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Canary Notes: The Breeding Season
By Kevin Wirick
This is the long awaited time of the year for canary breeders. This is
when we have high hopes of producing those "new colors" of excellent
type.
The breeding season is the hardest time of all for the canaries as now
the birds must give of themselves to raise their young: especially the
hens. Mother Nature has built a system into the birds so that if they
are not in good physical condition, they will not raise many youngsters.
The most important thing to remember is that you cannot take "so-so"
care of your birds during the moult and then just before the breeding
season treat them like kings; it just does not work that way.
Lighting
Light plays such an important part in the breeding season. During the
moult, turn you lights on at 8 a.m. and off at 4 p.m. to allow the birds
plenty of rest. Before the breeding season begins, increase the lights.
This seems to be a real science that will need your full concentration.
The birds in the wild receive two minutes a day increase in light a day.
The birds will need to receive thirteen hours of light before you start
pairing up. Since increasing you lights two minutes a day is
impractical; I would increase the lights on a weekly or bi-monthly
basis. I don't increase my lights to drastically because the birds can
go into a moult with too much of a change. Times are the only way to go
if you have canaries. There are a lot of different models on the market.
The best one that I have seen was recommended by Jan Ritter, (a
colorbred and American Singer canary breeder) is a digital timer called
"Micronta Programmable Timer" made by Radio Schack. The timer has eight
on/off settings and has a battery that will keep the time correct in
case of a power outage. I believe this was $24 or so but it was well
worth the extra money.
It is very important to use the correct light. I have used the
florescent bulb called Vita-Lites for many years. This bulb is
manufactured by Duro-Test. In numerous tests, Vita-Lites have proven to
be the best built on the market as it is as close to natural sunshine as
you can buy in a tube. Zoos have been finding that birds, fish and other
creature waste away under standard fluorescent lighting and flourish
under simulated sunlight.
One doctor who has been interested in studying the effects of light is
Dr. Richard J. Wartman, director of the neuroendocrine laboratory in
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Studies done by Dr. Wartman on
the endocrine system of laboratory animals exposed to different types of
light have shown that rats raised under "cool white" florescent light
called "cool" because it emits so little ultraviolet and it's read and
yellow color emissions are so unlike the sun's not only have larger
spleens and smaller hearts than rats raised under full spectrum light,
but also their gonads (female ovaries and male testes) were smaller.1
Only "Vita-Lite", artificially duplicates the full spectral properties
of natural sunlight. It is, the only commercial lighting bulb which has
the mixture of all colors an in nearly the same amount as sunlight. Many
zoos have installed full spectrum artificial lighting and report
increased absorption of calcium, more natural coloration, and successful
breeding of birds which previously had refused to breed even though they
were being maintained in habitats natural in every other environmental
way except full spectrum natural lighting. Such a report was made by the
New your Zoological Gardens and achieved the first know hatching of a
Tuffed Puffin in captivity, only after installing full spectrum
artificial lighting.
I had so few birds that became egg bound over the years and attribute
this to the Vita-Lites that helped the birds to absorb calcium. Prior to
that, egg bound hens were much more frequent and often lethal.
There are always many new breeders in this or any club. It is important
to point out some of the do's and don't for the upcoming breeding
season.
The use of a night light in your aviary is a must, year round. I have
always used a 7 1/2 watt light bulb that is available at many hardware
stores for less than $3. The red bulb is dark enough to allow the birds
to sleep but light enough to allow the birds to find their way back to
the nest should they be startled off.
Be sure to check your bird room windows and see that car lights do not
flash in the windows at night, as they can startle your hens and cause
them to abandon their eggs. Larger birds could possible injure
themselves.
Pre-breeding
At least two weeks prior to pairing up your birds separate your males
and trim their nails as many an egg has been punctured and a potential
chick lost because of a long toenail. Males that have been separated
from the other males seem much more virile than those just caught out of
a flight cage for the first time. When you're catching your males and
trimming their toenails, check their vents to see if they are in top
breeding condition. Blow on their vents to be sure the males are swollen
and ready. When a male is ready for breeding, his vent will look like a
"L" or a hook. The females will be rounded and come straight back. It is
quite possible that a young hen might be mixed in with the males. After
the males have been separated for two weeks it is time for the hens. The
hens should also have their toenails trimmed prior to going in with the
males. Be sure the hens are swollen and ready to breed.
