Flock Talk eZine, Issue 160

ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 160, © 2006
No reprints without permission

The folks at Bird & Cage are pleased to announce that they have two new cages added to their lineup, just in time for breeding season! If you keep small, medium, or even larger parrots, and especially if you're a breeder, you'll want to check out these lovely new wrought-iron cages, that incorporate three roomy cages into one large stack. See it here.

Owners of smaller birds such as finches and canaries will want to check out the over-sized wrought iron dividable breeding or flight cage with 1/2" bars. This cage surpasses even the so- popular 480 for usefulness! See it here.

On the rest of the site you will find breeding cages, cage accessories, stands, and some of the best flight cages anywhere. There's even free shipping to the continental US!

A recent customer says,"Received my 2481 cages and stand set a couple of days ago. Perfect timing, our Zeb babies were out of the nest. The cages were better then I expected, went together smoothly and more importantly the finches give them a big wings up. I was really pleased to see the size of the feeders /waterers. Thanks again."

For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.

Food Fact
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Holidays are filled with danger for pets, but this is especially true for pet birds! Some of our favourite holiday items can wreak havoc on avian digestive systems, so during the holiday season it is wise to be especially careful to see that no toxic foods or items 'sneak' into your pet's cage.

it's also important to see that nothing is left laying around that could be dangerous if eaten, especially if your bird is allowed out of his or her cage on occasion. Potentially dangerous items include a wide variety of wrapping papers, and foods that are made of or include such ingredients as chocolate or caffeine, both of which can be highly toxic to birds.

Many of the more popular holiday plants and bulbs are either toxic in and of themselves, or can include toxins in their soil or on their leaves, so these too must be included on the 'not to be touched or tasted' list. And of course, if like so many families your traditions include putting up a Christmas tree, be careful to see that your birds never get a chance to chew on the tree itself or any of the decorations, glitter, lights or wires.

Links
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- Home
- Products
- Articles
- Basic Care
- Breeding
- Health
- Moulting
- Photographs
- Flock Talk
- Canary Cam
- Birds Board
- Canary FAQs
- Wings-Up Seal
- Canary Video
- Cam Slideshow
- Canary Song CD
- Books & eBooks
- Bird Software
- Avian Probiotics
- Bird Cages
- Cage Accessories
- Questions?
- Contact
- Links Pages
- Privacy Policy
- Testimonials
- Site Map

"I love your website, your information has made me a very well-informed canary friend/owner. Thank you."

"Thank you for your love of birds and your commitment for helping those of us who are learning to share our lives with our feathered friends!"

"Robirda's website, bird board and e-zine are invaluable tools for any birdlover."

"I ordered 'Canary Tales' by Linda Hogan last year...Although I fully recommend buying the book, I find Robirda's book much more complete, easier to read with less difficulty finding information."

"I cannot thank you enough for your kind and considerate responses to all of our questions. Your website has really been a wonderful find for us! And we absolutely love your canary CD!"

"Just a short note to tell you how great your ezine is... As a long time bird lover I thank you for your wonderful mag. Keep up the great work!"

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird eZine
Flock Talk!
For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

Table of Contents

Website News; New website updates include a new 'contact' page.
Canary Song CD: The best CD on the market, say happy customers!
Sponsor's Space: See the NEW wrought iron parrot breeder cages!
Bird Food Fact: Watch for dangers to your birds during holidays.
Help Needed: Share favourite websites, tips, products & stories.
Feature Article: Holiday Musings, thoughts on keeping canaries.
Handy Links: Our latest list of links to major areas onsite.
Customers' Choices: Products you've told us are our very best!
Stories Wanted: Share tales of your birds with other readers!
For You & Your Birds: We couldn't do any of this without you!
Subscribe & Unsubscribe information for Flock Talk eZine emails.

Website News

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Hello everybody! It's been a month since our last issue, and we have been busy the entire time! For quite awhile now the ever-rising tide of spam mail has been increasingly interfering with our ability to receive emails from website visitors, so we've begun introducing some changes.

All email links on our website have been converted to connect to our new 'contact' page at www.robirda.com/contact.html

Here you will find a spam-bot-proof email link, thanks to the folks who developed and shared a simple yet effective solution with the rest of the world. (If you have a website of your own, see www.dynamicdrive.com/emailriddler/.)

Many of our older email addresses have now been cancelled; this includes all of the old Flock Talk email addresses. Please note that messages sent to any of these old email addresses will NOT go through, nor will anybody see them.

