Sunday, February 7, 2010

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?

7 comments:

Janet said...

Hi Linda, I have a hen that refuses to feed egg food to her chicks. Should I be concerned? janet

Anonymous said...

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?

Anonymous said...

I would love to have an outdoor aviary this spring into the summer and fall. I live in the mid west, and we expect a wet spring, which means mosquitoes. Is there anyway that I can safely have some birds out side in a small aviary without having to worry about the mosquito issues? I had heard that if one puts society finches in the aviary, they feast on mosquitoes. I don't expect that they will keep all of them (if any of them away), but still...

Any suggestions?

Linda Hogan said...

The most important thing is that the hen feeds and that the chicks are growing normally!

Last year, a pair of bronze in a very high cage over my head, hatched a nest of chicks that I was not expecting. Even though I never feed the pair any nestling food, the chicks were normal size and needed to be banded when I discovered them!! They appeared to be normal in every way for chicks less than a week old! They had fed their chicks well from the seed mix.

Last Fall, Jeepers Peepers Aviary shared their dry nestling food recipe on this blog. My good friend Doyle Johnson is experimenting with their recipe. The convenience of a dry nestling food is very appealing and he is having good results. That will be one of my next projects!!

Linda Hogan said...

I remember that someone had a list but do not remember for sure who. Perhaps some of the bloggers can help!

Linda Hogan said...

Protecting from mosquitoes is critical as no one wants Canary Pox.

I have never had an outside aviary. Many who do, have covered with either a very fine mesh that mosquitoes can not penetrate or heavy plastic. This lets in light but protects from mosquitoes.

Steve Billmire in California covers his outside aviary wire with plexiglass. Pictures of his aviary are found in the Oakland Show series last Fall.

Anonymous said...

In ref. to mosquitoes..You would need to add some wood striping to tack screen to. Perhaps 1 inch thick,the strips of wood would keep the screen far enough away so the birds dont get their feet caught in the screen. I would not recommend plastic as it would get much too hot like a greenhouse.
An outdoor aviary without protection from mosquitoes would be very disappointing to you.