Bachelorette Canary Tales

Announcing The First Ever Canary Matchmaker Contest

Game Guidelines: Evaluate the Stafford bachelorette hen and her three cock suitors. One suitor will be posted each day beginning February 1st. Critique the pluses and minuses of each suitor and make one post to this blog with your choice and reasons. Comments will be closed for public inspection. I will review each entry along with two experienced breeders. The winner will receive a Canary Tales Matchmaker Extraordinaire Certificate and Blog Posting on February 14th. Deadline for submission is February 12.

My Favorite Inside Nest

An Easy to Clean Nest Option

My favorite inside nest is made of clay and sits unattached to its wire frame. The wire frame is a particularly good design as it holds the nest out from the cage wire thus mimimizing excrement deposit on the side of the cage. It also keeps the nest level and secure so chicks are less likely to fall out of the nest.

Since the clay nest is not attached to the frame, you can easily remove the whole nest whenever necessary to check hatching chicks or band them while leaving the frame in place in the cage. When the chicks age, the nests invariably become soiled. I simply remove the soiled nest and replace it with an identical fresh clay nest and clean nest pad. The chicks and the hen are much cleaner as the excrement on the used nest that will soil their bodies and feathers has been removed.

In this clay nest, I use a thick felt nesting pad that I purchase from ABBA products. It fits in so snug that I do not need to glue the nest pad to the nest. When the nest pad becomes soiled, I wash them in the automatic washer and dry them in the clothes dryer. Some of my nest pads have been washed numerous times.

Interestingly, as the fertile eggs begin to develop in the clay nest, I notice a reassuring warmth radiating from the nest like a little heater! The eggs are being mantained at a warm temperature even when the hen is off the nest.

I purchased these clay nests from Orchid Tree Exotics who I think have gone out of business. If anyone knows who sells these clay nests and wire frames, would you please send us the information as a comment to this post.

Weigh In Day: Grams Up or Grams Down

An Update on the Fat and Thin Cocks

Since today is the day that I am starting the cocks on the water soluble vitamin E, I took some pictures to show you how the fat and the thin cock pictured early in this blog, are doing with their weight gain or loss programs.

The too thin border cock, was pictured in the Oh No, This Cock is Too Thin on January 16th. His progress is very slow even though he is becoming a coach potato due to all the convenient perches and food easily accessible. In all fairness he has been on the weight gain program a week less than the fat cock has been on the weight loss program. His skin continues to be wrinkled meaning he is still too thin. The main improvement is a slightly visible yellow fat layer. The vent itself is larger but unimpressive. Even the borders of correct weight and development seems to have smaller vents than the smaller sized canaries. The thin border cock is especially challenging to fatten but failure to put some weight on him will mean poor vent development and certain infertility! He still has six weeks to get his act together before I will begin pairing but if the vent doesn't look good, then no hen for him! Watching the vent development will greatly increase the number of fertile eggs produced!

On the other hand, the fat DKB imported German roller cock is progressing nicely. Not only is the fat layer coming down but also some redness is seen on the side of his abdomen and even on the vent. The shape of the vent is very impressive as it is not only pointed forward but notice how the sides are bulged or engorged out in a rounded fashion! The three things he needs is to lose more fat layer, develop a red colored lower abdomen, and show a red colored vent that has no hint of yellow color.

Can you believe that I actually study vent development and have posted this blog? And that you find it totally fascinating? What would your non-bird friends think? It is so special to have bird friends!

This makes me think or a true story from a few years back when I gave a little seminar on vent development to a small group of roller people at a bird show. I must have said something to the effect that the cocks "lose their sexual mature vents after breeding season". When molting time finally came the next summer, a serious novice who had heard my seminar became so concerned about his bird's that he consulted a more experienced local breeder to find out what was the matter with his cocks. He asked. "I just can't find any of my bird's vents on the cage floor"??? Somehow he reasoned that if bird vents were lost, he should be able to find them fallen off on the cage floor, just like finding lost feathers on the cage floor!! A good laugh was had by all!! LOL

When you click on the pictures to enlarge them it makes not only the birds more visible but it also highlights my thumbs. My husband took the picture and remarked that the birds looks fine but your thumbs look so dry. Perhaps I need to spend a little time taking care of me! Or maybe I need to use a different camera?

Passing on Canary Fever

Who will continue and advance canary culture?

This week has been emotional with the recent news that my grand nephew, age 28, has melanoma. And will have surgery tomorrow around noon to remove the tumor, skin graft over the incision, and possible removal of any "hot" lymph nodes. My thoughts and prayers are with Brett but when they turn to my canaries, I am plagued with the nagging question, "who will carry on the fancy?"

