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Stafford Hens Patiently Waiting For Spring

Could the Ground Hog be right, only six more weeks of winter? Only six more weeks is certainly hard for me to believe when we are still getting a snow day every week!!

Predicting when the winter weather will break is especially important to me because I start seriously conditioning my birds six weeks before the end of winter. My usual guess, on an average year, is that winter here will break around March 8th.

Based on all the snow days this year, I have deliberately delayed serious conditioning a little but finally it just seems right to start my cocks on the ABBA water soluble vitamin E on Wednesday! Checking the calendar, if I start the cocks on Wednesday, six weeks would be March 17th!!

Being a wee bit Irish, it certainly feels right to me!!

Things I Always Wanted to Ask or Share with Big Bird???

Please post your questions which are not related to current posts here.

Monday

1. Is there anyway that I can safely have some birds outside in a small aviary without having to worry about the mosquito issues?



Sunday

1. I have a hen that refuses to feed egg food to her chicks. Should I be concerned?

2. Linda, there used to be a list with ways to sex canaries. I can't find it now. I think it was on the Oakland site, but Geocities is down?

Making Breeding Simple - Conditioning - Protein

Wonder if I'm getting the real stuff or the placebo?


Whichever it is, it tastes great!!!

Enriched Diet Continued

And finally, higher levels of protein, particularly methionine and lysine, help birds reach full breeding condition. Proteins, although some of the best foods for birds, especially when bringing into breeding condition, molting or rearing young, when given in excess can cause a wide array of problems such as aggression, sealed chick vents, and pasted vents in longer feathered birds.

Protein Choices

Proteins are made up of amino acids, some of which are considered a dietary essential as they can not be manufactured by the body and must be provided in the diet. The quality of the protein is determined by the balance of amino acids and the ability to be utilized which can be interfered with by interaction with other substances, such as simple sugars forms a complex making lysine unavailable to the animal.

Hard boiled eggs are a popular source of complete protein and are exceptionally nutritious. On the down side, feeding animal protein can produce aggression, a serious compatibility problem, and when too much is feed a bird may develop health problems such as gout and kidney damage.

Better and easier protein conditioning can be accomplished using complimentary plant foods that are high in amino acids such as soy which is especially good for breeding condition, brewers yeast which is a great conditioner and is also high in B vitamins, and bee pollen which is not only high in amino acids and vitamins but very low fat.

Oh no, One More Aviary Experiment

With so much to think about, is there a simple way to condition our birds and meet their amino acid and vitamin needs? Until this year, I simply used only two supplements with a few natural products, ABBA fertility water soluble vitamin E and an amino acid and vitamin supplement called Miracle. Miracle is made in Italy by Canariz and distributed by ABBA Products. I added Miracle to dry ABBA green and feed it as a conditioner to get the birds ready for breeding and then added it to nestling/eggfood which I fed once the birds were paired till the hen was set and then again on the day her first chick hatched. Recently, I was very disappointed to learn that ABBA is no longer carrying Miracle. I was very vocal about my displeasure and when I received my order, they included a number of samples of Breedmax.

Breedmax is made in Belgium and has been used by fanciers in Europe for many years. After examining the list of ingredients which included toasted soy and numerous other grains and additives that covered mineral and vitamin needs, I decided to design an experiment with it.

My results are still very preliminary but I have done some experiments that controls other conditioning variables including diet, day length, vitamin E, sprouts and heat. I used one tablespoon of Breedmax to one lb (4 cups) ABBA green 92 as suggested in the test group and plain ABBA green 92 in the control group. This was offered to each group three times a week.

To my surprise, I observed positive changes in the test group even after only one week, 1/3 of the roller, stafford and colorbred cocks are dropping their wings and doing a breeding ritual dance! Movement has increased on the border cocks but still waiting for the dance! Even in the dancing cocks, there is no apparent aggression. Imagine mating dance and they are still on natural lighting, getting up with the sun and going to bed with the sun and aviary lights on only 8 of those hours!!

Like the ABBA water soluble vitamin E fertility vitamin, this too is a measured amount and takes the guess work out of dose! Because of the great preliminary results, I will use it in addition to the weekly ABBA vitamin E treatments!

Making Breeding Simple - Conditioning - Enriched Diet

German Roller Canaries

Border Canary

Birds Love to Nibble on the Edges of Leaf Spinach


Proper nutrition is vital to avicultural success . Diets must be complete and balanced for optimal health and reproduction. It is well documented that a plain seed diet is deficient in a number of nutrients. Prolong feeding of deficient diets results in a multiple deficiencies and ultimately premature death. Formulated pelleted and vitamin enriched seed products address these critical nutritional concerns.

