Six Key Tips to beginners in the spanish timbrado canary world

I would like to share these tips with you and especially with those that are starting from scratch in this fascinating world of the Spanish timbrado canary, these are tips that I would have liked to receive at some point and I really hope that come in handy.

  

1.- Select the type of spanish timbrado canary that you like. When one starts usually has been influenced by some friend or family member that already is breeding a certain type of song canary. Listen to all Spanish timbrado canaries that exist, namely: classics, intermediates and discontinuos. Even though there are a good number of videos and audios available in internet, the best place to listen to the state of the art is in the yearly contests. Be there and listen to as many birds as you can. Pay especial attention to the judge comments.

2.- Establish contact with the fanciers that breed that type of song canary and try to acquire a few birds (not many) to start with, if you don’t have enough space do not mix different types of song canaries, if you have been breeding a certain type of song canary you must get rid of the existing birds, do not get trapped in sentimentalisms or any other factor. If you don’t proceed as advised you will inevitably fail in trying to obtain excellent birds.

3.- Determine which are the best practices used for the most successful breeders of the selected type of song canaries, ask questions to these breeders, many of them will be willing to help. Look into detail, inquire and read magazines, articles and blog posts in different forums, try to identify the methodologies that are being used, isolate them from the “war” among breeders of different trends and make the best out of it. There is a lot to learn on how to obtain high quality Spanish timbrados in a consistent manner. Naturally, the trial and error method is valid if a sufficient number of birds is available.   

4.- Be consistent, it’s a common practice among fanciers to acquire several specimen before the breeding season starts and hope that results will change the obtained results, truth of the matter is that if you follow the #2 tip and obtained good specimens, the desired genetic is already present in your aviary even though results can be affected by wrong pairing or by establishing a defective method for education (or lack of it, for me it works in the exact same way). Another harmful practice  I have observed is the eagerness to incorporate birds from other aviaries without taking into account (underestimate) the presence of better canaries  in your own aviary or even worst the lack of compatibility with the existing birds.

5.- Be patient, when you are developing a particular type of Spanish timbrado canary, you can be successful at the beginning but it is not usually that way, the usual is that we might need to work fo several years before reaching to the target specimen, so we must be extremely selective (remember: Selection, Selection and Selection…….) and only focus in those birds that portrait the desired qualities-

6.- Establish your own objective, it’s different and not necessarily compatible to develop one specific type of canary than winning song canary contests or even more complicated to achieve both things at the same time. I’m for breeding the type of canary that I like independently of the results. Winning is a magnificent feeling but even more magnificent is to win as a result of the work you’ve believed in and as such there is in it a unique contribution from oneself as a breeder.