Borders in particular are sensitive to high protein levels. Feeding hard boiled egg over a period of time contributes to development of neurological problems. (See article in the blog called Balance Problems). Therefore, it is important not to use any hard boiled egg to condition them.
Feed a small finger egg drawer once a week during January, twice weekly during February and three times a week during March but only to the males since you want to get the males in full breeding condition before the hens!
Basic Recipe Egg Free Conditioner For Male Canaries
4 cups Sunflower Chips (hulled pieces, a great natural source of vitamin E)
4 cups Blatner's Siskin Finch Seed Mix (available in the US from Bird Supply of New Hampshire)
2 cups bee pollen pebbles
1 Tablespoon Wheat Germ
1 Tablespoon Honey
Process in the food processor to mix and blend in the honey.
This recipe can be adjusted to be less stimulating by decreasing the amount of bee pollen to 1 Tablespoon.
Make it more stimulating by increasing the wheat germ and honey to 2 Tablespoons.
My males are crazy about it! Note the singing level and activity 24 hours later.
2 comments:
Hello Linda,
Good info, thanks!
As a matter of fact most fanciers over-feed their future breeding birds as well cocks as hens.
Your mix and feeding regime for cocks is right, but over here in Belgium lots of fanciers do add some sprouted seeds and some pinkies (fly larvae).
http://topinsect.net/Home-3p1.php
Also, at this time of the year one has to start increasing light hours if you want to get the 14.5 hours needed for breeding.
Good luck and best wishes from Belgium.
Jan Vanderborght
Hi Jan
So good to hear from you. Canary culture does unite us all over the world. I would love to have some more of your articles to post on this blog. They are very informative and popular with my bloggers. Currently nearly 600,000 blog hits!
Thanks so much for your past articles on the blog and please share some more with us!
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