Rob Wright,the top class gloster breeder and judge, is a true gentleman of our fancy. It was great honor and pleasure to talk with him and learn from a great master.I am sure that you will enjoy his interview.We are proud to interact with breeders like Rob and try to understand the culture about bird breeding.
Q.1: In what age did you start breeding canaries?
I come from a family who kept birds.My father kept pigeons, Border canaries and I kept European Finches, My uncle also kept a large variety of cage birds. I kept the european finches from five years old till I was about sixteen. I started again when I was 23/24 it was then I saw my first gloster and started keeping this breed shortly afterwards. My father joined me as a partner a couple of years later and this lasted till my father died in about 1995. Meanwhile my son wasjudging and exhibiting fife canaries, he than joined me as a partner and this is how we are today. I have had the gloster canaries for about 44 years.
Q.2: Why did you decide to breed Gloster canaries? it was family tradition? Love at first sight or you just like this type?
it was the crest that first attracted me, then the quick movement and size. It was the first time I had seen any living crested canary.
Q.3: How many pairs do you breed now? The past years?
When my father and I were working the most we ever kept was twenty hens each. when we retired I the most I have bred with is about fifty five hens. The last few years I have been steadily reducing the number of hens, last year it was thirty four gloster hens
Q.4: How many square meters is your bird room?
I have had many birdrooms this last one is about thirty square meters. I have reduced my cages down to one hundred and twenty, these are 37 cm wide, 31cm high and 30 cm deep. they are built in blacks of fifteen and when breeding the hen has two cages.
Q.5: Do you have sun lighting or lamps?
The birdroom has fully controlled lighting with automatic sunrise and sunset. We breed very early for England so we need extra lighting and also heating.
Q.6: What type of cages do you use?
The normal type of breeding cage.
Q.7: What are their dimensions?
37 cm wide, 31cm high and 30 cm deep. they are built in blacks of fifteen and when breeding the hen has two cages.
Q.8: Do you think that a flight cage is necessary? What dimensions do you prefer?
We very much like flight cages, I have twelve which range from 150cm wide and one metre high to 200cm wide and one metre high. All the birds spend a lot of time in these flights, only for the breeding season and for some the exhibtion season are they in cages.
Q.9: Do you have the same mixture of seeds whole the year? What do you change per season?
Our feeding system is very complicated and would be difficult for me to describe with my typing ability but simplified we feed a good mixed seed for most of the year apart from the moult but we add many other ingredients depending on what time of the year it is. .
Q.10: What type of egg food do you use?
The eggfood is a mixture of two types, Feast from birdcare products and Deli nature but we add some other products to this depending on what time of the year it is. We both think the feeding of canaries is much more important than most breeders realize .
Q.11: How many times per year do you disinfect your bird room?
We wash and disinfect the cages at least twice a year and paint them once a year.
Q.12: Can you tell us a tip, what to do when we are choosing the birds to be pairs? benefits of cocks, benefits of hens etc.
How we pair our birds up might differ from many other breeders because we know the background and pedigree of our birds, we have different "traits" in different lines but to generalize again, we are normally combining different feather types to produce what we want. This might be very difficult for someone who is a recent starter with glosters or who has many new birds from different breeders. We find it very difficult to pair any new birds we get because we don't know their pedigree This is the reason we get very few birds from other breeders, this year we have two birds, one which is 50% ours and one which we have had for four years.
Q.13: How many births do you have from one pair?
Our hens rear their young ones on there own, the male birds are kept on there own and are introduced the female around 17/18 days. This gives us flexibility in moving male birds about with more than one hen and no damage to the baby birds.With this system we are happy to average from all our hens 3,5 babies per year and normally its closer to 4. .
Q.14: Do you use foster parents? what type of canaries?
We don't use any foster parents for any of the gloster stud
Q.15: In what age do you start the training for the young birds?
