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Re: COLONY BREEDING CANARIES.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 2:01 am
by mick1933
Hi just to let you know where I am up to with my canaries. I built the little "7" shaped semi-enclosures for each nest pan that I wrote about in my post in June, and so far it has worked better than I expected. Firstly I have had almost no fighting between the birds that is better than expected. The first hen to lay has 3 chicks about a week old and they appear to be doing fine. I have another 4 or 5 hens sitting on eggs. Not sure exactly how many as I don't like to disturb them too much. The other hens are busy making nests. I used timber I had around the house (I am a timber hoarder) and if everything turns out as good as it has started I will buy some timber and make better improved enclosures for next year. I was going to attach some photos but my camera has spat the dummy. When I get it going I will post some photos to give a better idea of my enclosures. Regards Mick

Re: COLONY BREEDING CANARIES.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:30 pm
by mick1933
IMG00061.jpg
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Hi. Just an update after all this time on how my canaries are going with the little boxes I made for them. I have attached some photos of the inside of the aviary to give you some idea of what I have done. The timber was all off-cuts I had at home and you will notice they are off square. The old table saw I have has a broken handle, the blade is off square and I didn't have time to fix it. For next breeding season I am going to make better ones. I am going to recess the upright pieces so that they fit over the 3x2" timber. At present birds can run along the top of the 3x2 behind the nests and this would stop them from doing that. I am also going to put a hinge on the top piece so I can lift it to see into the nests. Not being able to lift the lid is a major fault as I can't see inside the nests.

As for the idea I have found it to be a resounding success. So far I have over 20 young birds flying in the aviary and 11 hens sitting and the breeding season has another month or so to go. I have had no fights between cock birds and no fights over nests by the hens. I have 28 nests and that is more than double the number of hens I have. They don't seem to have any preference for any particular positions of the nest as the hens are spread around the three walls and at all heights. All in all the results are better than I expected.