Showing Cockatiels

Showing Cockatiels can be a fun and very rewarding exercise. Regardless of the final outcome, Cockatiel Shows or in fact any Bird Shows are a great way to meet people with similar interests, discuss breeding programs and goals, get an idea of what you would like to aim for with your birds, compare your breeding results with others and generally have a fun social outing. Winning some trophies should be just a nice added extra at the end of an enjoyable day. The learning experience and the social aspect of the show is an opportunity not to be missed.

We began showing our birds at the Australian National Cockatiel Society Shows. After speaking to other exhibitors and listening to the judges comments I was then able to format a breeding program for our aviaries that would not only improve the quality of our cockatiels but hopefully gain us a few of those much coveted awards. With this focus in mind I set my sights on the Juvenile of Show Trophy! This was a trophy that could only be won with birds that had been bred by the exhibitor. I was determined to win it using birds from my own lines and when one of our 3rd generation babies finally topped the class I was elated. It meant I now had a top line of birds to continue my breeding programs with. I personally feel that by showing my birds I gained invaluable experience in how to pick out a top quality cockatiel and this information has been a real asset in setting the standard of cockatiels we now own and breed.

Is my bird good enough to show

coming soon!

How do I Show my Cockatiels

coming soon!

Show Standard

As with all shows that involve a judge selecting an entrant that is superior to all the others there must be some guidelines by which they can be compared. With cockatiel showing we have what we call a 'Show Standard'. This a set of criteria that has been set down that basically describes the 'ideal' cockatiel. Each bird is judged on how close it conforms to this 'ideal'. Click here to view the Australian National Cockatiel Show Standard

Not only is the size and conformation of the bird judged but other factors are also important. Things like the colour and how close it is to the ideal for that mutation is also of consequence. The condition of the bird is another factor ie does it have good even tight feather coverage, is it underweight. How the bird physically presents itself is also another aspect that is considered. A bird must sit correctly at the right angle and hold its wings properly against its body. I have seen and personally had some birds that have suffered from what I call 'stage-fright' and do nothing but sit in the corner of the show cage. Naturally this makes it impossible for the bird to be judged so it becomes a very important factor when it is under the scrutiny of the judges. Of course it is always important to present the bird and cage in the cleanest best condition possible.

Our recent show results

Below I have listed the cockatiels we have had success with on the show bench and what prizes they won. Some of the 1st placings in the Sections and Classes mean more to me than others because of the competition they were benched against. Admittedly there are a few Sections that I have won with my birds that have had only the 1 bird entered and these are in fact quite shallow victories and hardly worthy of mentioning. By the same token though if these same birds then went up against other winners to be judged for Bird of Show and were victorious, it certainly changes the meaning of being a Section winner in a section with only 1 entrant. My goal initially was to try and win one of each of the major Trophies that the ANCS awarded to exhibitors. These did not need to be at one show though as I was being realistic. I successfully achieved this goal with the results from the 2 shows of 2006 and the first show for 2007. At this point I am unsure whether I will continue to show my birds or whether I will take a break for a few years while I try and establish another new line that I can develop to the same quality.

ANCS Autumn Show 2005

At this show we only benched 2 birds but it was by far the most significant to our breeding program. Alpine is a whiteface platinum bird we bred ourselves and on the day was against a total of 9 birds in her class. Her placing gave us enough confidence to continue using that particular line in further developing the quality of our platinum birds.

ALPINE Whiteface Platinum Pearl Juvenile 3rd Class 14J Whiteface Pearl any colour

MONTY Whiteface Platinum male 3rd Class 17 Whiteface plat, silver, cinnamon

Alpine

ANCS Spring Show 2005

At this show we entered 4 birds. This time I benched 2 Pastelsilver hens that I had been uncertain as to which one to keep for future breeding purposes. After the results were in and I had asked the judge for his comments we elected to keep Madonna. This was the first show for Killer, our cinnamon pied cockbird. I had a feeling he may be a 'killer' on the show bench so I had my fingers crossed.

KILLER Cinnamon Pied male 1st Class 2 Heavy Pied not Whiteface

Section Winner Class 2,2A,2J Heavy Pied not Whiteface

MADONNA Pastelsilver Hen 2nd Class 9A Recessive Silver Hen

UNNAMED Pastelsilver Hen 3rd Class 9A Recessive Silver Hen

ALPINE Whiteface Platinum Pearl Hen 2nd Class 14 Whiteface Pearl any colour

Killer Madonna

ANCS Autumn Show 2006

We again benched 4 birds at this show but by this time we were getting a better idea on what was top quality. We once again entered Killer our Cinnamon pied male as he had matured a lot in the previous 6 months and we felt he would do even better. We also had bred a very nice Normal Grey hen named Big Girl that unfortunately missed out on being entered as a juvenile by 1 month. She was a very big bird and I had high hopes for her success. At this stage I was just beginning on a line of Whiteface Pastelsilvers so we decided to see how our main Whiteface splt Silver hen Shadow would compare. We also decided to give Seeker our Pastelface male a chance. He was a nice looking bird but I was more interested to hear the judges comments to see what he thought before we integrated him into our breeding program.

BIG GIRL Normal Grey Hen 1st Class 1A Normal Grey Hen

Section Winner Class 1.1A, Normal Grey

KILLER Cinnamon Pied male 1st Class 2 Heavy Pied not Whiteface

Section Winner Class 2,2A, Heavy Pied not Whiteface

SHADOW Whiteface Hen 1st Class 11A Whiteface Hen

Section Winner Class 11,11A, Whiteface Hen

SEEKER Pastelface male 1st Class 19 Rares: Fallow, Pastelface

Section Winner Class 19,19A Rares: Fallow, Pastelface

Bird of Show BIG GIRL Normal Grey hen

Best Opposite Sex KILLER Cinnamon Pied male