My mother had five children. Although she was close to each of us, she passed the canary baton to me and did I ever get the fever!! Now I have three children but no one has caught the fever from me. My youngest daughter and son seem to have acquired natural immunity, perhaps from their father, so my hopes for them becoming bird lovers is nil.

When my oldest daughter got married, I gave her a pair of canaries and I was hoping that theirs would be a loving relationship just like the breeding pair modeled for them. She successful raised six chicks from the pair that breeding season. Although she did not catch canary fever, she did produce six children, five sons and one daughter!

The oldest three sons, Joe then Kevin then Jeff, during adolescence, each in turn went with me to bird shows ,working as show stewards. Joe and Kevin became so competent that by late adolescence, they were show managers for some of the Milo Wells German Roller Shows. They handled the entries, money, carrying in each team, and finally generated the show report. They were so good at it that Granny got to sit in and listen to every team! They all also helped me from time to time clean the aviary, trim beaks and nails, and on occasion take care of the birds when I was gone. Although none of the boys caught canary fever, Jeff does have bird fever as for several years he has kept his own small backyard flock of pigeons and chickens and occasionally ducks. When I was Jeff's age and went away to college, my parents caught my pigeons one night and to their surprise it was over 100 birds! I also kept my small flock of chickens and ducks just like Jeff! Kenny and Mary are at the help "granny in the bird room" stage and their real canary interest is unknown at this time.

Today, I babysat the youngest boy, John who is three years old. I can't think of anything I have done to spark his interest in birds. But as I paused from reading three little pigs, corduroy, and other books, he stated "Granny, we have a bird cage but we don't have a bird." As soon as my daughter came home, I ask her if they had a bird cage. She promptly replied no we don't have any bird cage. John quickly corrected his mother and informed her it was in the garage! Sure enough John was right!! The cage was one that had belonged to my mother (his great grandmother) and very old. Could this be the early incubation phase of Canary Fever?

John's picture was taken this morning at his kitchen table with his bird cage. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that one of the wall decorations says Birds Wanted.

John Update: I babysat John at his house again today (Friday 1/30). I thought it was time to invite John to visit my aviary so I began "John, Granny likes birds a lot, so very much that she has lots of birds at her house". John replied "Lots of birds come to my house", and then in a sad tone with a tear in his right eye, he continued "But They All Fly Away". Later in the car, to meet his mom for lunch, he said "Oh no". Then he went on to explain that today he needed to water the plants. Sounding more and more promising! What's a Granny to do?

Special Note: Since 2001, the National Cage Bird Show in partnership with Higgins Premium Pet Foods, has awarded a $1,000 college scholarship to the Youth Division Exhibition Winner at the National Cage Bird Show. Eligibility requirements are posted at www.ncbs.org under Youth Programs. Youth birds are judged at 8:00 am immediately prior to regular judging. A special bonus has been that each of the judges takes a few moments to make helpful comments that encourage the youth exhibitor. Youth winners in each area compete for the scholarship right after the Scannell judging. The youth identification tags are then removed and the youth birds are placed in with the other birds for general competition. At the NCBS web site, also check out the Youth Poster Contest! The winner receives a cash prize and their poster is distributed at the NCBS show! Another excellent idea to encourage youth is a 4-H bird group like Edna Anderson started. They make informative presentations, display posters at various places including the state fair, and exhibit their birds. A year ago, one of her group won the $1,000 college scholarship and the another one won the youth poster contest! Both of these girls also gave presentations at the NCBS seminar during the show. Everyone was impressed by their knowledge and understanding of birds. Working with the Youth issues for the national has been very rewarding as I am moved by their great love for their birds! There concerns are more for their bird and its welfare during the exhibition then whether or not they win!! A special youth meeting is held on Thursday evening to discuss their concerns.

Privacy Curtain for Open-Backed Cage Nests

If Momma Isn't Happy, No One Is Happy!

The most basic instinct of the canary hen who has new chicks is to protect them from harm. This means she will sit and sit until she perceives it is safe to get off the nest to gather food and feed them. The more she is aware of people in the room and even anyone looking her way, the more frightening her environment becomes so she sits so tight even after you leave the room that the chicks fail to thrive.

In addition to taming the hen that I mentioned in an early blog post, you can greatly increase her perceived safe environment by putting a curtain over the open side of her outside nest. Some outside nests have a solid back and do not need a curtain but other brands have open plastic bars. The open back allows her to observe your coming and going and can make her fearful as she is unsure when you might pop into the room.

Her security level will go up if you make her a privacy curtain! For the curtain, I cut a six inch square piece of scrap material that is large enough to cover the nest's open backside. Then I attach a piece of elastic about seven inches long to both of the fabrics outside top corners as shown in the photo.

