Breeding canaries in an aviary

[donna713]

Hi, I am hoping someone can help me. I have just started a canary aviary. I am wondering if I can put breeding boxes in my aviary so the parents can enter at free will. Sounds silly but was hoping this would work so when the babies are ready to fend for themselves I can keep them in the breeding box and remove it rather that having to catch them in the aviary. Hope this makes sense. I would also like to know is it ok to have two pairs of birds with extra females in the aviary without the males fighting. I have read I would need at least three males. If I cannot have the breeding cages in the aviary at what level should I have the nesting baskets. should they be far apart from each other, or can they be at a reasonable distance from each other...Should they all be at the same height or can they be scattered around the aviary....I would appreciate anybodies help with my canary breeding questions.....thanks.......from Donna

[avinet]

Hi Donna and welcome.

Just a quick note tonight, I'm afraid I am short of time until Friday but will be able to reply in greater depth then.

I presume by breeding boxes you mean a breeding cabinet for a pair to be housed in? At first read I wondered why you were using nest boxes and not baskets for them to nest in

cheers,

Mike

[anzac]

Hurray a question I can answer but I am no expert and Mike is so I'll just give you my experience with my canary breeding in aviaries (been doing it now for roughly 10 years)Like Mike I assume you meant breeding boxes as in mate the canaries, leave the females in to raise the young in the confined breeding boxes as most professional canary breeders do. They normally have a separate enclosure like a locked up garage for that, well my uncle did. I have several mating pairs of canaries in my aviary at one time. Because I have 3 males, 4 females and 3 too young to tell, there is some competition particularly atm with mating season approaching. I rarely get to see them actually mating and it's more of a waiting game to see what hatches as to guess the dad. Some of my old males would help raise the babies so I could guess that they were his, none of my current males do that now. The fighting is not too serious they just fly at each other and sort of ariel fight as I think they have their eye on the same girl. For nesting cups I personally use the cane ones as they seem softer and the canaries, young and old, can grip better on them for feeding or when the young are learning to fly. I have them scattered all over the aviary at slightly different heights and they can be close together, mine are at least 20cms apart and about 3/4 up the aviary walls. I hope that helps but as I said Mike has loads more experience than me. Leanne

[donna713]

Thankyou for your reply's. Yes I did mean the nest cups in a cage with the door secured open in the aviary, so the parent birds can enter the cages as they choose. But then when the babies are old enough I can close the door and keep them in the cage until I find homes for them. I was hoping this would be ok because I only have a 1.5m wide x 1.5m long x 2m high aviary, and I don't know how I would go catching the birds after they are old enough and have left the nest for good. At the moment I only have a boy and a girl. I am hoping to add some more birds soon. I really only got them to look at and enjoy having them as my pets. But thought it might be nice to have one lot of babies and see where that leads. I am very new to having canaries, but don't really want to have to move them from the aviary to breed them. I really appreciate all the advice I get from anyone, like I said I am new to this and would love to hear from more experienced canary lovers.

[anzac]

As far as I am aware, and Mike or some-one else may know more, I think there is a bit of a dichotomy of how to breed canaries, either segregate in individual breeding boxes or just let them breed in aviaries. Not sure how clever canaries are at going in and out of cages/boxes left open in the aviary to feed their young. With my lot it takes some of the girls a few seasons to get the rearing process right while others seem to be natural at rearing their young. Your aviary size would be OK for a few more birds. Canaries are notoriously hard to sex, do you know how old they are? I have bought mine from people fairly well know in the canary club in Perth at a young age and they have got it wrong. It's normally best to sex around now (breeding season) as the vent shape changes shape and apparently boys protrudes a bit more. Personally, I just wait to see who sings or not and that takes about a year, hence why I have 3 unknown atm

[donna713]

