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?

Making Breeding Simple - Conditioning - Weight

This Stafford cock has quite an obstructive fat belly which will interfere with successful copulation!!!

Not Too Heavy

With the breeding season approaching, it is important to take a critical look at your breeders and resolve to get the birds physically fit for breeding. Being too heavy is rarely a problem for breeding hens, as their having a fat belly does not interfere with the cocks assess. And her fat layer will quickly disappear when she is feeding chicks. The ideal breeder hen is pleasantly plump, "traditionally built".

But for a cock having a fat belly is a major cause of infertility because the fat belly obstructs his ability to connect well with the hen for good sperm insemination. Seeing his fat belly is a wake-up call to put him on an exercise program and a low-fat reducing diet.

Exercise Program

A flight with other cocks will help if you separate the food and water at far distances from each other and have very few perches so that the birds must fly the maximum distance to get food and water. Housing with other cocks will also promote defensive territorial behavior which is a major influence in bringing cocks into breeding behavior.

People often think that putting a pair together will bring on breeding behavior. The presence of the cock or hearing his breeding song will stimulate hormonal changes in the hen but being in the same cage with the hen will not stimulate the cock. He is stimulated by fighting with other cocks and not the presence of the hen!

Low-fat Reducing Diet

Often breeders increase dietary protein by increasing the higher protein seeds such as sunflower, hemp, and thistle. The problem with this approach is the higher protein seeds are also higher fat.

For hens and physically fit cocks small amounts are fine but not for the fat cock! Instead, fat belly cocks are put on a restricted diet of only petamine breeding formula, water, and greens!!!!


Not Too Light

Likewise birds that are too light will not be productive as they are using all their resources just to stay alive. Too light birds have prominent pelvic bones and sharp breast bones because they have lost muscle mass and reddish purple abdomens because they no longer have any fat layer. Such anorexic emaciated birds will not coming into breeding condition. While their negative energy balance may be due to simply inadequate food consumption, their weaken condition may lead to illness.

These birds need to be separated from other birds to encourage them to eat and to decrease their environmentally stress. Too gain weight, they need a low-protein and high carbohydrate diet. Increasing dietary protein must be avoided because these birds can not tolerate the increase stress on the liver for processing protein.

It is also possible that these birds are too inbred or even sick. In either case, we need to protect our other birds and not weaken our gene pool. The worst thing is not that we fail to breed from these birds but that we are successful and produce a whole bunch just like them!


SPECIAL NOTE: HAPPY KANSAS DAY!!! Overnight snow has closed the schools and everyone is celebrating the states 149 th BIRDDAY!!

Buyer Beware - Noticing Subtle Abnormalities

Margaret Fletcher, my canary colleague at work, hung this note at my work station while I was on supper break last night!


All of us have heard the old saying, "Buyer Beware". For that reason, we often purchase birds from local breeders that we know quite well and are comfortable with their aviary operation. At other times, we might make a purchase from an unknown breeder or a pet shop or even an importer.

But whether we know the breeder or not, we need to find out as much as we can about the birds and their health prior to purchase. Is it coming out of a licensed quarantine facility? Does it wear a traceable band? If banded, get the band information and do some research. Thanks to the Internet, show reports are readily available even from other countries.

In addition to general questioning, ask questions about the birds health and when possible you or at least your delegate needs to examine perspective birds for subtle abnormalities in behavior and appearance prior to purchase.

Begin By Examining Perspective Birds From A Distance!

Begin your examination by examining the perspective bird from a distance. In its relaxed state you will notice out of condition or sickly birds sitting around puffed up while healthy birds are tight feathered and actively moving about with a cheerful attitude. How the feathers are held to the body is a good general assessment of overall health as sickly birds will puff them out when they are chilling. Making this assessment from a distance is very important, as even a sickly bird will perk up out of self defense when you approach the cage to disguise their vulnerability from predators! Now cautiously approach the cage, look at the feet and perching and are the legs a normal color for the variety? Are the droppings on the cage floor normal?

Gentle Stress Test

Now gently raise your hand toward the bird to challenge it a bit. Healthy birds often fly away from your hand but some birds from unhealthy lines will freeze in position and partially close their eyes (squint) when challenged. These birds should not be purchased as they will likely not produce healthy offspring and are high risk to die prematurely.

Minimal Hands On Exam

If you have the opportunity, with the sellers permission, gently hold the bird up to your ear and listen for any clicking or heavy respiratory sounds. Likewise these are not good birds to purchase. Always remember that canaries can die from a stressful exam and those that do are likely marked SOLD!

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories. I once took about a dozen birds to my regular dog vet to get a health certificate. He is great with my malinois and very through. He immediately singled out one of the canaries, caught it and began going over it thoroughly with his stereoscope. Even peering in its ears and nares. At the conclusion of his stressful exam, he put the throughly examined bird back in the cage. And it just laid there like it was dying. I promptly said: "I hope you don't have to handle any others!"

He quickly filled at the health certificate and I promptly took the birds home. I am sure he was afraid he would be getting a call from me but in this fortunate case, the stressed bird fully recovered. The point of this story is to observe the birds from a distance, challenge it gently up close, and handle it minimally.

If you decide to purchase, find out how many hours of daylight the birds are use to having. Make sure that when you house them that they get slightly more hours of daylight and not less as you do not want to cause them to go into a molt.

Also quarantine newly purchased birds away from your other birds for preferably six weeks. During that time, completely take care of your original stock before caring for the quarantine birds to avoid cross contamination.

This Week's Things I Always Wanted to Ask or Share with Big Bird???

Please post your questions or share your breeding tips here.

GREAT TIPS!!

Tuesday

1. Jay Bunker of Canada sent in this fantastic YOU Tube for us bird lovers! How about that bird music? Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Kz8Nxb-Bg

2. Rich May of Ohio has a tip on the easiest sprouter. Thanks Rich, I can't wait to try one!!

Monday

1. Do not miss this posting from Shawn of South Africa. He shares tips on using fresh seeds and sprouting seed in STOCKINGS!! Shawn says "The ideas these birds get out of me, shocks even me sometimes!" LOL

Questions:

Monday

1. What kinds of canaries do you raise?