally hit Kansas!

After calling most of the sources listed for L'Avian Plus Canary Mix listed on their web site and finding none carrying it, I called the Kansas distributor and learned they had talked to John's Animal World in Andover, a town about 25 miles from my house, about carrying it. I called John and ordered six bags. You guessed it, the seed came in with the snow storm!! Never am I out of bird seed but somehow that's what happened!

Not wanting to risk my life to pick up bird seed at John's, I drove seven miles on slick streets and picked up some seeds from CW Products, a local feed dealer, to make my own mix.

My Mix:
6 quarts straight canary seed
4 quarts canola rape
2 quarts sunflower chips (pieces)
2 cups petamine breeding formula
1 cup Flax seed
1/2 cup Scenic Hand feeding Formula

The cost of my mix, made from 50 lb bags of canary seed, rape and sunflower chips is approximately 45 cents a lb....quite a savings over the $1.30 to $1.60 cost of my other canary mixes.

With temperature in single digits, I turned on some supplemental heat and made sure the birds also had fresh white bread and oatmeal for extra calories during the cold spell.

With the birds taken care of, we sat back and watched the undefeated Kansas Jayhawks play basketball!

Bella, wearing her snowman scarf and laying on my daughter Kellie's lap, decided it was a good time for a snooze.

A Little Bird Told Me

Hello Friends in the Fancy,

This is very good news for all canaries but especially for song birds. Higgins has launched a new mix "Canary Show Blend" designed after the European master breeders blend to bring your birds into optimum song condition.

You may order directly from Higgins Premium Pet Products by phone 1-800-878-2666

Local phone number 305-681-4444

E-mail : http://www.higginspremium.com

or
Higgins Premium Pet Foods:
3198 NW 125th Street
Miami, Florida 33167

Wishing you all the very best for the upcoming breeding season. Hope to see you all at the National Cage Bird Show in Kansas City, MO in November. Check the National website for more information about the show at ncbs.org

Be sure to bring those show stoppers with you.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Eggers

Youth Exhibitor Austin Johnson

Many of you will remember youth exhibitor Austin Johnson as he whizzed around in his chair at local and national bird shows. Some may have seen him at the national banquet proudly wearing a bronze youth medallion he had won. Austin birds include a Lutino Peachfaced and a Green Lovebird and a number of Zebra and Pearl Finches.

Always with a quick and ready smile, Austin loved birds, animals and all creatures. His dog Bella, who jumped in his lap and licked at his face, welcome his taking her outside, a condition for having a dog, which he accomplished by having his Mother Cheryl or Father Doyle fasten the leach to his chair .

Diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at an early age and spending his life depending on others for his care, he remained always smiling and cheerful and enjoyed life to its fullest especially going fishing with his Dad and playing robotics with his school mates.

Austin, 16 years old, passed on January 7th. I will always remember a few years ago when Cheryl shared with me that Austin had said to her: "Don't worry mom, someday I am going to RUN with the angels!"

Please keep Austin and his family who loved him so very much in your thoughts and prayers. In lieu of flowers, the family has established a memorial for the Haysville Robotics Club. In order for the money to go directly to the club rather than the school general fund, one check must be presented to club. To facilitate this, memorial checks should be made out to Doyle Johnson and sent to him at 5111 S. Meridian #268, Wichita, Kansas 67217.

Services will be held at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Haysville at 11 am Friday. Condolences can be e-mail to Doyle and Cheryl at yob10@cox.net.

Austin's photo above was taken on the road to the National Cage Bird Show in Tulsa.

Got A Question For Big Bird?

Please post your Questions that are unrelated to this weeks blog posts here.

Sunday:

Anonymous writes: "My lovebird band is too tight on him. I can't take it off because I am afraid to hurt him, what should I do?"

If you have experience in lovebirds, please help?

My experience is with canaries and the more common reasons in canaries include:

1. The most common is scale build up on the leg and under the band. Periodically, it is a good idea to put some oil (such as olive, corn, flax etc.) on your finger and then rub your finger over your birds leg. The reason I do not pour the oil directly on the birds leg is to avoid excess oil which can get on the feathers and may then part its feathers leaving body exposed. Using an eye drop, carefully drop a minuscule mount of oil directly on the inside edge of the band.

The oil will soften the scales and make it easier to gently lift the old scales off the leg and help you get to the scales under the band which are making the band too tight. The band should move easily.

In bad cases, remove all the excess scales (avoid taking too many and causing bleeding, take a few off today and some more off tomorrow), and slide the band up the leg where you have already removed the scales so that you can get to the area previously under the band.


If you are still unable to move the band, gently slide the plastic dental floss pick (such as the pictured ones, bought from Walgreen's) pointed end around the inside of the band to gradually pick out the old scales which are preventing the band from moving.

Excessive scaling is a sign of poor nutrition.

2. The band may be tight because the leg is red and swollen from either diet or the constriction from hair or fiber or fecal material wrapped around and constricting has resulted in poor circulation that can lead to gangrene and toe or foot loss.

Fecal material should be softened with water and wash off or a toe could accidentally be removed with the dry fecal material.

Examine carefully for an indentation caused by hair or fibers. These can be hard to see and may require a strong light or even examining the digit under a dissecting microscope.

Drop the protein and fats in the diet immediately and increase carbohydrate and greens. If it is diet related, the bird will show definite improvement within 24 hours.

3. Sometimes the band used by the breeder was too small in diameter for the bird or in some cases the band has a burr inside that irritates the leg. In this case, the band will have to be removed. Carefully remove the band with a band cutter or see an avian vet to get the band removed.

Canary Cribbage

These young Border males are enjoying a game of Canary Cribbage!

First they jump on the Canary Ferris Wheel top perch and immediately spin a half turn to the bottom and hop off to enjoy a bite or two of cabbage!





These two young Borders have decided to skip the Cribbage and just enjoy some Cabbage!

Hours can totally get away from me when I watch my birds and their antics.

What's your favorite antics?

Putting On the Dude Look For Spring

Male birds change not only their behavior but also their looks as they prepare for breeding season! This Border male no longer has beautiful show confirmation but instead is sporting a more tubular slender look of an uptown gent who is getting ready for Spring! As I look around my aviary, the chicks are still shapely but the guys are busy getting the new dude look.


Here he pauses to look over the shapely young chicks who are gathered in the corner of the adjacent cage just to look him over. Maybe just maybe, they might be a part of his future.

Would you girls like to hear me sing?

Hearing the breeding song is a major factor for bringing the hens into condition!

Other suitors are looking more sleek and take notice of the girls too. Could a fight be brewing?

Count me in!! It is fighting other cocks not the presence of hens, that is an important conditioning for males.

Critical Concept: Now is a good time to house cocks together for breeding conditioning.