FINCHforum

Hi all,

Recently bought a pair of green singers about a week ago. Initially, the cock did not sing, but now he is used to the environment and is starting to sing a bit more. Today, I witnessed the female begging the male for food. Is this a sign of mating behaviour? I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and it is still winter - 1 month and a half till spring. Is spring their breeding season?

Just curious as to whether they will breed soon or not. Cheers,

Fraudster.

Green Singers are closely related to canaries, and as such, they have many of the same breeding behaviors. It sounds like your hen is coming into breeding mode!

Yep I totally agree with Sally as green singers are very closely related to canaries as yes it does sound like they are coming into condition,

I don't really know what your winter is like over where you are but if it's conciderably mild with no risk of hard weather then it maybe possible to let nature take its course and place a nest site in there cage,

However if your still likely to experience any harsh weather I'd try to hold back the breeding for long as possible,

The main reason for this would be if the hen starts to lay any eggs and a sudden drop in temperature should occur, your hen bird may become egg bound because of the cold and this on its own can cause problems.

If you don't want them to breed yet I'd keep all nest sites away and keep them on a strick very plain and basic diet, the idea behind this is to try and slow their ego down a bit, this doesn't always work though....lols and you sometimes just simply have to let em carry on,

If she's that eager and starts to make a nest on the cage floor, then perhaps try putting a nest site into the cage and if yer cages are indoors then it probably won't matter so much about the weather

Thanks Sally Stuart whiting ! It does get cold here - more windy than cold, I guess. They're very hardy birds - at night, all my other finches would stay in the sheltered area where there is no wind (i blocked it using some things at home) - however, the green singers sleep in the cold, right next to where the wind is! But no signs of them being sick whatsoever!