When to check or remove eggs

[Bahadir]

Jamm972 Hello,

You have very nice babies chicks, I want to have too!

[Sheather]

So many adorable babies here!

I have five chicks going on 2.5 weeks old now that I've hand fed since the start. They're beginning to fly and are totally tame.



My hen Melody is starting to get broody again. I had to pull these babies from her when she abandoned the nest, most likely because her mate who was initially doing well as a husband became really aggressive with her out of the blue. The two have been separated now but after seeing them both very desperate to get to eachother again, were allowed a brief period of time together this afternoon again, during which they successfully mated after a brief but intense aerial argument before being returned to their respective cages. I'm hoping Melody will be a more successful mother this second time around without the male, who seems to have no social skills, to cause trouble.

[Animalzoo]

Sheather Blimy Dylan, hand fed babies. They'll be so lovely to not be afraid of you but I bet it's been hard work! At first I saw your photo and wondered how you got them to sit so perfect for a photo and then read how you've looked after then. So cute. I love their fluff on the top of their heads. Well done to you.

It's nice to have new people join in our journey. Jamm972 and I are at the same place with our canary couples and babies are popping out here and there along with a few hiccups with aggression and unfertile eggs.

I'm really enjoying their behavior and methods of breeding so it's nice to share with others

[Jamm972]

Bahadir thanks its my first year trying this out. Been a learning experience. There getting so big, I'm trying to wean them right now onto seed, but there still begging mom and dad to feed them.

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo So I separate the babies at night time because they are still wanting to be in the nest with Whitey. Whitey laid her 1st egg for her next clutch. I'm waiting for the 2nd clutch to be laid and I'm going to permanently separate mom from dad and the babies, and let the babies be weaned by there father. Once I see the babies eating their own seed I'm going to put them in their own flight cage and let dad back in with MOM. I'm trying something different this time around. I am removing the eggs as she lays them and putting in a dummy egg. I want to try and see if this will actually work. I read up on it and it said put the eggs back in the nest on Day 4 when the 4th egg is laid.
Blanca and Zorro are having complications. The babies keep falling out of the nest. So I ended up Securing the nest more by making it more leveled so the babies wont fall out so easy. She only had 2 babies so I don't see why it be so hard to parent them. I'm hoping that this fix to the nest will allow the babies to stay put and finish their growing up.
I candle Toopay, and Nonmames eggs tomorrow. If there infertile, I may throw the hen in with Donald and or with Zorro. there just may be a chance that Toopay is just to old. or I didn't get him conditioned enough to start out this year. Only time will tell. He has always been a loaner and prefers his own cage.

Yellow and orangie Shrugs....I witnessed Orangie mounting yellow but She is doing nothing to try and build a nest and pair up with em. So same thing goes with them in a week.

Tails and Stud....well Stud is feeding tails and trying to show tails how to build a nest but so far no nest has been made. Hoping in a few more days.

That's my update for now...

Pics will come shortly in a day or 2.

[Jamm972]

Sheather beautiful babies I'm still inexperienced but will eventually try to hand feed the babies when I'm more comfortable to see if I can tame them

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972 Funny you should say that about the eggs because thats exactly what I'm doing too!!

Jack and Jill have laid 2 new eggs for their second clutch so far and I've taken both out and replaced with fakes. Their first round babies are still in the divide next to them and the younger chicks are still being fed by both mum and dad. Happy families there.

BIG problem with Romeo and Juliet this morning. I found blood on several perches. Well, lets go back a few days. Their 3 babies fledged early remember, and as they were fine and not using the original nest I removed it. Leaving no nest at all. But the parents weren't showing any sign of pulling up nesting material or wanting to nest. The thing is their breeding cage has food bowls that go through holes on the side of the cage so I don't add bowls inside and because their babies were so young at this stage I didn't add any additional bowls for seed, water or soft food etc. Leaving nothing, no nest, bowls or material to be able to pickup showing signs of wanting to nest........so naturally they started to pluck the babies tails!!! Enough that one had lost all their feathers on their tail and the others had only 2 or 3 left and their bottoms have been left bleeding. Oh no! My boyfriend told me he saw Romeo and Juliet mating yesterday. So that was it, quick smart. I changed the perches, cleaned the cage, separated the babies from mum and dad and added an external nest plus nesting material. Straight on it mum and dad started taking the nesting fibers and loved the look of their new nest.....which is also bigger than the other types I've been using in the hopes we don't get any tossed chicks. And even better, mum and dad are still feeding their babies through the bars. I sat there watching them closely and all is well again. Phew!

But what a lesson learned. I thought the parents would let me know they wanted to nest but of course how could they! I hadn't provided anything for them to show me. My error and a good bit of experience gained.

Lucky and Scully have also laid 2 eggs which like the others I have removed and replaced with dummies. They're doing well too.

So this is all really good for the eggs and I'm so hopeful all the eggs are fertile. I'm just waiting for Sonny and Cher to start popping out their eggs now. Her 2nd clutch were duds so technically this is her 3rd round of eggs.

Dear oh dear, these canaries are a pain in the neck sometimes but they're lovely aren't they hehe

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo Yes they are a pain and its always a learning experience. I got scolded by some one saying we shouldn't take out the eggs because they need to be at the right temperature as well as be rotated twice a day. if this is not done then it has a 50% chance the babies will die. Because I'm still new I got scared and decided to let nature do its own thing.

My baby chicks are aggravating me. They weren't showing interest in bugging the newly made nest with eggs in it but today 1 of them is insistent on sitting on the nest. I cant tell is mom is teaching or what is going on. I made a new topic with about 4 questions to see what other people on the forum think. But as of right now I re separated them leaving dad with mom and changed the perches around so dad can feed them easier. I don't want to put dad in with the babies until I know for sure they are done mating for this clutch. She is still begging Donald to come inseminate her. have a feeling this round may have 5 eggs if not 6.

