National Norwich Plainhead Canary Club

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

ALAIN NOTTE WINS BEST IN SHOW

ALAIN NOTTET WINS BEST IN SHOW
BELGIUM NORWICH CANARY CLUB SHOW....CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR
NPC MEMBER.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Friday, October 4, 2013

The Moult and Color Feeding by Chris Goodall

THE MOULT AND COLOUR FEEDING

BY CHRIS GOODALL MAY 2004

After my youngsters are weaned off, they remain in the breeding cages until they are six weeks old. During this time they are fed on the food they were reared on, namely egg food and soaked seed. At this time they will drink copious amounts of water and care should be taken to ensure fresh supplies are always available.

At six weeks of age they are transferred to a large aviary, where they will remain until the moult is nearly completed. At this stage the youngsters are introduced to dry food. Crushed hemp, rape and pinhead oatmeal are given in addition to the egg food and soaked seed. Canary seed is added to the diet a week later

It is vital during the moult to provide a diet that will assist your canaries to produce the quality of feather desired. The selective pairing of the parents will determine 3/4 of the feather quality. A balanced diet, rich in protein, to supply essential amino acids is necessary to produce the finished article. Sprouted seed, hard boiled egg and sunflower hearts are all high in amino acids. Canary seed, the staple diet is more valuable at this time of the year than any other as it contains silicon in the brown coating of the seed, and enters the blood stream in small amounts to help in feather making.

Extra vitamins can be added either, as I do, by using commercial products at the recommended dose or by giving a natural source such as dandelions or spinach. Oily seeds such as niger, hemp, maw, and linseed can be added to the diet in small quantities. These will provide the extra oil that is necessary for feather luster.

First round youngsters will start to moult at 8 to 10 weeks old, second round youngsters at a slightly younger age. The new feathers replace the old in a definite pattern, beginning along the breast and back, finishing with the neck and head.

The moulting process with the breeding birds is controlled by hormones. Because of their different hormones the cock bird will lose his sex drive and song, and generally start moulting before the hen. A few tips that will aid a successful moult are, give a bath or spray on warm clays, this is most beneficial in assisting the growth and condition of new feathers. Keep birds in draught free quarters. This is a requirement throughout the year, but more so during the moult as this can stop the moulting process altogether. We say they are "stuck in the moult" and will be extremely unwell. If this happens try to keep the bird warm, add a pinch of Flowers of Sulphur to the soft food, and as a tonic Syrup of Buckthorn administered at the rate of one drop to the ounce (30mls) of drinking water. This should get the moult started again.

Finally although the birds need plenty of fresh air and good light it is advisable to moult the birds out of direct sun. The object is to moult the birds with good even colour and we all know the bleaching effect the sun can cause. Which brings us on to colour feeding.

Norwich Canaries have been colour fed for showing since the 1880's. At first the hot Natal pepper was used, and then it became the custom to use prepared cayenne pepper from the Capsicum plant. This method, which in my case, involved mixing four parts egg food to one part pepper with a little olive oil to infuse the pepper into the egg food. I used this until Canthaxantin took over in the early 1960's.

I can remember the first time I saw Norwich at a show fed with this new product. It was at Kings Lynn C.B.S., approximately 1963 and the birds belonged to Dr. Smither of Peterborough. The birds were very patchy and a burnt rusty colour because the colouring agent had been given too strong and not at regular feeds. This is still seen at shows today as fanciers try colour feeding for the first time. It usually takes a couple of years to get the quantities right.

The old method of cayenne pepper can still be used today, but most breeders will be using a product sold under the brand name Carophyll Red*. This is a water soluble product and can either be used in food, or water. I use both methods and I will endeavor to describe the way 1 colour feed my birds.

Throughout the moulting season, which usually starts with the first cock bird dropping feathers about the third week in June, till the end of December for the last ones that dropped feathers. The birds in flights are colour fed on a three day rotating sequence.

