SELECTING THE BIRDS

The chances are you already own one of the birds you plan to use for breeding. For best prospects the male should be healthy and sleek, a good singer, and between twelve months and four years old. The hen should also be healthy and sleek, from one to five years old, and should differ from the cock bird in coloring. For example, with the cock a yellow, the hen could be a lighter colored buff, or vice versa. Pair yellow and buff, green and white, cinnamon and white, yellow and green, and so on. Your hens should be vigorous and if not overbred (used for more than two nests the previous season) it is a good thing to use those with proved capacity on your first attempt.

Most breeders allow the hens to have flying exercise daily. For this purpose a flight cage or room is best, and if you intend to mate several pairs, it is a good investment. Its size can depend on the space available. A very useful flying cage is four feet long, two feet high, and one-and-a-half to two feet deep. Place the seed at one end, the water at the other, and keep the perches widely spaced in order to insure exercise. Smaller flights can be used satisfactorily, and if a spare room is available its whole area can be used. Many successful breeders use attic space divided into flight rooms with hardware cloth and screen doors. The floor of each flight room is covered with gravel.

BREEDING CAGES AND NESTS

One of the best breeding cages for canaries is metal, box-shaped, with two sliding partitions in the middle, one of regular cage wire, the other of sheet metal. It is about twenty-four inches long, eleven inches high and eleven inches deep. The bottom and tray are removable, and there are sliding doors in the front of each compartment. In addition, there should be a swinging door in the upper rear corner of each end.

Nests are hung in the corners by these doors, so that the top of the nest is about one inch higher than the perch. The nesting material should consist of specially prepared nesting hair, moss, shredded burlap, short pieces of string or such material. Line the nests with warm cloth pads. Use two when necessary. Sew the pads to the nest using short stitches inside and long outside to prevent the hen from catching her feet in the stitches. As a precaution, dust the lining thoroughly with insect powder.

We shall be glad to supply plans for home built breeding cages, flight cages, and outside aviaries on request. Write us what you have in mind.

EARLY SEASON CHORES

Select a shielded location for the breeding cage. Wild birds seek seclusion and privacy when they nest, and will often leave the nest and eggs entirely if disturbed, and relocate in a better hiding place. Although canaries have been bred in cages for hundreds of years, this tendency to desert the nest and nestlings persists. The breeding cage should have a solid foundation and the perches should be tried individually to be sure that they are steady and firm.

Provide a flashlight for the breeding room. It will come in handy for brief nighttime checkups on the birds; for removing the male, which is best done at night; and for candling the eggs after the hen has been setting for about six days. Provide a small cardboard box half filled with a dry cereal such as corn meal, or with cotton. This receptacle is for the first few eggs and its use is explained in the paragraph “Round One.” Another early season chore is to secure three or four dummy canary eggs. Such dummy eggs can be purchased from pet dealers, but a small ? diameter marble or wooden ball will suffice. Their use is also explained under “Round One.”

GETTING THE BIRDS READY

Early in January the birds should have their nails trimmed, if overlong, to prevent punctured eggs or accidental harm to the nestlings. Allow the hen as much flying exercise as possible. If you have no flight cage, the added exercise she will get in the breeding cage, with the partitions removed, will be helpful.

In early February the regular seed diet should be supplemented with egg food. This is prepared by sieving a 30-minute boiled egg and mixing with toasted bread crumbs etc., to a crumbly consistency. See “Egg Food” in “General Care” section. A little poppy seed sprinkled over the portion given each bird is beneficial. A daily teaspoonful of this mixture for each bird is sufficient until the early part of March. About once a week scatter a little ground oyster shell on the cage floor with the gravel, and keep a cuttle bone in the cage at all times. A few tender dandelion leaves, when procurable, are relished once a week. Some breeders like to use freshly sprouted seed at the stage when the sprout is a quarter of an inch long or less and also greens they raise themselves from the regular bird seed mixture. The early part of January is a good time to practice raising these greens. Just be sure that there is no evidence of mold growth on the sprouted seed when it is fed.

