IRISH FANCY CANARY

Exhibiting your Irish Fancies. I will explain the A to Z required in getting your Irish Fancy on to the show bench after you have successfully reared your young it is not to early to start training them at three to four weeks old I hang on a wire show cage to the front of my breeding cage (a border show cage is what I use) I place some lettuce or egg food inside the show cage this is to encourage the young to go into the cage I find after a few hours they are happily jumping in and out of the cage while some take to the cages like ducks to water others may not and may need a bit more training. The next stage is bathing. I spray the birds lightly with water this seems to encourage them into the baths, I can not emphasise how important bathing is for your birds it keeps their feather in great condition as well as helping them through the moult.” The moult” this is a very important time in the development of your young this will normally take place when the young are about six weeks old and will take about six weeks to complete. It can vary between different young some seem to fly through the moult while others seem to take for ever I find the greens, blues and cinnamons moult a lot quicker also at this time you must be vigilant and keep any eye on the young birds so feather plucking does not take place. The young birds do not drop their tail and flights in their first year so it is very important that they are kept in perfect condition as this could make all the difference when the moult is complete as a plucked tail or flight grows back damaged while spoiling a potential show winner. Now is the time to access your young Irish fancies to see if they are going to make the grade. At this stage of their development you should have a good idea of what birds are going to make the show bench I find that there is always a few young birds you have been impressed with from day one and you will find that these birds will be in your top few birds for showing. I always try to select two show team’s as this is easier on the birds especially hens that you plan to breed with in the incoming season. Your birds should by now start showing the making of show birds with all the good points of the show standard. I start with major faults such as dropped wings crossed wings fan or spread tail short tail flights flat head chesty or heavy birds also wrong position on the perch and unsteady birds another very important point is feather colour and condition a balance is required for you exhibition Irish Fancy do not be disheartened if some of your birds do not make the grade as all fanciers will experience this.  Now your birds are ready for the show a show schedule is required and in the schedule there will be a classification of all the different colours you can enter your birds in also you will have a class for young birds and one for old birds this is known as Flighted and Unflighted it is very important you enter your birds in the right class otherwise they will be marked W.C. wrong classed and it is very disappointing after all your hard work in getting your birds ready for the show to find out they have not been judged. When the judging has finished and your bird has not won its class study those that have beaten it and see in what way they were superior to your bird and if it is not obvious then advice from the judge or an experienced fancier maybe sought, but do not be disappointed as the day will come and you will be the winner and all your hard work will be rewarded.

                  Young Irish Fancies enjoying a bath                        Young  Irish Fancies in a training cage