*******members profile****** The next member in our series of members profile is a man that is responsible for many generations of people taking up bird keeping and what he doesnt know about Irish fancy canarys in my opinion just simply isnt worth knowing its Mr Maurice o connor 1 what county are you from I Am originally From County Limerick, Left there 1955 Now living In Birmingham, 2.what got you into birds What Sparked of My interest In Birds, Seeing some Goldfinches My Uncle Had Bought to take Back to USA I had been looking after them for him while he was on vacation 3.what was the first birds you kept and where you get them. naturally my first bird was a cock Goldfinch 4.what birds do you currenty keep. I Specialise In the Irish Fancy Canary, My first Irish Fancy Come From a Friend In Limerick City, 5.what size is you bird room and number of cages My bird room is L shaped front part 10 x 6 the adjoining part at the back 16ft x 10 roughly 80 breeding cages 9 flight cages Which I Can take outside for spraying the birds 6 how do you breed, pairs , trios or line breed single related cocks to multiple hens. I havent got a standard Method of breeding, Some times inbreeding then line Breeding, I usually have a few top Quality stock Cocks I would pair 3 to 6 hens with those, Young Pairs I would Leave Together , As young hens are more likely Shun the Eggs if the Cock is removed 7.what tip would you give to a person starting out. My tip for newcomers would find a fancier who has been winning for a few years , take a look how many winning birds he has entered at major shows, be willing to take advice, try and volunteer to steward with judges of your chosen variety is a good way to learn, 8.whats the best tip anyone has ever given you about birds In my young days good tips were few and far between , Its by ones own mistakes we learn, 9.if you had €1000 to spend on your bird room what would you buy If I had a £1000 to spend on my bird room, Demolish & start Again, but at the Age of 76 I will Carry on for a few more Years God Willing , 10.if you where stuck on a desert island what 3 thing would you take with you If I was stuck on a desert island , a very good Question Three Things I cannot follow my mind on this one I think if I was to try and list his Achievements With the Irish Fancy Canary I would be here for a very long time so I asked Maurice what two are the ones he remembers most ?he replied I think Taking the Award For Best Irish Fancy And Best Exhibit in Show at Bird Keeper UK In 1995 Opened the Door for the Irish Fancy As a Quality Show Bird, over 2000 birds Exhibited two massive Trophys to prove it and Presenting The Irish Fancy For Recognition as A New Type Show Bird World Wide Might be best left for another occasion I said this to Maurice and il say it again I have been showing birds for over 14 years and in that time iv never come across anyone that has nothing but good things to say about the man and its not only for what he has done for the Irish Fancy but for bird keeping as a whole . id like to thank Maurice for giving me the chance to chat with him and time for answering all my questions and I feel quite privileged to have had the opportunity to do a profile on a Birdkeeping legend just one of his many awards . Paul larkin Admin team
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:19:53 +0000