FINCHforum

My male roller canary moults way too early, at around May (started in July when I bought him, then June, now May).
Normally this wouldn't matter so much but over the last year or so he has been screaming for a mate, so I bought a Red Factor hen on Saturday.. problem is she is right in the middle of a moult. So now I have one bird who is desperate to breed and one who is uninterested! I really want to re-sync my male's body clock so that he moults at the correct time of year and stops thinking that it's always breeding season.

I understand that I will need to manage their lighting, but what I am worried about is how long it'll take to fix this? Since he's already moulted, I can't make him think it is moulting time again.. so what time of year am I supposed to make him think it is?
Regarding lighting times, am I supposed to follow the exact time that the sun sets and rises or is there some special time I am meant to be following for canaries? I plan to use just natural light as they will be getting their own room with a window, but any idea if this will work for my roller now that his body clock is messed up?

Help please, I'm really confused about this difficult bird! Thanks!

I honestl have no idea how to stop it, he should be fine, trying to stop it may cause him too much stress

Nah he's not moulting right now that's the thing, he finished up end of May or so (perhaps it was earlier that he started and I had just forgotten).
So I'm just trying to shift his cycle so that he doesn't moult again this year but moults at the right time next year.

OH, I'm sorry was confused. Maybe go with the natural light cycle?

Have you been using artificial lighting in the past? Some of my male canaries have moulted earlier than normal this year as weather here is a bit messed up. Gouldians I use food to sort out their moult but with canaries its not as simple as that. Normally my canaries have a full moult after breeding season and have a soft moult coming into summer,how do you fix this well I would leave him for now in good breeding condition and make sure hen is separated from him and hopefully he will moult at the same time as her after breeding time. Its a very difficult situation as bring him back into moult again would be the wrong thing to do but not having the pair at the same point is also very hard. Could you look at bringing her moult forward to match his next moult?

Three things can cause out of season moults.
1. Too much light
2. Too much heat
3. Too much protein

Get your birds on a natural daylight schedule for your area. If they're outdoors, avoid unnatural outside lights at night. If they're inside, cover cages at dusk and uncover at dawn if necessary. Make sure that no light is "seeping" in through cracks in the covers, as canaries' eyes have 10X more light receptors than humans do. Be sure that no warm drafts are reaching the cages during the spring and winter months. Once the feathers are in, cut back on the protein (eggfood, etc) from the end of summer until the onset of breeding season. Offer "season appropriate" fruits and veggies. Don't offer too many greens in winter.
Nearly every new canary I purchased went through weird moulting patterns the first year (probably due to improper lighting issues established at bird expos and pet shops), until I got them on a natural schedule for some time. No bird that I bred ever had any off season moulting issues. Moulting is VERY stressful to a little bird. Please try to correct "improper" moulting ASAP. Bob