FINCHforum

I've heard of small and large GSs - are these the same species, just bred for size?

A book from 1975 (Finches and other seed eating birds) that I just got describes GS as 4.5 - 5 inches. That is a much larger bird than mine.

Also, this book says: " (Serins) are commonly kept as song-birds wherever they occur and a popular pastime among bird-keepers of every region is to cross-breed the local serins with domesticated varieties of Canary to create variations of song. Not only are such hybrids easy to produce, but hybrids between various species of serin have been produced with almost equal facility. Hybrids are most easily bred by introducing a male of the wild bird in a roomy cage with a female domestic Canary. The young of most if not all of these cross-breeding appear to be fertile, demonstrating how closely related the genus is."

This suprised me because I thought I had read in this forum that GSxcanary hybids are sterile?

Hoping that one of the GS experts here can clarify for me.

I don't think serious finch owners want to cross breed in a hybridization situation. I do know many buy a canary male to teach the GS males how to sing. The canary is placed within hearing distance, but not together with the GS. I have one of the large GS subspecies and the rest are the smaller variety. The larger GS is a cock and he is very skittish, as he was wild caught. He has only produced one offspring to date. My other GS cock was a juvenile when I bought him and he is a great father and produces well. He is also much more tame and does not fly away from me when I approach the cage to change food/water. I love the GS. As for size, my adults are about the size of Society's or Lavender finches, maybe 3.5-4 inches. If yours are smaller than that, they may still be young. My larger GS is about 4.5-5 inches.

I wasn't thinking of trying to breed a canary hybrid - just trying to get a better understanding of the serin family.

Even having my GS pair breed is somewhat problematic - I would like for it to be possible because that would mean that the environment I have given them meets their needs, but I've realized GS take a lot of space. Unless I build an aviary I would have to find good homes for the progeny.

I'm not a GS expert. I just have done some searches online because i have a GS. I have not read anything about GS-canary hybrids being infertile. As for the larger subspecies, i think the head body proportion is different. So the large GS looks like it has a small head, but its just that its body is big.
Never figured out how to measure my GS, though. Do you meaasure head to feet or beak to tail? Seems to me it makes a big difference whether the bird stands up straight.

kathmcm wrote:I wasn't thinking of trying to breed a canary hybrid - just trying to get a better understanding of the serin family.

Even having my GS pair breed is somewhat problematic - I would like for it to be possible because that would mean that the environment I have given them meets their needs, but I've realized GS take a lot of space. Unless I build an aviary I would have to find good homes for the progeny.

Adequate aviary space and/or flight cage space is critical when raising GS. I love them and want to breed more, but I have to account for only one pair per flight and that gets tricky once there are young. I'm up to 8 now and pulled all the nests to stop the breeding as I need another flight before I add any more babies.

Green Singers will cross with canaries easily, and the babies will be fertile, since they are so closely related. I had a Green Singer/canary hybrid once. He was much larger than a pure GS, a really beautiful bird, and he had the most incredible song I've ever heard. Unfortunately, he was also the most aggressive bird I've ever had, and he had to live in a cage all by himself.