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 ISSN 1492-8132 Issue 112, © 2005 No reprints without permission Our CD of Robirda's canaries singing consists of 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging almost 5 minutes long, for a total of 58 minutes and 48 seconds of canary songs. You can hear a 10 second mp3 sample here. Listen carefully, and you will be able to hear the different positions of each bird! A recent customer told us, "The CD arrived and it's just great! Hansie loves it and has been warbling away for the past 2 days." Another says, "Received the CD! Man can they sing! Hope our American Singer will sound half as good! Thank you." Learn more here! The folks at Bird & Cage aim to provide birdkeepers with a great selection of good quality cages and cage accessories for great prices and top-quality customer service. There's even a wrought iron cage that's perfect for pet canaries or other small cagebirds! Check it out along with the other bestsellers listed on the Best Sellers webpage! A recent customer comments, "I received the cages and they are beautiful...they look just like the picture on your web site. I was pleased to see them shipped so promptly, especially at Christmas time when mails are usually slower. Thank you so much..." For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com. If you like to offer your birds their nutrients the natural way, through their foods, you will find this database so useful you will wonder how you ever did without it. It's the internet's best resource for nutritional data on all kinds of foods. You can search not only by the name of a food, but also by food elements. Let's say you want to see what seeds are naturally high in calcium. Click on the 'Tools' tab, then 'Nutrient Search'. Select 'nuts and seeds' in the catagory field, then find 'calcium' on the list of options, and hit the 'show me' button. Tah-dah! A list of nuts and seeds high in calcium. - Products - Flock Talk - Birds Board - Articles - Basic Care - Breeding - Photographs - Canary Cam - Canary Book - Birdsong CD - Bird Cages - Accessories - Canary FAQs - Questions - Ask Robirda - Bird Links - Privacy Policy - Sponsorships - Site Map
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Our next issue is due Jan 30th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, we look forward to seeing you all then!
Robirda
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 For breeder or pet bird owners who care. Hello! Welcome to Flock Talk's 112th issue. Subscribe and unsubscribe information for the email version of this ezine is at the bottom of this webpage.
Your canaries live in separate cages and have been exposed only to the equivalent of natural daylight throughout the winter. You've paid special attention to their diet, and seen that they got plenty of exercise. Now the winter solstice has passed, and the birds are beginning to act as if breeding season is here already, though you've only increased their lights a little. The hen has begun ripping paper and carrying it around, while your male is singing constantly, a much louder, stronger song than his former tunes. He is eager to join the hen, and so restless that he is practically dancing on the perch. Like all new breeders, your question now is when and how to go about...
by R C McDonald The literal answer to this question really is, "When they are ready." But that's more than a little cryptic, so I'll explain. In general, the longer you can put off pairing your birds, the better chance you will have of getting fewer infertile eggs, even in the first nest of the season. Firstly - since your birds are seeing only natural light, you need to be sure not to allow them to start breeding too early, because they are likely to want to keep breeding right up until midsummer's day, perhaps longer; sometimes a stubborn hen will try to keep laying eggs until a good month past midsummer's day, or more! That doesn't mean that allowing them to do so is good for them, though - wild songbirds will do the same if they can, but their average lifespan is only a year or two - about what a canary's lifespan is if allowed to choose its own breeding schedule. That's because breeding so much takes so much effort that when the moult starts, their bodies will have a difficult time providing the necessary energy to regrow their feathers, after expending so much on breeding. This physical exhaustion won't show until the hormonal effects of breeding have left the bird's body, so it's a problem very commonly found with new breeders - they feel that because the birds want to continue, that it's cruel to try to make them stop. Really though, exactly the opposite is the truth. Just remember that if your hen lays some unexpected eggs too early or too late in the season, rather than taking them away you can and should simply switch them for a bunch of fake plastic canary eggs, and leave her peacefully incubating her 'eggs' for a couple of weeks or so, knowing that you are relatively secure in that plastic can't hatch! It's a good idea to have plenty of fake canary eggs on hand during breeding season even if you only have one pair of canaries - you will find they come in very useful! You can easily find fake canary eggs online from several sources, usually listed under 'breeding supplies'. Two good sources are www.silversongwest.com and www.birds2grow.com Speaking of laying eggs, I've had hens lay fertile eggs up to two months after being separated from a male, so separating a pair won't necessarily cause the eggs to be infertile. For that matter the opposite is also true; having a pair sharing a cage together won't necessarily mean that you get fertile eggs. Successfully mating a pair of canaries is seldom a simple matter of just putting the two into a single cage - there can be quite a lot of aggression on both sides, and injury may be done. Because of this it is best to allow a pair you plan to mate a short period when they can get to know each other before being required to share a cage. You may have noticed that most canary breeding cages come with a removeable divider, with which it is possible to separate the cage into two areas. Some cages have a simple wire divider, while the better ones will often come with two