The FIVE Things That Guide My Bird Room

There are five things that I think are most important in my canary hobby.
I thought it would be fun to share my priorities;  have you thought about your Canary Goals and Priorities?

• Keep the JOY in my canary-keeping!
• Healthy Environment for myself and the birds
• Keeping the Four Seasons in my bird room.
• Quality Water
• Proper Diet

First, I need to ENJOY the time spent in the bird room, and cannot rush through the 'chores'!  I am continually tempted to keep too many birds!  The thrill and pride in a 'Collection' are always sitting on my shoulder, telling me just one more pair won't be too many!  I admit I currently have TOO MANY BIRDS!  Extra time spent in the bird room is time taken from my family and other work.
Secondly, old-timers used to talk about Bird-Keeper's Lung, but most of us don't think of ourselves when we are talking about HEALTH.  I buy this or that vitamin supplement.  I make sure my seed is fresh and grind my own soft food mix.  I buy water that is pure.  All those are for the birds.

➽  I also have several air purifiers!  They are for MY HEALTH!  When they are turned on, there is obviously less white 'feather dander' on the windowsills, blinds, floors, and furniture in the bird room.  I am also breathing in less!  I cannot say enough good things about the air purifiers!  I love them.  I fear developing allergies, and being unable to keep canaries;  wouldn't that be terrible?
Right now, I have one purifier in the bird room.
Below is the pre-filter, which I clean every two weeks.  It is completely covered with the white dust.  I had no idea there was so much until I began running air purifiers!

(Increasing the number of baths for the birds will also decrease the amount of dander.)
Other things to do:  a vacuum stirs up less dust into the air than a broom.  An open window introduces fresh air for me as well as the birds.  Wearing gloves while cleaning cages reduces my exposure to disinfectants/cleansers as well as bird waste.

February In The Bird Room --- Month by Month Journal

Late February 2019

In the past, February has been a l-o-ong month in the bird room. I was torn between all the social posts of other breeders with photos of their newly hatched young... and my desire to keep my bird room close to the natural spring here in Montana.  My birds were impatient also.

This year, February has been a wonderful and peaceful time!  I have occupied myself with diet and nutrition research.  Several of the changes in my care and the bird room environment have worked well, and the birds are active and happy.
I have taken time to sit in the rocking chair in the bird room and watch the young singers.  There is a young opal male who loves me sitting close to his cage and trills with a low rumble!  Several young American Singer males act so excited as I sit down... and situate themselves on high perches to serenade me!  It has been a very enjoyable month.
Yes, I am nearly ready for an all new breeding season... and yes, the canaries seem ready.  The males have spent the winter months grouped three or so to a cage, and are beginning to spar.  The hens are flying back and forth in the cage... nearly colliding in midair, intent upon the excitement in the air.

I am still convinced my decision to start my breeding season no earlier than March 1st is the right one.  And a few changes I made to the diet and room environment worked as well as I had hoped.

First, the changes I made in the canaries' diet and the bird room environment:

• Sometime in December, our home furnace began running more often.  This winter, we humans set the desired temperature a few degrees higher.  Since the heating is a whole-house system, with one thermostat located in the dining room, normally the temperature in the bird room will actually RISE in late December and January!
  This year, I closed the heat vent in the bird room... not completely, but nearly closed.
  The temperature dropped this year, instead of increasing.... and it worked very well.
  On the days we had sunshine, the bird room warmed to the upper 60's, with nighttime temps near 60 degrees F.  There were a few times, it dropped to the higher 50's.
• I was very consistent about keeping the curtain pulled across the doorway to the bird room, so my family's activities in the evenings did not keep the canaries up past their bedtime!  :)
  Also, as the days began to noticeably lengthen sometime around the beginning of the year, I decided to partially close the blinds in the bird room window late each afternoon.  This worked well to quicken the darkening as nights began.  I wasn't home every afternoon, but I did the best I could, and it seemed to keep the canaries from 'thinking Spring' too early.  :)
  I stopped closing the blinds sometime in February.
• In years past, I have used a 70/30 or 80/20 canary/rape seed mix during the winter.  This year, I increased the oil seeds, using both rape and nyjer seed, which also raised the protein level and lowered the carbohydrate level.  I also added a small portion of a seed mix that contained egg-based pellets.  It was a very small amount, as I stretched out several cases of the seed mix, which I had purchased on sale.  But in a small way, it contributed to a higher protein level of the final mix.
  NOTE:  My seed mix still contains a higher percentage of carbohydrates than the percentage of protein.  I was simply trying to close the gap a little.  (more on this in my Diet and Nutrition Research article, coming soon)
• I did not feed supplemental soft/egg food, for most of the winter months.  I did feed weekly portions of grated carrots or other veggie.  Usually, I have free time during the winter, and since I have fun mixing various soft foods for the canaries, my usual practice is to increase soft foods in late winter.  I resisted this year, and did not feed any bread/egg food.
• I took notice of the joy and excitement my canaries have with the Ioford/DufoPlus combination.  This is a simple vitamin/iodine/iron supplement added to their water.  The strength/amount of each 'nutrient' may be lower than the amounts in other products.  And at first glance, there isn't anything special about the specific combination of these nutrients.  But whatever the reason, my birds love it.  In the past, I have added it to their water weekly during the breeding season.  This year, I ordered large bottles before we had freezing temperatures last fall... and have included it in my winter schedule.  They just love it! 