The first day they receive the carophyll in the water. The reason I stated in the last paragraph, "I will endeavor to describe" is because it is difficult to give exact quantities as most people have a different measuring utensil. I use a 2 2 ml. spoon that comes with Vydex Products, and a level spoonful of carophyll Red is mixed with 1.5 litres of hot, not boiling water. Most people will advise boiling water, but I find this makes the Carophyll separate and within hours sinks to the bottom.

On day two I colour feed in the food. My mixture is prepared as follows. 10 grams. of Carophyll Red is mixed in a coffee grinder with 1 lb of the egg food that is used during the breeding season. The Carophyll must be mixed evenly throughout the 1 lb of egg food till its consistency is of a coarse powder. One part of this mixture is then added to six parts of egg food, cold water is added to make it crumbly and given at the rate of I teaspoonful per bird. When cold water is added to this mixture the egg food will look just the same as it did when given to rear your youngsters. If you add warm water the egg Food will be pink.

On the third day they do not receive any colouring agent at all. On this day they receive a mixture of equal parts of condition seed and pinhead oatmeal that has fish oil addled to it the evening before to soak in. Each bird is given 1 heaped teaspoonful. A level teaspoon of fish oil to 1 lb of seed is recommended, to which I add the same measure of a commercial multi-vitamin and mineral product which will adhere to the oiled seed.

This three day sequence continues till the birds just have the neck and head to moult. They are then removed from the aviary and caged separately. From then until the end of the show season they are fed only colour food starting at the rate of a teaspoonful every other day, and when they have just the face to finish they only have half a teaspoonful every other day.

Some breeders only do the colour feeding in the water, this is fine if the birds are being moulted out in flights. I would not advise coloured water in the cages as it stains the woodwork. If you have no flights and moult out in cages, I would advise using only colour food at the rate of one teaspoonful per day for two days, then miss a day. If the birds droppings are pink to red in colour this will indicate the strength of colour food is correct.

This is the worst period of a fancier's year with feathers everywhere and the birds are not at their best. However, it is worth it when an ugly duckling turns into a prized Norwich Canary.

Happy moulting.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Preparation To The Exhibitions by Alain Nottet

THE PREPARATION TO THE EXHIBITIONS

At the beginning of the month of September molt coming to an end, at least for the youth of the first brood, so it's time to think á separated young people in individual rearing cage. , Some fans have left moulting birds Aviary others prefer the cage to fly two systems are very good condition to suspend a cage of exposure so young people can get to know as soon as possible with the above, the young birds must be able to enter and leave freely of the cage, this is the beginning of learning to put the birds in confidence. During moulting it is essential that young birds stay in flight cage or Aviary in order to enable their to strengthen chest muscles but also to have a good harbour wings because outside functions natural and normal life as "drink and eat" is another capital "fly".

To evaluate the potential of each bird will have to separate the individual breeder youth in order to appreciate the qualities but also the defects of our future Favorites, the constant observation of each of our subjects will make a first yard but be careful not to go too fast because a Norwich will much more time to come â its full maturity to some small race known as light.

He personally arrived me to eliminate a Norwich, subject to which I attachai not much credit, I had therefore given flight cage but two months later it is bird was completely metamorphosed and this bird won the gold medal at the liège PCBs.

Suspend a cage of exposure â each of the best subject is more on system to no longer take the bird in hand, after a certain time they feel confident and most spend even at night.

Then comes the always delicate moment contain them in the cage of exposure in order to move them on a shelf and it is the that begins the real training.

Initially, short of a few minutes are amply sufficient, because many birds are terribly stressed before the time periods in a cage of exhibitions become more more frequent but also more and more long, rewarding the bird â whenever it comes on the shelf offering him a small wild seed "bucket" is a good system.

Attention however not confuse training cage and cage of stay!

Problem of lighting

During the months d ' exhibition to be - it yes or no give bird an artificial lighting? Well honestly I do not know the answer! Both systems have their advantages but also disadvantages, and I will explain.

