Anticipation Of Miracle Births - Artificial Insemination

Several months ago I posted a blog about a favorite Border Male who was accidentally trapped in the bottom wire cage grates. I nearly cried as I had plans to breed him to several hens come breeding season. But look at his left foot, permanently damaged even though his wing seemed to recover pretty well. He will never be able to mate a hen again!!!

 
What a perfect use for Artificial Insemination! 

This hen surprised me and built a nest and laid an egg the next day. Usually I would toss the egg and not bother to put a male with her as pairing so late is normally a waste of time as all you will likely get is infertile eggs unless she lays five or six eggs. Having already messed it up, I decided to try artificial insemination with my handicapped male.

I was doubtful I should even try this as after she is laying is a very late start. Fertility is best five days before the first egg in the clutch is laid. With those thoughts that I should just give this round up,  I implanted her only twice, once the day she laid the first infertile egg and the next day,  each time around 8 am in the morning.

Today, exactly one week later and all three of the eggs laid after Artificial Insemination are Fertile!!!! So I can hardly wait for chicks! Of Course, I have heard Don't Count Your Chicks Before They Hatch!

 Also waiting for this long tresses Phrag to bloom in the aviary too! It has four stacks with buds!

A Big Thank You to Andrea Cabibi for bringing Artificial Insemination to Canary and Finch Breeders all over the World!

Removing hair wrapped around toes

A couple of days ago, one of my favorite Border hens pulled the gray felt nest pad out of her nest and shredded it to the point that she had her feet all bound with fibers that were cutting into her feet and threatening the circulation. If these are not removed, she could lose a toe or two or even a foot!

In the past I have used sewing needles to work between the fiber and flesh but this can easily cause damage and bleeding.

What a great discovery I made when I tried using dental picks with soft plastic to get under the fiber without causing bleeding. After removing all fibers, I dip the feet in iodine.

The soft plastic pick is a must for your aviary first aid kit. I got these at Walgreen.

Upgraded Deluxe Nest Pad

Lovely crocheted nest pads fit snug to clay or plastic nests. Hens accept it and build their nest on top of the pad. The pad fits tight, no more pulling out the pad.

Each pad has an open area that allows easy fitting to plastic nests with wire or plastic hanging mechanism or clay pots with no attached hanger.

These fantastic nest pad were purchased from David and Edith Benites at davidssingingcanaries.com

Canary Cooking? Brussel Sprouts and Sweet Potato Salad

My Borders especially have fallen in love with my new brussel sprouts and sweet potato salad!

Big Bird's Brussel Sprout and Sweet Potato Salad Recipe

9 fresh brussel sprouts

1 small raw sweet potato (I like the dark red skin but white inside one but have also used the Jewel which is orange inside.)

1 small raw carrot

24 shelled raw pistachio nuts

Quarter the peeled sweet potato and carrot and place in a food processor with the other ingredients and process fine.

This recipe was put together from ideas shared with me by Joseph (most of the ingredients) in Texas and Shawn (feeding raw sweet potato) from South Africa. Outside of raw carrots I had never fed the other ingredients but they took right to it. Even the Irish Fancy is feeding it to her banded chicks. 

Canary Breeding Is Like A Symphony - Factors in Concert Bring Best Results

Several independent factors in concert bring the best breeding results. Unfortunately any one of the three can push the hens into laying infertile eggs.

First: Changes in day length and light intensity. Smaller size varieties will breed on as little as 12 hours but even they do better with 14 hours light plus 30 minute dimmer.

Second: Changes in temperature and increasing humidity. Hens like chickens are reluctant to lay when temperatures are below 65F and when the humidity is very low. As temperature warms breeding activity greatly increases. Spring rains also tell the birds conditions are favorable for breeding. I like to wait a bit till Spring rains start to seriously breed my birds.

