Facilitating Chicks Transition To Cracking Seed

Available at Health Food Stores
Weaning time is a challenging time for canary breeders. As soon as the first chick in a clutch leaves the nest, I start weaning by supplying a quarter of hard boiled eggs for the chicks to nibble on. Once in the perchless weaning cage, they learn to eat other foods including wheat germ, nestling food, dry nestling food, soft white bread, bee pollen, oatmeal, non- medicated poultry flock raiser, greens such as thawed frozen peas and romaine lettuce as well as thawed frozen corn.

With all these healthy choices you would think they would quickly show tight feathering and piped (narrow) tails, which signifies excellent health. Yet this does not happen until the chicks are eating high calorie canary mix.

While all of the above foods encourage nibbling, I have found that shelled hemp seed gets them interested in cracking seed at an earlier stage. Usually, chicks will eat the shelled hemp after just a few days in the weaning cage. Once they are eating it well, I introduce thistle seed as it is the easiest seed to crack.

Once they are eating thistle well, I offer canary mix and they quickly make the switch to eating mostly seeds. Regular egg containing nestling food is continued once a day through the molt.

Thanks Richard for introducing me to shelled hemp! Are you also using it to help transition the chicks to cracking seed?

Questions and Tips for Big Bird!

Please use this post for your tips and questions this week.


Tips

Wednesday

Getting Young Birds Onto Seed

Richard's Roost shared this great tip: "Shelled/crushed fresh hemp is one of my/birds favorites too. Another trick I use is to take their seed mixed and put it in a coffee grinder. I make it coarser as the days by."

Sunday

Dry Nestling Food




KJ and Linda Brown of Jeepers/Peppers Aviary shared their dry nestling food recipe October 28, 2009. Take a look at the full article in the old posts, they raise hundreds of canaries and finches using only this dry nestling food.

I have used it this season as a supplement to my regular foods although I have no doubt that it would work as the only nestling food if the birds are use to it. My birds were already nesting when I finally got it made up.

I made 30 lbs (it was so much I had to mix it in a wash tub!) and packed it in Ziploc gallon bags. All but the bag I am using from is kept in the freezer.

Click on the Jeepers/Peepers recipe for easy reading.

Questions

Monday

1. I have had an bacterial infection causing me to lose chicks. Some of my hens like to dip egg food into water and then eat on it later out of the water. Even though I change the water daily, how can I keep the hens from dipping egg and dropping it in the water without going out and buying new water dispensers?

2. Laurie Seals writes that she need a Parisian Frill male to go with her two hens. E-mail sugrpootsmom@yahoo.com or 919 805-0137 She lives in North Carolina...

Sunday

1. Dear Big Bird,

In a few weeks I have to leave for 2 days. I will have canary chicks of all ages at that point. My birds are used to getting fresh egg food at 6 AM, noon, and 5 PM.

During the days I have to be gone I can get someone to come in once a day. Is there something I can leave out in quantity that will still work for the chicks since they will be getting only one fresh egg food meal per day? Please recommend a brand. I've tried a few egg foods that weren't that well received.

Thank you Big Bird. I appreciate all of your expertise!

Janie Jones
Montana

Time Out - Reintroducing the Male

These Border chicks are fourteen days old. This is the perfect time to reintroduce the male into the cage for maximum second round fertility because the chicks stay out of the way and do not inhibit mating.

I reintroduce the Border male in their cage today and the hen immediately squatted upon hearing the male's breeding song and the pair successfully mated! After an hour and a few more matings, he was removed from the cage. I will repeat this at least daily till she is laying.


But by the 18th day, chicks are leaving the nest and begging for food and just generally getting in the way and interfering with mating. Time for what I call a Time Out.

During a Time Out, the chicks are moved temporarily to another cage for an hour so that the adult birds can have more opportunity for mating. Once the male is removed, the chicks are returned to their brood mothers.



The five Border chicks in Time Out were from these Borders in a colony breeding of two hens with one male who was then moved on to other hens.

Critical Concept: The perfect time to reintroduce male to the rearing hen for maximum fertility on the second round is when the chicks are fourteen days old.

Exactly Right Supplemental Feeding

These three German roller import chicks need no supplemental feeding initially even though one chick is considerably smaller than the other two. They are all doing well (note the well rounded baby down), supplemental feeding is unnecessary.

Should you hand feed them, you will likely upset the hen and cause her to protect them from you and sit tight rather than feeding them and loss at least the smaller one and perhaps all three!

The best time to supplemental feed is when the chicks are banded and the mother can not keep up with all their begging!! At this stage, the hen is preoccupied with meeting their demands and no longer sees a need to protect her chicks from you.

Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding products for parrots etc works well for canaries at this stage. Simply mix with hot tap water and feed.

The advantage of supplemental feeding to chicks this age is that it fattens them up for the upcoming weaning phase when they will lose some weight until they eat well on their own.


Nap time!

Borders prefer to feed greens over nestling food but it is not high calorie so it is very important to supplement their feeding to build the fat layer prior to weaning!

Border chick topped off with Kaytee Exact Hand Feeding Formula.

Once fully feathered, even chicks that have been hand fed, will refuse to open their mouth except for the hen. They will snuggle down in the nest refusing to recognize the hand of the one who feed them so faithfully the week before!

This Weeks Questions and Comments

Please post your tips and questions that are unrelated to a current post here.

Tips:

Easy Nest Cleaning
First two German Roller chicks from my prized new import 3501 -30. The chicks are growing well but quickly the nest is heavily soiled!

Using a pair of scissors, I carefully cut the soiled burlap and discard the mess.

Mission accomplished!!

Questions:

Tuesday

1. Spider asks "How long are you going to breed your new rollers"?

Millet Garden By Debbie Eaton

Spray Millet

The millet garden is very easy to set up and maintain. Every box of spray millet will have a collection of loose seeds in the bottom.

Simply spread the loose seeds over the top of the soil in the area you want to use as your bird garden. Lightly sprinkle it with water.

Within 3 or 4 days, small green grass-like shoots will appear. Continue to water as needed. It will grow into a tall grassy type of plant and send small 3 to 5 inch clusters of seeds forming the millet spray. Let the green millet sprays fill out and then you can harvest them and feed as green seeds. My finches and some of the canaries love it in this form. These sprays do not grow as long as the commercially produced, but are fresh and pesticide free. I use no chemicals and have had no trouble with pests of any kind.

Pictures are of a group of seeding grasses all from left-over bird seeds. Canary grass seeds, flax, millet and rape. I use the grasses to supply my finch cages with the green seeds and grasses for their nests.

Thanks so much Debbie, I am planting my millet garden today!!

Questions and Tips for Big Bird!

Post this weeks tips and question on this post.





May Day Flowers

Tips

Thursday Tip from Robert Wild

Just cut the broccoli stems across the stem, kind of in little wheels. Put them in the cage when you comeback in the morning there will be nothing but little green halos all over the cage. Thanks Robert, can't wait to try it!!


Sunday


Seems like taking care of baby birds is taking a phenomenal amount of time! I no longer have time to peal the broccoli stems so the birds will not waste the stem. Instead, I am now cutting the stem off and offering just the floret heads to the birds.

The broccoli stems are processed in the food processor and then I add one part Petamine, one part Purina Flock Raiser and two parts Proteen 25 plain and continue processing till you can hardly see any broccoli. I then add this to my regular nestling food as a stretcher!



Questions

Sunday

1. I have recently purchased a yorkshire hen who is bobbing her tail. Is that normal?

2. How do you color feed your Staffords?

3. Debbie can you post how to plant and grow spray millet to this post?