A few of our older email addresses are still working - for now - but as soon as we've finished with our updates, these too will be cancelled. So please check our new 'contact' page, if you should ever need to get in touch for any reason, and be sure to update any contact info you may have listed for us.

Feature Article

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This article was written on Thanksgiving Day, and the author told us, "Today is Thanksgiving Day, and has become more recognized as National Turkey Day... Allow me to discuss a bird that never ceases to amaze me, the Canary." Leonard, thank you for sharing your thoughts!

We feel that these musings also apply to the upcoming midwinter holidays, whichever form is being celebrated; from Chanukah to Christmas to Kwaanza, and everything inbetween! During this season that is so hectic for so many of us, it is never a bad idea to sit down for awhile and consider just what it is we enjoy about keeping our birds.

Holiday Musings

Leonard Lucenti
Copyright © Dec 2006

My interest in the canary stems from grandparents who came to America from Italy, and loved the song the canary gave them which made life in those trying times, more bearable.

Most establishments that sold canaries in decades past, gave an ornate certificate, guaranteeing that the bird would sing, or an exchange/refund would be issued. I have yet to find anyone who still has such a certificate, yet I would be willing to pay generously for one. Some were suitable for framing!

I now have nine birds, but this past breeding season produced only one baby that is full grown. I named it 'Godzilla' because I did an experiment; I mated a red male that I purchased from a breeder in North New Jersey, to a yellow female American Singer that I received for free from a Southern New Jersey breeder (I've made a few purchases from him, and he needed to reduce his quantity of birds).

Godzilla was a peculiar chick, and didn't have much feathering for several months. He appears to be a male, but hasn't shown full song so far, although he is fully feathered and has characteristics of both parents. (He looks similar to his red father, but with a yellow belly).

Since I haven't found anything at all about crossing two different breeds,(*) I don't know if this bird will go on to produce more offspring, but one thing looks for certain, he is very healthy and I am hearing that the breeder in Southern New Jersey is having problems with infertility. I sometimes wonder if this could be due to inbreeding, although he has introduced different birds at times to his flock.

Since this experimental bird is now within hearing range of both his father and an excellent American Singer, I'm hoping he picks up a blended form of song that might be desirable and perhaps become something fanciers would want to see and hear more of.(**)

The breeder in North New Jersey must have moved recently, as I can't locate him anymore. I have American singer females in my flight cage waiting for next season, and hoping I have better luck.

Mating canaries is very difficult. Timing has to be just right, and even with all conditions looking okay, still things go wrong. (***)

That is why canaries command a hefty price at the stores (and they no longer issue written guarantees that I know of...correct me please!), and if you compare the price of a turkey, it seems that all serious breeders should be swimming in dough!

Average price of a turkey: $10.00 to $25.00, or about $1.00 per pound. Kosher birds usually cost double this price.

Average price for a singing canary: $50.00 to $120.00 (for perhaps an ounce of feathers and song)

How do turkey breeders make a living? I mean, the cost of the feed alone has to be very high in these times. (****)

I believe I never will become bored with my birds, I've learned about all their individual habits, and they are each unique just as we are as individuals.

Canaries have attributes that are a welcome addition to any good home, and not just with their song. You can tell how healthy your home is by the health of your birds.

Keeping them healthy also contributes to your health.

And so, on this Holiday, and for the Holidays soon to come, I send good wishes to all birds fanatics like myself, and hope for all the best for you all!

Thank you all for reading, have a good holiday!

Leonard Lucenti
Copyright © Dec 2006

Editor's Notes:

(*) Crossing two breeds of canaries is rarely mentioned, especially by breeders, because from their point of view it wastes all the time and effort spent developing the pure breed. Conversely, such cross-breds, while not true hybrids, are still well known to often exhibit 'hybrid vigour' due to their broadened genetic base. Although usually fertile, their ability to reproduce offspring similar to themselves is rarely reliable or even predictable.

(**) Young canaries learn their adult songs in the nest, from listening to their father. If their mother is raising them without the help of a mate, then the nearest male they can hear is likely to be the bird they will end up sounding most like.

(***) There's some excellent articles in the Flock Talk archives to help to make things easier! A good start is by reading, in order, the feature articles from these issues;
You might also wish to read:

(****) One group of canary breeders recently calculated an average 'wage' between them of approximately 25 cents per hour, after expenses. In my opinion, this means they were doing very well - many canary breeders lose money as often as not!

