Wheres there's a will ...

[STUART WHITING]

Most finch breeders here don't show. Doesn't necessarily mean that we all don't regard the quality of the bird as not important though.

Fair play to yer mate and everyone else who doesn't show, as you rightly mention that just because one decides not to show their birds dosen't necessarily mean that yer not breeding for quality

To be perfectly fair I don't bother showing as much now , at one time I'd exhibit me birds throughout the whole southeast of England and in a big way, nowadays I tend to show probably 4-5 times a year and these are just from a couple of local club shows that I show at just basically to be respectable to the clubs and to make a few bird numbers up as more birds the merrier and all that

[STUART WHITING]

For me, late bred Gouldians are a selection problem in that they can only be held over until the following year for a proper examination as a "possibles/probables" proposition based entirely on body size & type since plumage features cannot be properly assessed until after a complete moult.

Absolutely Tiaris, I fully agree with yer,

If I remember rightly yer very much into breeding normals and to be more specific black headed normals

I've got a few black headed normals meself as I find that there's just something about a good quality black headed normal that a mutation Gouldian just simply can't match