POTLUCK - 1:00 P.M.
MEETING - 1:45 P.M.

A - G SALAD
H - P DESSERT
Q - Z HOT DISH

Please bring your own table service

PLEASE NOTE:
The new meeting hall is Peterson Jr. High School, Ham St., Sunnyvale. Meeting in faculty lounge.

The Feather Show was a huge success - 108 entries! We all appreciate the fine job Bill Cooper did in directing & managing the Feather Show. The trophies were outstanding.

Winners:
Best Type Canary - Margaret Roche
Judges Special Award - Margaret Roche
Best Border Canary - Margaret Roche
Judges Special Award - Margaret Roche
Best Red Factor canary - Fanfa Family
Judges Special Award - Fanfa Family
Best Domestic Canary - Charlotte LeDoux
Judges Special Award for Domestics - Pat McMullen
Best Exotic in Show (Lesser Cockatoo) - Don & Betty Simpton

Congratulations to all the trophy winners

PROGRAM:
Informal reports from AFA convention in San Diego by members who attended. If you attended, plan to give your impressions and/or any new information you absorbed while attending lectures.

Questions will be answered by the "knowledgable ones" regarding Show techniques.

Our Show Director, Ralph Barnes, reports that the trophies, ribbons and catalogue are all taken care of. We hear that Margaret Roche has done a great job with the Catalogue and Ruth Mitchell really hit the pavement to get lot of advertisements.

SELL RAFFLE TICKETS TO ANYONE YOU CAN CORNER!!!!!

SHOW DATES TO REMEMBER and plan to attend:

Oct 24 & 25. Capital City Bird Soc - Rusch Park, Citrus Heights (Sacramento area)
Oct 31 & Nov 1. Fresno Canary & Finch Club: Hacienda Inn, Clinton Ave & Highway 99.
Nov 7 & 8 : Modesto
Nov 14 & 15: Golden Gate Avian Society - Alameda Fair Grounds.
Nov 28,29 : Santa Clara Valley Canary & Exotic Bird Club, Peterson Jr. Hi, Sunnyvale

Bird donations for the raffle table:
Joe Gordon - Bill Resnick - Fanfa family - Elva Lillroth. All other type donations are gratefully accepted.

Next executive board meeting: Oct 23rd 7:30 P.M. at the home of Chuck Arella.

Any suggestions to the proposed Budget, contact Howard Hansel.

If you are interested in Show cages - by phone or at the meeting. If we have enough interest, we will order 50 or 100 cages for sale. Otherwise breeders will be responsible for obtaining their own cages.

New members - add to your Roster:
Mike & Carol Tracy, Nanday Conure.
Welcome to the Club.

FOR SALE:
1 pr Bourke Parakeets $130. 1 pr Red Rump Parakeets $90. Call Inga Simms in Lafayette.

WANTED:
Used Red Factor show cages. Valarie Fugate.

THOUGHTS FOR THE NOVICE
(AND THE NOT SO NOVICE)
by Janice Pritchard, El Cajon, CA

As the show season is upon us, I feel the need to talk about canaries raised for the show bench.

For the past several years, the TYPE birds have gotten bigger and bigger, as have the Red Factors and non-Red Factors. There are standards set for each strain of birds. However, in a lot of shows, the standards are nearly ignored. The biggest bird wins. A judge has to judge some shows by the show standards and some shows by the size of the birds that are being raised in a particular area. q

Red Factors and non Red Factor canaries should not be over 5 ½ inches long, according to show standards. We see them as a Norwich, however, they win! The Norwich canary has been bred into all varieties of canaries, giving them nice conformation, but much too much size.

All birds should have nice round heads, short beaks, short tails and smooth even feather texture. The past few years have seen many rough feathered birds from too much buff to buff (frost to frost). By putting Norwich to birds background, and this buff to buff breeding to get size and conformation, you are also getting the tendency toward feather lumps.

I have had canaries for nearly 20 years with no feather lumps, but in the last two years, I have had feather lumps on my own birds, as have many breeders I know. About five years ago, I purchased six birds from another area, to bring new blood into my line and without my knowledge, these birds had Norwich in their background and no doubt buff to buff breeding. So now the lumps are showing up and they are a chore to get rid of. I have had some success with cutting them out, but in some cases they keep coming back time after time. Those birds cannot be used for breeding again, as they will pass on their lumpy blood!

I have purchased imported Glosters, where there has been a good deal of buff to buff, making very loose feathers, and I have lumps showing up in my Glosters these past two years. You should always breed yellow (hard feather) to buff (frost) in every breeding that it's possible. This prevents those loose floppy feathers that cause feather lumps. The little Gloster is another bird that is suffering from too much size. They should not be over 4 ½ inches in length, beak to tail. You now see them on the show bench as big as regular canaries, 5½ inches.

In order to get birds back to the standard where they belong, they should ALL be judged according to standards set up for them many years ago. Standards are no good unless they are followed. The poor novice breeder doesn't know what to do. One person says "get more size", the other says "less".

Here is a list of the sizes according to accepted judging standards
Gloster Fancy not to exceed 4½ inches
Border Fancy not to exceed 5½ inches
Columbus Fancy 5½ to 6 inches
Yorkshire to 6½ inches
Norwich may be 6 to 6½ inches

If you look around at the shows, you will see most of these birds are way over the standard in size. Some an inch or more. Granted, the Norwich has improved many bird's conformation, but that was all it was intended to do, not bake all birds as big as a Norwich and a Norwich as big as a pigeon!

When you are breeding your birds, breed Hard feather to Buff, or in the Type birds it is called Yellow to Buff. (Doesn't matter the colour of the bird, hard-feather is still yellow and frost is still buff). In the Red Factors, most dimorphic hens and males should be bred to hard-feather, but if you have a hard-feather dimorphic, she should be bred to a frost male and most, or all of their offspring should be dimorphic hens and males. There is a bird called a CHECK FROST, which looks at first glance, like a hard-feather, but it has a checked pattern on its back, with tiny frosted ends in a checker-board pattern. These birds can be bred to hard-feather.

In Glosters, always breed Consort (plain-head) to Corona (crest). Yellow to buff. It is much harder to get good conformation in a hard-feather bird, than in a frost. If you raise nice yellow (hard-feather) Glosters, hang on to them. You need them in your breeding program. In nearly all birds, frost has the nicest conformation. Hard-feather tend to be thinner bodied and smaller headed.

The best way to learn is to go to the shows whenever you can, compare the birds, see what canaries follow the standards, see what really good canaries look like. Ask questions about anything you wish. Someone will help you. And join a bird Club. There are many old time breeders who can help you get started, give you advice. Buy your birds from an established breeder, who had fairly good winnings at the shows, consistently beating competition. (In some shows, a bird wins because he is in the right place at the right time; he may be the only bird in that class with no competition.) Be diligent and patient and you too can raise fine canaries.

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