Fertility enhancers for canaries?

[Christiaan]

I do not know if I chose the correct topic for this question....

I have several pairs of canaries. And for me it is now breeding season. About a third of them are either on eggs or have babies, some ready to leave the nest already. The second third had unfertilized eggs. And the last lot, well, does not even seem remotely interested in the opposite sex.

What can I give them to stimulate their hormones?

Some general background: I use breeders, and set the birds up during August. They are normally allowed three nests, before I break them up. The sexes (and babies) are kept separate for a month or so, before I let them out in a flight cage, where they will stay until next breeding season. All my cages are outside, but well sheltered.

I feed a commercial seed mix throughout the year, softfood during the non-breeding months consist of cooked grains with fresh/raw beetroot, carrot and sweet patato grated in, fortified with an immune and feather oil (Wheat germ oil, Garlic oil,Evening Primrose oil, vit E, linseed oil, Canola and sunflower oil). When I put them in the breeders, I change to a higher protein egg food, which is given once daily, and when the chicks arrive, twice daily. Greens and other fruit are given now and then.

Any advice as to what I can do, please ?

[lovezebs]

Christiaan

That's odd, that some are breeding, laying, hatching and rearing chicks, while others are laying empty eggs, or not interested in breeding at all.

Are your breeding cages in different locations, some getting more sun than others, maybe warmer, maybe colder?

I am assuming that everyone is getting the same diet (?) Have the non breeders bred for you before, or are they all first time breeders?

Regarding your diet (or rather their diet ). The only thing I could recommend, would be more greens (such as spinach, kale, red chard, parsley, broccoli, carrot greens, etc. Also apples, orange slices, and red grape slices. You mention egg food, do you make your own? I find that my guys absolutely love home made egg food.

Other than that, I'm not sure what's going on with your non romantic birds.

Wishing you luck.

[Christiaan]

lovezebs

Thanks for the reply...

The birds are kept in one of three sets of breeders. They all receive the same treatment, light levels, temperatures, etc. are all very similar.

Some are older canaries, and some yearlings. I also did not change things much from previous years, my care plan is essentially the same.

I do not make my own eggfood... I buy a commercial brand (not the cheapest one !). I simply do not have the time to make my own. (Currently I have about 300 birds, of which 27 pairs are canaries).

And because I did not change anything dramatically (Only added 10 more breeders.. ), I expected similar results than last year...I have been asking around locally, it would seem as if many people have problems with unfertilized eggs, so it might be more weather related than care related.

Oh well, the joys of working with living beings !

[Rox]

Christiaan, how much light do they get in your bird room? Extended daylight hours plays a big role in getting canaries into breeding mode, needing at least 12 hours daylight a day.

Your diet sounds good and the only other thing I can think of is perhaps some of your birds are either too young or too old to breed and are mismatched with their partners. Do you know their ages?

I have 2 canary hens in my holding aviary and they are in full breeding mode, even though there are no males or nests available to them. The one hen has now made a nest and layed eggs in a pot plant

[lovezebs]

Rox

Maybe you'll grow an egg tree, in that pot, Roxanne......

[Rox]

lovezebs

Elana, considering the pot (eggs and bird included) got watered yesterday, you just never know!!!

Seriously though, the little cow of a canary plucked my poor diamond dove baby to make a nest. I was not impressed Her nesting attempts are now being removed daily...

[lovezebs]

Rox

Oh no, poor baby Diamond Dove .

I find with Canary girls, that once they breed and start laying, that's all they want to do afterwards. They have this real chicken mentality (males or no males). I just don't get it .

[Christiaan]

Rox

The birds are outside, I do not use a birdroom. Currently we are on about 13 hours sunlight a day, supposedly it is still spring, so days will still lengthen during the next 2-3 months. Today it was rather hot for a spring day, at 42 degrees Celsius (107 F)

About half of my current flock is young birds (about one year old), the rest is mostly two and three year old birds. (I have been breeding canaries for eight years now, my flock is so young due to an ODE (Open Door Episode). Two weeks after the ODE rats decimated nearly the rest of my canaries. This happened three years ago)

[MiaCarter]

Hmmm....very curious.

