August in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

August
Month by Month Journal
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 COMMENTS are enabled for these journal posts so please jump in with your advice or questions!
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I really like the Ioford/DufoPlus combination!!!
I have changed my softfood ingredients, as usual for this time of year.  I cut back on the actual hard boiled egg... reducing the protein.

In my opinion, too much protein in the diet of young canaries causes leg soreness and excessive beak growth.
Too many carbohydrates can cause obesity and poor health in future years.

Before weaning from the parents' cage, I like to feed high protein softfoods, and for a few weeks after they are in their own cage, I continue to feed egg food.
But as they get older, and are eating well... I begin to add raw grated carrots, even more greens, and a bit more oats to their soft food.
To help with molting and to keep them growing well, I make sure they have a good mineral supplement and all the basic seed mix they want.
This is the month I love, because I get to hear them begin to twitter!
The first ones to begin really singing are the ones I get the most excited about!


This year has been a great one... I see improvements in color, size and shape that I am excited about!
I am photographing each bird for sale, and the SALES pages will soon be online!

Watch your flights of youngsters....!!!!!

Please watch your young canaries, especially if they are in groups in flights.
There is always some noise as they flock to the seed dishes, with hens bickering.  Young males will often compete for a favorite perch. 
Some of these disagreements become out and out battles.  You notice tattered and broken feathers.
Other times, a weaker bird may simply be kept from eating and drinking.


I watch for a few minutes each morning for a couple of days, and can usually pick out the ones that are starting these conflicts... and they are moved to their own cages.


This advice comes from another breeder:  as you begin to see which are hens and which are males, separate them by sex.  She says this is one way to 'keep peace'.
http://canarytales.blogspot.com/2011/09/this-years-hatch-puffing-up-in-flight.html