FINCHforum

I know my parrots' and starling's and pigeon's sounds so well that I can tell the difference between happy and contented squawking and chirping and talking and mad/sleepy/grouchy/in distress, but I haven't yet figured out Trixie, and then I read recently that people used to keep canaries in small cages so they'd sing -- I'm guessing because they had nothing else to do and were going out of their minds with boredom. I thought at first that when Trixie is singing it meant she was happy, which is what whistling and chirping means when the others do it. Does it mean she's bored or unhappy instead? She has a ton of toys and plays with them, and all the good food and millet she could want, and a bathtub and my starling for company when I'm gone or busy. I offer to let her out to fly around regularly but she never wants to.

Can you describe the singing? I’ve never heard my females do much more than extended twitters and a few other notes. Are you sure Trixie is a she? I don’t think canaries sing better in small cages. They sing primarily to communicate with other canaries, advertising either their availability or territory. So they tend to sing more frequently if they are separated from their flock, in any size cage. Breeders and sellers will often hang a canary in a cage away from the others to encourage them to sing. Small cages are often used for temporary convenience.

In any case, they also seem to enjoy singing and they will only sing if they feel healthy and secure, so you can be sure that Trixie is not feeling stressed or unhappy. It certainly sounds like she’s well cared for.

I think singing likely indicates contentedness and happiness in your canary.

Vocalization in smaller birds is virtually always a positive thing.
In some larger, more intelligent birds like parrots, you can have vocalization due to unhappiness as a method of expressing displeasure and getting a human's attention. But you generally don't see this sort of complex behavior in smaller birds.
And if you did, I think it would be fairly easy to determine the difference by looking at body language. An unhappy, stressed bird tends to *sound* stressed (often, there's a repetition or "edge" to the vocalizations) and they have a stiffness and tension to their body posture, whereas happy birds tend to be more bouncy and light in their body movements. They look and sound relaxed.

When a canary is unhappy or sick, they seem to sulk visibly. It's hard to describe, but it's like they deflate a little and lose that joyful bouncey-ness. And they don't sing. (In fact, that's how I could tell my canary was unwell. He'd stop singing.)

I agree with Glenn; females generally tweet and chirp here and there, but they don't sing. Singing is typically a male thing.
You can determine gender fairly easily in canaries as mature males have a little nub in the vent area. Females are nub-less. The prominence of the nub varies a bit according to variety. The singers tend to have less of a nub, whereas Gloster canaries are more prominent.

To add on, I must oppose the 'males only sing' notion. I have a very definite lady canary, my Kari, who periodically goes into moods where she really belts out a song. It's not as full as a male's for sure, but it's varied and beautiful and still definitely a song. She's laid eggs before, so her gender is verified.

I agree with Dylan Both my previous canary hen and current 2 Green Singer hens sing! Their songs are definitely not as long as the males...but they are definitely lovely little songs

Trixie has been DNA tested and is definitely female. Her singing is tweets and twitters and trills and whistling, quite pretty and varied. My starling lives in the same room and is working on copying some of it. It sometimes sounds as if Trixie is attempting to copy some of Ringo's sounds, but she's less successful. It's cute that she tries, though. She seems very happy and is far less fearful than she was. I had to reach in to pick up her millet spray today because I put a new one in and didn't secure it properly and when she pecked at it, it fell onto her floor. She made this sound that I swear reminded me of "uh oh!" and I'd never heard it before, which is why I looked over and saw the millet had fallen. So I reached in to fix it and she stayed put instead of flitting away to the other side of the cage as she usually does when I reach in for some reason. She really, really wanted that millet and the second I took my hands out, she went at it full throttle. She only sings in the mornings, but she makes sounds periodically throughout the day. Today she sat on her perch in front of a swing that has a bell on the bottom -- she never sits on this swing, but pecks at the bell sometimes -- and sat up very straight and said "tweeEEEET" several times. I was playing with Ringo and figured she wanted attention, too, so I said "Trix-EEEE" and she said "twee-EEET" and I said "Trix-EEEE" and then she jumped onto her water dish and washed her face. She does that regularly and only takes a whole bath now and then.

Both of my breeding hens can get a tune going. Crystal, my one hen, can actually sing almost as well as a male

I would say it's definitely a sign than she is settling down and feeling happy. My hens come to the side of the aviary and will sing back at me when I talk to them. They are such sociable little birds and love attention

I also have a singing hen, she sings more then my rooster.