Henderson Aviary

02/15/2025

Some pictures from today's bird fair in Springfield, MO

02/15/2025

Ready for Springfield MO Bird Fair!

02/15/2025

Another treasure I can't wait to frame

02/14/2025

🐦 ¡Descubre la perfección alada con ATFAD! 🌈 Presentamos en detalle a nuestro ejemplar destacado: Satiné🌟

🔍 Ficha Técnica:
👉 Ejemplar: Satiné amarillo mosaico macho
📚 Sección: Canarios de color
🧬 Comportamiento Hereditario:
- Eumelanina marrón: ligado al s**o, recesivo
- Dilución: ligado al s**o, recesivo
- Satiné: ligado al s**o, recesivo
- Mosaico: autosómico – recesivo
- Características estandarizadas: selectivo
🏆 Ítem Principal de Evaluación: Melanina
📏 Talla: 13,5-14,5
📐 Posición: 45°.

¡Acompáñanos en este viaje educativo sobre las aves domésticas y descubre la maravilla de la genética aviar! 🦜✨ 🌍

02/14/2025

02/14/2025

White: Brown's Encore Avian Grit
Light Blue: ABBA Mineral Grit
Dark Blue: Volkman Blue Grit

Soluble grit is extremely important for egg-laying female birds; their bodies utilize it as a source of calcium to build their eggshells, which prevents using calcium from their bones and osteoporosis. I also offer it to males and year-round. In addition to providing calcium and minerals they have fun digging and sifting through it. Soluble grit is typically made up of ingredients like crushed oyster shells and other seashells, sand, chicken eggshells, bone meal, charcoal, and salt.

Insoluble grit is utilized by birds which do not hull the nuts, grains, and seeds they consume (pigeons, poultry, ratites, etc.). This kind of grit is made of minerals like granite, redstone, and flint, which do not break down quickly in the digestive system. Instead the insoluble grit collects in their gizzard and helps in grinding up the tough seed hulls and nut casings they may consume. Birds that consume insoluble grit still need soluble grit for calcium. If you've ever seen free-range poultry or wild birds picking at gravel or pavement, they were likely foraging for grit.

02/14/2025

Happy Valentine's Day! Please wish me luck at my interview with Nestlé Purina today!

02/14/2025

Really concerning. I'm wary of going to shows, fairs, and sales now. Be mindful of the possibility of tracking in disease on your shoes.

The findings suggest transmission and cases are going undetected.

02/13/2025

Bailey keeps the antique mall in business. ♻️

02/13/2025

Resident pigeons at Fenton Feed Mill

02/13/2025

"Livestock of the World" was an online encyclopedia I used frequently to obtain information for Breed of the Day. I am so sad to see the website has been taken down without explanation! Another case to keep printing paper books, like this "Encyclopedia of the Horse" by Elwyn Hartley Edwards I found today. It should provide some inspiration for future articles.

02/13/2025

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/12/rare-daffodil-breeds-rhs-hunt-extinction-fears?fbclid=IwY2xjawIbI-FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSFALcKpvESYGq9PzG1pTx-5pnEc6b77KhzuAHiSpbWWoIHgyzi7Z5L3AA_aem_cBn_U8PonrDVU8dy8cdJdA

RHS is asking people to look for under-threat varieties such as the Suss*x Bonfire and Mrs William Copeland

02/13/2025

02/09/2024

Campine chicken on the cover of American Poultry Journal, August 1923. A thrifty and self-sufficient breed that prefers to roam unconfined, and is capable of thriving on poor quality land. "Campi" is Latin for field, though I believe Campine may be a corruption of the "Kempen" district of Belgium that the breed was developed in. First imported to North America in 1893.

02/09/2024

IMPORTED IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER by Bailey Henderson

In their book Managing Breeds for A Secure Future (1), D. Philip Sponenberg et al. (2017) state that imports of animals from foreign countries into the United States fall into one of the following four categories:

1. Imports that contribute significantly to conservation efforts.
2. Imports that enhance American bloodlines.
3. Imports that hamper conservation in their country of origin.
4. Imports that endanger American bloodlines or breeds.

