FINCHforum

I went to the bird show today and picked up a couple female canaries... I couldn't decide on a male, so I figured that I go with a couple hens this time around and see how we got on with them, then add a male later. The only other people with canaries were dealers and one of them couldn't even tell me what breeds he had (he didn't speak English well, but said "yellow, brown, white..etc." when I asked. This lady had color bred as well and her husband (I think..could've just been another breeder she was splitting a table with) had timbrados and fifes.

I got them from a breeder who shows canaries and they are american singers. The yellow hen has been chirping pretty loudly off and on and the pied hen has chirped a couple times so far. They have been eating, moving around, flying, drinking, and unfortunatley, making a huge mess with their water bowl. I believe that is why the yellow one looks so rough in the pics, she has managed to get herself wet. Their cage is the top half of a double critter nation. It looks a little bare, but I am waiting on some perches to come in from Amazon next week.

A pic of their cage


A not-so-great pic of the two hens. They would not hold still for a better one. You can see what I mean about the yellow hen in this pic. She has gotten her neck wet (she did not look like this when we got her).


Both have seed, water (with nv powder), egg shell, and have been treated with scatt. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Congratulations their pretty.

Lookin' good. You'll have plenty of room if/when you add more.

Your experience with the dealers is typical. I call them gypsies because they seem to schlep the same birds from show to show. They buy them in bulk and can't reliably tell you much about them. A breeder is always a preferred source. I hope you remembered to get phone numbers from the breeders.

You may be surprised by the American singer hens. Hens are not supposed to sing. I have an American singer hen that often breaks out into pretty decent song. If she hadn't laid eggs one might think that she was a male. Nothing like my timbrado male but very pleasant.

artgecko

Hi mate, congrats on yer two new canaries, the variegated on the left looks like a nice little gloster,

You mention about having to wait a whole week for perches from Amazon,

All need to do is just simply go down to yer local hardware store and get a length of 1/2 inch dowl, you can then just cut to the length you want and cut a slot in eaither end for the bars to slot in

paul-inAZ that's a little harsh about running gypsies down,

I've got a few freinds that happen to be gypsies and are very nice people, not all are bad

Thanks guys!
Paul- I always prefer to buy from breeders... even when I buy reptiles. You almost always get better quality (and at least better info) when you do it that way. If a reseller is knowledgable and has clean looking animals, I consider buying from them, but in this case, he obviously didn't know much about them so that made me nervous...as did them being housed next to what appeared to be imported finches (fire finches and cordon-blues).

One of the hens has been doing some loud chirping already, so maybe she will end up being a singer. If these do well, I will seek out the same breeder the next show (November) and get a couple more females to go with these two and a male (the male would have his own cage). I did get her phone number, so I may call her before the next show to make sure she will have a male. I'd love a nice broken pied male.

Stuart- Thanks for the tip about the dowels..I didn't even think of that. The breeder said both were american singers, but I know that breed originated as a cross, so that could be where some of the type is coming from. I like the nice round chunky shape on them... the yellow hen really has that when she puffs up (she isn't wet any longer like she was in the pic).

A seller there also had Timbrado cocks and fifes, but I wasn't sure I could take that much sound volume... The breeder told me the american singer males wouldn't be as loud as those or the colour-bred cocks she had.

I have really been surprised at how quickly these guys got to work eating, flapping around, and most surprisingly, hopping around on the bottom of the cage. I didn't know canaries liked to be on the ground so much, but these guys sure do... I was also shocked at just how big of a mess they made with their dish of water...which they used as a bath. I will make sure they know how to use tub-waterers, then I will remove the dish lol...or I'll be replacing their paper every 10 minutes.

Right now they are getting a quality finch mix (Laraine's finch mix), water (with nv powder for electrolytes), a piece of millet, and I gave them some crushed egg shell with a small amount of egg white attached.. They have really gone after the eggshell. I was going to give them a small dish with some dried greens (herb salad), tomorrow along with some charcoal. I've also prepared some shredded veggies for them that I will dust with calcium powder and probiotics.. The breeder said not to overdo the fresh veggies, so I'm thinking maybe 1-2x a week. If you guys have any other suggestions for feeding, please let me know. I may see if a vendor at the next show has a canary-specific mix I can swap that out with for variety's sake.

I also got a m/f pair of English show budgies while there... I've been wanting some for a long time and had no idea anyone in my state sold them. They have been a lot less active than the canaries, which I've found surprising...but I'm used to seeing the more active small "parakeets" we have in pet shops here.

I know they aren't canaries, but I'll include a bonus pic of them below.

artgecko

Please my freind I must say that you need to change that finch mix,

Your birds are canaries and not finches, finches eat a variety of millet seeds whereas canaries are not really great lovers of millets, yes they'll possibly eat some as that's obviously all they've got but will not thrive on finch seed,

You ideally need to purchase a proper canary mix which should consist of plain canary, black or red rape, linseed and a splash of hemp thrown into the mix, some mixes will also have a little Nyger seed in the mix aswell,

This is a std canary mix and places like abba seed will stock it,

Also I'd strongly refrain from using charcoal, this is a falicy as many people think that by using charcoal that it will help to clean the birds system through,
This isn't exactly true as it is possible that it can clogg up inside the birds system and could eventually be catastrophic

Ahh... In my other thread about feeding a mix that could work for both gouldians and canaries, I thought you had said that this mix might work. It does contain 1/3 canary grass seed. I will look at Abba's website and see what they have as well.

