FINCHforum

Which kind of canaries are best for a beginner canary keeper?

Hey,

Canaries are grouped into colour canaries , song canaries and type canaries
In genaral canaries are hardy and adapt well to your home.
Most are easy to keep and breed, the exceptions are the posture birds like giboso espagnole and italian gibber.

So do some reasearch and see which you fancy and get that.

adoumski Good advice! Another consideration would be what is available in your area, and of course budget.

ROOKIEBREEDER
As Adam mentioned above:
Most canaries make good, easy to care for pets.
If you want a canary that will sing for you, you need to get a male. Male canaries are the singers, and are quite happy on their own.
Female canaries, make charming pets, but do not sing.
Other than that, it's all up to you and what you like.
What canaries are available where you are situated?

lovezebs I like waterslagers but how much are they for a good breeding pair

On top of the advice already given by others i'd recommend avoiding color canaries which require color feeding until your more experienced and know what type of birds you want, this is my first year breeding canaries and my only regrets are having a pair of orange mosaics, the other non color fed birds are great were as i'm tired of looking at the young canaries requiring colour feeding, waiting for them to colour up is worse than watching paint dry and if at the end of it the colouring's not right nobody will want them. I've had foreign finches hatch, fledge, colour up, fledge a second round who will probably also colour up in the same time.

hey Smurf, yes colour feeding can be tricky especially for mosaics.i think the easiest way is to add the colour in the water, that way i am sure they will get the colour. what happened with the mosaics, how come they turned orange?

Adam, they all seem to be coloring up fine but just taking forever, the yellow mosaic opal agates i have don't require color feeding and neither do the Irish fancies so i can sell excess young birds to pet shops before moulting, i also have a pair of orange mosaics which i have to hold on to all the chicks until they have finished coloring up and even then very few pet shops will stock birds requiring colour feeding, as they can't really sell them to someone who just wants a single singing canary as a pet or they would have complaints when the bird lost it's colour after next moult

I've heard Fifes are pretty hardy and make good beginner birds. If you can find them in your area, I personally recommend Raza Española canaries because my experience and what I've read leads me to believe that that they successfully raise larger clutches than "fancier" breeds... might be due to the fact that Razas have a great deal of wild canary in their mix.

Smurf oh I get what you mean now. Yes they take a long time to finish colouring up about 5 month. My mosaic chick in now 3 month old and just recently started the baby molt.

@"Green Chopper" timbrados (similar to razas i think) are good and hardy as well. I met someone who usues them to foster italian gibber chicks because they r great parents (also prolific breeders)

ROOKIEBREEDER
Hi. Sorry, not sure if you have Waterslagers in your area, or if that's what you are interested in getting.
I am assuming that you wish to breed, seeing as you mentioned a pair.
Waterslager males have a lovely burbling song, usually softer than the other types.
Regarding prices: I guess that would depend on how available they are in your area. I am up in Canada, so prices are probably different here than where you are. Around here, they would range from $100.00 and up for each bird, with females usually being on the lower end of the spectrum. If your looking at champion, show birds, etc you would be looking at more expense.

Thank you