Message from g4zpy

[laurab]

Hi All, I am having a very good breeding season for my first attempt.
From 3 fife hens I have had 25 chicks, and one is now sitting on her fourth lay, the other two on their third lay.
Good idea about the ice. I shall give them some tomorrow. (after i have used some myself)

[Waxbillman]

wow thats very good,

your are obviously doing something right

Matthew

[kenny]

hi gordon
excellent news mate,you sound like you have had a great season


ken:mrgreen:

[laurab]

Hi, I keep all of my canaries in one flight. They choce their own partners this year. Will they keep to the same partners next year?
Gordon

[kenny]

hi gordon
nice to here from you again mate, canaries are not monogamous .but i suppose there is always the exception that breaks the rule as normally they pick a new mate every year from i suppose is the fittest hen but if you had them in a cage they would have no choice if they were both fit enough to have the same mate as last year ..but sometimes that doent always work out and you find breeders swapping thier birds because the hen that they gave a male last year is not interested in him

ken

[laurab]

Hi all, I`ve got a crazy canary.
She has laid 4 sittings this year and still goes around with a beak full of feathers, that is when she is not pulling hair our of what little I have left on my head. She also goes onto a platform which was below her last nest and keeps jumping at least 18 inches in the air.
Has anyone else had any peculiarities in their birds?
Gordon

[kenny]

hi gordon
i have had a hen that has been parted from its mate after breeding and she keeps ripping up newspaer and stuff and carrying it around,i think she is just not ready to stop breeding at the moment.the jumping thing is something i have not heard of but it could be possible that she is still trying to jump into an imaginary nest

ken8)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Gordon,

A hen Canary that has already completed four rounds should be ready to rest for the coming winter months, the fact that she is still carrying nesting material after all of this brings me to ask the hours of light you are providing your birds right now?

Increased hours of light even if artificial will condition a bird (or any other animal) to continue breeding, it is estimated that the increase and decrease of natural daylight is around 15 minutes per week coming into, or out of the natural breeding season.

If your birds are receiving extended hours of light for this time of year, then they will continue trying to breed, I would suggest a slow reduction in the hours of light provided for your birds if only to reduce your own premature hair loss,:lol: but more importantly to avoid this hen Canary wearing herself out.;)

The jumping of 18 inches into the air is very much a new one on me,:shock: I'm hoping someone else will come up with an answer for this behaviour?

Paul.

[laurab]

Maybe there is Bam BOO in the aviary; we all know how scary that is, enough to make anyone jump! :lol:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

It has been stated before now that this plant is the scariest plant on the planet!:shock:

So maybe you have a point mate?:lol:

Paul.:roll: :lol:

[kenny]

hi mrs b
is that an attempt at a joke ...have you been taking lessons from mr b the feathered -friends recruitment officer

ken:lol:

[Rogerb]

not me mate she came up whith that one all on her own ;-) :D :D MR B FF R O :lol:

[laurab]

Hi Kenny

It was quite an effort on my part - I had to have a lie down after I posted that!

[kenny]

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[laurab]

Hi, I am going to use plastic eggs next breeding season for my canaries.
Haith`s plastic eggs are blue. They say that they see no reason why the canaries will not accept them, but I am a bit sceptical, after all, canary eggs are not blue.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Gordon

[kenny]

hi gordon
i have used the same plastic eggs for years and they are blue,with a slight speckle and my canarys have not realised yet i think you will find that most of the ones that are sold are blue

ken

[g4zpy]

:confused: :confused: I hope that you are right ken. The illustrations are blue as blue can be. No sign of any spots on them.
Gordon

[PaulG]

I have seen dummy canary eggs range in colour from white right through every shade of green and then different shades of blue , it won't make any difference , the hen will take no notice , I have fostered out many differing sizes and colours of eggs from my Native finches under canaries without any probs , I believe some ppl even place a marble in the nest when there is only one chick so as to avoid it being squashed ..:wink:

good luck

PaulG....

[kenny]

hi paul
thanks for that mate,


gordon if you are not happy with the colour, paint thm with some water colour or gloss then nail varnish them to harden the paint off.then you can do them whatever colour you like

ken

[g4zpy]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Sadly my Mentor Hector kettle from Brightlingsea passed away earier this year.
He had many badges and cups for showing Fife Canaries and flying mice.
He started me off keeping canaries. You could not have met a nicer man and I hardly got to know him because we live so far apart.
Gordon:cry:

[kenny]

hi gordon
its always that way mate...i lost my mentor ...my father in law...he taught me every thing he knew about birds and showing and i still miss his advice....but i now consider this site and the people on it as my mentors and advisorys as there is always something you can learn despite the years you spend breeding birds


ken:wink:

[chris]

Hi Gordon,

blue dummie eggs are what i've always used with canaries and i've never had them abondon a nest yet. they won't mind, trust us;-)

Chris:wink:

[laurab]

Hi, Can anyone tell me the colour of canary rings for 2007?
Gordon

[kenny]

hi gordon
i think if you want closed metal rings you have to apply to the people who supply them for the particular type of canary that you are breeding...if you just want plastic ones you can have what colour you like from hughes rings


ken

[g4zpy]

