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Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:31 pm
by sskmaestro
Hi Friends,
I am a newbie in breeding Canaries. but i have experience in breeding Pigeons, budgies and parrots. i recently bought a pair of clear yellow canaries from a breeder. they are 2015 birds. cock sings crazy and hen is in condition. i paired them up in a double breeder cage. hen built her nest and the pair mated multiple times. finally the hen laid five eggs (one egg each day). she stared brooding the eggs from the day she laid her fourth egg. its been 6 days since she sat tight on her eggs.
the cock feeds her once an hour (atleast) throughout the day. he sings in the afternoon.
but.... when ever the hen comes down for food/water/poo, he goes near the nest and pick out a small piece of nest material from the nest and comes down to the cage floor and drops the cotton. this happens 3-4 times a day. moreover he tries to mate with the hen when she is brooding (by climbing on her)
is this behavior normal? i tried placing the opaque divider in between, he goes back to the feed cup, eats some food and looks through the holes to feed her, when i remove that divider, he flies to her and feeds her....
I am feeding them seed and pellet mix, egg food, grit, cuttle bone, coriander leaves, cabbage leaves, corn, broccoli and also, I am adding vitamin drops in water.
i am a bit confused on whether to leave them together or divide them??
please give me your suggestions...
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 1:56 pm
by Sally
sskmaestro
I don't know anything about breeding canaries, but we do have other members who are knowledgeable about them. Hopefully, one of them will chime in with some answers for you. In the meantime, I am going to move this thread to the All Things Canary forum, where it might be seen by canary breeders.
Welcome to the forum! If you put your general location in your profile, it makes it easier to answer locale-specific questions later on. There's lots of good reading at
www.finchinfo.com, though most articles there are geared more to finches. But you might get the finch bug.
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 2:48 pm
by sskmaestro
<a href="
http://s1252.photobucket.com/user/sskma ... .jpeg.html" target="_blank"><img src="
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... qkibv.jpeg" border="0" alt="first egg on 15-Jun-2016 photo first egg_zpscyqqkibv.jpeg"/></a>
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 2:50 pm
by sskmaestro
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 4:11 pm
by paul-inAZ
Why divide them? What would you/they gain?
They're not fighting.
Sounds like a happy family with a randy dad. He can't get her any more 'pregnant'.
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:27 pm
by sskmaestro
paul-inAZ wrote:
Why divide them? What would you/they gain?
They're not fighting.
Sounds like a happy family with a randy dad. He can't get her any more 'pregnant'.
Thanks Paul! I am only worried about the cock dragging pieces of nesting material when hen is away from the nest.... rest of the things are fine and as expected
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:42 am
by paul-inAZ
I have a hen that lays eggs, sits very tightly and then proceeds to progressively dismantle the nest but leaves the eggs undisturbed and continues to sit. It may just be a housekeeping or redecorating thing.
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:12 pm
by Jamm972
sskmaestro Go ahead and keep them together the hen can handle her own. Sounds like the male is confused though and want to go for a second clutch. He will catch up. he is prolly learning as he goes. I wouldn't separate them unless you observe the following:
Blood or excessive feather loss. Constant fighting. The male is no longer feeding the male or babies.
A hen can usually handle her own however the hen usually depends on the male to finish off with the babies as she prepares for her 2nd clutch. Also the male has a lot to teach the babies as they start to grow such as flying eating, and if the babies are male some males stuff. The hen can do this as well but evening humans you can understand how a mom can have a harder time explaining to her son the birds and the bee's lol
Dad's usually teach son and moms usually teach daughter. but both are good at teaching them how to bathe, eat, all basics.
Now once the babies are about 14 to 16 days old. that is time to add a 2nd nest and fresh nesting material. If you don't do this and leav the babies and the parents in the same cage the parents may start to pluck the babies for nesting material.
Usually if I have a divider cage I separate the babies from mom and dad and dad will continue to feed the babies through the bars. If this don't happen then move dad to the baby side and let mom rest for a few days and try again moving dad back with mom so they can breed for a 2nd clutch. You don't want to go no more than 2 to 3 clutches because a canary needs some time to molt and rest. Over breeding can cause egg bonding and or other stress dwindling the life span of the canary.
Hope this information was helpful. Feel free to ask any questions and will try to help out the best we can.
Animalzoo is also knowledgeable on breeding canary. me and her started this year together and learned an awful lot from each other.
Best of luck to you
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 6:59 pm
by sskmaestro
Jamm972 wrote:
sskmaestro Go ahead and keep them together the hen can handle her own. Sounds like the male is confused though and want to go for a second clutch. He will catch up. he is prolly learning as he goes. I wouldn't separate them unless you observe the following:
Blood or excessive feather loss. Constant fighting. The male is no longer feeding the male or babies.
A hen can usually handle her own however the hen usually depends on the male to finish off with the babies as she prepares for her 2nd clutch. Also the male has a lot to teach the babies as they start to grow such as flying eating, and if the babies are male some males stuff. The hen can do this as well but evening humans you can understand how a mom can have a harder time explaining to her son the birds and the bee's lol
Dad's usually teach son and moms usually teach daughter. but both are good at teaching them how to bathe, eat, all basics.
Now once the babies are about 14 to 16 days old. that is time to add a 2nd nest and fresh nesting material. If you don't do this and leav the babies and the parents in the same cage the parents may start to pluck the babies for nesting material.
Usually if I have a divider cage I separate the babies from mom and dad and dad will continue to feed the babies through the bars. If this don't happen then move dad to the baby side and let mom rest for a few days and try again moving dad back with mom so they can breed for a 2nd clutch. You don't want to go no more than 2 to 3 clutches because a canary needs some time to molt and rest. Over breeding can cause egg bonding and or other stress dwindling the life span of the canary.
Hope this information was helpful. Feel free to ask any questions and will try to help out the best we can.
Animalzoo is also knowledgeable on breeding canary. me and her started this year together and learned an awful lot from each other.
Best of luck to you
Thank you very much for sharing me the knowledge.... hen is sitting tight from 18-Jun... its day 12 today... fingers crossed!!!
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:52 pm
by sskmaestro
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:52 pm
by sskmaestro
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:24 pm
by Barbara
Are they adorable enjoy
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:47 pm
by Sally
Congrats, please keep us posted on the other three eggs!
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:51 pm
by skyjump100
Ive only seen Gouldian chicks. Canary chicks look funny with the fuffy bits, Gouldians are totally bald.
Re: Newbie.... need suggestions
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 12:09 pm
by sskmaestro
Third egg hatched on the same day (afternoon) along with the second egg
http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... hfvfd.jpeg
