CRUDE BEHAVIOUR
The sensitivity of people to other human beings never ceases to amaze me, or the lack of facts, before jumping to the wrong conclusion. Good examples of this can be quoted time and time again. However, rarely does it come to cries of resignation but just imagine what the effect is on a person who is doing what he considers is his best for the hobby and at the same time has pressing business commitments to meet. One recipient on just such a letter replied to me saying, "The quality of active people in the hobby has diminished over the past decade because of other peoples crude behaviour."
There are times when we all wish to put pen to paper and blast another person on one issue or another but I have learnt that the best policy is to write your letter and then put it away for a day before sending it. Having reread it after this 24 hour lapse, I doubt if it will ever be sent. However, if you still feel you should send it please at least check on the facts and ensure that you get them right.
Seeking Publicity
It would appear that one of the hardest positions to fill on a Committee is that of Publicity Officer and some Societies survive for a number of years without the post ever being filled. Perhaps the title of this post is not glamorous enough and it should be renamed to Media Spokesman for example. This title was used by South Australia at the Nationals for their publicity person, who certainly tackled the task with enthusiasm and lived up to the job title.
Officers and Committees usually change over at Annual General Meetings and with National Societies it is not unusual for nominations to be required in advance of the AGM and then these are voted upon at that meeting. This is certainly the case with one society I know and as no nominations were received for the post in advance of the meeting and because of the rules, the Society has to spend a year without a Publicity person. Following on from this, unless a nomination is received before next years AGM the same could happen again. This seems to me to be a good case for a rule change but of course unless the proposed change is received before the next fateful meeting nothing can alter. Look out for the vicious circle!
We accept the laws of Genetics as being carved in stone but there are times when they do in fact prove to be suspect. At a recent meeting that I attended the talk was focused on the fact that this person had bred a Normal from a pair containing a Double Factor Spangle and another case of a Spangle being bred from non-Spangle parents. Clearly this is impossible, or is it? There are not many fanciers who find it easy to document the unexpected results from certain pairings but for the hobby these happening contain essential knowledge that will help our understanding. If you do have the unexpected turn up in a nest please write to me so that it can be recorded for future reference.
Creating Hardiness in the Stud
How many times have you entered a birdroom to find a cage of sick birds. Maybe there will be half a dozen sorry looking specimens, sitting fluffed up, heads buried under their wings, with both feet down, some in the corner of the cage and all wearing the orange stain of medication.
One of the observations that I've made here in the UK is that we really work hard at curing sick birds, even when we know that the success rate is very low indeed. In the wild the appearance of sickness is also a display of weakness and susceptibility to attack from predators. Consequently, nature delays the appearance of illness for as long as possible and as such, when a budgerigar looks ill, it really is and is often too far gone for a cure to be effective. However, during our trip to the Antipodes I did not see one sick bird in the 20 or so aviaries visited.
In seeking an explanation to this I discovered that many fanciers in this part of the world will not tolerate sickness in the aviary and as such will not treat a really sick bird - all birds that become ill are quickly and humanely dispatched. Because of this they never breed with birds that have been ill. It was suggested that if this advice was adopted here, one could have the healthiest stud in the UK. A number of birds may be lost in the first couple of years but after 5 years, the result was guaranteed.
HOW MANY ROUNDS?
"Budgerigars are at their happiness when they are breeding". If you think about it this statement, by observation, is very true and our birds do appear to be at their most contented moments when they are reproducing. It is also true to say that it is not unusual for particularly a hen and sometimes a cock bird to die soon after they have been split up from breeding.
I wonder who is was who made up the rule that says, 'no more than two rounds per pair with any subsequent eggs being fostered'. If we put our trust in nature, she will tell us when our birds have had enough chicks, by the pairs losing condition and stopping breeding by their own validation. Their are two basic requirements for our birds to reproduce and these are 'the conditions' and 'their conditions' and if both are correct then the season will be a success. From these thoughts, I am fast coming to the conclusion that perhaps the rule should be changed to say, 'so long as the pairs are fit and healthy and the young that they are producing are of a similar state then breeding may continue'. Views and experiences on this subject would be most welcomed.
|