Over weight Canary?

[Jamm972]

here are a few pics of Toopay does anybody think he is overweight, or is it just fluff? I only feed him seed and green and he has the cuttle bone. I feed him the occasional green leaf .

If he is believed to be overweight what can I do to make him more active to get back into shape? Maybe its just me being over paranoid.

[Rox]

It's very difficult to tell from a photo, especially on canaries as they are generally more round in shape. Best way to feel if he is over weight, would be to catch him and feel his breast bone. You will feel that he is either very well covered (you can't feel the bone at all) or you will feel the breast bone relatively easily. If the breast bone is prominent and sharp, then he is under weight.

Best way to get birds fit is to let them fly. The more length in the cage the better

[mohum]

My canaries can look very thin or like puffballs at different times. They share an aviary with zebra finches but are always first at the feed bowls and seem very greedy. Fortunately they are active so I don't think it matters. When I first acquired them, they were very scrawny but now look really healthy. I didn't think birds could over-eat.

[mohum]

Help! Can someone remove my multi posts. Sorry

[cindy]

best way to tell is dampen the belly feathers and push the feathers to the sides and look at the belly... fat pads looks sort of like yellow thick meringue under the skin. If unsure clear the belly of the feathers and take a good close up picture.

You may want to consider adding a few things to your birds diet seed a lone is not a good diet, occasional greens are fine but if not using a pelleted diet along with seed you may want to add a good vitamin mineral and amino acid supplement. Indoor birds not exposed to direct sunlight need to be give D3. You can also give the occasional boiled grated egg, some powdered supplements can be given right in soft foods.

Exercise is important so a good size cage helps.

[jonvill]

Firstly, your bird appears to be a Gloster canary.
This is a "Type" canary bred in England.
This breed often looks like a ball of feathers.
I think your bird is fine.

[lovezebs]

Jamm972

Your boy looks fine.
Offer more veggies and fruits, and cut back on some of the fatty seeds in his diet. Offer a little hard boiled egg once or twice a week. AND , offer him room to fly.

[Jamm972]

lovezebs jonvill Thanks for the info. I knew it was a crested head but wasn't exactly sure what a Gloster canary was now I think I know. Is the crested head part of the Gloster? Do the same geneics when pairing and breeding apply so your not giving them a double dose of a mutated gene causing mostly death as outcome when breeding? Or is Gloster just a type of brand of canary and no risk of a lethal dose. I have had this canary for almost 5 years. He never really seems to be to active but I never had an incentive to want to pair and breed him until now. He took longer to show signs of condition. My goal is to have a nice aviary built for them all so they can have free flight and have a safe and as little stress possible for molting. I hope he can be successful at producing an air. I would hate to lose his genetic features. he has a beautiful song as well as beautiful coat of feathers with color. I want to pass it along to his chicks if possible.

[lovezebs]

Jamm972

Here's a bit of information about the Gloster, that you may find interesting.


https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=w ... 3mXtvujR9w

[Jamm972]

lovezebs thanks that was very helpful I have a Corono Gloster Canary according to that website . Pretty neat. He is about 5 years old and they say usually after 5 its not safe to breed them any more so keeping fingers crossed for this year:)

[adoumski]

Your gloster looks good
Usually birds will loose weight as they are getting into breeding condition. Something i learned this year the hard way.
I had my males on a diet (1¹\² tea spoon of seeds per bird daily, a veggie and each cage two or three males to keep them active)
however as breeding season started, im now trying to get then to gain weight
I attached pics of two gloster hens i have. The consort is a very nice gloster shape.

[Jamm972]

adoumski they are beautiful. My Corona Gloster seems to be stubborn this year that or he is to old or way out of practice. I'm hoping to have offspring before he gets to old and uninterested. The hen he is with right now is building a nest and I catch him randomly singing which is new cause with the other hen he didn't sing at all. I'm going to give them a few more days apart and then try to remove the divider and see where they take it. Keeping fingers crossed.