ASK THE EXPERTS --QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

FROM 2006 LCA CLASSIC.

While judging was taking place at the LCA classic a experts panel was run with Jeremy Gaocher & Stan Bolton answering the question, the panel was chaired by Huw Evans.

Below is a selection of some of the questions that were asked and there answers.

How do you clean your show cages?

JG-- Well I am luck in I show in a partnership with Ann, who has much smaller hands than me, and can get in and clean the inside out. On returning from a show, usually the next day all the cages are cleaned. the paper and seed are removed first then the perches are removed and placed in soaked in a bleach solution.

, The cages are then placed in a bowl of warm water with vanidine in, about 3 inches deep, this done on a rotational basics. when they have been soaked they will be cleaned out inside, dried and before being replaced into the carrying case they are given a quick polish with pledge. I find that it is the bottom rail the gets the most wear with the removal of sticky labels. if I get the odd chip or scratch I touch it up with black perment marker pen. until it can be repainted.

on painting the out sides of my show cages I use a trade gloss black applying several thin coat and sanding lightly after each coat.

SB-- Well very similar to Jeremy except I don’t do them straight away usual the day before I need to use them again! But I clean them in the same way basically but I rinse my perches off in warm clean water after they have been soaking in the bleach solution. I paint my cages with that Hammeright smooth quick drying paint.

Do you spray your birds?

JG-- no I don’t spray my birds for mite. but I use PY powder on my birds at the end of the show season. this is similar to Johnson’s mite powder, you can get from your local garden centers.I dust every bird in the birdroom be it young be it old it is done on a Saturday on the 1st and 2nd Saturdays of each month for 3 months. On the 1st weekend you will kill any adults that mite be on the bird and on the 2nd weekend you will kill and eggs that may have hatched. and within 3 months they are all clean.

SB-- Well I don’t have the time for that, but I use a spray called Blastoff and I spray the birds and the cages with that.

How do you pair your birds up ?

SB---well I will have a piece of paper and select my best gold hens say 1 to10

then my best gold cocks they same. I will then select which bird I think will go with which at that time. I will put this piece of paper to one side, the say a few later I will do the same thing again, but still not looking at the selection I made last time. I will probable each time have at least made one or two changes.

JG--I select my pairs very similar to Stan but I use families and look at the grand parent of the birds. but I would also make my selection to or three times before I make my final choose. but the key issue to breeding a good birds is how and where do your best birds come from. I keep all my records in a dairy and that’s my bible for the birdroom for that year. I put down 16pairs normally but am going to cut down to 12 for next year. Out of 12 pairs I would hope to get 60 chicks. maximum of 5 per pair

so if they had 5 in the first nest I would not give them a second round.

What vegetables do you give your birds? Question from Leah Vale [junior]

SB--chickweed was what I always use to use. But now you cannot be sure it has not been containated, so I don’t use it anymore. I don’t use weed killer on my lawn so I can dig the dandelions out of it for the birds. grated carrot is good but I use cress in the breeding season now the little pots from the Supermarkets, spinage is also very good.

But not lettuce.

JG--I use Brussels/Kale/Watercress/spinage [but not bruised] But in the spring the best thing with out a dought is dandelions as Stan said, I dig them up root and all and cut it down the middle of the root {washing the root off first of course.]

but any vegetables really, broccoli is also very good.

SB--- An old Lizard breeder many years ago used to give his Lizards Stinging nettle seeds, and he had some really black legs on his birds which he said was down to the stingers I don’t know?

How do you decided what classification a Lizard should be in?

JG -- What you have to do is visualise where there cap should be, it should be a perfect oval. But as the description says it 1 tenth is dark or light it isn’t a clear or non cap.

but that is easy to say but I know in reality it difficult, I have a cardboard cut out of the cap and use that to work it out.

SB-- I think if it is a borderline case where it is touch and go then most judges would give the benefit of doubt to the exhibitor.

The perfect Lizard is a clear cap so why are there more broken caps in class at show than in clear cap class is it a genetic fault?

JG--things change and they started to look for more things like rowings and spangles an to improve this the gene pool changes. Markings get past on, not necessarily in the 1st generation but in the 2nd generation it can and does. Because if you pair two broken cap together you will never get 100% Broken Caps the same applies to two non caps you will never get 100% non caps.

Huw--the reason why Harry has asked this question is probably because in Holland they have 20 point for the cap where as in the Uk we give 10 points

SB--Well I agree with what Jeremy has said but you should never pair two clear caps together, you would pair a clear cap to a broken or non cap. But I have always found that if you pair Non Cap to Non Cap the off spring will usually be snake and narrow across the shoulders

when do you pair up?

SB -- after the show season ends I single cage all my cocks, then I put all my silver hens in one 6ft flight cage and all my gold hens in another 6ft flight cage.

I stick my nest felts in with copdex . I do every thing at the same time cock and hen together nest pan nest material all together, time does always allow me to do anything else. I use a bag of small meadow hay, and poodle hair from the local poodle parlour.

The hay encourage them to carry. but the hen must be ready otherwise you will be wasting your time.

JG--after the last show the hen all go into the flight. then after a few weeks I will bring my hens out and put them with the cocks I am intending on pairing them to the next season. I will leave them together for 2or3 weeks in cage then split them up. Putting them back together in about mid March if the weather and Hen’s condition is right.

the blind date seems to help the pair settle down, it also give you a chance to see if your selection looks alright. the cock is put in an adjacent cage the slide is pull back gradually when pair have settle the nest pan is put in. With a jute nest felt and jute nest material for the second round white cotton cutt-offs are give this soaks up the moister from there second round.

how regularly do show each of your birds?

JG---I only like to show each bird3 times depending on the birds I have to show but I do think each bird has a sweet spot when it is at it peak. I grate my birds prior to each show say 1 to 10. bird that is 1st one week might be 8th in a week or two’s time.

SB-- Well I might show a bird every week if it is right, makes me seem cruel to Jeremy. In the 70’s and early 80’s I used to send my birds to shows by Rail, they would go on the Friday morning and might not return to the next Tuesday.

do you think second round youngsters are better then the first?

SB---well I think there is some truth in that statement but, I find that my first round youngsters are ready for the early October shows and my second round birds are ready for the late November early December shows. The birds I always did best with at the National [when it was still running] were second round young birds.

JA--Not always, if bred 4/5 off the first next I would probable not take a second round anyway.

When buying in fresh blood would pick a cock or a hen

SB--well it would depend on what you lacking in your stud,buying a big gold cock will increase size in you stud. if you are looking for increasing your breastwork you couldn’t go far wrong with a gold cock with black on the flanks. But you must study your stock and see what you lack, a good way to do this to ask a fellow breeder to look at your stud. But you must tell him to be honest with you.

JG---For good colour I like a silver hen but for size I agree with Stan. but a small gold hen will give good shape. If you bring a cock bird in you can use it in trio’s and run it with 2 hens. but it will not come through until the 2nd or 3rd generation

SB-- I pair a cock to 2 hen so you can assess the cock better, if he doesn’t fill all his eggs with one hen but does with other. it is the hen that is probably at fault.

how do you sex your Lizards?

JG-- With a Hen the cap colour tends to fade towards the back of the cap.

But in a cock the colour tends to stay even all across the cap.

SB-- The breast work on a hen especially a silver hen is flecked, but in a cock it tends to be more in lines. But what Jeremy said about evenness of colour over the cap is I think the best way to sex them.

Thank you to both panelists and Huw for fielding the questions.

We all enjoyed it, well I did anyway.

JG-Jeremy Goacher & SB Stan Bolton.

by David Allen.