I will also look into the charcoal. It was recommended to me to use for finches and I had seen it mentioned on a canary breeder's website as well, but if it is unsafe to use, then I will avoid it.

artgecko

Just double checked on that thread and what I was actually stating to Babs was that particular mix that Babs uses is actually fine as a seed mix for finches,

However, I did notice that it contains plain canary, rape a flax ( linseed ) and also thistle seed, Nyger is a thistle seed aswell so this mix may be ok for yer canaries,

It really does depend on how much of these particular seeds are within the mix,

If it's predominantly millets and hardly any of the seeds mentioned above I'd then look for another canary mix but try your one first for a while and try to see if yer canaries are eating it ok

OK... That sounds good. I will give it a week or two and see how much they are eating before I make up my mind. I checked out Abba's mixes. They aren't too expensive, but shipping isn't cheap lol. If I were to go with one of their mixes, which would you use? the 1700, or 3700?
Here is a link to their seed mixes page abba seed

Thanks again for your help!

artgecko wrote: OK... That sounds good. I will give it a week or two and see how much they are eating before I make up my mind. I checked out Abba's mixes. They aren't too expensive, but shipping isn't cheap lol. If I were to go with one of their mixes, which would you use? the 1700, or 3700?
Here is a link to their seed mixes page abba seed

Thanks again for your help!

To be onest eaither one is a very good mix and I'd be happy to use eaither,

If I had to choose I suppose I'd go for the 1700 mix for the simple reason that it's got the black rape seed in it aswell,

The 1700 mix is a very good mix as this is not only a canary mix but a wild seed mix aswell and this is very very similar to what I'd use for all canaries, British and European finches,

Please note that it's generally regarded that only the British and European finches aswell as the canaries are suited to this mix as other foreign finches IE waxbills, African, Asian, Australian, zebras and bengalese all need the foreign finch millet mixes,
Similar to what you've already got

Yeah... I've got like 10lbs of finch seed so hopefully I'll eventually get those gouldians I bought it for. If I end up getting a male canary and housing him with some gouldians (cage other than the one with the female canaries) then I might try offering both the canary mix and the finch mix...I'd assume the birds could pick out what they wanted.

Thanks again for the advice!

Your photos look to have tree branches for perches. These are actually better for their feet than the store bought perches which are only dowels with slots cut in the ends.
And they're easily replaced with a trip around your yard or to a local park. Any semi-straight branch with the bark left on will do fine.

artgecko

Congratulations on your new feathered kids.

Most Canary girls will chirp, not really sing (with a few exceptions to the rule).

American Singers, do by the way have a loud song .

Regarding feeding:
-I feed all my kids, all 80+ (Finches, Canaries, and Budgie) a mixture of Finch/Canary/Budgie seed mixes.
I buy them in large 10k bags, and mix them together, and have never had any problems. I also feed wild grass seeds whenever i can find them.

-I feed fresh veggies and fruit either daily or every second day.
These include: kale, spinach, romaine, baby spring mix, red swiss chard, parsley, cucumbers, beet greens, grated carrots, corn on the cob (or frozen and thawed out), slices of oranges, apples, half grapes, banana, melon, berries, pears, etc.

-I make a mixture of bird grit, crushed egg shells, grated cuttle bone, grated iodine block, and bird charcoal, and offer a small amount of this mix on the bottom of the flights (for foraging). All my birds without exception love this mixture.

-I offer the kids my hard boiled egg mix every second day (every day when breeding or rearing young).
It consists of the whole egg (both white and yolk, which is a very important source of protein).
I boil the eggs, peel them, and put them through a large garlic press. To this, I add crumbled spray millet, some store bought egg food, and some pulverized freeze dried mealworms.
The kids will literally fight over this mixture.
(I dry the shells and crush them for my grit mixture).

I also add a couple of drops of birdie vitamins to their water twice a week.

Oh, and regarding baths.... Canaries love to bath daily, as do my Finches, so it's important to offer them the opportunity. Budgies, preffer to brush or roll against wet leaves of romaine or cabbage for their baths.

paul-inAZ wrote: Your photos look to have tree branches for perches. These are actually better for their feet than the store bought perches which are only dowels with slots cut in the ends.
And they're easily replaced with a trip around your yard or to a local park. Any semi-straight branch with the bark left on will do fine.

It's possible that these branches may of been bought from the bird sale as companies sell specially made branches with clips or other attachments on the ends of them, tried to enlarge the image but can't quite see properly,

Well I would of obviously stated this meself Paul but if one is not up on there tree knowledge you could end up by putting branches into bird cages that could actually be harmful to the birds,

I'm a semi retired tree surgeon so I know me trees and it's easy to cut a load of branches that could easily have only a small amount of fungi on em also some trees can be toxic to birds and remember that canaries and especially budgies are very inquisitive birds and will nibble and wipe there beaks on the branches,

Most of the fruit tree branches are perfectly safe for yer birds but still need to look for the clean branches without traces of fungi and fruit trees are badly know for fungi,

A tree that I've always supplied in huge amounts in my avaires is evergreen conifer trees, I've regularly cut masses of this when topping the trees and used to completely screen along the whole back wall of 10 mtr length avaires for me British finches.

A ) it looked nice
B ) it provided plenty of cover for when breeding

There is absolutely nothing wrong with dowl perching eaither and remember that one can actually buy different thicknesses if need be so the birds are then exercising there feet more