In my breeding my birds receive no artificial light source and is thus much more quiet (my building enjoys a good natural light, but at the shows they are subjected has artificial lighting powerful enough, as a consequence of the very nervous superpowers, the transition being much too large, it is only two or three days after the housing that the birds begin â to calm down.) Alas! It is too late the judgment is complete.

One of my friends suggested I place a suspended fluorescent tube has my shelf of training to get young people to artificial lighting.

This system allows me to get the birds that I cause not to disturb the rest of my livestock.

THE VAPORIATION

Once that molt is complete I offers more bath á my birds I prefer to use a small spray my birds are then spray lightly and this two is three times a week I have found that birds like to be sprayed, I always try to spray late morning bird plumage will be completely dry before the dark. The plumage brightness can add a (plume spray) little attention not to exceed the folder recommended by the manufacturer i.e. 5 ml to 300 ml mineral water

It is preferable to stop spraying birds at least 5 a 6 days before the judgment otherwise the plumage will not tighten enough time especially with birds longer feathers.

Here it is with very great attention â € a multitude of small detail that it is possible to bring its birds at the top level and make good results in the exhibitions.As an athlete of high level he has him also his maximum point of form, example: a Norwich at its best level of form in October will most also look in December which seems logical, the bird is not a machine that can expose each week to make his "Little League".

Participate in three exhibitions on the year is more than enough for a Norwich be confront á problems molting or poor results during the breeding season.

CAGE OF EXPOSURE

A good presented Norwich exposure in a cage in poor condition, will do that penalized the bird, it is very important to control the State of these until the contest period starts!

- check the status of the storefront!

- control the fixation of the perch!

- Check if the colour is impeccable!

- Do not forget that for the green color, there are a number of manufacturing, it is therefore not repainting the Interior of its cages with anything!

CONCLUSIONS

Thus understood, thus practised, training becomes a routine that helps enormously to the real test that is less harsh because the bird is more or less accustomed.

Health and training are the two main assets to bring the sport fullness and the realization to the heights.

A.NOTTET Web Site: http://norwich.be

Sunday, August 4, 2013

NORWICH PLAINHEAD HISTORY

by A.W. Barnes

Certainly the Canary, as a domesticated species was fairly common in some countries and in England by the middle of the 16th Century and, therefore, it must be presumed with some justification that the breeding of different varieties began in England sometime in the 17th Century. With the Norwich Canary, the name, of course, is geographical in origin just as other varieties grew up with the names of Yorkshire, Gloster and the Border in the Border countries.

The Norwich Plainhead Canary, as its name implies, was first developed by the people of East Anglia, particularly by those whose homes were in and around Norwich. Records show that the establishment of the Norwich coincided with the growth of East Anglia as the centre of the English wool trade, brought about by the immigration in the Middle Ages of the Flemish weavers.

This canary became almost as much a part and parcel of the scene as the spinning wheels and looms in the settlers' cottages. By the middle of the 17th Century, the Norwich had become firmly established and had already survived its ups and downs.

Other varieties had risen in popularity, only to fall again into disfavour, but not so the Plainhead. We may well ask why the Norwich has outlasted many other varieties, and what is the reason for its continued popularity? The answer is that it has remained a favourite because it fulfils the idea of numerous fanciers of what a canary should look like - a stately looking bird. In a show cage it is certainly something worth admiring.

As others have pointed out before, the Norwich does show certain definite East Anglian qualities. It has been described as a jolly, comfortable bird, being solid rather than graceful. During the 18th Century the Norwich Canary became larger in size, unwieldy, rough in feather, and it was in the following century that lumps began to appear. This was brought about by the mania to produce size in Norwich, resulting in excessive feather through double buffing.

Fortunately this craze for size died a natural death, and today quality is every breeder's aim. The lovely, short bird with a round head, short beak, good depth, short wings and tail and round body is here to stay.