Nests
Most breeders use plastic nests these days, as the old wire nests have
not been sold for sometime. Use a nest pad on the bottom of the nest to
help absorb shocks and keep the youngsters warm. There are next pads on
the market or you could buy a ready made one and go to a fabric shop and
make your own. When you use the plastic nests, you will either have to
put a few drops of white glue on the nest to hold the pad in place or
baste it with a needle and thread. Most breeders give burlap to their
birds for nest building. They are not as plentiful as they use to be but
I have seen them in farm/hardware type stores for about a dollar a bag.
I have seen these at Country General in Brighton, CO in the past but
call first to be sure they are still in stock. Wash the bag in soap and
water and then through a cycle of plain water. I put mine in regular
dryers (by themselves); you will get a lot of lint. After your bags are
dry, cut them into two inch square pieces and unravel. Place the
unraveled pieces on top of the cage and your birds will pull the burlap
through to build their nest. If you place the burlap material on the
floor of the cage, your birds may get their feet caught in it and
possibly injure themselves.
Eggs
The eggs are the next logical step. If your birds are in breeding
condition, the robin colored eggs will appear in two to seven day. I
remove each egg from the nest in the morning as it is laid and replace
it with an artificial canary egg to keep the hen believing she is still
setting on her eggs. (It is best to do this about 8 a.m. which will
allow the egg to harden.) As the eggs are removed from the nest, I place
them in a dish of seed (large end up) to prevent breakage. When the hen
lays her third egg, remove the male and the artificial egg from the
next. She will hatch all three eggs on the same day allowing all the
young a better chance for survival. It seems that the third egg laid
will hatch on the thirteen days while the other eggs will hatch in
fourteen days. It takes approximately twenty-four hours for the eggs to
reach their temperature and the cell division to begin. She will lay
anywhere from one to three more eggs. The last egg laid seems to be a
different color, a much lighter blue.
Because of the dry climate in Colorado, I spay my hens with warm water
or offer them a bath a day or two before the hen is due to hatch. Some
chicks get stuck in the shell and the extra humidity tends to take care
of the problem.
Egg food
Egg food or nestling food must be given to your hens to raise their
youngsters. Buy the bast you can afford as the difference in the cost of
bad egg food and good will surely pay for itself in the young you
produce. I hard boil eggs for five minutes and allow them to cool in the
pan of water. Overcooking can destroy the nutritional value. Grade your
eggs in a Folly Food Mil or a salad maker (something to grade them
fine). Add a carrot per egg (graded fine to look some what like carrot
salad). To this, I add my dry mixture and mix well. I normally make up
what my hens will need in a day or two and refrigerate the unused
mixture. Normally, I try to feed the hens four times per day when they
have young. For an added treat, sprinkle a little poppy or anise seed on
your nestling food. Remember to clean you egg food dishes often in
bleach and water because too much bacteria buildup can quickly cause a
hen to abandon their nest. The young many die from diarrhea and the hen
will get ill also.
Banding
Banding your birds is the best way to keep accurate records of whom your
birds are bred from and whether or not they may be a carrier of a
recessive or a sex-linked factor. I band at approximately five days or
when the young open their eyes. Close bands are the best as they can
guarantee a young bird's age to another breeder and it can be entered as
a young bird at the show in the fall. Otherwise, a bird with an open
band will always be considered an old bird. The band color for 1996 is
green; 1997 red; 1998 blue; 1999 silver.
Second nests
To take a second next from your hens, place another nest in the cage
alongside your first. I place my males' back with the hens when they are
fifteen days old. At this time, the hen is willing to be re-bred and
you'll have fertile eggs. Place the male with the hen for five to ten
minutes or until you see that copulation has taken place. One session is
usually enough, however you may re-breed the following day if desired.
My hens seem to start laying when the young are nineteen days old and by
the time they young are twenty-one days and weanable, I can set the hens
with another clutch of eggs.
Weaning young
When weaning the young, place the youngsters in a small flight cage with
a feeding cock or hen. I feed egg food to these birds three times a day
and sprinkle in dry seed after the first week (feeding on the floor as
well as in a cup). Always have fresh seed available in the cage. I
gradually cut down on the eggfood until I'm giving it only once each
day. It takes about three weeks to gradually switch your birds to see
entirely. Soaked seed can also be give as a "soft food" for young
canaries.
Conclusion Remember the basis of genetics and don't just pair
anyone together just to produce birds. As a club, we should be promoting
the perfection of the breeds in type and color and we should always keep
this objective in mind. Remember the following statement if you have
gotten nothing else from this article, "you can feed a good bird for the
same price as a poor one."
Houck, Catherine, Moneysworth, November 1979.
Hogen, Linda, Sunlight-The Great Giver of Life, National Colorbred
Association, December 1992.
303-456-0068
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