interchangeable dividers, a wire one and a solid one. The wire divider allows you to introduce a pair to each other without harm to either, as will sometimes happen if they are just put into the same cage together. This is especially true if both birds are not equally ready to breed. The idea is that they can get to know each other through the bars, but won't be able to do much (if any) harm to each other, should any arguments arise. The male is able to court the hen by feeding her through the bars, and the hen will have a choice about accepting this courtship without needing to worry about getting thrashed if she should turn down a too-eager male, as happens all too often if canaries are introduced to each other in a single cage. Once you've put your pair into the divided cage, it's a good idea to wait until active feeding is going on between the pair before considering removal of the divider. Another sign of readiness for mating is when the hen begins to carry her nesting material in the back of her beak. About this time she will have begun to work more seriously on building her nest, not just 'playing house' by ripping paper and scattering pieces of that and anything else she considers worthy to be nesting material all across the cage. The solid cage dividers will sometimes be needed instead; they are used to separate birds who are actively hostile to each other, and fight through the bars. The idea is to remove all sight of the other bird for awhile, then slide the divider back just a little, so that there is only a small gap through with they can interact. In this way it is sometimes possible to encourage such an originally hostile pair to accept each other. When the birds seem to accept each other through the gap, the solid divider can be replaced with the wire one and the prospective pair can then be allowed to interact more equitably. If you have two separate cages and neither has a divider, you may be able to get a similar effect by putting the cages closely enough together that the birds can reach each other through the bars well enough to be able to perform their courtship feeding. Once you see mutual feeding, and the nest has been begun, you can remove the divider and allow your pair the run of the cage. Mating is only the start of the process, though! Success at each step through breeding season entails knowing how to interpret how the birds are acting, and what response is necesssary for any given series of actions. It's just not possible to include enough detail in one short article to cover the entire breeding season; besides mating, you need to learn how to bring the birds into breeding condition in the first place, what to use for nests and nesting materials, how to decide what kind of breeding cage is best for your situation, what kinds of foods you will provide for rearing and weaning the youngsters - and much more. Remember, any youngsters will require some rather intensive care until they are around 6 months or so old, and you will probably not be able to sell them until they are 9 or 10 months old. In other words, breeding canaries and successfully raising them to adulthood is a much more labour-intensive and drawn-out process than breeding many other bird species commonly kept as pets, who, unlike canaries, can often be sold quite young. For this reason, we offer a book written especially for those new to keeping canaries, whether as a pet or for breeding. The same book is also available as two ebooks, but whichever format you choose, you will find several chapters with details on the hows and whys of breeding canaries. Even if you don't plan to breed, it's a good idea to know this kind of information, as you never know when it will come in handy, when dealing with a quirky little canary personality. Whichever resources you choose to guide you, I highly recommend that you do as much research as possible on everything breeding canaries entails, before you jump in and get your feet wet - it will save you a LOT of confusion and possible heartache. This ins turn will allow you to spend more time enjoying your birds, intead of worrying about them. And after all, when it comes right down to it, isn't enjoying them what it's all about? by R C McDonald
For a full list of all our products and services, visit the webpage at www.robirda.com/products.html A:A: I store my soak seed in the fridge all the time. It doesn't keep all that long, but two or three days is all I need! "I usually use a sieve to grow the soak seeds. When they are as grown as I want, I rinse them, shake off all the excess water I can, then dump them into a bowl with a folded paper towel on the bottom, to absorb any excess moisture. The whole thing is covered with a plastic lid or wrapped in a plastic bag, and popped into the fridge. "I've found that my soak seed will keep at least three or four days this way, without souring or getting any mould. "Mould spores come from the air, and you particularly need to guard against them in warm humid weather. I've found that bleach prevents moulds well, and will evaporate in a short time, leaving no trace behind. "I use bleach if I have been having a mould problem, otherwise I won't bother. If I need it, I'll use a tablespoon or so of bleach to a quart of water when soaking the seeds, then continue using a little bleach (such as the amount that is in most tap water) in the rinse water, and rinse as frequently as possible. "When you serve your soak seed, two hours is about right for leaving it in front of the birds - just be aware that the time before the mix sours will vary with the weather. When it gets hot and humid enough, almost any moist food will sour quickly, so no matter what you have heard is safe, you're always best to check with your nose - if the mix goes off, you will smell it distinctly. "I've found that in the hottest weather, using a little extra nestling food to cut the amount of moisture in the mix seems to make a big difference in how fast it sours." Robirda's customers find her answers to be detailed, reliable, caring and supportive. When you need help with housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions, Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better! Learn more here |
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