New additions :D

[vinay]

I had been looking around 2 male Lady Gouldians for my 2 females. Since they aren't that common here , I was quite surprised to see an ad by someone who wanted to sell their birds . I go over and I see some beautiful birds .
I ended up coming home with a yellow or red head blue backed male (never seen one in real life before ) and a pair of red factor canaries. The birds aren't in good feather condition though . The female canary is missing her tail completely and the Gouldian has a few broken feathers . They were housed with at least 20 zebras so I can assume it was because of them . The birds looked healthy apart from the feathers .
I got them at a steal , the blue Gouldian at 170 AED (approx 45 USD) and the Canary pair for 300 AED(80 USD approx. ).
The female canary is orange but the previous owners vouch that shes a red factor too . If anyone can confirm what mutations they are , it would be really helpful .

Sorry for the bad quality pics , its night here and they don't sit still at all .

[delray]

vinay Yes, their feather condition isn't too good. If you haven't don't it already, I would quarentine them just to be on the safe side. This way if there is something wrong with them you will catch it before you expose them to your flock. Congratulations.

[lovezebs]

vinay
Good advice from Brian delray. Keep them away from your other birds until you can make sure that there is nothing wrong with them other than bad feathers.

Follow up with really good diet, lots of hard boiled eggs and vegetables and a very good quality seed mix. A bit of bird multi vitamins in their water would help as well.

Your Canaries are sweet looking and the Gouldian is pretty.
Regarding Canaries: Better pictures would help, but I would say the hen is red factor.
Now to get the really rich red colour, you need to colour feed. This is something that has to be done very carefully with special canary colour food. Too little and you don't get the red results, too much and your bird can get liver problems. I don't colour feed my Luciano, just offer things like carrots, beet greens, stalk and some grated beet, red swiss chard with stalks. He is a nice orange, and I like him that way.

Goodluck with your new birds.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

Congrats on your new lovelies!
They are looking a tad on the scruffy side, but I'm sure they'll clean up very nicely with a good diet and good care.

Agreed that it would be wise to quarantine them, just in case there's something else going on. I might even treat them for the most common parasites, like worms and mites. I do this whenever I have a bird from an unknown, questionable or not-so-reputable source.

[monotwine]

Congrats on the new birds. Others have already made good suggestions on improving their condition.

Looks like you have a RH PB SF Pastel Blue male Gould. Nice find especially if you don't get many Gouldian around where you are.

I'm sure they will thrive under their new carer.

[vinay]

Thank you all for the advice. The are under quarantine , I make it a point to quarantine for at least 3 weeks before introducing new birds.

@lovezebs

Your Luciano is beautiful . My female kinda looks like him except that her feathers are slightly discoloured.
I never knew that diet is what makes them red . It is quite interesting . Is it necessary for their that I feed them all colour foods ? The male has quite striking red markings on a white body but he was fed the same diet as the female.

I find the canaries really interesting . They look really smart for finches . They already recognise me and perk up when I come to feed them . They're also my only birds (apart from my ringneck) who're actually willing to try all foods. They've taken a particular liking to apples. Are there any natural foods which could give them the red colouring ?

[lovezebs]

vinay

Canaries are lovely birds.
Yes, they will recognize you and respond to you as they get to know you better. They will even come to recognize their names, if you talk to them and use names. They are intelligent and sweet natured. One note. During breeding season, the males can become territorial and at times aggressive (especially towards other male canaries).

Regarding foods that will help them colour up naturally:
As mentioned above, grated carrots, beet greens and stalks (you can also add a little grated beet), red swiss chard, and red peppers (if they will eat them). That's what I give Luciano, along with all the other things mentioned above. They love fresh vegetables and fruit and hard boiled eggs, along with their seed diet, and it's very healthy for them.

Yes, it is quite fascinating how red factor Canaries respond to red and orange coloured foods. However, it does not work with other colours of Canaries. For example, you can't turn a yellow bird into a red or orange.

The red factor Canary, was originally a cross between Canary and the Red Siskin, but that was many, many years ago.

Has your male started singing yet?

