Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Oops The Very Last Chick 2014 - This time I mean it!


What a surprise today! The same Stafford pair that produced the last chicks of 2014, actually three in the clutch have done it again! One lone chick and it looks like with that bare head that he is going to be crested! It also has a hint of dark on the top, perhaps dark crest?

Just checked this evening and it is being fed!

UPDATE TEN DAYS LATER:



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arent your birds moulting by now?

Anonymous said...

Im so glad you made it easier to post a comment back to you Linda. So many times I wanted to post but could not figure out the crazy letters to prove I was not a robot!

Linda Hogan said...

Most are moulting and about half are finishing and have tight feathering and are ready for shows. My big concern is keeping the confirmation on the border till mid Nov for the National Cage Bird Show!

This year I am trying a slower molt. By that I mean, I didn't suddenly turn off lighting. My birds are on natural daylight hours.

The reason for this chick is the parents have been feeding chicks and just had a nest of three right before this one hatched. I left the three in longer than normal as I was ready for them to quit but instead I think she kept feeding the previous nest longer than normal and the hormones inhibits molt. I have on occasion stopped a molt by getting a hen to feed chicks. She went on to lay another clutch.

Unknown said...

Hi Linda,

I had three Canaries, two females and one male, they are almost 2 years old. I really need your help for my first breeding, please.

I used the artificial light and set it to 14 hours a day. I think the male was ready for breeding as his vent look like your canary's picture in other post. He also sang very loud and whole day long. When I housed him with one of my female, he carrying the nesting material to the nest, or kept on his beak and flew around the cage. The female look like not ready yet because she not pay attention on the nest. The questions are:

- Can I housed 2 females in the same wire divided cage on one side, and place a male on other side? I think if we can do that, I can see what female is ready for breeding by watch on their activity. After that, I will remove the female that is not ready out of the cage.

- As I said, I had 2 females, the one I housed with the male now that 100% is female because she laid an eggs few months ago without the male. Other one I am not sure is she or he. The breeder I bought her from Michigan assure that is a female. But, she sang like a male, I mean the notes, melody and long/loud....Do you have any females like that? Or do you think is she a female?

Thank you very much and so sorry for my English.

PS : All of them are American Singer Canary

Linda Hogan said...

Sounds like you are from the Northern Hemisphere likely Michigan and natural breeding season is over and the birds should be molting now with breeding season starting in the Spring. Southern Hemisphere is coming into breeding now.

Unless your birds have molted normally this year they will not breed well if at all.

If these were my birds, I would turn off artificial lights and let the natural sunlight coming through a window get them up and put them down at night. No lights on where the birds are after dark or cover them when lights are on after dark but remove the cover before you go to bed so that the morning light will get them up.

Birds that do not molt each year will likely be sickly by the second year.

For your question, yes you can put both hens together and the male on the other side. If you feed him greens and not the hens he should feed them through the wires.

Unknown said...

Dear Linda!

First of all, I want to say thank you for your reply. I am from Georgia, where is the daylight time about 12.5 hours a day now. All my birds moulted months ago, I have a birdroom so I can control the light as I want. My birdroom had a window, so the light can come throught. My birds starting singing at around 7am. I think that time they just woke up. So I turn on the light at 8am to 9pm. I counted the daylight from 7am (the time when my birds singing)to 9pm, it is 14 hours. Is it correct?

I have 2 females, the yellow one and white one. The yellow I am 100% sure she is a male. But the white one as I said before, the breeder tell me that is a hen, but maybe not true. Yesterday, I tried to housed the white with male in breeding cage with solid divider. This morning, I tried to take out the divider. They are fight a lot, it is not like the male chasing the female when she is not ready. But both of them chased each other. This never happen if I housed the white with yellow female or the male with yellow female. So I think the white one is a male. Below are his/her activities, so please help me find out the gender.

- Sing loud and long, many notes and melodies
- Chasing the male when housed together, did not chasing the female
- Only stand on the perch when singing
- Sing more often when separated from the female. Very quiet when housed with female
- Start sing right away when I turn on the Canary CD

Again, thank you very much and wish to hear something from you soon

Linda Hogan said...

Yes, the birds are on 14 hours per day. Normally 3 weeks of 14 hour days is adequate for the males but the hens take from 3 to 6 weeks on 14 hours to come in.

From your description it sounds like the white one is also male.

Unknown said...

Thank you Linda,

I cant believe that both of them are female. The yellow one has finish built the nest. I placed the male to her side, they are mated too many times a day. It been 3 days since they are together. Today, the white one starting build her nest( almost done). So, please help me about this

- How long does it takes for the hen laying an egg after finished the nest?

- Is three days with too many times mated enough for the fertility?

- As you know, I only have one male, but now 2 females were ready for breed. Can I take the male out of the female and housed with another female?

Thank you again, I waiting for your help.

PS : I am the one who emailed to you about the book.

Linda Hogan said...

The hen will lay within one week of building her nest in most cases. She will consume a lot of water the day before she lays and if you look at her vent it will have a red ring around it. Once mating has occurred, I have had hens lay fertile eggs 14 days later. The closer to laying that the mating occurs the more likely the eggs will be infertile.

Time to move him to the other hen!

Unknown said...

Hi Linda,

The first hen laid 4 eggs and hatched 4 of 4, I am very happy with that. The chicks are 10 days old now, I lose one chick on day 5th. Three other chicks are healthy now

The second hen with the same cock, I housed her with the cock since she start building her nest. They mated too many times, about a week she laid the egg. After 3 eggs, I took the cock out of her cage. She start incubation right after the 5th egg laid. On the day 5th, she rolled one egg out of the nest. On the day 8th, she rolled two more eggs to the cage floor. And now is day 14th, two remain eggs still not hatched. Can you tell me what is wrong with that hen? If no chick be hatched, so how long she will be start for the second clutch?

Thank you very much

Linda Hogan said...

If you take the eggs out and put one plastic egg in the nest when the first egg is laid and then replace them after all are laid you most likely will not lose a chick.

When a hen rolls eggs out of the nest they are infertile. She can be recycled as early as a week after the last egg but two weeks is better.