FINCHforum

I have a pair of Timbrado canaries that are nesting again, again with 5 eggs. The last batch has weaned (2 chicks).

How often is nesting safe for the birds?

Thanks,

Mike

Most of the breeders I've know allow two and sometimes three rounds. Frequently the 2nd round is more productive.

Dave:

Most of the breeders I've know allow two and sometimes three rounds. Frequently the 2nd round is more productive.

Interesting. Do others just separate the pairs? Does that damage the pair bond at all?

Thanks,

Mike

Yes, they just separate out the pairs. I don't think Canaries establish strong pair bonds, although I'm sure there is some sort of bond as a pair from the past year will readily mate up in the current year.

Dave:

Yes, they just separate out the pairs. I don't think Canaries establish strong pair bonds, although I'm sure there is some sort of bond as a pair from the past year will readily mate up in the current year.

Thanks. The hen will be easy to catch as I can get up close to here while she is sitting. I may do that after this batch.

Mike

Dave kcfd55

I disagree on the pair bond thing. I have a male and female who have been caged together for a year. They sleep a few inches apart, eat together, and always stay close by when flying out of the cage. If they get seperated they start a very shrill contact call and maintain it until they're together again.

I recently bought a second hen due to infertility with this pair, to see if I'd have any luck with a different hen. The male doesn't want this one. I temporarily separated the established pair across the house, and they are pretty unhappy right now. They've been effectively screaming to each other all week. The male has started to feed and mount the new hen but as soon as he hears his longtime mate, he changes modes and hisses at the new one and goes back to pacing the cage front and chirping to the old one.

I am only separating them long enough for the new hen to possibly be fertilized, because I can't deal with the shrill calling back and forth indefinitely. From what I can tell the pair bond is as strong as the other finches normally said to be socially monogamous year-round. They get along just as well during the breeding season as the rest of the year and have never fought.

Sheather, I wonder if the pair bonds are different for different strains of Canary. I've never seen the behavior you mention. I have seen pairs that raised a nest together bond very easily the following spring.

Or it might be that I have quite a few Canaries (30) and the hens are all together in a large walk-in aviary during the off season. That might change the dynamic, but I don't know how that could be tested.

Dylan:

I disagree on the pair bond thing.

I appreciate your information. I guess that I will allow them to raise 1-2 more broods, then see if I can separate them without undue stress. I don't want the hen to become exhausted. Perhaps I can put the hen in a smaller cage inside the aviary so that they can still interact but not mate.

Thanks,

Mike

Dave It may be worth noting that this pair is a male red factor and a female red factor cross. Some anecdotal evidence suggests these lines may be more social than non colour-breds due to distant siskin ancestry, I am not sure if this is true, but I didn't see the same level of pair bonding in American singer canaries as with these two birds.

@kcfd55 Your birds may be okay with being separated, I don't know how the Timbrados act. It didn't cause the same amount of agitation in my American singers as in this particular pair but my male singer would pluck my hen when she was incubating and attack her if she didn't want to mate when he did, so their bond was a lot less romantic than these two who are very gentle with each other.

My canaries stay together permantly. They do argue a bit sometimes but that’s just them being silly birds and they never actually harm each other. And they love being together all thee same so I would never seperate them.

Dylan:

@kcfd55 Your birds may be okay with being separated, I don't know how the Timbrados act. It didn't cause the same amount of agitation in my American singers as in this particular pair but my male singer would pluck my hen when she was incubating and attack her if she didn't want to mate when he did, so their bond was a lot less romantic than these two who are very gentle with each other.

These Timbrados are pretty tame, at least as long as I'm not in the aviary. Even then, I can get within a few feet of them. When I put greens in for them, they land less than a foot away from my face. The chicks (which weaned last week) are almost as tame. I could put a net over the female pretty easily, I think.

I do think that if I do anything, I will just put the hen in a smaller cage in the aviary so that they can get close to each other. Just not close enough to mate .

Mike

That will not do anything to stop egg laying though, and would be not worth the effort. If separating the birds would need to be not only out of physical contact, but unable to both see and hear one another. And even then, hen canaries can lay without a mate at all.

I would leave them together, and remove all nest sites once you're done breeding.

Dylan:

That will not do anything to stop egg laying though, and would be not worth the effort. If separating the birds would need to be not only out of physical contact, but unable to both see and hear one another. And even then, hen canaries can lay without a mate at all.

I would leave them together, and remove all nest sites once you're done breeding.

I did not know that. Removing all of the nest sites wouldn't work for me because I have so many other birds in the aviary that might use the canary nests for their own benefit. I guess that I will just have to keep the hen in the best condition I can.

Mike