Molt is over! Singing now?

Hi everyone! I post more on my website, so please check there from time to time for information. www.theCanaryCoop.com
Molt is about over! I'm tired of sweeping up feathers! Are you?? My male canaries are already singing and sparring between the cage bars at each other. Love is in the air. At least for the males! The females aren't too interested yet. But I guess after all the work of laying and incubating eggs all season they are still taking advantage of the "vacation". I really don't blame them! Your bird room light timers should be shortened, as natures day is shorter. As the day lengthens in time this triggers the females to begin looking for a mate. In the next couple of months you should begin to gradually add about 15 minutes per week to your light timer to build to a day length of about 12-14 hours. This is crucial to a good breeding season. The bird pairs know that a longer day means they have longer to feed their young chicks. January/February is when you can start looking to pair your birds. More later! :>

Better late than never!

Boy, how time flies. Looks like it was May that I blogged last.

There have been some changes around the Canary Coop! We moved and I had to set up the entire aviary again. In the move 2 out of 3 pairs of birds that were nesting abandoned their eggs. :( It is a stressful time for them and parents to be DO NOT like change. My faithful little orange head gouldian finches came through for me though, and produced a nice clutch of chicks. Those chicks are just about colored in so I can tell what I have.

I have lost 2 or 3 canaries this year to some sort of sickness. It attacks the youngsters, not the adults. I have since learned to treat all my birds every six weeks with a product called Ronivet. It can be used on sick birds as a broad spectrum, but it is awesome as a preventive treatment of simple illnesses, like intestinal parasites, that can turn deadly. I don't like losing any birds.

The breeding season will be winding down soon, and I will be separating paired birds, clipping nails, and doing a general health check. Time to scrub and disinfect all the cages, and nests too. Fun, fun! lol

If you ever have questions be sure to contact me. I'm glad to help if I can.
Thanks for stopping by!

:> tCC

canaries chicks & gouldians!

Hi! Wow, I have been side-tracked and have not updated you in a while. The Canary Coop has welcomed 2 new Gloster adults to the group, one crested and one non-crested. They have been paired with mates and both pair have babies. I should have about a 1/2 and 1/2 turnout of crested to non-crested young that will be for sale in a few weeks. Several of you have emailed asking about their availability. Please let me know if you are interested in these youngsters, as they will sell very quickly! Being 2 unrelated pairs with offspring you will have the opportunity to purchase pairs of your own! Both clutches are less than a week apart. See my website and on the homepage is a picture of one of the crested hens.
We also have had success with the Gouldian Finches! One pair of yellow heads had 8 fertile eggs, 6 of which survived. 2 have fledged and I expect the rest to follow soon behind. They will color out in a few months so I will know the sex. If you want to get on a waiting list for these let me know. I will sell them in order requested. Some will be split to white.
There are also several regular Gloster chicks ready to go, and 3 other chicks who have a German Roller father and an Opal mother. They are quite pretty and the males should have a rather nice song!
More to come! It's an exciting Spring at the Coop! :>

babies

Boy, have a fallen down on the job for updates here! The Gouldian eggs mentioned on the last blog turned out to be a disappointment. 2 of the eggs were good, but the parents tossed the babies out when they were very tiny and they died. I still don't understand why this happens. Anyway, the same pair now has at least 2 babies that are several days old. Old enough that i can hear them begging for food, so that is a very good sign! These are red heads. My black headed pair is nesting, and the orange/yellow head pair are laying eggs. Not sure the latter eggs are any good, but the birds are practicing! ha
I have several Gloster canary chicks available now and they are already trying out their trills and songs. I love to hear the beginners get started!
Having fun and enjoying all the surprises Spring brings!

Gouldian Eggs!

Yeah! Finally, we have fertile gouldian eggs. When I checked the nest box there were 6 eggs. I candled them all and saw that 2 of them are fertile. The others may not be old enough yet to show the highway of little veins, and I probably won't check them again. I don't want to upset the mommy bird messing with her nest too much. I'll wait and be surprised! These babies will be red headed gouldians. :>

Babies!!

Yeah! The 1st babies of 2010 for the canary coop have arrived! 2 glosters.
Thank you to all who have contacted me for canaries. I'm sorry I have not had anything available for sale, but these little guys will be ready in a month or so. Always check back with me. Hopefully "the Coop" will have quite a bounty this year! :>

New birds! :>

I'm very excited to share that I have just added 4 new Gouldian Finches to the aviary!
They came from The Gouldian Lady in The Woodlands, Texas. Beautiful healthy finches.
I got a pair of black head gouldians: one with a white breast, and one with a purple breast. Also got another red head, purple breast male, and a yellow head , purple breast female. The latter 2 will be paired with birds I already have. They will be happy to finally have mates!

I have had trouble locating Gouldians in my area, so I am really happy to have these new beauties. Hopefully soon I will have some to add to the website for sale! :>
Currently, there is a red head, purple breast pair on eggs, so they should hatch in a couple of weeks. These will be the first clutch in the avairy this year.

Google Gouldian Finch so you can see the different color varieties of these jewel colored birds. They look painted!

Have a great week-
Laura