New canary owners, with a clutch, advice and help needed

[StarLord4369]

Hello,

We have a male and female Gloster canary Had them for 2 week.

The female started acting strangely and we believed that she may have had an ear infection so we separated the 2 of them.

This morning we woke up and we had a nice little blue egg. I'm assuming she will lay more.

We are new to owning birds and have no clue on how to look after a bird with a clutch, we are not even sure if the egg could be fiertilised or not.

How could we proceed with, diet, care, should we keep the, separated, how often should we clean the cage? We literally have no idea so anything you can say will help us.

Thanks in advance for any advice
We are a novice at this so even the simplest of advice will be needed.

[Sally]

I'm not a canary owner, but there are other members who have experience with them and should be able to help you. At www.finchinfo.com, you will find many articles on finch care, some of which will help with the basics, but many aspects of canary care are different.

Welcome to the forum! If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier for members to help you with locale-specific questions.

[BigBear0007]

Get a little wicker basket for her and some nesting material, I like cut up burlap. Cut it into four inch squares and and separate it and put it in the cage. She will do the rest. If she lays more eggs put the first egg back into her nest. The egg is good for up to a week if kept at room temperature?
If she lays three or four eggs let her sit on them in a quiet area. And leave the male with her and he will feed her on occasion.
You buy prepared egg food or make it yourself.

Just boil half a dozen eggs.
Grate the eggs.
Mix together with some Panko breadcrumbs and seed.
Panko are Japanese extra dry bread crumbs

And feed it to the pair so they get used to it to feed their young.

Good luck

[Jamm972]

StarLord4369 How is the Hen doing with her clutch so far. I could suggest you put the male back in with the hen she was probably conditioning herself for the clutch. A lot of people get their behavior confused with sickness.The hen will be perfectly capable of raising the clutch on her own but the male plays a role in helping raise the young as well as feed the hen wile she sits. If you don't observe any fighting keep them together. Supply them fresh nesting material. Chances are this is her first clutch and it may not be fertile but allow 14 to 18 days for the eggs to hatch and or allow the Hen to have practice sitting. It don't hurt to allow them the practice. After the 14 to 18 days of sitting if no eggs hatched you should do this:

Remove the old eggs.
Supply fresh nesting material for the Male and female.
Allow them about 7 days to rest and recondition themselves.
Then the hen will start to build the new nest and start again.
You can still use the old nest but it is suggested you remove it and let them start a new for practice and it also allows them to get into condition.

Diet: Supply fresh seed, water, greens (Veggies), fruits, as well as a fresh boiled egg mix.
The egg mix gives the hen calcium and prevents them from getting egg bound. Also make sure she has a cuttle bone to knaw on.
Usually the first clutch after a recent move is unsuccessful but it is a good sign that they accepted their new home and are willing to settle in. So don't be discouraged if none of the eggs are fertile but allow them to go for a 2nd round if they choose. they can only get better at their practice and training. Do now allow your hen to go more than 2 or 3 successful clutches. You would want the male and female to have a resting period before the upcoming molt in the middle/end of the summer. Animalzoo and myself are first time breeders this year and we have a whole Topic of Eggs and what to do and a long journey we went though this year. It was fun and a learning experience. So feel free to ask me or her any questions if you have any. I will tag you in our Egg topic so you know which one it is. We would be glad to hear your progress and updates on what is happening and going on, as well as what worked and didn't work for you.

[StarLord4369]

Thanks for the tips everyone they really helping.

We seem to have 2 eggs in the new nest, it's all looking good so far.

It has been 5 since the first egg and she laid the second the day after the first and it has now been 2 days with no more eggs. I am guessing that this is her full clutch or could there be more to come?

They now have a cuttle bone, and the hen seems really relaxed.

I will keep posting updates as things happen.

And going to be checking out the egg topics Jamm and Animalzoo

Thanks again everyone

[Animalzoo]

StarLord4369
Hi and welcome to the world of canaries! You've been given some great advice although tentatively I would also recommend you concentrate on providing a mixed healthy diet and avoid breeding. Eggs are a nice sign both the birds get along however it isn't too good to keep a male and female together all year around. There may be some stress and the male may start to harass the female in the end.

You can get breeding cages where you can slide in the center a divide which can block their views of each other,so obviously one bird either side of it. The male will sing his little heart out and the 2 will live happily like that separated.

Canaries breed seasonally. They follow the timing of the year and the hours of daylight. Like wild birds they start to breed in Spring, so Feb/March when the hours of sunlight are getting longer and longer. You let canaries have 2 or 3 rounds of babies one after another, removing the juveniles each time and then you stop and separate the couple. That brings us to June when the birds then go into a molt. At this stage you have to care for their diet so that they receive the energy to regrow feathers.

They then rest for the last part of the year bringing us round to January when it starts all over and you repair the birds.

So as a novice I would not attempt to recover the eggs or add a nest. Adding the nest after eggs are appearing may confuse the hen and she may be out of sync. They build nests first, then eggs appear and the female wont move from it until the eggs hatch.

Concentrate on giving them a great diet and letting them have a good year off. Try to separate them if you can and enjoy the song of the male.

If you want to breed them next year just put them back in together at the end of January. You may need to stimulate longer days so have a light on earlier on in the mornings and longer in the evenings so the dull winter UK day goes from 7 hours to 10, 12 etc. Keep them warm and with the best diet.

Also, have a second cage ready for babies. Be warned, canary babies can fight. Boys and girls don't always get on.

ok I've waffled on enough now. Tell us, how have you got on since Monday?

[Jamm972]

lol Animalzoo What you said. I cant always write a whole story have to leave some for other breeders to add on to

Hope all is well.

And like Animalzoo said it wont hurt to let them have a year off. Rest is always good.

[Animalzoo]

StarLord4369

Oooh, is the hen sitting on the eggs in the nest? I didnt see your reply when I wrote my post. If she's sitting on them let her be...its a good start. Count 14 days from the last egg or when she started sitting.

Just be ready with a spare cage and have a think about going for round 2 if the birds want to. If you start to see little feathers on the bottom of the cage thats them starting to molt and you shouldn't breed anymore as they wont have the energy.

Bear in mind what I said about separating them. If you see any sign of aggression there is no fix apart from splitting up. Then come January adding the male and female together again.

If you do go for a 2nd round, you need a second nest to put in when the babies are around 14 days old. Provide lots of nesting material. Eventually the adults will start to build in the new nest without plucking the babies feathers. All the way throughout this they will continue to feed the chicks. If the chicks are a nuisance you can split them from the parents with that divide I described. One with bars so the parents can feed the babies through the bars.

At around 17 days the chicks fledge. At around 3-4 weeks the babies are weaned and you can remove them. You need to see them eating alone and not begging for food.

Good luck!

[StarLord4369]

So then Hen has now started sitting, the male has been feeding her ( the wife find that super cute).

Now the wait begins.

All the advice so helpful.

Thanks everyone!

[StarLord4369]

Ok new development, An egg has hatched!

It is 1 of 5, should we be expecting the rest of them to hatch soon?

Any way we should change the diet?

How often should they be feeding th chicks?

Exciting times!

Thanks
Alex

[Jamm972]

StarLord4369 sorry for late response. The parents usually feed them several times throughout the day even night. You will observe this happening more during the day. But if your standing right there chances are they will stop and not feed. Just sitting in the room and having a drink of coffee or something wil show them your not a threat and they will continue. Did all the eggs hatch. How are they doing, any pics we can see ?