canary question

[pollyparrot]

does anyone here have canaries i have one pair which i bought about 6 weeks ago the female has been sitting on the floor alot at first i thought she was sick but she eats well and seems happy i have noticed she has got fat and i saw thismorning the male was mating with her on the floor of the cage is the floor sitting normal for hens with egg ?? i have also noticed some grass in the nests but that could be the finches??
thanks vicki

[AussieBirds]

If you have zebra's in with the caneries Vicki they will take over the nests, pushy little buggers, try putting some loose feathers in the aviary or even in the nest and dried grass also. Having said that I had a canery that would only lay in the seed dish. I have a pair of caneries but they are inside and she is a great little nest builder, I also found that if i lined nest, and i'm talking about those cup stainless wire nests, with a felt lining she would accept it much more freely.

John

[pollyparrot]

thanks for that
i have them in a avairy with a pair of gouldians
would be cool if she had some bubbies:)

[fischer]

Hi Vicki,
Sorry, Didn't read this question before, how is the canary
situation going?

If you have them in an aviary and keep the cockbird in with the hen , you have to make sure the hen gets off the nest and feeds the young. A lot of hens will just keep sitting if the cockbird is around to feed her and she won't feed the young.

This is why most Canary breeders use cabinet's for breeding, they seperate the parent's after the eggs are laid so the hen has to get off the nest to feed herself and feed the young. Some pairs will both feed the young and not behave as described above, but Iv'e found this not the usual.

The reason I'm up at this hour ( look at the post time) is that I'm handraising 2 young Canaries that the hen wouldn't feed, just kept right on sitting and would have let them starve to death. (I keep them in an aviary too and am trying to establish a strain that don't have to be seperated) I can remember years ago just about everybody bred them in open aviaries without problems, I really think years of specialised breeding, (canary breeders are a pretty demented lot as a rule)
has moved us too far from the natural bird behaviour.

Please don't let this put you off Canaries, they are great little birds and become quite tame even in aviary.

Let me know how things are progressing.

Tony

[pollyparrot]

thanks tony thats very helpfull info she isnt sitting as yet but the mate a bit i guess practicing is fun lol . i would dearly love to sell my ringnecks as i just cant get into them just not my passion and id like to turn their avairy into a massive canary avairy but have been told u cant have them out in an avairy whats your views on this?

[fischer]

Hi Vicki,

Shusshh , my canaries don't know they aren't supposed to be in an outdoor aviary and I don't want anyone to tell them.

There's a lot of people who maintain canaries can't be kept outside , it's not true, you can if the aviary is suitable for them. A canary aviary needs to be enclosed on 3 sides and draft --proof , so you might need to enclose your ringneck aviary on both sides and preferably it should be fully roofed.

You need to be a bit carefull in the breed you choose,as some are a lot hardier than others, Fife and Fife-crosses come to mind, I will do a bit of reseach and let you know a few others.

We have just had the coldest winter in ages here on the mid north coast and my canaries were out in an unlined tin aviary, as described, and I had no problems at all with them.
the winters in Brisbane would be much milder than here.

Tony