I might try offering some other sources of protein. Their protein intake is a big factor in prompting mating. Lots of protein = mating.

My thought is that perhaps some aren't too enthusiastic on your eggfood (something I've seen with commercial egg foods but never homemade) and if that's their primary protein source, then they may not be getting enough to get them into breeding mode.

Some species only breed with live food available. Waxbills mostly. I've never heard of this for canaries, but I see you're in South Africa, so it's possible your canaries are a tad bit different than the ones in here in the U.S. (Plus, there are many canary varieties too)

Light is the other big stimulator. Just 1-2 extra hours of daylight can make a big difference. I have a bird room with all artificial lighting. I found that by reducing the daylight by a couple hours, many became more reluctant breeders.

[lovezebs]

Christiaan

Open door episode ??? That doesn't sound good. Rats???? That sounds even worse !!! Do you want to share? I mean share what happened, please don't share the rats

I honestly can't think why some of your Canaries would not breed, while others are breeding fine. If you've been breeding for eight years, than obviously you know what you're doing. I would recommend trying to compare every little thing between the breeders and none breeders. Are all the breeder cages facing in the same direction? Do all of them get morning sun, evening sun?
They obviously get enough heat, holy crow, it's hot over there! We had +11 C today as the high temperature of the day, and I was grateful for that .

Maybe put the non breeders in a flight, offer lot's of protein, and let them choose their own mates (?) When I was breeding my Luciano, I offered two females. He definitely showed a preference for one, and not the other. Just a thought.

[Rox]

Christiaan I've been watching the temps up your side. Crazy hot already! Here in the Cape we are just hitting 20'C and slowly getting warmer. That said, daylight hours is definitely not a problem for you Perhaps it's just the younger birds that are out of sync with their older partners?

Mia has a point about extra protein and you should try mealworms. I have a mixed aviary (mostly waxbills and gouldians) but the canaries will happily eat the mealworms if allowed to. Even dried mealworms would be a good start for them.

[Christiaan]

lovezebs
Not much to tell about the ODE, really... I was sorting out birds and they were in a convenient cage on my back porch. It is a set of 8 breeders from which I can remove all dividers to create a sort of flight cage. The latches (now all replaced..) were of a swing type. And the wild canaries and finches saw them as an ideal landing place from where to look for fallen seeds ... Due to the construct and shape, they were able to swing the latch by repeatedly landing on them. The door swinged open.... and 8 out of 11 of my older red factors were never seen again.

The (young) rat gained entry to the cage through the hole made for the water fountain. My whole seasons male offspring was in there. One survived, without toes and part of a wing. His beak was also damaged, and I had to put him out. It was a most horrible experience... finding only parts of the sculls and beaks and feathers in the cage..

[Christiaan]

MiaCarter, lovezebs, Rox

I will look into the protein aspect.
Currently the eggfood I use have 18% protein, there is one available that does have 22%, will give it a try. I did buy (from another company) a nice finch and softbill food, with 22%, but the canaries did not like it, I thought I'll start using it again during off-season so that they get use to it's colour and smell. I recon it is better to use the 18% one than giving them the 22% one which they don't eat.

I have never tried mealworms, will give it a try as well. Would I be able to mix dried grounded mealworms to their softfood?

Mia: Would you mind sharing your homemade eggfood rescipe with me, please?

Will keep you posted !

[andiok]

Christiaan
very odd. seems you are treating them perfectly fine with light hours and diet adding the extra vitamins and proteins.
the only thing that crosses my mind is if your stock has close blood stream lines. crossing close family would eventually give fertility problems but other then that i dont really see anything wrong.

the other thing is how often do you breed your males per season. is not advisable to get more than 2 nests per male. excessive mating for males = lower fertility

another thing could be that the males have more fat then usually. that could cause some fertility issues.
make sure that the mix you are feeding during rest period does not contain to many protein seeds.

only thing i would do is increase the vitamin E and add some natural wild plants.

good luck

[DanteD716]

Id take away the best for a week, and put it back in for the hen to start over. I've had hens too eager and broody, that will lay as soon as provided a nest, not bothering to properly copulate with the male.