FINCHforum

good day i acquired a canary last week one of my freind tod me that its belly both the hen and the cock is drop. upon close inspection its under belly is yellw is it fat>? how to loose its weight?

Can you post a pic?
I cant fully understand your post but a pic would help

IF I understand you correctly you want to allow your "fat" canary to loose weight. Are you sure they are overweight? You don't want to put a healthy bird on a diet. Does your friend have experience with canaries.
If there is a fatty yellow layer under the skin between the sternum area and skin then yes yours are probably fat. Not just the "orangy yellow" you see near their vent which is their internal organs.

You can watch their diet but reducing fat seeds (like linseed/flax and niger) and more importantly give them the biggest area that you can offer for them to fly and excercise in. That will slim them down nicely.

What are they being fed / what were they being fed?

monotwine wrote:IF I understand you correctly you want to allow your "fat" canary to loose weight. Are you sure they are overweight? You don't want to put a healthy bird on a diet. Does your friend have experience with canaries.
If there is a fatty yellow layer under the skin between the sternum area and skin then yes yours are probably fat. Not just the "orangy yellow" you see near their vent which is their internal organs.

You can watch their diet but reducing fat seeds (like linseed/flax and niger) and more importantly give them the biggest area that you can offer for them to fly and excercise in. That will slim them down nicely.

What are they being fed / what were they being fed?

i feed them millet seed and canary seed as well as egg food and carrots . I just acquired this canary about a week ago. ill try to take their picture. and post it.
in our place there are only little people who have experience in rasing cannaries thats why im not 100% sure f his virdict/observation is viable needed a second opinion.
thank you for answerig my post

goodday fyi, my canary just layed 4 eggs and is incubating now, but have not seen marting from the male. Is the eggs possibly infertile? or maybe I was not able to withness the matting?

Congrats on the eggs! It is very likely that you didn't see them mate, it doesn't take long for birds. Now you can just wait till time for them to hatch to see if they are fertile, or you can candle the eggs when they are about a week old if the hen will allow it without abandoning them.

Congrats on the eggs Many times canaries will breed first thing in the morning at the crack of dawn...you may have slept right through it Time will tell if the are fertile, Enjoy

A note on overweight birds. Never restrict food while breeding. After breeding best to put in large flights where the bird gets lots of excercise. This way not only will they burn those excess calories but they will build muscle for better health all over. After breeding I use to cut back on the eggfood to 2x a week, cut back on chitted/sprouted seed, and increased the fresh greens.

good day to all, my canary layed 4 eggs out of the 4 1 has hatch last friday. the chick is about 5 days old. but i havenot seen them feeding it? is this possible? or maybe i just did not witness the feeding. been paranoind because of what happend to my yellow back gouldian who chick tossed their babies. they hatch the same day.
also what will i do with the unhatched eggs will i take it or just leave it on the nest ad let the hen toss it? its my first time and im the first in our group to have hatch a canary please advise thanks

I do not know if canaries are like zebra finches, but if they are, and the chick is 5 days old, then I would think they have been feeding it at least something. Also, have you heard the chick begging at all? It may be very quiet begging, but I think if it begs and eventually stops, the parents must be feeding something. Again, this is my experience with zebra finch chicks, so I'm not sure to what extent it will apply to canaries...

thank you for the insight, will observe hope all is well .

I agree with Nelissa. If the chick is 5 days old, someone has to be feeding it. Congrats
As for the eggs, I would leave them.. The baby will use these for support.

Oh my goodness - CONGRATULATIONS on the Canary baby!! I'm so green with envy and you are sooooo lucky!!

They must be feeding the baby for it to still be alive at 5 days of age. That's fantastic! Congratulations again!

thank you to all. the baby is almost twice the size now. is it ok to handle the chicks by hand?

goodday to all, just an update, my canary chick"solo"is about 23 days olds is new left the nest . the hen also has laid 2 eggs. will i leave the chick with its father to assist on feeding or will i transfer it to another cage.?

If you can put a wire divider in the cage separating the chick - the father will continue to feed it through the bars while mom goes on to lay another clutch.