Imports contribute significantly to conservation efforts when they result in populations endangered in their country of origin being established in a safer region. Endangerment is typically caused by political or geographic threats. Exporting some of the animals can ensure breeding continues in a more stable environment until upheaval in the country of origin is resolved. In less critical circumstances, imports may also contribute positively to conservation efforts if there is no threat in the country of origin, by virtue of creating reserves in other countries that insure against a sudden crisis in the country of origin that endangers the continuity of the animals. However, this second example assumes that the imports are successfully maintained in the recipient country, and not squandered, degraded, or lost.
Imports enhance American bloodlines when they bring in animals of quality that can either 1) result in beneficial linecrosses to American stock or 2) contribute to the variety of quality bloodlines present in the country. Quality is the key here, as imported animals are not necessarily superior or useful to what is already existent in the US.
Imports hamper conservation in their country of origin when they result in the removal of valuable, irreplaceable bloodlines or animals from conservation programs in the country of origin, without good reason. When a country’s most select breeding stock is exported, the population in its country of origin can quickly diminish in quality and potential, which may debase the reputation of that country’s animals and possibly cause population collapse.
Imports endanger American bloodlines or breeds when imported animals either degrade the quality of bloodlines already existent in America, or distract from more worthwhile conservation efforts for meritable American bloodlines. As previously stated, imported animals are not necessarily of higher quality than animals already existent in America. At worst, they may be poor-quality culls that a foreign breeder wishes to be rid of. These are not animals that will improve American bloodlines; rather, they may introduce faults that may be difficult or impossible to eradicate once established. The second way imports can endanger American bloodlines is by acting as competition. An imported animal occupies a place on the farm or in the home that may have been filled by a domestically-produced animal. Imports often create fads as some hobbyists seek to acquire the “latest and greatest” and elevate their standing within their animal communities by owning something perceived as new or high value. Import sensationalism can divert attention from pre-existing American genetic resources, which often struggle to gain publicity and interest despite their merits. Good breeding stock exists in America in the hands of enthusiasts who have worked to preserve and improve them for decades in some instances; these long-standing domestic bloodlines are often highly refined or adapted to their country of residence after generations of breeding. They are irreplaceable in the event that they are overtaken by newer imports, though the locally produced animals may be of similar (or higher) quality, higher conservation value, and lower in price to procure.
My opinion with regard to aviculture is that improvement or “advancement” in this country will not necessarily come from an unending series of imports of foreign genetics, but from finally devoting proper attention, value, and pride to what we already have, especially if it has already stood the test of time for a while here. In my mind it is of far more importance to consider the quality of the animal and its pedigree as opposed to who and where it came from. Not everyone can produce a great animal, but a great animal can come from anyone, anywhere.

1. D. Phillip Sponenberg, Beranger J, Martin A. 2017. Managing Breeds for a Secure Future. 5m Publishing Ltd.

Image courtesy of Robert Wild

02/07/2024

Ruby of the Sahel: Though for many years imported in droves and sold cheaply, the cut-throat (Amadina fasciata) has quickly become an uncommon sight in American aviaries, as relatively few imported birds were propagated prior to the ban on importation of wild-caught African finches into the US. In the wild the species is found in Africa in arid regions that border the Congo Rainforest, in countries including but not limited to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. They are a large, well-muscled finch that may overpower weaker competitors in an aviary setting, even preferring to commandeer old or occupied nests of other birds as opposed to constructing their own. For these reasons they are best bred in same-species colonies or one pair per enclosure. Young cut-throats can be s*xed prior to fledging; the male has an intense blood-red band across the throat, an ensign befitting such a bellicose warrior and which the common name "cut-throat" references. Babies hatch with black skin, stiff gray-black fuzz, and gigantic mouths, making them strikingly different from the pink, pill-shaped hatchlings of most Australian finches. Considering their small size, the chicks' cries for food are shockingly loud and grating. The young fledge around three weeks after hatching and are independent in another three weeks. There can be significant variation in the markings of the birds upon close inspection; some are more heavily melanized than others, and the "spangles" on the ends of each feather may range from brown to red to white. The head, neck and breast are common sites of variation in amount of dark barring. A bird of either s*x is an impressive sight to behold when in good physical condition, and they make good exhibition subjects. My hope is that sharing information on this magnificent bird will increase interest in its study and conservation.

01/13/2024

Even the picky budgies and cockatiels could not resist this!

Ingredients: sprouted millet, collard greens, broccoli tops, carrots, green peas, corn, green beans, Higgins eggfood, oregano

01/13/2024

Banding day. Clean nest. Time to snuggle on this cold winter night.