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Lee Pycroft

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Posts posted by Lee Pycroft

  2. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Clare L said:

    Oh Good as I'm not that old:D, I bought some new Zebs today, 2 x CFW Hens, 1 X LB Hen & a CFW Male.

    Will be pairing them up to a BCLB/CFW male LB/BCCFW Male, CRBFBBBC Male.

    The CFW Male to a CFW/BC Hen.

    Could have some interesting results:D

    Once their settled in or course.

    Opps done it again, mentioned BC with CFW

    :p:p:p

    • Like 1

  8. Posted · Report reply

    10 hours ago, Papajay said:

    Hi Everyone, 

    I'm Jay, affectionately known as Papajay, I have had my own aviary for around a year now; though I grew up in a house with one,

    My brood is slightly different to the one I grew up with, I have Zebra finches (love these little fellas) 30 years ago in my Dads aviary I only really knew of the normal greys and the strawberry finches, I have to say I love the variations that are around now, I particularly favour Isabels; they seem to have great character and I find a lot tamer! I also have pied, phaeo, black cheek, fawns and a couple of normal greys. Also in the aviary I have a pair of Java sparrows and a pair of diamond doves. I developed psoriatic arthritis several years ago and it has reached a stage that I am now medically retired, so these wonderful creatures along with my writing are what keep me sane... Thank you for accepting me into your community, God bless you all... 

    Helloooooo my friend, welcome to this great forum. Lots of info on here and lots of people with great knowledge, enjoy. A few rules for you to follow that you might not have come across yet, these also apply to the other members too especially if your name is Jane,Andrew or Claire B).

     

    If you beat me in the photo comp, YOUR BARRED! 

    Mention black cheeks, YOUR BARRED!

    The only time Black Cheeks or BCCFW'S can be mentioned on this site from now on is if the words are in a sentence involving such words as...

     

    Lee Pycroft, I've got some excellent black cheeks you might be interested in :D

    OR

    Lee Pycroft, i know someone who is selling some good quality black cheeks. :P

     

    Thought seeing your new to the site it was only fair to let you know!  :diablo:

     

    • Like 2

  11. Posted · Report reply

    14 minutes ago, Clare L said:

    Hi Lee,

    Notice you say you are using both parents as splits, although you could get full BC or split BC you could also get chick without any BC.

    The only way to guarantee at least all of them will be split is that one of the parents is a full BC.

    How far would you travel for these birds, I will keep a look out for you, but I am a long way from where you are.

    I will be going to a place soon where the last time I was there they had BCCFW, they were a good size to, not quite exhibition, but not shabby either, came home with some nice zebs.

    Good luck in your search, and breeding.

    Clare

    Thanks Claire, i'm willing to travel for the right bird but finding them is proving difficult! :mellow: 

    I thought once a bird has the black cheek gene in it, it will always be passed onto any chicks as I thought it was genetic/recessive?  

  14. Posted · Report reply

    18 hours ago, Clare L said:

    Hi Lee,

    Why not use splits, I know there not ideal, but any hens of the right colour can be paired off.

    I bought a LB Male and paired him to a LB Hen, and ended up with a complete surprise of 5 x CFW hens, 2 of which were full BC, the rest split BC, also a BCLB Male plus two split BCLB Males, they reared 8 chicks from  one nest.

    They weren't exhibition but not pet shop either.

    Worth a try??

    Good Luck

    Clare

    Hi Claire,

    That's what i'm trying at the minute, both pairs that I've paired up are all split for black cheek! All 4 birds are a decent size and colour's. Any babies would have the black cheek in them hopefully! The better ones of these babies I will keep and breed/pair the babies from pair A with babies from pair B etc. 

    Going to keep on the look out for any black cheeked birds and introduce them if and when I get them (IF). The main aim for me this breeding season is to try and get the black cheek gene into my stock. I'm aware it's a long process, so need to make a start somewhere! Not ideal using splits but better than nothing. Will update on here the developments either positive or negative.

