are canaries active

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I have a few questions for the canary experts.

I have a young male canary that is very active. He is under 6 months of age.

I was just wondering if canaries are active in general, or just when they are very young.

Does it make a difference what breed they are as far as activity level? Mine is a waterslager.

Are female canaries less active than males?

If you were to have a canary you needed to color feed to keep it's nice bright color and you wanted to keep other birds in the same flight, is there a product that would be okay for other birds to have.

I'm contemplating keepig a few yellow, and red factor females with a few other birds, but would not do it unless the female canaries would be active. I wouldn't like it if they just sat around. I would also want to be able to use something natural to color feed the red factors, that wouldn't bother other birds residing in the same flight.

I would love to hear what all of you canary experts think.

[tobyneilson]

I have scot fancie and Irish canaries,they are all active and great fun to watch and listen to,thye are very friendly and sit there chatting to me while I do the food etc, just one word of warning,when it comes to bbath time be no where neat them as they splash it everywhere!!!

[ac12]

Only if you have a red-factor canary do you need to worry about color food. The red-factors need a food containing the "stuff" that they need to color their feathers orange. w/o that the feathers are white...at least that is what happened to my wifes red-factor canary.

[kenny]

hi
if you wanted to colour feed a canary or a few ,you will have to seperate them as they need colour food which you can buy from a specilist pet store but they need to be on there own otherwise all your birds would eat the suff or drink it depending on which product you buy,and you would end up with all your birds showing red in thier feathers,on the active note why wouldnt you want your canaries to be active ,i would think they where all ill if they were not jumping about all the time,in a cage a canary usually hops from one perch to another constantly.usually stopping only to sing...if it was a male.if it was in an aviary they would do the same they are constantly on the move,which is what keeps them fit if they just sat there they would just eat and get fat who would want that!


ken

[ranchnanny]

I have a Red Factor and I do give him color food Quiko I believe. I also give him grated carrot and sweet potato.

Here is a photo of him. Hope I am not hijacking is post

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What a beauty!

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Kenny,

Must have sounded to you like I didn't want active birds, but I'm actually asking because I want VERY active birds. I would not consider even getting female canaries if I were to be told they were not very active. I like watching all the action in the flights, so I usually avoid keeping the less active species.

My male canary is very active, and I LOVE that! I wanted to know if female canaries are just as active.

Also, I have always thought the very young gouldians are active, but then as they get older ( like between 1&2 years ) they become less active. I was just wondering if maybe it was like that with certain other species.

[kenny]

hi
sorry for misunderstanding,as i put earlier the female canaries seem to move about more than the males usually in breeding season which is now in my part of the world,the male usually just hops about and stops occasionally to sing is head off where as the female usually hops from perch to perch in a breeding cage situation,if they are in an aviary mostly if they are fit birds they are hardly ever still,and all the flying about in an aviary situation keeps them fit,zebras,never stop moving whereever they are housed,societies do move about but i would say not as much as zebs do.all birds that i have kept javas,bronze wings, mannakins ,hecks.all to my knowledge are all very active unless they are sick of course....even button quail are active i know they stay on the ground but mine used to walk about like clockwork toys

i hope i am not hijacking either but this little guy was colourfed on his own then let out into the aviary

ken

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[star]

Beautiful Kenny!

Thank you for letting me know that the female canaries are also active. Now I will think more seriously of getting some. Will four female canaries get along housed together as long as they have plenty of space?

[kenny]

hi
hens together get along better but dont cram them all into a small cage or they may start fighting,cocks will usually fight but not always, if they have plenty of room to fly about usually the fighting starts at the breeeding season if the cocks are in the same vicinity as a female

ken

[jonvill]

You can keep red factor hens in with yellow canaries and still maintain some degree of color in their feathers by feeding carrots and dark greens. These foods will not produce deep red coloration in red factors like the "color food" but your birds should maintain some degree of orange color if they are in fact true red factors and your yellow and white birds will not change colors on this natural diet.