NEW FANCIERS` GUIDELINES
Welcome to our Fancy. This article is intended for the use of new and prospective fanciers to enable them to understand the basic definitions used within the fancy. It cannot provide all the information available and you are advised to join a local club and /or seek assistance from an experienced fancier locally. This article was originally written with canary fanciers in mind but most of the information is equally applicable to budgerigar and foreign bird fanciers.
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Clubs, & Meetings:
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There are many types of club: Cage Bird Societies, Foreign bird clubs, Aviculture Societies, and then there are Specialist Clubs or Associations.
Cage Bird Societies: These normally cater for fanciers across a broad spectrum of interests including foreign birds, budgerigars and canaries. They provide an extremely valuable service to the fancy and often are the newcomer’s first introduction to birdkeeping. Most CBSs will invite guest speakers to their meetings, often from Specialist societies, their meetings being held monthly or fortnightly. Their members are usually from a local area.
Specialist clubs: These cater for one variety only and afford the fancier the opportunity to obtain a greater depth of information on their chosen fancy. Some produce handbooks once or twice a year. They rarely meet as frequently as the CBS
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The main officials within a club are:
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President:
A senior member who, although not necessarily active, will act as a mentor and guide to ensure the club runs smoothly.
Chairman :
Officiates over club meetings and generally oversees the successful performance of the other officials.
Vice Chairman :
In the absence of the chairman will undertake his duties and often have certain special tasks allocated.
Secretary:
Deals with all Club correspondence and records or “minutes” the club meetings. A CBS secretary usually organises the club programme throughout the year.
Treasurer: Responsible for all club funds including collection of subscriptions and payment of club bills. In some clubs one person may be the secretary/treasurer.
Show Manager:
Responsible for the smooth running of the show, including provision of staging, allocation of stewards and all the organisation on the day.
Show Secretary:
Accepts exhibitors` entry forms, records the entries and issues cage labels for individual entries at the club shows. At the show he will present judges with a book detailing numbers of classes and the number of exhibits within each class. He produces a results and award sheet and transfers entry money to the treasurer.
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Types of Show:
The main show season for canaries is from early September to mid January and shows are held by most Specialist societies and CBSs. These can be “open“ or “members” shows. Open shows allow any fancier to exhibit, whereas a member's show is only for fully paid up members of the club. In addition Budgerigar Societies (BS) hold a “nest feather” show, usually in June which is purely for young birds (about 6 weeks old).
Show Status. Fanciers joining a club as an adult, without any previous experience, will exhibit as a Novice. Most Specialist have their own rules but usually, 5 years after joining, a Novice must transfer into the Champion section for exhibiting; a notable exception is within the Gloster Fancy where Specialist clubs affiliated to the Gloster Fancy Canary Council. UK allow a period of up to 7 years as a Novice. Juniors are accepted until they are 16 when they become Novices. A Junior’s status is not affected if a Novice or Champion shows from the same address. The Budgerigar Society has a four stage system; Beginner, Novice, Intermediate and Champion.
Show Cages and Show Standards:
Each variety has its own show standard and type of show cage. A bird will not be accepted at a show if it is not in the correct type of cage, one bird per cage. Details of cages and standards are obtainable from most Specialist societies and a useful reference book is Canary Standards in Colour by GT Dodwell and John W Hills. This gives show standards and cage details for most popular varieties.
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The Show Schedule:
Members of a club will be given a show schedule sometime before the show which will detail the classes available for competition and sales classes, if provided. It is important to become familiar with and understand the schedule, as a bird entered incorrectly cannot be re-classified and at most shows, certainly when a show catalogue of exhibits is made, it will be “wrong classed”. Included will be an entry form. On completion this is returned to the show secretary with entry fees. It is advisable to keep a copy of your entries.
Feather Types:
There are 2 main types of feather and it is most important to be able to identify these to ensure birds are entered in the correct class.
These are Buff and Yellow although the terms “non-intensive”/ “intensive” and “mealie”/ “jonque” have been used in the past. Yellow feather has colour through to the very tip of the feather and often appears to be brighter in colour than the equivalent buff feather where the feather tip has no colour and often appears “dusty”. It should be noted that “yellow” in this context does not relate to the colour of the bird ie a “yellow” feathered bird can be green in colour and many “buffs” are yellow in colour. Should you have any difficulty with this aspect of identifying birds, it is advisable to consult an experienced fancier as this is important when pairing birds for breeding as well as exhibiting birds. Certain varieties also appear in “dimorphic” form (a special type of broad buff feather). This need not concern the newcomer at this stage.
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Classification:
The age of a bird is broadly measured by the stage of development of its feathers, and this is reflected in the way a show schedule is laid out. Nest feather relates to the feathers a bird creates while growing in the nest and will usually be formed during the first 3 weeks. At about 6 to 10 weeks the next stage of development starts. This is the first moult when all but the tail and primary or “flight” wing feathers are replaced, for this reason the bird is now described as “unflighted” because it still has the flights produced when in nest feather. These flights are not replaced until the bird has its second moult the following year and then becomes a “flighted” bird. Classes are normally held for unflighted and flighted birds and for show purposes a bird is classified as unflighted in the first show season.
The Show Schedule:
To understand a show schedule and complete an entry form it is essential to understand the basics regarding classification and types of feather. A typical schedule will be divided into sections for each variety and within each section into subsections for buff feathered birds, yellow feathered birds and also various colours e.g. cinnamon or white/allied to white classes. Note that a fawn (now referred to as white in New Colours) is a combination of white and cinnamon and is included in the white classes. Within each section there will be usually separate classes for unflighted and flighted birds. Always study the schedule carefully before completing your entry form and it is advisable to keep a record of your entries.
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Judges.
To be accepted as a judge in most varieties, it is necessary
to have completed 5 years as an exhibitor at Champion level and some governing bodies e.g. the CCBA conduct a series of examinations to ensure the newly appointed judge will perform to an acceptable standard.
Stewards:
They are responsible for presenting the entries within each class, in turn, to the judge at the judging stand. With the chief steward responsible for ensuring all entries are present. Exhibitors can learn a great deal from a judge by stewarding but should always listen and observe without comment. It is the steward's responsibility to ensure that all birds are supplied with adequate water.
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Booking in:
On arrival exhibitors will be expected to present their own birds for booking in. Show cages should always be clean and a club is entitled to refuse entry for a filthy cage on the grounds of hygiene i.e. the risk of disease to other birds and also because it does not favourably present the fancy to the general public. A steward will book in entries against those on the entry form and record any absentees. This is important as the show secretary will make up a judging book for each judge, indicating the number of entries per class and much time can be wasted searching for an entry that is absent.
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Judging:
Each class will be judged, class winners retained and they then reappear to be judged against each other for the various prizes in sub sections and then sections, culminating in awards for best in section and or best in show. The stewards return all birds to their staging, check birds are watered and attach any rosettes that have been won. A show cage should never be placed on the floor and when exhibitors are allowed into the show hall they are not permitted to remove exhibits from the staging
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Lifting:
After awards and prizes have been presented, when notified by the show manager, exhibitors will be allowed to collect or “lift” their birds. A steward will assist each exhibitor to collect their team and using the entry form will check that all birds are owned by the exhibitor. Some clubs allow exhibitors to lift their own birds. The show manager then checks that everyone is satisfied they have their own birds, and then exhibitors may leave.
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Etiquette:
When judging is completed exhibitors may discuss the exhibits with the judge. However, during judging no comments on the exhibits should be made and a judge should never be informed “this is my bird” when judging is in progress.
John Herring show secretary/treasurer
for the Gloster Fancy Specialist Society
01785 215208