    So if anyone knows of any black cheeked birds, hens or cocks, please let me know.:)

  16. Posted · Report reply

    13 minutes ago, amf1975 said:

    go for it fella. you know I don't aviary breed I cage breed. an getting good exhibition stock of any mutation is not the easiest thing to do at any time of year.. good luck on the black cheek front!!!! you will get there in the end.....

    cheers matey, fingers crossed i can breed some decent sized black cheeks and go from there! Will still keep an eye out for the odd bird, be it a hen or cock bird. :)

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Hello everyone, thought i would update this page for those of you that are interested (plus I'm bored, into my second week of 2 weeks leave and have no jobs left to do lol) 

    The 2015/2016 plans.......Well the plan for this year (2016) was to extend my set-up. I hoped to basically put another shed onto the other end of my flight and attach a small flight to that! The new shed would purely be a breeding shed where i plan to house as many breeding cages as i can, and when the babies have fledged, put them in the smaller flight until they colour up and then make decisions on them etc... 

    At the moment those plans have been put on hold to due finances being restricted due to costs of re-training courses for both myself and my wife.Hopefully come summer time we'll both be back on track and i can get my bird/breeding room built and up and going! But meanwhile i have a plan.:D What do you think to the following? 

    For those who know me and follow my Facebook page, I'm keen to breed black cheeked CFW's.. But getting a couple of good sized birds (exhibition sized) has been a constant problem. Very few about and people/breeders that do have them are not too keen to sell them which is fair enough. I did aquire one black cheeked cock bird a few months ago but sadly it died.But all is not lost, i do have 4 normal's that are all split for black cheek, and just happen to have two breeding cages (that's all i have currently). I have paired them together!:D

    Now the plan, i'm not keen on aviary breeding for various reasons but i'm planning to put some nest boxes into the indoor aviary. Once the current birds in the aviary start pairing up and nesting, as soon as they start laying eggs i'm going to swap their eggs with any eggs from my split for black cheek birds and use the aviary birds to rear my black cheeked eggs (basically use them as feeders). Hopefully this way i can increase the amount of black cheeked chicks?, however all the 4 birds that are split for black cheek are Normal Greys! 

    Fingers crossed i can breed 20 or so birds, then later in the year or possibly next year (in hopefully my new bird room:D) breed them with my better CFW's.. So guys, what do you think? Good idea? 

  19. Posted · Report reply

    GUTTED THAT THIS FORUM IS GOING TO CLOSE Just going through this thread, the help and advice was very helpful and I would have been lost without it..

    For those who do facebook I have a page connected to my personal facepage simply called "My Zebra Finches" If you want to carry on chatting everything Zebra, please feel free to look it up.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Hummm? not sure! I used felt on the inside of the avairy as it looked nice, clean and tidy, plus i had a load left over, but... The birds when flying around have poohed all over it and i also put a perch too close to it, so again when they sit on the perch they fire pooh onto it lol.. Now, cause it's felt i can't clean it very well, so should have left it as wood and painted it so that it could be wiped clean.

    As for the rest of it, nothing really other than the fact (like most people) never seem to have enough space! Time and money premitting i have drawn up plans to extend it. I want another shed to house as many breeding cages i can get in it, a flight also to house the new babies once they fledge! The plan would be keep all the babies until fully grown before making decisions on what to keep, then once breeding has finshed i would have two set ups, all the cocks birds in one and all the to hens in the other! Would just make everything alot easier!

    So that's the future plan ;-)

    • Like 2

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Lee

    When I typed in "My zebra finches" only 2 options came up one was international the other was My Zebra Finches2 the second one had 2 likes is that your one?

    Emmy

     

    ps Lee,  please keep posting here too a lot of ZFF  members aren't on facebook :friends:

    Yeah that's the one "with 2 likes" I only made the group public today lol. Only two people in my gang at the minute, my dad and I :crazy:

     

    I will still be posting on here and annoying people with my questions! :p  Trying to get the best of world's, being on both gives me access to more breeders and gain more knowledge! 

     

     

     

     

     

    ps, last night I went "live" with the page and I'm no longer Billy no mates lol. nearly 40 people requested to join the page in 24 hours!  Happy days.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Just an update for those interested! I'm back on Facebook and I have created a Zebra Finch page which is all about my keeping of these birds, loads of pictures etc. If your interested and want to have a look, search "My Zebra Finches" and it will come up with my page! I will be adding pictures and updates throughout my breeding season and hope to share my experiences with like minded people! And hopefully learn a bit more about these wonderful birds.

    • Like 1