Canary hen still not molting and still trying to nest!

[Sheather]

My female canary is still broody and trying to make nests. She has been in condition since March. The male is in full molt. I noticed her wing feathers are becoming tattered and plucked the most damaged ones in an effort to encourage her to regrow them. In the past, pulling tailfeathers has worked to make the hens molt but I did this on Maggie in June and they immediately grew back without her molting anywhere else or changing her behavior. She has no nests so she stopped laying eggs but constantly carries anything she can and tries to stack it on perches. I worry if she doesn't molt her health will be seriously affected. She is a year and a half old and thus her flight feathers are still those she fledged with. Do we have any canary breeders here with advice? She is on a totally natural light cycle with no supplemental light.

[andiok]

Normally what brings them to breeding mode is additional light and proteins in the food plus male songs. Some canaries will be done later the other especially young hens. If you're feeding any extra protein like eggfood or oily seeds just stop them for a bit. It's too bad you can't shorten the light though, that would have been more efficient. Is the male singing a lot

[Sheather]

andiok I only feed eggfood rarely but am giving it daily now as the male is in heavy molt and needs the protien. He eats much more of it than her. I wouldn't say he is singing a lot but he does sing throughout the day. He feeds her if she begs but hasn't mounted her or tried to court her at all in several months.

Does shortening the light start a molt? I had a hen who was a chronic egg layer a few years ago who could only be stopped by covering her cage 14 hours a day. But she never molted, if I gave her even one more hour of light she'd lay an egg a day on the cage floor, and her feathers also tattered and after a few years, she passed. I don't want this to happen to Maggie!

[Dave]

I've found, over the years, that staying on a natural light cycle is best for Canaries. I have artificial lights on my birds, but I change the time every week to match natural sunrise / sunset time. Then, be sure there is no artificial light reaching them after sunset.

That said, sometimes a hen is quite late to molt. Was this hen slow to come into breeding condition last spring? I think eventually, as the days gets shorter and shorter, she will molt. I've seen this happen.

Just like some male canaries will sing all year round, some hens seem to run on their own schedule.

I've never been a fan of withdrawing nutrition to stimulate a molt. In your situation, I'd still feed eggfood a few times a week. There are proteins and minerals and vitamins in that eggfood that the birds need.

I think the quality most difficult, for bird keepers, is patience.

[Sheather]

Dave I just want her to be healthy, I really am attached to this hen as a pet. She was hatched last spring so this is her first breeding season. Unfortunately, the male never quite figured out mating - he'd hop on her but never make contact - and they never properly copulated, so no babies this year.

My male is still singing in molt too.

[andiok]

Sheather
Man you have them in the same cage and that pushes Maggie in breeding mode. Separate her and feed mixed seed only with no eggfood till she starts breeding. Don't cover her cage to stop the light. Just don't provide extra artificial light. Once you separate them I'm pretty sure she'll go through a molt.
With my canaries and goldfinches once they're done fledging the last nest usually this happens around mid august, I stop right way with proteins and put all females together in flight cages. This always has worked. If you can move Maggie instead of the male in a different cage would be best.
Good luck

[lovezebs]

Sheather

I think it's actually the longer days and the hot weather which brings on the moult in Canaries.
I know mine usually begin moulting in the Summer when the days are long and hot, and more or less finish sometime in the Fall as the days begin to shorten and get cooler.

[Babs _Owner]

Sheather

Hoping your little gal will start dropping some feathers on the floor soon.

[Dave]

lovezebs, canaries do molt in the summer. But the molt doesn't start until after June 21--the summer solstice.

It is the gradually shortening days that bring about the end of the breeding season and the start of the molt. I don't think that temperature has a lot to do with it.

I start to see molting in mid-July, a month after the Solstice, and it normally finished up by the end of September or so. Singing re-starts in October.

[lovezebs]

Dave

Mine start earlier than that, but then I'm in Canada, so that might have something to do with it.

[Sheather]

She started molting at the beginning of this month, and now there are yellow feathers are floating all over the house. Finally, no more ripped paper at the cage bottom from her trying to nest!

The male started beginning of September, and now he's got pinfeathers all over the back of his head, but I think he's near the end of his.

Both were late, but I don't think it will be problematic, since they live inside and won't have to deal with the cold weather outdoors while in patchy feather condition.

I have kept the pair together - they are very fond of each other. There is no longer any feeding or courtship, but at night they always sleep immediately next to each other, and they have never bickered.