QFS Finch Auction - Bengalese Suprise Value

[Craig52]

I tend to disagree FB,bengalese in Australia they have always been a beginners bird,cheap and easy to breed and not much has been done about breeding for colour unless someone bred a self or something out of the ordinary like that tri colour.
They are branded as the fostering bird by most and this is a very controversial subject as it gets the heckles up from some breeders that breed mutations that were originally established by the use of bengo's as foster parents and now that they are established and breed with their own type,breeders advertise their birds as "Aviary Bred and Parent Raised,in other words they been used to to produce something some one likes and then thrown out like an oily rag.
I do keep 3 or4prs of bengo's because i like them,i cringe when someone comes here for the first time and question why i do and ask wether i foster WB's under them,the answer is no i just like them.I get worried that they go away and tell people that i foster my birds under bengo's because he's got bengo's set up in cabinets and the stigma goes on.
I think they are a great little bird and i applaud AB for his efforts to get the Bengo society up and going again and to get colours and standards right for the future of others. Craig

[Aussie_Bengo]

I think they are a great little bird and i applaud AB for his efforts to get the Bengo society up and going again and to get colours and standards right for the future of others. Craig

Thanks for saying so Craig. Thankfully I'm not alone.

[E Orix]

When I was in Sth Africa I visited Fred Barnicoat and the most striking bird he had in my opinion was a Bengalese. Nothing like anything I have seen here in Aust.
You can't compare show interest between Aust. and Europe. The methods used in breeding over there
suits showing birds. Breeding a bird to bench is the correct and best way to show birds.
In the past here there was no control over breeder/show with the exception maybe of Budgies, Canaries and Zebras.
I remember big showers of birds haunting the dealers or approaching me for show quality stock.
Then they would go and bench them to win, not the right way in my opinion.
As for the Bengalese not being a fertile hybrid, as far as I am aware it is, was produced by the Japanese as foster parents for Gouldians in the 1960's. If my memory serves me it was a cross between the Sharp Tailed Munia and the Striated Munia. I stand corrected on these species though.
As for showing,if people get enjoyment out of it, it gives the public a chance to see the species up close and if it improves the stock then it can't be too wrong.

[Aussie_Bengo]

As for the Bengalese not being a fertile hybrid, as far as I am aware it is, was produced by the Japanese as foster parents for Gouldians in the 1960's. If my memory serves me it was a cross between the Sharp Tailed Munia and the Striated Munia. I stand corrected on these species though.

It is not my intention to split hairs but I believe that the Sharp Tailed Munia and Stiated Munia are both subspecies of the same finch Lonchura striata or White Rumped Munia, so I'm not sure if I would call them a Hybrid on these grounds.
The one of the earliest account of these being imported to Japan from China goes back as early as 200 years ago.
This is an excellent article published by the National Bengalese Fanciers Association (NBFA) UK if anyone is interested. The premiere English speaking group in regards to the Bengalese Finch.
http://www.nbfa.co.uk/page2.html

Respectfully.

Paul.

[arthur]

Plenty of Bengalese about in 1953 when I was a kid

And must have been cheap because I was given 3 and they were my first birds . . . I can clearly remember that all three were almost bald when I got them and never improved

They were kept in a small cupboard with doors replaced by wire mesh

Strangely they showed no signs of breeding

[SamDavis]

... imported to Japan from China goes back as early as 200 years ago.
This is an excellent article published by the National Bengalese Fanciers Association (NBFA) UK if anyone is interested. The premiere English speaking group in regards to the Bengalese Finch.
http://www.nbfa.co.uk/page2.html

Respectfully.

Paul.

Interesting article. It always amazes me to read what the Chinese were up to hundreds (and often thousands) of years before our western civilisation.

[finchbreeder]

I also keep both Gouldians and Bengalese. And occassionally have the "is she" look from people who see them in the same avairy. No I work on the principal that if their own kind can not raise them then they are genetically too weak to be worthwhile.
Love both birds for different reasons, and keep them both because I love them. And I like to try to increase the numbers in whichever colour/type mutations I like best. Normals and hopefully Blues in Gouldian. Dilutes and Chestnuts in Bengos.
LML