Thanks for your help. I live in South Australia and got my birds from a breeder with a very good reputation here. They have a lot of different breeds of birds. When I got them the man checked their sex. He let me pick the ones I want and checked their sex. He had 2 males at one point and I picked another until he had a female. They are 10 months old and he said they would start breeding around October. I have purchased a woven cane type nest and have placed it in my aviary with some nesting material. At the moment their isn't any whistling going on but they seem to have a whistle to their chirp. I know only the males whistle, at the moment they both sound the same. I guess time will tell. I hope he has it right and I don't have 2 boys...They seem quite happy in their new home and I love watching them flying around.....As I said breeding isn't my number one reason for having them but thought it would be nice to experience it....I guess I am just worried that when I put some more pairs in the aviary I may end up with too many birds for the size of it. Only one of my birds has a leg band and I don't want to get them mixed up. Don't know if I am game enough to band the babys legs, and if I leave them in their and not get extra pairs I don't want brothers and sisters breeding together. I am sorry I have so many questions but I am just absorbing all the information I can get, I just don't seem to be able to find a lot of information about aviary breeding on the net, its all about seperating the birds....Thanks for your advice again....

[anzac]

At 10 months old they will be hard to sex, even from an experienced breeders point of view and at 10 months your boy may be a little too young to be in song yet. My males don't start singing till a little older and some can take up to 2 years They may or may not breed at 10 months but as you said, you got them for the joy of them. I am much the same, I just let my canaries breed when they want to. I am also much the same with my turk parrots, they may be a little young to breed as well but I'll just let nature take it's course. Be aware just because you get get eggs with or even hatch, my lot don't seem to get alot to maturity. Just from my personal experience, some pairs get the concept of raising babies, others don't. It seems that the good genes are passed down via the good breeding pairs, as it should be in nature. I also find that the girls like to build their own nests so I put the nesting material on the ground and they re-arrange it in their nests. My main nesting material is grass seeds and that raffia stuff you use in hanging baskets. I have bought commercial nesting stuff, particularly the feathered varieties and it bought a nasty case of mites into the aviary, probably imported from China? Leg bands, well in canaries will usually co notate breeding years or pairs bondings. I never band mine but in small aviaries, like mine and yours, you get to know who is who very quickly. Don't forget the egg and biscuit mix if you are thinking of breeding. Many breeders make their own but I always use the commercial mix and they love it.

[donna713]

thanks, you are so helpful. I did forget to say that I have the nesting material in the aviary not in the nest. So If I got another male and 2 females, do you think this will be ok or should I get 2 pairs and and an extra female. So I could have 3 males and four females or 2 males and 3 females...I want to try to eliminate fighting as much as I can. The man at the breeders said I can have pairs as long as I have an extra female, but I read on the net I need to have odd males to lessen fighting....so the 3 males and 4 females.....Do you think I have enough room for 7 birds in my aviary or should I stick to 5.

[anzac]

It's hard to tell how the males will get along and it's always a gamble. I find that generally canaries are fairly non aggressive towards new comers, but after saying that I had 2 females many years ago that drew blood on each other for months till they settled but that is very rare. Generally the males will easily co-exist out side breeding season and don't bother with each other except for roosting time, but in my aviary they all squabble over the best roosting spots at dusk. I just recently introduced an established bonded breeding pairs (1 male, 2 females) into my aviary. My dominant male in there (Rocket) had lived with all the other males, but this one is a slightly more of a bully but they co-exist. Not sure about the odd male ratio but I think the extra female is a good call. as I said some may need a little longer to breed. As I said before male canaries, even if they do fight, don't normally inflict injuries and just charge at each other or ariel fight. I breed pet rats and I have sen fighting when a newbie comes in and the rats are 10x worse than anything I have seen in my canaries. My choice would be start off with 5, see how you go as you can see how the dynamics of your flock settles and you can always add some later. It's great hope the boys try and out-sing each other as well so it may get a noisy in your aviary but nice noises. You can hear my gang many houses away. Hope that helps, Leanne