For many years we have not trained the baby glosters. The gloster consorts remain in the flights till about 2/3 weeks before the first show, the gloster coronas are caged, one per cage, when they start to moult their crest. We occasionally put the baby coronas in training cages to show visitors but often their first real time in a showcage is when they go to their first show. To enable us to use this system, over 25 years ago we selected only birds which were happy to be exhibited, if we have any birds which are not happy to be at a show we do not exhibit them
Q.16: How often do you add new birds from other breeders in your stock?
The longest we have went without introducing any bird was 16 years, its never been more than 4/5 in one year. How we do this is by exchanging birds with other breeders in Europe Like other successful breeders we are always interested in how our birds combine with other strains
Q.17: , do you think that the present gloster canary needs more improvement?
Of course we think we think gloster canaries need to be improved, I have never seen the perfect gloster and if I did I would want every baby to be perfect.
Q.18: What do you think about the level of Greek gloster canaries, ? What is your opinion about the Greek breeders?
I have only judged in Greece once a few years ago and judged about 300 glosters, so this restricts my opinion. In my view there were some good glosters but only in the "hands" of a few breeders, this makes it very difficult for novice breeders to obtain good stock over a number of years and this makes the progress of improving each breeders glosters a slow process. This reminds me of when we started with glosters in the early 1970's, any glosters were difficult to buy and especially coronas but because many breeders wanted to keep glosters it gradually improved and of course in the end you have to breed your own birds. I did not visit any greek gloster breeders when I visited so its difficult to give an opinion but I remember thinking how most breeders were very enthusiastic about breeding glosters but had a problem obtaining good stock.
Q.19: Do you think that all the European clubs of Glostere canaries can be joined to one club?
I have visited many countries in Europe and America judging glosters and they all have a slightly different ideas on what is the perfect gloster and also i think it would be impossible to get one set of rules that everyone would agree to. You must remember some of us are very competitive people by nature in most things we do. I wonder what advantage it would be, one club
Q.20: All these years that you are breeding canaries, have you met interesting people in this hobby, do you have good friends in all over the world, friends that you will never have if you are not related with this hobby
Yes since i was young man I have been making friends all over the world and most have remained friends from the beginning when we were all novices. As I get older the drive to win exhibitions reduces and I come to realize its the friendship that is the most important thing about the hobby.
Q.1: In what age did you start breeding canaries?
I come from a family who kept birds.My father kept pigeons, Border canaries and I kept European Finches, My uncle also kept a large variety of cage birds. I kept the european finches from five years old till I was about sixteen. I started again when I was 23/24 it was then I saw my first gloster and started keeping this breed shortly afterwards. My father joined me as a partner a couple of years later and this lasted till my father died in about 1995. Meanwhile my son wasjudging and exhibiting fife canaries, he than joined me as a partner and this is how we are today. I have had the gloster canaries for about 44 years.
Q.2: Why did you decide to breed Gloster canaries? it was family tradition? Love at first sight or you just like this type?
it was the crest that first attracted me, then the quick movement and size. It was the first time I had seen any living crested canary.
Q.3: How many pairs do you breed now? The past years?
When my father and I were working the most we ever kept was twenty hens each. when we retired I the most I have bred with is about fifty five hens. The last few years I have been steadily reducing the number of hens, last year it was thirty four gloster hens
Q.4: How many square meters is your bird room?
I have had many birdrooms this last one is about thirty square meters. I have reduced my cages down to one hundred and twenty, these are 37 cm wide, 31cm high and 30 cm deep. they are built in blacks of fifteen and when breeding the hen has two cages.
Q.5: Do you have sun lighting or lamps?
The birdroom has fully controlled lighting with automatic sunrise and sunset. We breed very early for England so we need extra lighting and also heating.
Q.6: What type of cages do you use?
The normal type of breeding cage.
Q.7: What are their dimensions?
37 cm wide, 31cm high and 30 cm deep. they are built in blacks of fifteen and when breeding the hen has two cages.
Q.8: Do you think that a flight cage is necessary? What dimensions do you prefer?
We very much like flight cages, I have twelve which range from 150cm wide and one metre high to 200cm wide and one metre high. All the birds spend a lot of time in these flights, only for the breeding season and for some the exhibtion season are they in cages.
