Nita's Nest - Canary Primer

Canary Primer

I raised canaries for about 20 years, and found it very enjoyable. As I got more into hookbills, I found I could not give the canaries the cycle of light they required to come into breeding condition because I was leaving the birdroom light on till about 11 pm so the hookbills could feed their babies till then. When I got down to the last couple of senior citizen canaries, I was worried I would be left with none, and even though I hadn't bred them for a while I was not willing to lose the canary sound from my home. I LOVE the sound of a canary singing his heart out! As luck would have it, hubby and I had gone into a pet shop and they had a few canaries in a cage. There was a hen sitting in a nest, and a very attentive male. I bought the pair and brought them home, and since they were already in the proper breeding cycle I had no trouble raising a couple clutches from them.

Since it had been half a dozen years or so since I'd raised canaries, I was rusty on the specifics, and searched for my condensed notes that I had made many years ago.

A "canary primer" of sorts. A few days ago I searched this out again since a friend was breeding a pair of canaries. Remembering how many books and articles I had read to get all this basic info, I thought it might be helpful to post my notes here. This schedule worked for me for years and resulted in hundreds of healthy canaries. I hope it helps YOU.

JANUARY -

FEBRUARY: Make sure birds to be used for breeding are

in good condition and try to determine who

will make good pairs.

The birds should have been getting natural

daylight hours for the last several months.

The increasing hours of light in spring will

naturally bring them into breeding condi-

tion. Offering a bit of eggfood daily will

also act to bring them into condition.

(FEBRUARY)

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST: BREEDING TIME!

Watch birds to determine when they are

ready. Males will be singing lustily. They

will sway back and forth and be singing

their hearts out. Hens will squat on the

perch with their tails up as a reply. They

may try to make nests in their food cups.

When they are ready, introduce pairs into

a breeding cage. Put up a nest and a small

amount of nesting material. No need to

give much until they are seriously nest-

building. I like to use the felt nest pads in

the plastic nests. Take a couple stitches

down through the felt and through the

bottom of the nest, so they can't yank the

pad out. It's a good idea to spray the felt

pad with a mite/lice spray, too.

You will probably have eggs within a week

or so. Remove each egg as it is laid

(generally early morning) and place it into a

small bowl filled with bird seed (cushions

the eggs nicely). As each egg is taken from

the nest, replace it with a fake egg. Turn

the real eggs in the dish once or twice a

day. On the fourth day, replace the first

three eggs. Four eggs is the usual clutch,

though five and even six is not that un-

common. Removing the eggs and re-

placing on the fourth day will ensure that

the first four eggs hatch on the same day.

While one baby might be ignored, the hen

has a very hard time being a bad mom

when four little heads are waving at her!

Incubation is 13 to 14 days, during which

time the birds should be fed a very plain

diet. Seed and water. On the morning the

eggs may hatch, give a small amount of

eggfood. (Boil eggs for 10 minutes, cool

quickly. Mash the egg with a fork and add

the shell, torn into tiny pieces by hand. Add

a sprinkling of nestling food and mix to-

gether. The end result should be a fairly

dry consistency, since it will be much less

apt to go bad quickly. A dash of spirulina

will be a bonus for the birds.)

A dish of Petamine should also be present from this point on. Give eggfood morning

and late afternoon, at a minimum. The

birds will benefit from more frequent

offerings, but Petamine will help fill the

gap if it's not possible to do so.

WEANING!

Canary babies can be weaned normally at

about 21 days. If they are different ages, I would try to wait till the youngest is 21 days old. The babies should be given eggfood

in a low dish on the cage floor, so they all

may eat at once. Eggfood should be given

at least twice or three times per day. You

don't want to give so much that it could go

bad (it should only last a couple hours).

A dish of Petamine will suffice when you

can't offer the eggfood more often. Again,

offered in a low dish on the floor will make

it easier for them to find it and all eat at

once. Mashed, cooked carrots can be given

once a day as well - red factors will really

benefit from this.

The cage will need frequent cleaning, as all

this eggfood will produce some rather wet

poops!

AT SIX WEEKS OLD, seed can be intro-

duced, but only a little bit sprinkled over

the eggfood at first. Gradually increase the

amount of seed while decreasing the egg

until at ABOUT EIGHT WEEKS OF AGE,

they get egg only in the morning. Eggfood

will continue to be given in ever-decreasing

amounts until at TEN WEEKS OF AGE all

are on seed. They should begin the molt

soon.

(AUGUST)

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER: Young and hens can be housed together

unless hens pick on the young. Males

can be housed together in a very large

flight, but I always preferred to keep them

each in their own cage.

Allow as much room as possible at this

time, and a good diet of seed and Petamine.

Watch for signs of a bird trying to sing to

determine who are the males. As you spot

one, move him to a single cage and you

should see increasing attempts at singing.

Babies should all be sexed by September

or October.

If it isn't singing by Christmas, call it a hen!

Anita M. Golden