Every year, since he joined the budgie society, Johan has entered some of his budgies into the KZN Provincial show. Entrance to this show has always been easier and obviously more cost effective than to any of the other shows, mostly because we live/d there. Over the years he has become more involved and for the last 10 years at least, both he and Matthew have run the show from the secretarial show side. Matthew knows the program that it is run on, so well, that allowing 'late entries' and noting any changes before the show starts, are very easy for him to do. The two of them together make such an awesome team that in the past the Durban club have asked them to help them with running the show too.
Preparation of the budgies for the show starts long before the entries are in, when Johan has a look at what he has in the aviary and decides on what to take down...hoping that there will be no cold snap or heat wave that will fool the birds into thinking they are entering a new season and so 'drop' any of their feathers. Tricks of the trade are learned as to how to straighten a tail that may have been bent out of shape and spots are 'pulled' if there are more than the recommended number required for showing. Birds that are young are taught how to 'sit' or perch in the show cage and they are sprayed with water daily to help with grooming and get their feathersinto peak condition. Speaking of cages...there is plenty of cleaning of show cages done, and usually the day before!!!! All must be the same as there is a standard to be adhered to. Anything different and they are 'marked' cages and disallowed.
Judges are chosen before the show schedule is sent out, mostly local judges but sometimes judges come from overseas. Larkwood Aviaries has been around since 1982, the year we married and the year Johan decided to become serious about breeding budgies. In the beginning it was just him and over the years the whole family has become involved - so much so that more often than not I am with the birds more than he is. His ring number used to be L55 and now as a family we have the ring number L1.
Larkwood aviaries didn't fare too badly at the provincial, winning a number of 1st's and a couple of 'cc's '....meaning they were the best in their class of colour at the show. Each show brings different results depending on how the birds have travelled, what they look like and what the competition amongst other budgie breeders birds may be like on the day. Since the KZN show, the Gauteng show has also been and gone....the next show is the National in July - in Bloemfontein...brrrrr....
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