New Canaries

[MariusStegmann]

I have been wanting to get a pair of canaries for a while now. I saw some Fife cocks a few weeks ago and bought a cock. I put him in my aviary and was really surprised by how tame he was. He was quite casual with my other finches. I bought a Fife hen a few days ago and on my way out, I saw another canary and swapped the Fife hen quickly for this one. I really like the colour of this hen. The guy told me it is also a Fife, but I have my doubts. Since I put the hen into the aviary the cock stopped singing and is quite aggressive.

[Gráinne Barrett]

I don't actually own fife canaries so I can't tell you for certain! However I do own gloster, dimorphic and mosaic and they are quite tame.

[Sam007]

Very pretty canaries. Congrats!

[David]

Oh they are so pretty, congrats!

[MariusStegmann]

Thx David and Sam,

[Rox]

Lovely canaries!

I honestly get confused with them. I bought mine as Fife canaries. I then take their young to the pet shop and get told that they are definitely not Fife canaries...

Just be careful of them around the food bowls, especially if you are trying to give a specific species live food. Mine have gotten so attached to mealworms, that I decided not to breed them this season. They are pigs when it comes to food and my waxbills get pushed out of the way!

[MariusStegmann]

Rox They are pigs with everything. I am sorry that I bought them at times. The cock was aggressive with eggfood from the beginning, but since I introduced the hen, the cock got more aggressive and territorial. More so now because she is building a nest now and he chases all other birds if they get closer that 3 meters to the nest. A pair of parrotfinches is sitting on eggs about 3 meters away from their nest, luckily it is at a different height. I am a bit scared that he will interfere. This is the same pair that left their one chick to die a few weeks ago. The canary cock was singing quite lovely before the hen arrived, now nada. I gather that is normal. I still have not closed the gates between the 3 aviaries, because it is summer is still not here.

[Rox]

It's a difficult one. I have 2 pairs of fife canaries, which I split up before winter. I left the 2 males in the breeding aviary with a young male (he sings) who has a bum foot and a yellow youngster that ended up being a hen and just fledged 2 babies. She is only 6 months old... Whoever says canaries need 12 hours of daylight to breed have not met my birds.

Think about it carefully as they can be very interfering. Especially the youngsters. They poke their beaks into everyone's business!

I might just end up keeping the one male only - he is an awesome singer and I will honestly miss his song if he goes

[lovezebs]

Rox and@MariusStegmann

What you are both describing is very normal. Canaries as they go into breeding mode can become very aggressive, even to the point of attacking and injuring other birds.

Marius, once you introduce the female into the equation, the male very often will stop singing. If you want him to sing again, place him in a seperate flight, cage or inclosure from the female. He will sing for you like an opera star.

Be very careful with the smaller birds around a breeding pair if Canaries.

My Luciano (as sweet and peaceful as can be) almost killed one of my male Zebras during breeding season, and I don't even have a female Canary. He simply became very posessive of a male Society, that the Zebra was pestering. If I had not intervened, I would have found Zebra left overs on the flight floor.

Your male's looks remind me a bit of a Green Singer, Marius. The female is lovely. If you want them to breed, I would place them in their own small flight and let them get to business, without other birds as a distraction.

Roxanne, basically the same senerio. Females should be fine in a mixed community. Males, not so much, especially during mating season. The rest if the year might be ok, depending on individual males.

[Rox]

lovezebs

The problem is when you want to focus on breeding specific species. Like the waxbills for me. The canaries just take up a lot of space, dominate all food bowls and disrupt the breeding of your other birds. It all depends on your priorities. Otherwise they are no problem at all in a mixed aviary. I have had mine for 2 years now but my focus has changed.

I want to give the little guys the best chance they can get

[lovezebs]

Rox
Hi. Can you put canaries in a flight, seperate from the aviary?
Just a thought, if you still wanted to keep them I mean.

[Rox]

lovezebs Hi, already done The 2 breeding pairs were split up in April. Crystal and Spot, the 2 hens, are currently annoying the daylights out of all of my gouldian youngsters in the juvie aviary. They are most horrified that they were separated from their partners.

In the breeding aviary, I will see how it goes when I remove all the youngsters and it's just the boys. It's mainly the breeding I wanted to stop. The boys need to behave though

[lovezebs]

Rox
Hate to tell you this, but if it's breeding season over there, you might end up with some air battles that you have never seen before.
Goodluck.

[Rox]

lovezebs Lol, fighting between the males is the last of my problem with them. All of my birds are used to the boys having aerial battles, it's quite normal. The boys will never completely behave, they just mustn't beat each other up! (thankfully, this has never happened ).

It's having 2 pairs (4 adults) plus all of their fledglings together (I had 6 fledglings together at one stage last summer = 10 canaries in the aviary at once) that causes a bit of havoc. The smaller waxbills just don't stand a chance at the food bowls and spend their time chasing nosy youngsters away from their nests.

[lovezebs]

Rox
Of course you know the solution Roxanne, another aviary, just for Canaries. Haahaaha....