Canadian National Canary Video

Canaries at the Canadian National Bird Show 2014

 

More World Show Videos

I googled:

Mondial COM 2015

And found a video lists of the World Show! (click on top of first video to see list)

Check out the TYPE canaries, watched parts 1 through 5!

Posture canaries firstprice winners Mondial COM 2015

 Fantastic!

You Tube Videos Canaries Worldshow

Wish you could have gone to the World Bird Show?  I have watched part 1 through 10 of colour canaries and am looking for more! I googled:

Colour canaries firstprice winners Mondial COM 2015 

 

Pre-breeding Season Kicking It Up A Notch

Kicking the Nestling Food Base Up A Notch!

At the end of December, I posted the bases for my nestling food.

Big Bird's Nestling Food Base 

Six cups golden cous cous (Golden cous cous, most of what I get is from France but you can also get it from Bob's Red Mill golden cous cous for information see their web site.) 

Cover well with hot tap water leaving a little water above the level of cous cous. Stir occasionally until cools. It should be light and fluffy when cool. If lumpy, mix the cool cous cous with your hands till it is light and fluffy.

Couscous is a traditional North African and Middle Eastern dish made from precooked coarsely ground semolina, the rich endosperm extracted from durum wheat and is 16% protein. Ingredients: parboiled, coarsely ground duram wheat. (This is not pearl cous cous.)

Add six cups dry nestling food (I am currently using Belgium nestling food from Bird Supply of New Hampshire)

Add two cups additional dry nestling food (I am currently using Higgins)

(If want to increase the carbohydrate I would use CeDe and if I want to increase the protein I will add quinoa and switch to BioDecken Novafood for dry nestling food.)

Add one cup neonatal handrearing formula (I prefer CeDe Premium Handrearing Food - African Grey Parrot on box) Bird Supply of New Hampshire have agreed to carry it. CeDe Premium Handrearing Food is the best for hand feeding canaries and excellent for weaning chicks who will eat it plain straight from a dish before they eat any other food!

Thaw l 1b package frozen peas with hot water and drain and add to the mixture.

This keeps well in the refrigerator and I use it 3 or 4 days till gone or you can freeze. (This is a large recipe that eventually totally fills the large plastic tupperware bowl.)

New Adds:

To the above base, I am now cooking 6 cups quinoa and adding to above base along with a couple of tablespoons of this vitamin/mineral supplement pigeon product, available worldwide from pigeon suppliers.

On particularly cold days, I also add a little porridge dry uncooked oatmeal.

Early Pre-Conditioning For Cocks

As I look around the bird room today, I noticed a young Border hen cage with three birds, where paper is being pulled through the wire bottom. They are not carrying paper yet but breeding thoughts are beginning to formulate! Seeing this what should I do?

The general target date for breeding in my aviary is Mid March, pairing around March 10 after I return from the Missouri Valley Basketball Tournament.

Giving them extras is stimulating and will likely bring hens in 3 to 6 weeks and I sure do not want that now. So what am I doing about this? Nothing!

I could lower the cage position so they get less light . But my oldest daughter, Sandy has been coming over each week day and if I end up setting them up sooner, she could handle it and perhaps she might catch the canary bug herself. She has had chickens for at least twenty years and over the years has occasionally hatched the chicken eggs and so she just maybe susceptible.

Should these hens continue to progress and get way ahead of the cocks, I could lose the first round with infertile eggs. So the hens are not getting anything extra,

What I am starting is giving the cocks some toasted wheat germ (for a light dose of vitamin E) mixed 50/50 with Lewis Lab Brand Brewer's Yeast for amino acids, and feeding no more than a teaspoon per bird about three times a week.

Handsome Dude spotted straight across from hens!

This Weeks Questions For Big Bird? Red Rollers - Staffords - Belgium Trip

Would loved to hear from you!

Sunrise --- Sunset

Even though it is more than six weeks until my planned breeding time,  the days are naturally getting a few minutes longer everyday. Currently in Wichita  sunrise is (7:44 am) and sunset is (17:25 pm).

While all varieties breed better on 14 to 14.5 hour days, once the day length is 12 hours, smaller varieties will start breeding. Since I want to have ideal day length for all my varieties, I will start adding additional lighting 30 minutes weekly before the natural day length reaches 12 hours.

For right now, the aviary lights come on 30 minutes after sunrise and go off 30 minutes before sunset. Every couple of weeks I adjust it but nature is taking care of the daily updates!