Q.9: Do you have the same mixture of seeds whole the year? What do you change per season?
Our feeding system is very complicated and would be difficult for me to describe with my typing ability but simplified we feed a good mixed seed for most of the year apart from the moult but we add many other ingredients depending on what time of the year it is. .
Q.10: What type of egg food do you use?
The eggfood is a mixture of two types, Feast from birdcare products and Deli nature but we add some other products to this depending on what time of the year it is. We both think the feeding of canaries is much more important than most breeders realize .
Q.11: How many times per year do you disinfect your bird room?
We wash and disinfect the cages at least twice a year and paint them once a year.
Q.12: Can you tell us a tip, what to do when we are choosing the birds to be pairs? benefits of cocks, benefits of hens etc.
How we pair our birds up might differ from many other breeders because we know the background and pedigree of our birds, we have different "traits" in different lines but to generalize again, we are normally combining different feather types to produce what we want. This might be very difficult for someone who is a recent starter with glosters or who has many new birds from different breeders. We find it very difficult to pair any new birds we get because we don't know their pedigree This is the reason we get very few birds from other breeders, this year we have two birds, one which is 50% ours and one which we have had for four years.
Q.13: How many births do you have from one pair?
Our hens rear their young ones on there own, the male birds are kept on there own and are introduced the female around 17/18 days. This gives us flexibility in moving male birds about with more than one hen and no damage to the baby birds.With this system we are happy to average from all our hens 3,5 babies per year and normally its closer to 4. .
Q.14: Do you use foster parents? what type of canaries?
We don't use any foster parents for any of the gloster stud
Q.15: In what age do you start the training for the young birds?
For many years we have not trained the baby glosters. The gloster consorts remain in the flights till about 2/3 weeks before the first show, the gloster coronas are caged, one per cage, when they start to moult their crest. We occasionally put the baby coronas in training cages to show visitors but often their first real time in a showcage is when they go to their first show. To enable us to use this system, over 25 years ago we selected only birds which were happy to be exhibited, if we have any birds which are not happy to be at a show we do not exhibit them
Q.16: How often do you add new birds from other breeders in your stock?
The longest we have went without introducing any bird was 16 years, its never been more than 4/5 in one year. How we do this is by exchanging birds with other breeders in Europe Like other successful breeders we are always interested in how our birds combine with other strains
Q.17: , do you think that the present gloster canary needs more improvement?
Of course we think we think gloster canaries need to be improved, I have never seen the perfect gloster and if I did I would want every baby to be perfect.
Q.18: What do you think about the level of Greek gloster canaries, ? What is your opinion about the Greek breeders?
I have only judged in Greece once a few years ago and judged about 300 glosters, so this restricts my opinion. In my view there were some good glosters but only in the "hands" of a few breeders, this makes it very difficult for novice breeders to obtain good stock over a number of years and this makes the progress of improving each breeders glosters a slow process. This reminds me of when we started with glosters in the early 1970's, any glosters were difficult to buy and especially coronas but because many breeders wanted to keep glosters it gradually improved and of course in the end you have to breed your own birds. I did not visit any greek gloster breeders when I visited so its difficult to give an opinion but I remember thinking how most breeders were very enthusiastic about breeding glosters but had a problem obtaining good stock.
Q.19: Do you think that all the European clubs of Glostere canaries can be joined to one club?
I have visited many countries in Europe and America judging glosters and they all have a slightly different ideas on what is the perfect gloster and also i think it would be impossible to get one set of rules that everyone would agree to. You must remember some of us are very competitive people by nature in most things we do. I wonder what advantage it would be, one club
Q.20: All these years that you are breeding canaries, have you met interesting people in this hobby, do you have good friends in all over the world, friends that you will never have if you are not related with this hobby
Yes since i was young man I have been making friends all over the world and most have remained friends from the beginning when we were all novices. As I get older the drive to win exhibitions reduces and I come to realize its the friendship that is the most important thing about the hobby.
