Winning Ways

- Dave Brown

WITH the canary show season now upon us, this panel offers tips on how to prepare your canaries for the shows and what the judge will be looking for when they get there.

I moult most of my birds out in two large flights. When they are through I start catching up those that are showing potential and house these two to a single breeder. This initial move helps to calm them down because they can be quite flighty initially after having so much space.

After settling in the larger cages, I  move the birds to some smaller wire cages for a week or so. This really seems to calm them down. At this point, I start running them through the actual wooden show cages, too.

I always avoid over-showing hens – they are your breeding birds, so they really have to be outstanding to be sent out. It can depend on what looks best in a mutation; with phaeos, for example, the hens often have far better colour and markings. Therefore, if you want a chance of doing well at, say, the CCBA all-colour show, then you need to send the best birds even if they are hens.