Enjoy your pretty birds.

~Elana~

[vinay]

I can hear him singing in between the ruckus of my various hookbills.
I'm thinking of keeping him inside the house once quarantine is done just to be able to hear his singing.
He does seem quite happy with the other quarantines . He seems quite bonded to the female as well . Should I separate him or leave with the rest ?

[lovezebs]

vinay
If he's happy with the other two and singing, I would bring them in together. If your male and female are a bonded pair, you may want to keep them together. There are times, when a male will not sing when together with a female in one cage, but if he's singing with her in the cage, then there is no problem.

They are lovely singers, which you will be able to hear much better, when away from the hookbills.

~Elana~

[vinay]

I have no info about them being a bonded pair . I guess I'll have to find out by trial and error. Almost all sources online say that canary males are highly anti-social preferring to be caged alone. This male seems pretty fine even with the male Gouldian who shares his quarantine cage .

I've been doing a little of reading online , and he seems to be a colour canary. Will he still sing well even though he wasn't bred specifically for song ?

[Sam007]

Congrats on your new birds!

[lovezebs]

vinay
I would be the first one to say, don't house two male Canaries together. They may get along for most of the year, but once breedung season comes around, they will fight.

Having said that, a male and female, may co exist together and have a good relationship and be happy together. Males at times, will not sing, if they have a girl in the cage with them. That however does not appear to be the case with your two birds, because as you mentioned, they are together, and he is singing.

Not sure how the male Gouldian fits into the equation. I believe you mentioned, that you have Gouldian females, so I'm assuming he would go into a flight with the Gouldian hens.

A lot of these things have to do with trial and error. You simply have to try what will work for you and what will work for your birds. Each bird is an individual, and they are all different from each other. What is true for one, at times is not true for another.

Regarding your male Canary, he will sing for you. Colour Canaries do sing, and some are lovely singers indeed. I'm not a hundred percent sure from the picture, but I think he might be what's known as a Mosaic Canary. Check them out on line. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous looking birds.

Warm regards.

~Elana~

[vinay]

lovezebs

Once again , thank you for your advice Elana .

After quarantine is done , I'm planning to house the new birds ( canary pair + Gouldian male ) with my existing birds (Diamond dove pair + Gouldian hen ) . In due time once I've ensured they're all in good health , I would like to breed them .
Will the 3 species breed freely in each others' presence if I provide plenty of food , nesting materials and nesting spots ?
I've read Gouldians prefer nesting boxes while canaries and doves go for open nests . If I can provide 2 nesting spots per pair would it be possible ?
Or are the canaries territorial like hookbills ?
I only have experience with tiels and budgies whom I bred in individual cages .

[lovezebs]

vinay
Re breeding:

I honestly don't know anything about Doves.

As to Gouldians, I have had much better success with them housed In a cage on their own.
My one pair, housed In a seperate cage did and are doing very well. A conical wood house used for a nest. Five out of six eggs hatched and were successfully raised. Same five young just recently weaned. My couple, is already incubating a new clutch of six eggs.

My other Gouldian pair, laid 6 eggs in a community flight, in a fabric enclosed nest together with Societies finches. They did not incubate properly (the Socies did). Five babies hatched. My Gould male tossed and drowned one chick, another chick disappeared, then he tried to toss the others , while female tried to pluck them. I had to remove the parents and leave the three remaining chicks for the Societies to raise (which they did).

As to Canaries. I do not breed them now and haven't done so in many, many years. However, Canary males do become pushy and down right aggressive during 'breeding season' and should not be housed with others during that period. The rest of the year should be fine with other species.

My boy Luciano, is housed in a large flight with Gouldians, Parrot Finches and Society Finches. He does very well until breeding season comes around (and keep in mind that I don't even own a female Canary at present). However during breeding season, he becomes territorial, starts hissing at other birds and has been known to attack a male Zebra Finch in the past. When he becomes too miserable, I do place him in a cage on his own. Once he goes into molt, he goes back to the flight and there are no more problems.

So, if you want successful breeding, a separate breeding cage would be advised.

Goodluck.

~Elana~