I fixed Blancas nest so the babies haven't fallen out or been thrown out of the nest sense. that's a good thing. Just hope the one that kept falling don't suffer any damage.

I'm candling nonames eggs tonight to see what the outcome is. If they are infertile I think I'm going to re-pair no name with another male.

Stud and tails....well stud is trying but for some reason tails just aint doing anything, she is just accepting food from Stud that's about it no desire to build a nest or anything.

Orangie and Yellow.....same thing I fond nesting material in the water dishes but nothing in the nests I provided. no clue what to do...

Will update later.

[Bahadir]

Jamm972 Hi;

It is my first year too but i still wait that my birds give egg. I saw them mating 5 days ago but they did not build nest yet. I feel that i cant success. I am not hopeful for this season. Maybe i buy a new pair or wait next year. Things are not going well here. My motivation broken.

I wish luck for everybody and health for birds.

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo So bad news Toopay and Nonames eggs were not fertile. I kind of figured. So out of desperarity because were already half way through the season I put Noname in with Stud with a divider so they have a few days to get to know one another. I did save Nonames nest and moved it to the new cage. I left fresh nesting material though in case she wants to make improvements to the nest. This also will encourage to entice Stud for mating. Fingers crossed. Noname seems to be upset I removed the infertile eggs but had to be done

As a temporary measure I threw tails in with Toopay because I did not want tails and Brownie seeing each other, they are grounded from each other because they didn't do anything this year, little disappointed because they were the first to start kissing and make me want to breed this year.

The new cage arrangement seems to be working for feeding wise through the bars. Whitey has 2 eggs so far and I'm sure she will keep going.

Blanca has been staying on the nest I haven't seen the babies for 2 days. I think they are ok though seems mom and pop have been feeding them, at least one of them anyway.

[Animalzoo]

Blimey, what fun and games you're having with Toopay!

Blanca is doing what mine did. Where you have no idea if the babies are ok because mums on them on the time. I'm hopeful they will be fine but i'm sure they will be.

Ive got 3 eggs each with Jill and Scully. I'm still replacing them with the fakes for now. I suppose I can be the guinea pig when it comes to swapping eggs as I'm doing it with the 2 couples so a slight gamble. Also I'm turning each egg as I add the next new one. If it doesn't work heyho but we shall see. Both these girls are at the same point each laying an egg the same day.

So tomorrow is egg 4 perhaps and I'll place back in the original 3 and omg if it works.......Amazing. 4 babies should be hatching on the same day! Woooo

My boyfriend and I have decided we will go get girls on Tuesday. I have moved Mulder into 'the' breeding cage but my dilemma is the new cage is big but it does't have divides so I've got to watch very closely for fighting.


I've been thinking about your birds and the trouble with brownie, tails, noname, stud and toopay. I have one thought which I hope you don't take the wrong way.......but......well, you know I'm no canary expert and I'm starting this year first as you are,the thing is I've read that you have swapped the couples around but here's my thought....have you really left them long enough? I mean when you have paired some up, do they have the time to do what they need to do?

[Bahadir]

Hi;

In last two days, my pairs have built a nest and female is laying in nest sometimes. I dont know when they will give eggs or will not they give? I am waiting curious. It passed a week since they have been mating.

[Animalzoo]

Fantastic!
Mine are plodding along.

Jill and Scully's eggs got to 4 so i swapped the originals in with their own. Their sitting well so far.

Jack is still feeding the odd chick through the bars although I know they have been eating well themselves.

Romeo's babies still feel too young to eat alone but they are getting there plus their parents are still feeding through the bars. Juliet still hasn't done a good job of making her nest so I may change it yet.

I'm still planning on getting some new girls for Mulder so watch this space.

Thats it canary wise, ll very boring tbh.

How are yours doing Jamm972 ??

[Jamm972]

Bahadir I was told a canary can hold viable sperm for 30 days. Have you been giving the canary egg food with the shell and a cuttle bone for them to much on so they can produce eggs. not sure what else to offer for advice. If you have truly witnessed them mating she will lay an egg in time.

[Jamm972]

Animalzoo
No offense was taken. You are prolly right. I'm just being inpatient. I tend to let them stay together for about a week or 2. If the hen don't start building a nest then I assume she is just not interested. All my canaries seem to be on different cycles, I think its because they got confused and molted at different times. Next year I hope to have them all on the same page. Brownie and Tails were in the cage together for well over a month and half. So I think its something else with them 2.

Great News. Blanca and Zoro's babies are getting big and look healthy. I might push them for 1 more clutch after this only because this is her first successful clutch. Plus is Whitey can do it So can Blanca Not pressing my luck though.

Whitey and Donald have 4 more eggs. Whitey started incubating yesterday. Donald is still feeding the babies through the bars, and also feeding Whitey. So I might just keep him with Whitey because she begs Donald for food and is being lazy....lol

I Still have Brownie by his or herself.

Tails is with Toopay but I don't see anything gonna happen between them 2. I only put them together because I wasn't ready to put any birds in the flight cages. Atleast until the young ones are ready.

Yellow and Orangie still haven't shown any signs of being interested in each other but I'm done re-pairing. Going to keep them in the breeder cage with the divider until I'm ready to move the females to their flight cages.

Noname is with Stud they fight each other but still debating if thre trying to mate or they just hate each other. When I separated them they both were playing with the nesting material. So decided to remove the divider and elt them do their thing. I know Noname is female she laid eggs lol

I took pics of the babies today will post them next.