Canary as companion for Green Singer Finch?

[Nipper06]

I have a single male Green Singing Finch is a large flight. He was born at my house back in 2007 so he is approaching 11 years old. His mate just died. Could I put a female Canary in there as a companion bird? Or two females? He's pretty old to try to breed with them so I was just thinking another bird might be nice for him and I am thinking of transitioning this cage to canaries.

I should mention this single Green Singer has other finches next to him in adjacent cages so he is not completely alone in the room (2 Java Sparrows on the left and 4 Gouldians to the right, all in flight cages). He is in a cage like this (showing his parents, 11 years ago).

[Sheather]

I would not recommend it unless these birds are isolated completely from the male canary. Having a female in earshot of your male will cause it a lot of agitation as it tries to get to the female, and if there's any way of it getting in there when loose it will. It will sing a lot more, but it will probably also act agitated and frantic and generally unhappy.

The canary hen will not bond to a singer if it hears or sees another canary either.

[Nipper06]

My male canary is in another room from this cage. I'm not sure they hear each other, but maybe. I guess another male canary, in with my male green singer, would not work well either. My other option is to let me Green Singer live with my 4 Gouldians in a double flight. Though, as I mentioned, my Green Singer's cage is between my Java Sparrows and the Gouldians - so while he is alone in his cage now, he does have 6 other finches in the room with him.

[Sheather]

For this not overly social species, the companionship of the other birds around should be plenty.

You could also see how he does with your current canary. I can't tell you if they will get along or not, but you might be surprised, I've had male canaries that became chummy.

[Nipper06]

What about 2 male canaries with my Green Singer? Sometimes birds fight less when in numbers greater than 2 or in uneven numbers (if sexes are mixed together). The additional birds and odd numbers can switch them out of "reproduction mode", into "flock mode", as in a bird store - where you often see large cages of male canaries and the same for female canaries (and mostly no fighting).

But probably, since the Green Singer is a wild canary relative, he may be OK alone since he has nearby company.

[Sheather]

I would not put that many canaries in a cage.
Keeping it solo with other birds around is probably best for it if you don't want another green singer.

[Nipper06]

I guess, not unexpectedly, my lone male Green Singer is singing up a storm, now that his mate is gone! He will be 11 years old in December.

I could never get them to breed. His mate came from PetSmart, with no band - so maybe wild-caught? She was nervous. I wish I could have paired him with a captive-bred female. His parents were captive-bred and had no problems breeding - except they were both very old and could only manage one fertile egg! Don't know if he is too old to breed now?