Training Begins

It's the end of July and although many of my birds are not fully through the molt I am beginning training of my males. This initial training simply involves rotating a few birds to smaller cages in my living room and being covered and uncovered with a sheet.

I hope this early exposure to my families movements and noises will help to prepare them for the bird shows. It also gives me a chance to listen and begin evaluating the individual birds' songs. Some of my birds are already exhibiting very good potential.

Amazingly, the birds quickly adjust to their new surroundings and begin singing. Some songs are not far from full adult song. In the next month or so I will also bring an adult tutor bird down so the young males can listen and learn. Right now my adult males are not singing much yet as they also are still molting.

For now, I get to listen and and my young birds get used to being moved around. Soon we will be hearing some real champions!

Organic Dandelion?

The other day when I was at my local grocery looking for some fresh kale for the birds I noticed organic dandelion. There were big bunches of very fresh looking dandelion leaves. Of course I had to snatch it right up for my canaries. The kale was looking terrible anyway. I won't buy it when it's all wilty. How is wilty kale going to last a week? Never!

Dandelion is known to be relished by canaries and is a great source of vitamins like A, C, D, K and B complex and a bunch of great minerals too. It's just an all around great dark green vegetable to offer your canaries.

Why purchase dandelion when it grows free and wild all over the place? Well, picking it off the side of the road isn't very organic with all the nasty road runoff and picking it in many peoples yards isn't usually safe either if they spray with fertilizers and pesticides. So to be on the safe side I was happy to buy organic dandelion from my grocers.

Needless to say my birds swarmed all over it and devoured it within minutes. Variety is the spice of life!

Feathers Everywhere!

Well, the feathers are still flying in the bird room. The molt should be complete by the end of the month but right now it seems it will never end. No amount of vacuuming seems to keep those feathers from working there way down our stairs...lol.

My youngsters are nearly done with their transformation. The orange babies are now bright orange and my green and blue(grey) babies are now showing their adult colors. I also have some very pretty deep yellows this year. Now it's the adults turn to molt heavily.

The adults also change out all their long feathers in their tails and wings when they molt. Youngsters usually don't lose these long feathers their first year. Although, some babies do lose tail feathers their first year usually from being pulled out by the parents or other birds. If this happens adult feathers will thankfully grow back.

Hopefully we will be hearing my adults sweet songs again soon. They still sing a bit but not with so much enthusiasm. My youngsters need their coaches back...lol.

Cleaning Day

Saturday is cleaning day in the bird room. This week it was time for washing walls and floors. I also set to wiping down the outside of the cages. I use a bleach and water solution for this. My walls are lined with clear plastic to make cleaning easier and keep messy bird food splatter from sticking to painted walls. With 60 birds the mess can be significant.

My bird room is in a spare bedroom with a wood floor so it is important to keep it as clean as possible to avoid Red mites (Dermanyssus). This nasty mite bites birds and sucks their blood. Red mites may be found on any species of bird. They feed at night, which often makes the bird restless and itchy. The mites may be found crawling around on the skin or feathers at night. If a bird is examined during the day, no mites may be present on the bird. The easiest way to find these mites is to place white paper towels on top of the cage before bed time. Check the paper towel first thing in the morning for any tiny brown or red specks on the towel. They are just large enough to see and they do move.

Deep cleaning is very important for the health of my flock. Daily, weekly and monthly cleaning chores must be rigorously maintained to reduce the possibilities of illnesses and infestations. Fortunately, I do not have any of those nasty red mites.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th everyone!

I'm happy to report no problems in the bird room this morning. Everyone is doing great.

My young males are starting to sound like adults. They are sounding great! Hopfully I can get them trained well for the shows in the fall and they will sing their best. They are almost through the molt and are looking real good.

I'm gonna keep it short this morning as we are off to some 4th of July celebrations. Have a fun and safe 4th!

First Aid for Canaries

Bath time for the canaries is usually my favorite time of day. I love to watch them enjoying their bath. They splash about so much I always need to refill their tub...lol. I can tell they truly enjoy the water.

This morning, for one hen, it was a blood bath. "Oh, No" you say, "what do you mean? What happened?" Well, it seems that a blood feather broke in her tail. Not a huge emergency but definitely needing First Aid.

I removed her from the cage right away and rinsed off the blood in my sink. I then went to work looking for the broken blood feather and gently plucked it out. But, she continued to bleed from the hole where the feather had been. So, I gently applied presure with a paper towel for a while and then applied a styptic pencil. After a few minutes the bleeding finally stopped and I applied a tiny drop of antibiotic ointment.

She was so good as I cleaned her and fixed her wound. She sat very patiently and without struggle in my hand while I held presure on the spot that was bleeding. What a great little bird. She will be fine after her ordeal.

Bird owners should always have first aid supplies available for emergencies. Styptic powder, nail clippers, antibiotic ointment, q-tips and cotton balls are just the basics. You never know when you may need these emergency supplies.

Thankfully my little girl is just fine now and can't wait until her next bath!

Hen with Bloody Wing Feathers

As I entered the bird room this morning I notice a young hen with blood on her wing. She had been picked on by her cage mates. Canaries prefer to be alone but during the summer months they are kept in their big flight cage together. I try to provide enough toys and distractions to discourage picking on each other but occassionally it still happens.

She will be fine but I will remove her to a smaller cages with only a few other birds so the picking doesn't continue.

You are probably wondering why keep them together if they will pick on each other? Well, generally after the breeding season both young and old need to stretch their wings and get some excersize. They are also less agressive towards each other as they are molting during this time. The positives outweigh the negatives. With a little diligence and lots of toys very few birds end up with any problems.

Well, off to do some vacuming....those darn feathers are everywhere every day...lol.