BR23 Blog

This is a short description of the pairs I currently paired up or plan to pair up.
You should be able to follow their progress on http://br23.schilduil.org/current/

There are 3 main cocks and 5 main hens. I'm combining them based on spots & mask:

• mediocre x excellent spots & mask
• very good x reasonable spots & mask

As you can see I'm trying to improve on spots & mask, next to improving the general quality.

There are also 3 second grade pairs:

Pair 180133
The hen is from the best pair of last year. She almost made it to the main pairs. Maybe she will still become a main hen in case of problems with one of her sisters. The cock was used last year in the fallow line (with a pet hen). Given the results I got of him with a pet hen, I wanted to give him a real chance this year. The cock isn't doing very well, so I've split them up for the moment.

Pair 4807
Somehow (I can't explain it) I like the head on this cock, though it is not very good. It also has very dark markings, lots of dark spots and an intense colour due to an abundance of melanin. He's an A. yellow face violet opaline cock split for cinnamon and ino.

I gave him a very good A. yellow face albino hen. Again this is a hen that almost made it to the main pairs.

Pair 136061
The hen already produced a few chicks this summer. She was from mediocre parents, but is by far the best from her family. I wanted to try her on a better cock, so I gave her the second best cock from last year's best pair. You can follow their progress on the Exhibition Forum:
http://exhibitionbudgerigarforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1843

Next there are 5 third grade pairs. These pairs are mainly paired to get the breeding boxes filled and will server as fosters should the need arise. Some may also produce rares (like mauves or Danish pieds).

• cobalt violet? cinnamon cock x mauve cinnamon hen
• dark green cinnamon cock x A. yellowface cobalt opaline-cinnamon hen
• grey A. pied opaline cock x sky blue opaline-cinnamon hen
• A. yellow face cock x A. yellowface cobalt opaline-cinnamon hen (the hen is split for Danish pied and the cock is her son - it's a long shot at breeding Danish pieds)
• cobalt opaline cock x cobalt opaline hen (still need to take this pair inside in a breeding box)

This didn't fill all the boxes so I also paired up 3 (partly) pet pairs. Most of them come from the fallow line. Maybe they will breed some fallows, provided they don't have to raise exhibition chicks.

In the flight opposing the breeding cages, I have put 2 cocks and 4 hens with some nest boxes. These hens are very active and I'm hoping they will stimulate the other pairs. Next to that they can also serve as fosters.

This is quite an increase in the number of pairs for me thanks to the new breeding cages. But indeed most are fosters or potential fosters. Fingers crossed for a good season.