Small diameter perches for the chicks just weaned can be secured in advance. A visit to your shrubs or grape arbor will easily provide a handful of suitable length perches of moderately rough surface, from ¼ to ? in diameter. Starting about the first of March a little niger seed should be given the hen in a treat cup two or three times weekly. This oily seed should help prevent egg binding. At this time both the solid and wire partitions can be put back in the breeding cage, and the cock changed to his half of the cage.

THE MATING

At mating time the hen is lively and alert and will usually call loudly. The cock will sing lustily and dance on the perch with lowered wings while singing. When these signs occur, remove the solid partition, leaving the wire partition in place. When you see the cock feeding the hen through the bars, remove the wire too, and let the birds run together. They may quarrel for a short while, but will soon become devoted. Place the lined nest in the cage along with a little nesting material.

ROUND ONE—THE FIRST NEST

Do not be in a hurry for the hen to lay. She will produce her egg at her own time and no sooner. As soon as it is laid, take it out of the nest with a teaspoon and place it in the small box you prepared earlier, replacing it with a dummy egg. Remove the second egg likewise. Turn the removed eggs daily. As a general rule an egg is laid every morning until a clutch of from four to six eggs is completed. There are occasions when a hen will produce only two or three eggs to a clutch, and many times she will skip a day between eggs. When the third egg is laid, remove the dummy egg, dust the nest again with insect powder, and place the other eggs back in the nest. The evening is a good time to do this.

When the hen takes to her nest entirely, separate the cock and hen by replacing the wire partition. The hen’s bath should be withheld for the first eleven days she sits. On the sixth day you should candle the eggs. Cut an oval hole slightly smaller than the dimension of an egg in the bottom of a small cardboard box, and place an egg on the hole. From beneath, shine your flashlight through the egg. If the egg is clear it is infertile, but if slightly red with a dark spot it is fertile. If the eggs are all clear remove them and the nest, and after a few days start over, letting the cock run with the hen again. If there are fertile eggs, place them back in the nest, where the hen will continue through the setting period, which is fourteen days from the day she took to the nest steadily.

After the eleventh day allow her to bathe daily as the moisture from her feathers tends to soften the egg shells and is an aid to the chicks in picking their way through.

When the hen takes to the nest, it is a good plan, because of her inactivity, to restrict her diet somewhat—particularly the egg food and greens. She will likely leave much of this anyway, and she should never take any that has soured, as she may do if it is left in the cage partly uneaten all day.

AFTER THE HATCHING

Upon hatching, egg food should be given three times a day in addition to the regular seed mixture. The first feeding each day should be given as early in the morning as possible. See “Egg Food” under “General Care.” Fresh greens may be fed daily. Newly hatched youngsters require very small amounts of food. “Feed little and often,” is a good rule to follow. You will soon be able to judge the amount, bearing in mind that quantity should be increased as the youngsters grow. When the nestlings are about six days old their eyes will have opened, and when they are around ten days old the partition can be withdrawn and the cock allowed to rejoin the hen. However, if the hen is not feeding the young as she should, or if she doesn’t stay on the nest sufficiently to keep the chicks warm, the cock should be allowed to return at once.

Many successful breeders prepare “soaked seed” for morning and evening feedings for the hen and nestlings from hatching time to six weeks later. Prepare by putting a little of your regular seed mixture to soak at the morning feeding. Then, at the evening feeding, stir this well, strain, and put to soak again in fresh water. On the following morning, stir, rinse in fresh water, strain, dry, and this “soaked” seed is ready to use. Soaked seed for the evening feed is started each evening, strained, put to soak again each morning, and in the evening strained, rinsed, dried between paper towels, and fed.

Soaked seed often does wonders for a nonfeeding hen, and it is valuable for chicks after they are separated from the hen. As the birds gain in age, gradually increase the seed proportion and cut down soft foods, until they are about six weeks old. At this age they are able to crack their own seeds, and the regular French’s Bird Seed and Biscuit may be given them together with feedings of egg food about three times a week until they have completed their moult.

THE SECOND ROUND

Between sixteen and twenty-one days after the hatching, the hen will probably show signs of wanting to go to nest again. Place the second nest in the opposite corner of the cage, and stuff bits of fresh nesting material between the cage bars near the new nest. Be sure that enough is allowed, otherwise she will pull feathers out of the young birds. When the hen lays her first egg, it should be removed as before, and Round One repeated. As soon as she takes to her second nest entirely, the chicks from Round One and the cock should be moved to the other half of the cage, and separated from the hen by the wire partition.

