Two Hens w/ One Male

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

Just wondering if anyone has had success setting up two perfect hens with one exceptional male.
Because of a shortage of hard feather males (and breeding cages) I'm thinking about using a 36"" double-wide cage with nests at both ends for 2 soft feather females.

Paul

[Jamm972]

ha ha ha I just posted a similar topic asking the same thing. Its called Colony breeding.

Each hen would need to have their own nest. You will have to make sure both hens are on the same cycle. This however will be over kill for the male so after the hens are done laying their 5 eggs he should be taken out to rest and procure more of the good male stuff to do it again later on for round 2. I'm just not sure if this is healthy and or cause more infertile eggs.
I found this blog if its helpful. I just don't know if its healthy and safe.


http://canarytales.blogspot.com/2009/02 ... n-one.html

[Jamm972]

Paul for some reason you cant be tagged or mentioned in the forum. I would check into that f I were you. Its kind of frustrating not being able to communicate with you on other posts.

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the Canary Tales link. I've noticed that in an open colony, the cocks are not necessarily monogamous and neither are the hens for that matter. She will often give "the signal" when the nest is about half way built and several males show up.
Nice red factor you have there. Your breeding situation is a lot easier than mine since I need to transition my birds from free flight to smaller apartments. Assuming I guessed right on their sex, it takes a while for them to settle in. If you're having fertility problems, the timing just needs to be right for both birds and sometimes you just have a bird that's to young, to old or as they said in the "tales" it could just be poor breeding stock for some reason - "a dud".

This early in the season, it does take time for them to come into full breeding condition so I'm trying to be patient.

No idea why the block but I added my personal E-mail address to my profile earlier today and sent a note to the administrator after your note.

Thanks,
Paul

[Animalzoo]

Jamm972 We have another canary breeder to compare notes with!!

Paul, I can't quote you either at the moment but I'm sure they'll sort that. Jamm972 and I are at the same timing with our 4 canary pairs all in individual cages. I've had some unfertilised eggs and some hatch and Jamm972 has got some new eggs on the go too.

Re. colony breeding (2 hens + 1 male) wouldn't you need to add 3 nests for the hen to chose her preferred spot. They both may dislike a certain nest and then what!?

Are you thinking of doing this then Jamm972 and put a few together rather than the single breeder cages.

....sorry for hijacking your post Paul. What type of canaries have you got?

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

I specialize in clear red factors; intensive and non intensive.

You could add 3 or even 4 nests if you want but I think when the hen is ready to start laying she's in a rush to set up a nest anywhere she can.
I'm in the midst of setting up multiple pairs and If I wind up with more females than males I'll probably try a double selective breeder cage.

If your goal is not higher numbers or selective breeding and you have the cage space available, I would opt for one pair per cage.

On another subject, I'm sure you know the importance of color banding your babies by family color to avoid inbreeding and keeping track of the success rate of your "proven" pairs. My program is a little more complicated because I need to match hard with soft feather birds so I keep my notes on a special XL spread sheet instead of handwritten cards.

Paul

[adoumski]

I have never tried it, but i think it works.
Canarytales blog is an excellent blog, very helpful and educational for canary breeders.