Customers' Choices

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Check out our bird-lover's products, in order of popularity!

Canary Song CD; Encourage your canary to sing more with a CD our customers say is the best! www.robirda.com/songs.html

Canary Book; Learn the ins and outs of keeping canaries with Robirda's book, Brats in Feathers www.robirda.com/brats.html

Canary Video; Learn how to handle your canaries the easy way, safely and with confidence! www.robirda.com/canarydvd.html

Avi-Culture™ Probiotics; Live, avian-specific probiotics to encourage good health! www.robirda.com/aviculture.html

Birds Evolution Pro; Keep records like a pro with this useful database program! www.robirda.com/birdbreedingsoftware.html

The Canary Cam DVD Slideshow; Watch a series of photos of canary families raising babies! www.robirda.com/camshow.html

Care Sheets; Use our illustrated printable Care Sheets to share with other bird club members, your customers or your friends, and help them to learn how to care for their pet birds! We offer Care Sheets for Canaries, Cockatiels, Small Parrots, Handfeeding, Soak Seed & Nestling Food, and Genetics & Lineage Charts. Learn more at www.robirda.com/care.html

A recent customer says, "Thank you for the DVD slideshow of...your canaries breeding, I can understand how noisy your birdroom must get...thanks for having your website there too, it's helped a lot."

Another tells us, "I received the dvd...wow, it was excellent! I loved the part about checking the health of a canary... Hats off to you, you are really a canary whisperer!"

Another says, "Thank you for your interesting and encouraging book, DVD, and CD, we have enjoyed all of them...we are getting a kick out of this hobby already...and we have a delightfully noisy bird room!"

For a full list of all our products and services, visit the webpage atwww.robirda.com/products.html

"Everyone always asks me why my birds are such beautiful singers and breed such magnificent babies...I tell them that I learned from Robirda! While they give their birds all kinds of 'magical' formulas, I just follow your guide to 'keep it simple.' My birds are now very healthy, and there has been no recurrence of the infection. Thank Goodness!" R.C., Florida

Song CD
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Do you like to keep your canaries singing? Our CD of Robirda's canaries in full song encourages pet canaries to sing, and is a popular choice for many canary owners. But its usefulness doesn't end there! It can call wild birds into your yard, or help your pet parrots feel more comfortable.

You'll get 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging almost 5 minutes long, for a total of over 58 minutes of canary songs, with no distracting background music. We've even posted a short sample for you to listen to!

We get many positive comments from happy customers, so we're sure you'll be pleased. One recent customer told us:

"Your CD is playing right now and my bird room is going crazy - in a good way! We have cockatiels, parrotlet, budgies and 2 canaries, and we want to assist the canaries with their song, which is why I purchased your CD. Years ago I had a CD for canaries but it had muzak in the background and was awfully annoying to listen to. With yours we can play it in the yard, in the house... wherever all day long and not get sick of it."

Another says, "My 'baby' Jingles and I are both thrilled with your CD! It arrived within days of my purchase and it's the best CD out there! I have purchased every CD available, and yours was the only one my canary responded to. He was in subsong before, but is singing his little heart out now ! The CD has attracted the wild birds outside his little garden sanctuary, so my canary has lots of vocal competition now, which makes him sing even more."

Find out more about our Canary Song CD here.

Help Needed
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Do you know of a great bird site which deserves a review? Maybe you have a favourite tip or trick that you like to use, or know of a product that has made your bird's life better or easier to manage in some way? Why not share them with other readers? Send us tales of how you cope, or how your birds confuse and puzzle, interest and amuse you, and we will share them with the rest of our readers in a future issue.

For You & Your Birds, With Love
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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 one of our websites, please consider joining our sponsors.

Click here to read testimonials or find out more about becoming a sponsor. If you're looking for something different, check our home page for links to all our great products!

We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy until our next issue, we look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
Dec 21, 2006
Kelowna, BC, Canada

"You have the most informative and helpful small bird site on the Web. I have found your information priceless and inspiring."

"Hi Robirda! Thanks for your thoughts. My little one is singing as loudly as ever. He looks much better today. Your advice was most welcome; I'm particularly grateful about the recipes! I sent you the same amount the vet charged me; you have done no less than he did. You are a real blessing to all of us canary lovers the world over."

"Thank you so much for the book on canaries. That is a really nice book. I needed one, because I bought my Mom two canaries, a male and a female, we don't know anything about them. I'm so glad to have this book, I couldn't believe how much was in there. Thank you so much!"