Use this post for questions and tips unrelated to current posts.
Wednesday
1. How long do you cook whole grain wheat and how do you feed it?
Tuesday
1. Do some canaries pick their bands and never get use to it?
Sunday
1. Is your book, CANARY TALES, still available?
6 comments:
Mrs. Hogan:
The URL/link for your website, http://canarytales.com/ , directs one to GEOCITIES free webhosting service, which has been discontinued.
Is your book, CANARY TALES, still available? Can it be ordered (and signed by you, as I believe you did in the past) directly from you? If so, please advise how?
If still available, but only by ordering elsewhere, please advise.
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
G.R. Frank
Dear Big Bird,
I bought a canary last fall that had not been banded. I placed a split plastic band on him, and it drives him crazy. He looks at it, pecks at it, acts like it bothers him A LOT. The band is loose enough, and I don't see anything wrong with the band or leg under the band. It has been 3-4 months since I placed the band. I'm about to take it off just so he can have some peace. Have you had any birds that just hate a band and never get used to it?
Janie Jones
Montana
Today my daughter Sandy added a buy now option to the blog under the book cover picture.
Some canaries do pick their bands even when they are not tight. It seems to be a nervous habit. Often they pick at their band during judging sessions at the bird shows.
If these band pickers continue in a non-stressful environment, the band should be removed.
Inbreeding increases the frequency of band pickers, so I do not breed these birds.
Howzit Good Buddy?
Increasing the carbohydrates is a good technique to help finish the birds off from their molt. In South Africa, birds are coming out of the molt and approaching show season. Here in the Northern hemisphere, our birds are breeding or approaching breeding season.
I like to soak the whole grain wheat overnight, then I boil it the next morning for two or three hours depending on how much time I have. It seems it never gets totally tender.
To feed it, I first drain well to remove any extra moisture and then put it in the food processor to grin it fine. Then I add some processed carrots with some honey.
This can be added to soft food as you are wanting to cut the protein level to encourage the birds to finish the molt. Or it can be fed in a separate dish. In any case, I only feed the amount they will eat during the day. Since you want all birds to finish the molt, I feed this to all birds.
For the folks in the Northern hemisphere who are going into breeding season, I feed it to cocks but wait until hens are paired before letting them have any nestling food or any heavy wheat products.
Hens have a strong egg laying response to heavy wheat products and are stimulated to lay eggs. I hold off a bit on heavy wheat so that when they get the lay eggs message, it will be fertile ones!
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