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 ISSN 1492-8132 Issue 118, © 2005 No reprints without permission Table of Contents The folks at Bird & Cage aim to provide birdkeepers with a wide 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 cage-birds! Check it out along with the other best-sellers listed on our Best Sellers page! A recent customer comments, "The replacement arrived in good condition and I'm quite happy with it. ...congrats on selling the only decent-sized and reasonably-priced flight cage for finches that I've been able to find commercially." For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com. Table of Contents Our canary song CD offers great quality for one of the lowest prices you'll find on the market! Our CD of Robirda's canaries singing has no background music to distract from the canary songs. You'll find 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging almost 5 minutes long, for a total of 58 minutes and 48 seconds of canary songs. Judge for yourself, and listen to a 10 second mp3 sample. Listen carefully, and you will be able to hear the different positions of each bird! A recent customer told us, "Received the CD! Man can they sing! Hope our American Singer will sound half as good! Thank you." Another says, "The CD arrived and it's just great! Hansie loves it and has been warbling away for the past 2 days." Learn more at here! Table of Contents
This little-known breed of song canaries has actually been around for quite a few years, but due to political unrest in its native country, came close to being lost. A few breeders are focusing on raising awareness of this breed and its unusual song, and this particular website was raised by Igor Linchuck to help support that goal. There's some very interesting information presented here, and you can listen to recordings of the rather unusual song presented by these birds. Why not visit and have a look around, you just might find yourself wanting to get a Russian canary or two for your own! Table of Contents
- Home Table of Contents Need help with your birds? Now can ask for Robirda's personal help with your bird problems. Even avian vets sometimes consult with Robirda on small-bird housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions! They, and her other customers, find Robirda's answers to be detailed and reliable, caring and supportive. Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better! Learn more here.
With Love Table of Contents We rely on you to help keep this publication and its associated websites alive. If you find help you need in this ezine or on our websites, please consider joining our sponsors. Read testimonials or find more details on sponsorships. If you're looking for something different, check our home page for links to all our great products and services!
Our next issue is due April 24th. 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 118th issue. Subscribe and unsubscribe information for the email version of this ezine is at the bottom of this webpage.
Table of Contents We gave it a try, and you told us you liked our older, full-sized ezines better. Far be it from us to change what has been working well all along, so we're changing back to sending out our full content in each email issue of Flock Talk. Besides, we'd thought to have less delivery problems with the smaller sized formats, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Thanks for your patience while we made these discoveries, and thanks too for writing in to let us know what you wanted to see! Your feedback is always welcome. Please send any comments, news, quotes, quips, or bird stories here. Do please be sure to reference Flock Talk in the subject line. Table of Contents We have a great cage-cleaning tip for you this issue, shared by 'Jaybird', who writes, "I make cage cleaning easier by using a high gloss car wax on the fresh cleaned and sun dried cages. I use a high tech silicone based high temperature, high gloss wax made by Dupont, available at Auto Zone stores. It makes the cage trays and wire bottoms slick so the droppings hardly stick to it and come off readily when I clean. "Note that it takes only a minimal amount of the wax to achieve good results. It is best to have a very clean and DRY cage. A new cage should be cleaned and dried to remove oils and dust. "Apply the wax using a lint free soft cotton towel, then follow it up within 5 minutes or so with a clean dry lint free towel to finish. Work any corners and crevices to remove all excess. The objective is to take away any excess wax, leaving only a thin film in direct contact with the metal or painted surface. "That thin film dries and hardens to a glossy and slick finish. I've done this for several years now and have never had a problem with my birds." Table of Contents Every year there's stories heard amongst canary keepers, of a wonderful singing male who suddenly begins to lay eggs, or of a sweet, voiceless 'hen' who suddenly becomes a testosterone-driven male. Canaries, it seems, are very good at fooling their owners into believe that they really are...