Third: Changes in Diet. Feeding more quantity or feeding different foods especially those higher in carbohydrates and proteins is very stimulating. Too much vitamin E to the hen and she will not sit but rather want to recycle laying over and over. Males should get vitamin E for six weeks prior to breeding and can continue getting it till breeding is over. Hens maximum of three weeks prior to laying and then not again unless they fail to lay the second clutch.

If any one of the three factors is dramatically increased the hens start laying! Laying eggs is not the same as laying fertile eggs.

This time of year, I get many e-mails or phone calls about problems that are caused by increases in one of the three factors with very unsatisfactory results. A recent caller couldn't understand that when he returned from a trip, many of his hens were laying even though temperature was low and day length was still 10.5 hours. Questioning revealed his wife took very good care of them in fact she feed them egg food every day! Oops, unintentionally she pushed the hens to lay infertile eggs!

Lucca, my Belgian Malinois, took the top bill off the table from the cleaning ladies money and worked on it a bit!

Why Doesn't My Canary Sing - Stimulating Canary Singing

I get quite a few e-mail from people with pet canaries who are concerned and wonder "Why my canary doesn't sing"?

Importance of lighting and total hours of light exposure each day

It is critical that when someone gets a canary that they understand that the birds health is dependent on getting regular hours and that the number of hours of light changes with the season and triggers the seasonal changes in the bird from breeding to molting (many do not sing during the annual molt).

Using a simple wall timer with a table lamp can be used and set to get them up and put them to bed and changed to current sunrise and sunset monthly or the bird can be moved to a dark room at sunset and not covered so that light coming through the window will get it up and put it to bed at the right time or the bird can be covered at sunset with a very heavy cloth so that any light after dark will not keep the bird up and then uncovered when they go to bed so that the morning sun will get it up at the right time.

Unfortunately, many cover the bird at night but uncover at different times depending on their work schedule or decision to sleep in on a day off. A few months of this and the bird first stops singing and if continued eventually leads to illness and an early death.

Once a bird is on longer hours than sunrise and sunset, it is important not to decrease the day length as this will precipitate a molt. Advancing the number of daylight hours will encourage coming into breeding song for smaller varieties that can be as little as 12 hours.

Is the bird healthy?

It is important to observe a bird from a distance so that they don't fool you into thinking they are well when they are just trying to look healthy to protect themselves from predators. Are the feathers tight or puffed out. Puffing out the feathers helps keep the bird warm. They open their beaks when they are too hot. Is there any clicking sounds at night, like air sac mites? Are they too thin?

Stimulating singing with sound and foods

Do not feed the bird immediately upon rising or when you are wanting to hear him sing. Singing varieties are either singing or eating most of the day. So I like to wait until after I have finished listening and then feed them. Of course basic food and water is always available but any new food or topping off seed will be stimulating encouraging them to eat instead of sing.

Sound is stimulating even a sweeper. I like to keep classical music playing all day for the bird. Mine especially love cello music. I have not found recorder bird song to be helpful.

Is this the only canary? A hen in the cage or even seeing one can cause some to sing the breeding song and others not to sing at all. The hen should be in a different cage that is below the male cage so he can not see her.

Some foods stimulate singing. It is good to add toasted wheat germ fortified with extra vitamin E like is available at the grocer or health food store and bee pollen pebbles to the regular diet to improve singing frequency.

My first canary did not sing and I did everything I have mentioned and still no song. Then one day it laid an egg! LOL

Sexual Dimorphism in Lizard Canaries

Don't miss checking out finespangledsort.com

A blog by Huw Evans promoting the Lizard Canary. I especially liked tips on sexing lizard canaries in the post titled "Sexual dimorphism: theory into practice" posted on 1/2/16. It includes helpful tips on how to sex lizard canaries visually and included a practice test. Answers for the practice test and discussion of the answers were published on that blog 4/2/16. Also has many fantastic lizard photos.

I have really enjoyed this informative blog very much and will continue to visit it over and over!