To hang the curtain, put the top of the fabric cover along the top of the backside of the nest and stretch the elastic piece down so that the elastic fits snugly around the bottom of the backside door as shown in the second photo. The top of the fabric and the elastic band will keep the curtain firmly in place. Having a privacy curtain will keep her from seeing aviary activity and will keep momma happy!

A Few Small Feathers Seen on the Aviary Floor

Exciting News: Way to Go Girls!

This morning, I was so excited to see a few small feathers on the aviary floor. The feathers were consistently in and around all the hen cages! I quickly caught a few hens but although they are nice and pleasantly plump, as expected, there is no brood patch yet. This is just the first sign that the hens are thinking, and making small gestures toward the upcoming breeding season in about six weeks.

I checked out the weather forecast and we are expecting some moisture in the next few days but temperature will be cold and then warming to 40 to 50 F again after the rain/sleet/snow mix. It has been really dry here this winter and I know the birds will find some moisture as a confirming message to proceed toward breeding condition, but the cold temperature will help stop the hens from laying heat eggs.

So, today I added petamine breeding formula to all cocks diets. Those that are thin are getting it mixed half and half with Harrison's high potency mash. The ones that are fat still get petamine instead of seed but starting today the normal weight cocks are also receiving petamine instead of seed just like the fat cocks.

Starting today, thin cocks and all hens are having some (probably about 10%) sunflower chips/pieces added to the their seed mix. I purchased 50lbs of sunflower chips yesterday for $46 from a local feed distributor. Once I start adding the higher protein seed, I will continue through the breeding and molting season. As they come into breeding, I will increase the percentage of sunflower and other oily seeds in their diet.

Next Wednesday, I will start the cocks on the once a week 24 hour treatment with the ABBA water soluble vitamin E.

Note: The photo is of one of the Border Hens that Don gave me at the Tulsa Bird Show. She went through a soft molt in November but after a high carbohydrate diet, she is coming along on schedule now.

Breeding a Show Stopping Stafford Crest

The Secret of Producing a Good Crest is the Roundness of the Non-crested Bird

2008 was a fantastic year for Staffords as for the first time at the National Cage Bird Show, they had their own division and prestigious Higgins Trophy!! Take a moment and checkout all the NCBS winners at their web site www.ncbs.org and the photo gallery on the Stafford Canary Club of America web site: www.staffords-usa.com.

I enjoy the challenge of breeding Stafford canaries! Like breeding all show birds, several things must be balanced to get a show stopper. In Stafford, you have a type bird with color. That brings the challenge of breeding crests and body type plus adding to that the challenge of producing great color birds. It is all about balance. But alas, the challenge of breeding when the better the crests get the worse the color gets. That makes perfect sense when you remember that the gloster is not a red ground bird and the red factor although red ground in color does not the right head shape for a good crest!

Roundness of the non-crested bird of the pair is the secret to producing offspring with good crests. Just looking down on the crest bird pictured at the top of this blog posting and admire the roundness and quality. That good round crest came from pairing a crest bird with an excellent rounded non-crested bird. In the top picture, if you look closely, you will see the three tail feathers he dropped in my hand while I was trying to take his picture! Oh well, they will grow back in about a month or so.

The pictured non-crested mosaic (white looking) hen has a great frontal rise, rounded head and full neck. To be a showstopper, she needs perfect pencil color marks at her eyes instead of a reddish orange smudge mask on her face. She is extremely valuable, however, as a stock bird! I can expect her to produce offspring with great crests and also cocks with strongly marked masks. In mosaics, some lines produce good cock patterns and others good hens, so her sons might be show winners but her daughters will likely be stock birds like their mother!

A year ago, I showed a variegated crested mosaic cock at a couple of shows. He was very well marked and outside of a little deeper red color on the well defined mask, he would have won the cock mosaic competition. Instead, he would get second even in his class at the national show. After the strong performance at the shows, I had high hopes for breeding him to lots of hens. Somehow his vent just would not develop, but in desperation, I paired him with a nice non-crested mosaic hen. Perhaps the intended hen would slow down and wait for him to come into breeding condition. The first thing I noticed was how he liked to sit with the hen and feed her on the nest and then the eggs began coming till 12 were laid!! As you guessed, he was really a she! All was not lost as she went on to produce eight offspring, one of which is the non-crested mosaic stock hen pictured!

The variegated red ground non-crested bird pictured below is a non-frosted cock and shows the same full neck and roundness clear down to the shoulders as the mosaic hen. When you evaluate roundness be sure and look at the bird from several angles: front view, back view, side view, looking at the roundness of the head at the beak (also small size of beak which makes its head look more round), and looking down on the body for full neck clear to the shoulders. Oh what fun it to work with all these perimeters to try and create the "perfect" bird!

Note: The birds pictured were not not groomed for the pictures. The mosaic stock hen must have been having a bad hair day as she is actually round in the back skull too.