Although a very vigorous hen and a good feeding cock can hatch three or four nests in a season, best results are had by not allowing more than two. If the nesting is finished early in June, the parents and chicks will be in condition for the moult in late summer. The added strain of more than two nests will likely make the birds unreliable for breeding the following season.

DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF

—A nestling falls out of the nest the first few days. When this happens pick up the young bird and warm it in your hands for a few minutes and then, if it is alive, place it back in the nest.

—One or more of the eggs do not hatch, though fertile. Sometimes a chick is too weak to pick through the shell which may be unusually hard due to excessive dryness if the hen does not bathe. Should many of the eggs turn out this way, put a few teaspoonfuls of common salt, or even rock salt in the bottom of the nest pan, below the lining, as this will attract (and retain) moisture from the air. There are many other reasons why fertile eggs do not hatch, most of them indicating a weakness in the embryo. However, one of the most common causes is chilling of the eggs due to the hen leaving the nest for too long a time. A sudden cold spell may have the same effect.

—One or more of the hatchlings are found dead in the nest. Remove at once. Accidental smothering or crushing by the hen is likely the cause, or if the eggs hatch out over a period of two or three days, the first hatchlings may be getting practically all the food. That is why you should remove the first two eggs, so that all hatch as nearly as possible at the same time.

—The hen you are expecting to lay again is found crouching in a corner of the cage, trembling and quite apparently in severe pain. She is probably suffering from egg-binding, and must be attended to at once. Take the hen very gently in your hand, and put three or four drops of olive oil in her beak. Carefully place her back in the cage, and after a short time the egg will be passed safely.

—The “sweating hen” problem occurs. Her breast feathers will have a moist appearance leading one to believe that she is sweating. What actually happens is that the hen loses condition, probably as the result of eating food that is sour, stale, or too sloppy, and this is passed on to the baby chicks. Diarrhoea results. Normally during the first week or so, the excreta from the young is expelled in a tiny transparent bag which the hen picks up in one piece when cleaning the nest. Being unable to do this if the young have diarrhoea, her feathers become sticky and matted.

—The hen starts picking feathers from the backs of the Round One chicks to provide nesting for the second nest even though ample nesting material is supplied. When this happens separate the cock and the chicks from the hen, using the wire partition.

THE NON-FEEDING HEN

It is normal for a hen to stop feeding her babies when she takes to her second nest of eggs. The cock bird can usually be depended upon to continue the job. However, a hen sometimes stops feeding at an earlier time, often because of an upset condition resulting from improper feeding—or from a fright. Such things as stale or soured soft foods, food deficiencies, or lack of sufficient fresh green food are most often the root of the trouble, although overfat and lazy hens sometimes seem to find proper feeding too much trouble. Try allowing the cock to carry on alone, giving the hen normal feeding until she resumes her duty. When the chicks are not being fed by either bird, it is advisable to divide the nestlings among the other nests if you have other pairs with chicks about the same age.

Otherwise, handfeeding is imperative. Chew either Pablum or oat flakes and when mushy, feed it to the babies from the end of a toothpick. In a day or two the parents may resume feedings. Should they not, the chewed food will have to be supplemented with greens, egg yolk, and after the chicks are ten days old, a little soft cuttle bone scraped from the soft side of the bone sprinkled over the mush. A few grains of table salt should also be added.

If a chick is out of the nest, it is likely to be afraid and refuse to open its beak for food. Take such a bird in your left hand, pry open the beak with the right thumb nail and hold it open with the nails of your left thumb and forefinger. Avoid injury either to the bird’s eyes or through too firm a hold. Keep the head elevated for easy swallowing and feed from a toothpick. Always feed warm food. A little milk sop from toasted whole wheat bread makes a good change. The babies usually will begin to feed themselves a few days after leaving the nest and can then be given moist nestling food, sprouted rape seeds, and cracked seeds prepared from regular French’s Bird Seed.

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