or, An Episode in The Canary Soap Opera by Elizabeth Peryam Reshower I'm new at the canary-breeding business. So when somebody told me that it is difficult to determine the gender of canaries, I didn't understand how true that comment is, or what the tragic implications might be that could result from making a mistake. At first, I had thought I was going to raise chickens, but at my age the physical work required sounds overwhelming. And besides, chickens don't sing. Since canaries are smaller, prettier and more musical, I began obtaining breeding pairs. When I told my cousin Sparky, he said "That's good! I love canaries, too. But just remember - it takes a lot more of them to make a meal." Bill Bailey is under serious consideration as an hors d'ouvre these days, however! But I am jumping ahead, so let's go back and take it from the beginning... I'd bought a big yellow hen who I named 'Cher', along with two juvenile birds who'd been introduced to me as brother and sister. Being a show business person, I named them Barnum and Bailey. Sure enough, Bailey didn't sing much while Barnum (true to his name) sounded off all the time. During the non-breeding season, I had Cher, along with little Sparky (named after that rascally cousin) in a flight cage with Bailey, thinking that two hens and a juvenile might make good cage-mates. Little did I know. Valentine's Day came along and suddenly all my birds became quite obviously addlepated, a lot like some people I've known when their hormones kick in. So I got out the breeding cages and put Cher in with Barnum to make babies. The first indication that things might not go quite as planned came when started nestling down in her food dish the first week! I fixed her a nest, which she deigned to accept, then she laid four eggs and began brooding them while Barnum devotedly danced attendance upon her. Don't you just adore canary love? Meantime, Bailey was calling out every four seconds or so using the piercing canary 'distress' call. I thought she was just missing her cage mates. She needed a boyfriend. So I put Baily in a breeding cage with Robin Hood, my 'green man', slid a divider in between them, and left them to get accquainted. Well, if we humans can't tell the gender of a canary, another canary certainly can! It's lucky the divider was there, because our house was the site of the miniature birdfight of the century! Robin Hood came away with a bloody beak. Well, I guess so! Imagine the insult that Bailey must have experienced just because he had the good sense to keep his mouth shut and let his big brother do all the singing. I decided Cher had laid infertile eggs, just because she's a natural-born big mama. I then put Bailey in his own cage, but the distress calls continued. So I called their 'grandmother', who'd sold me the birds. "Oh, dear!" she said. "They had mated and he's calling his mate." So I tried a romantic reunion, but it seemed that Cher and Barnum had bonded in the meantime and she didn't want Bailey breaking up her happy home. So it was poor Bailey who came away with a bloody beak this time. Three of the eggs hatched on International Women's Day, March 8th, so I named the first baby Bella after Bella Abzug, (who was actually shaped rather a lot like the canary Cher, now that I think about it.) The second chick I named Banana, and the third was christened Bono after the singer Cher's original partner. They are all beautiful, adorned in pale yellow with white edges to their feathers. Barnum is an ideal father, tending to his family tirelessly, while Bailey cries alarmingly every five or six seconds from afar. It sounds as if his heart has been broken by his having been replaced in his home by his very own brother. (We haven't told Barnum yet whose children he is helping to bring up because we don't want cause another broken heart.) But now, in the midst of bustling family life, Cher has laid another egg. This time it's Barnum's baby. We are all thrilled, except for Bailey who keeps calling for his lost love. Meanwhile, Bailey has been renamed Bill Bailey, because he's going home to where I bought him ("Won't you come home, Bill Bailey? Won't you come home?") He is to be traded for a real hen this time. (We hope!) In the meantime, just as the song says, "he cries the whole day through." A tragic result for what might have been a happy tale. Especially because if he doesn't shut up soon, I might just wring his tiny little neck! by Elizabeth Peryam Reshower Table of Contents Recently Robirda's book Brats in Feathers was reviewed by Mr. G.B.R. Walker, one of the most respected canary authors and judges on the planet. His comments make it clear why this book has been getting such a great response from its readers. Mr Walker said, "I have just finished Brats in Feathers. My overall impression is that it is an excellent introduction to a first time canary owner, and a useful reminder to those that have owned a pet for a time...The chapter on training was particularly well received. I have never seen anything like this in written form before, and frankly had never even considered it. "Whilst we and 50 other breeders in the same room will all give different opinions on various aspects of breeding canaries, the basics always remain the same, and you have covered them well. A new breeder following your guidelines should be successful, and at the end of the day that is all that matters. I loved the photos from the cam, and was most impressed by Jim's chapter." Brats in Feathers is available as a book, or as two (unprintable) ebooks. You can find more details, including a link to download sample chapters, at www.robirda.com/books.html. Table of Contents Terry Martin, BVSc, Australia, writes; "I was surprised to read the article regarding Portulaca oleracea (purslane, issue 117) as an edible food, as here it is discussed in toxicology lectures. "It seems that depending on the growing conditions, this plant can carry toxic levels of both oxalates and nitrates. Over the years many cases of toxicity have been diagnosed in Australia in cattle and other stock. "Tests have shown that this plant can vary enormously in the levels of toxins it carries, from non toxic through to highly toxic. In some circumstances it is viewed here as a high quality feed for cattle and in others it can kill them. "Many plants deposit different levels of substances depending on the growing conditions and degree of grazing. Oxalates can build up during dry conditions. These compounds are found in many common foods such as Silverbeet, Spinach and also certain grass species. Nitrates can build up in fertilizer rich soils. "In different countries, with different soil types and climates, the nutritional value or potential toxicity of these plants will vary." Thanks for the information Terry! Given these facts, I suspect it is best to only harvest purslane for food purposes when there's been plenty of recent rainfall, or when it is growing in a well-watered garden. I will also be sure to harvest each plant once, rather than 'grazing' it over a period of time, which could stress the plant and cause it to deposit more of these substances into their leaves. (Robirda) Table of Contents
Everybody who keeps birds, whether a single pet or a large breeding operation, should have an emergency first aid kit for their birds. Basics start with a hospital cage, tools, and vetwrap, then every first aid kit should add first-aid supplements. Alongside the calcium supplements for egg-bound hens, it's a good idea to include items such as 'Guardian Angel' and 'Survive'. Birds try to hide being sick, so by the time they actually look sick, there's no time to waste! Visit your avian vet, get the problem properly diagnosed and get the correct treatment for the condition - then help support that cure with the appropriate use of one or the other of these supplements, depending on your bird's situation. Survive was created to be offered alongside antibiotics, while Guardian Angel, with its added probiotics, is highly useful afterwards. Together they can help turn an average emergency care kit into a star! ***Do you know of a great bird product? Why not review it for Flock Talk readers? We will be reviewing foods, cages & cage accessories, toys, and other bird items, in upcoming issues. To arrange for a review, send us your inquiry and a brief description of the product(s) here, with the subject line 'Product Reviews' |
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