Healthy Diet Made Simple

Having tried a number of formulated pelleted and enriched seed products, one stands out above all the rest, Bird of Paradise (BOP) from Wall Seed Company (316 263-0850 or 1 800 878-2473) wheat germ oil and vitamin coated seed. This product is perfect formula to completely meeting nutritional needs year round. Birds are remarkably healthy when fed only BOP coated seed and water!

Comparison Of Cocks And Hens Nutritional Needs For Reproduction

Seasonal provisions of extra nutrients prior to the breeding season, in addition to lengthen days, simulates natures way to condition in preparation for reproduction. For cocks, both in the wild and in captivity require little stimulation other than lengthened days, vitamin E, and a little soy protein for better vent development.

Although reproduction is not very demanding on cocks, it is very demanding on hens because they have increased nutritional requirements associated with both egg production and also maximum embryo hatching. In order to produce eggs, they require calcium and vitamin D3, higher levels of protein, particularly methionine and lysine, and vitamins A, B12, riboflavin and zinc. Severe deficiencies of calcium and vitamin A can cause complete cessation of egg production. Excess vitamin D3 can also lead to complete cessation of egg production.

To maximize hatchability of the embryo, increased levels of vitamin E, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid, pyridoxine, zinc, iron copper and manganese are needed over what is adequate for egg production. Nutritional deficient hens can produce eggs but low levels of nutrients may prevent eggs from hatching.

Gently Stimulating Reproduction

During the conditioning phase, providing extra vitamins and minerals help stimulate reproduction. This is easily accomplished by feeding a variety of nutritious vegetables such as dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale, frozen peas, corn, cabbage, or carrots two or three times a week. About once a week, offer bee pollen instead of vegetables.

Another excellent way to provide better nutrients is to sprout seed. During this conditioning phase, I like to sprout rape seed but later on I will sprout additional seeds, such as black oil sunflower and mung beans. When a seed sprouts, the tender growing chute has extra nutritional value. Feed sprouts when they have just started sprouting for maximum nutrition.

During the pre-breeding phase hens should not be feed wheat products nor large amounts of egg containing nestling food as this pushes egg laying regardless of their breeding condition. Beware, too much stimulation and canary hens will lay like chickens!

Things I Always Wanted to Ask or Share with Big Bird???

Use this post for sharing your tips, tweets or asking questions unrelated to recent posts.

Questions

Saturday

1. What kind of iodine to you use for the canaries?

Wednesday

1. I wonder if you can confirm something for me,,,,my
frosted red hen has a black belly,,and I thought I read
somewhere that means she has liver problems,,,
Is that correct ???

I've started my birds breeding,,,,however she has not
produced any eggs but sits in the nest,,and now she and
her mate are fostering a couple of chicks from another pair,,,

What do you think is causing the color of her belly ????

Sunday

1. What should a breeder do when an egg is extremely soiled in the nest, prior to setting? Wash it in water, wipe it off, leave as is?

2. Would the fecal matter on the eggshell 'infect' the developing chick during incubation?

3. My breeding season got off to an early start. One hen successfully raised her first clutch of 3 and laid, sat and hatched 5 more just 5 days ago. Last night, everything seemed perfect (feeding, 5 little head held high) and this morning 3 dead and the other 2 died as the day went on. They were cold and dehydrated looking. What happened? Are my other birds in danger?

Looking for Northern Dutch Frill Breeders

Randy Dean e-mailed me that he is looking for breeders interested in breeding Northern Dutch Frills. He has over 40 Northern Dutch Frills and is needing to cut back a bit. Check out the variety at the Old Variety Canary Association web site:
www.ovcaus.com

His original stock came from Farzad Beghosi and Mac Saedi. He wants to sell the birds to people who want to bred them and not just piece meal them out.

E-mail Randy at randydean3@yahoo.com

Randy writes:

I know that the Northerns are the first frilled variety circa
18th Century(late 1780's), and they were started when there was a
"sport" in feather structure which produced the frilled feathers,
breeders then crossed back subsequent generations to set the trait.
I believe it was in Holland, but also maybe France, but the name
Northern Dutch was the name that they were come to be known as.
They come in every color but Red, with Cinnamon and Blue and/or
Whites, being some of the most beautiful to admire.

They have a very pleasant song, that is not harsh nor too loud,
and is quite nice to listen too. They are really an enjoyable
variety. I have several that will "talk" back to me, and one of
last years babies would sing to me every time I sat by the cage,
and have another that sings right by me when I am cleaning cages.
So they are not shy singers in my experience, I call it "Singing
for their Supper".