Hi, I meant plastic split rings the colour as used by the FFCC.
Gordon:oops:

[kenny]

hi gordon
if you are talking about fife canaries ,then you will have to e-mail them to find out what colour they will be using next year..............but in order to obtain them you will probably have to join the fife canary club

ken

[laurab]

Hi, My friend has a Budge in a Parrot cage.Seeing as they are flock birds, can she put another Budge of the same sex in with it?
Gordon

[laurab]

Hi, One of my hen canaries is only just moulting. They are all kept in an outdoor covered in flight with no heat. Can anyone sugest what treatment I should give, considering that they are all together? She seems healthy enough and I feed them the occasional bit of egg food, also a conditioning seed.
I have never tried soakseed, but I am now soaking some millet to see if they will take it. I tried them with it in the raw state but they refused it, but they will take it in sprays. What is the best seed to use for soakseed?
Gordon

[kenny]

hi gordon
its a bit late for a canary molt have you brought it in to some heat from the outside,the only soak seed my canaries will eat is hemp and groats but it depends on what your birds have been used to you can but a soak seed mixture from certain places haiths is one and its a mixture of most seeds that are suitable for all birds you may try some of that .but my canaries do take millet in sprays and some soaked millet but it has to be sprouting for mine to eat millet..you can always try soaking the sprays if they will eat them
ken

[g4zpy]

Thanks Kenny, It was my fault that she is moulting so late. I let her sit on 4 layings this year. It is difficult to separate them when they are all in the same indoor flight. I shall have to explore the seed field. There is a large supplier near here where I get my seed. They will eat millet from a spray ok, and I have been given some budgy mixed seed which they seem to like also.
Junior member is correct, I only started keeping canaries last year, and as I said, my mentor has passed away.:oops: :-? :-?
Gordon

[laurab]

Hi, I have read in this weeks cage and aviary that sparrows have been breeding 4 times this year.
Why is it wrong to let my canaries breed more than 2 times. They are fed better than wild birds are?
Gordon

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Gordon,

If Sparrows in some areas have been producing four broods in a single season then this is fantastic news, obviously this means there has been more than enough food available for the adult birds to choose to nest more than usual!:D

Regarding limiting the number of broods of captive birds, as far as I'm aware the general advice given is to limit the number of rounds of exhibition Canaries to three, not only in order to ensure the quality of birds produced for the show bench, but also that your breeding stock isn't stressed too much by producing more inferior chicks later in the year.
By inferior I mean birds who's quality wouldn't meet the set standard for exhibiting the particular breed, also by restricting the number of birds reared by the breeding stock this leaves them stronger when producing young the following year.

I don't know who has told you to restrict your birds to only two rounds of youngsters?This sounds very extreme to me and I agree with you when you state that your birds are fed better than wild birds, the other points being that they don't need to travel to find food, they are far more protected from the elements and even more importantly they are protected from predators.
This all adds up to a lifestyle that can afford your birds producing at least one more round (maybe two) of youngsters compared to what they would do in the wild.

I will also mention that it is far better to produce two or three rounds of strong youngsters from non domesticated bird species, than to produce four or five rounds that result in the latter rounds being weak stock to breed from over future seasons!

Paul.:wink:

[kenny]

hi paul/gordon
i think one of the reasons ardent canary breeders retrict thier birds to 2 rounds is because they usually go into moult after the second round so they are in a moult plus feeding a posible brood of chicks which i suppose takes it out of the birds somewhat..plus they will not be ready for the show bench in time if they want unflighted birds to show for the following year

ken

[g4zpy]

Hi Paul, Thanks, it is fratifyiny to know that someone else thinks along the same lines as myself. I am only a learner, but some things are just common sense.
Gordon

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Gordon,

I'm pleased you agree with my rambling mate.:lol:
As long as you start your Canary breeding season reasonably early in the year, then I see no problem at all with three (or even four) rounds of youngsters if the adults are in tip top breeding condition, providing of course the birds aren't subjected to cold weather when the threat of eggbinding may cause problems.

All the best for 2007, Paul.;-)

[laurab]

Hi, I have a newly aquired cock canary which occasionally gapes and seems to preen more than the others. Can anyone enlighten me as to what it is? and how to treat it?
Gordon

[laurab]

why is it that my questions are not answered? :sad:
Gordon

[laurab]

Hello Gordon

I apologise for the delay in posting your questions, I have changed my email address and for some reason anything posted on here still goes to my old account!!

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Gordon,

I'm sorry that answers have not been posted on this subject, but my advise to you is to treat this bird with an Antimite treatment.

Paul.

[kenny]

hi gordon
i agree with paul mate..iam sorry for not replying also..but i have not been fully online for a while..thats not an excuse though as we have not intentionally ignored your post mate any question big or small is just as important to us but it would help if you had your own avatar as sometimes i miss your posts because they have lauras avatar on..what is the reason why you have not got one and why do you post via laura is there a fault with your p c ..maybe we can sort it for you ..once again i am sorry mate..but if you take pauls advice you should be ok mate ..get back to us and let us know how you go on

ken