Aussie Finch Forum

Cheers Bernie,all good. Craig

We do have a merchandising section set up to help fund server costs where finch needed items are offered. viewforum.php?f=200
There has also been collaboration between members bringing in seed from interstate which has helped many of us get access to otherwise hard to get items due to either freight issues or cost.

A Gouldian club sounds like a good idea, I would join providing it didnt hold competitions, I feel competitions can bring out the worst in both exhibitor and exhibit. Ive mentioned in other posts my objections against competitions based on observations in the dog showing world when a particular prize winning exhibit's bloodlines are used extensively, leading their progeny become popular to exclusion of others. Google Ataxia, or Hip displasia, or PRA (found in several breeds,) or Syringomeylia in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to see what can happen when limited breeding lines are pursued. From what I have read this disease is present in the majority of CKCS, and can be traced back by pedigree to just a few prize winning dogs.

A gouldian club would require a set of guidelines as to what is a "good" gouldian, this would be the clubs first instance where human preference would be put against natures variety. I made a post in another topic about a video I watched where different coat colours in wild foxes were seen even though the only selection was for tameness/domestication, so some genes just come along for the ride regardless, or perhaps, in spite of, our selection.
Guidelines would need to be worded in such a way as to include a very wide variation and would need to be compiled with great care to ensure that future breeders wouldn't take these features and exaggerate them to the detriment of the bird.

What should a bird sell for?
Simply what someone will pay for it.
Thats the simple fact.
The owner has the right to put his value(price) on it,then the buyer decides if they should outlay their money.
Thats the simple part
When there are multiple people offerring the same specie for sale,then it comes back to the buyer again.
Buyers choice,do they buy on price or on quality,its their decision BUT the seller then has the opportunity to do some selling themselves.
If they have spent time and effort in breeding quality birds then tell the buyer to compare them with others,explain why,bigger bird,clear head colour particularly the hen birds,unrelated,young birds etc. Put rings on them so they can be easily identified.It's all part of selling.
If you don't have a specialist club then the next best thing is a specific section like in the Forum. There you can contact people of like interest.
There is an old saying, "you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink" That really applies to many bird keepers,they look at the price but no matter how much you explain to them they still come back to $'s and not quality.
I have know people to miss a whole season because they would pay an extra $10
There are top quality Gouldian breeders on this Forum,work with them, and all will gain.
After all that,it's your choice to what $ you put on your birds and its some one elses decision on what they will offer or accept(both sides)

Too True E.Orix..... as my Dad always said to me The Bitterness of Poor Quality Remains Long after the Sweetness of Cut Price is Forgotten