Early in my research, I gained an impression and formed an opinion.... and I had to study it out... to prove it to myself.  😊
So, I postponed my original plans.  ( See modified February Schedule photo above.) 
I did intend to add a fertility vitamin supplement to the males sometime middle February but I did not do so.  Both males and hens received the weekly Ioford/DufoPlus.
I also intended to begin feeding a soft food... high protein/low carb type.. based upon what I learned in my diet research.  However, I wanted to prove it by a little more research.  So, I did not feed any soft food.

Now, to explain WHY I am SO GLAD to have this PEACEFUL MONTH, before breeding season:

The Importance of SEASONS in your canary's life

I briefly mention this in my Canary Care Sheet, and incessantly mention this in my emails/talks with new canary breeders!  It is a topic that I now have as one of the top three priorities in my own bird room.

ALLOW Seasons For Our Canaries!

When I began breeding, I was used to having the canaries' cage in our dining room.  As I bought more canaries, I moved the cages to an end of the living room near a window.
I was in the habit of watching and listening to the canaries throughout my day as I moved around the house.  My family would set newspapers on the top of the cages, when they needed the birds to be quiet while a movie played on the TV.  In general, the canaries lived with/alongside us humans.

As a result, they got up when my husband turned on the living room lights as early as 5 a.m. and went to bed when the last of the family turned out the living room lights, most often after 10 p.m.  Our bedtime hours are the same 12 months of the year.  And while we were wishing for more sleep than 6 hours each night, I now think my canaries were also feeling the effects of that long day-short night!

Canaries are one of the bird species that responds to daylength to determine breeding and resting seasons.  There are other factors in use also, such as temperature and diet.  Our wild songbirds and other finch species vary in how they respond, but we see a very clear example of 'SEASONS' in our outdoor birds, as they migrate to and from warmer climates, following the seasons, and breeding most often one season a year.  Some finches, native to different areas than our North American climate. breed at all times of the year, as diet and temperature allow.

But our canaries are one of the species that breed when the temperature is warm, food is plentiful, and the days are long, allowing the young birds to go through a short night without food.  They also have a natural molting period once a year, triggered as the days go from long in the summer to shorter days in winter.

If you own poultry, you know of the molt in late summer to early winter.  You also will be familiar with hens hatching chicks, or see chicks for sale in farm stores in the spring season.

So, let's come back to our canaries who live in a cage in our house!

If we expect them to follow our day/night schedules, they will be 'stuck' in one season.
From experience with my first canaries and from observation of other canary owners' experiences, I can describe a 'worse case' scenario of canaries living in the 'normal' activity of a human household:
The canaries act about the same all year around... singing some, quiet some, and occasionally laying eggs.  There may be more feathers falling on the floor at one or more times during the year, but there is most likely feathers falling a few all the time.

The canaries in this situation, do not go through the Seasons!  They are stuck in one artificial season.

IF you want a superbly healthy singer, or a successful breeding pair, PLEASE give them SEASONS throughout the year!

One simple solution, that many owners of single singing males already know, is to put his cage near a window in a room that is slightly away from the general activity of the household.  I have seen many people do this with great results!  In this way, he is allowed to wake up and go to sleep as he wishes, influenced as much or more by the natural light from the window as the subdued light from other rooms.

I have seen my own birds, asleep near the dark window, ignore us as we get up, turn on lights in another room, and move about our day.  Soon, I hear the birds begin to awake, get a drink and search their feed dishes for breakfast.  In the evening, with the lights out in the dining room, they retreat to their favorite perch, and go to sleep, even while we are watching a movie in an adjoining room.  They may wake up and watch me walk past as I finish chores before my bedtime, but in the dim light, and the window dark, they go back to sleep even as I am still cleaning up in the kitchen.

Since I have increased the number of canaries in my house, I have dedicated a room entirely to the canaries, and it is much easier to keep their room in tune with the seasons outdoors.  If you wished to begin breeding at a certain time earlier, it would be a simple thing to begin artificial lighting, increase temperature, and adjust diet to 'change their season' to whatever you wish.

But I am perfectly happy with my canary room lighting up with the dawn light coming in the large window, and darkening as dusk falls outdoors.

I am not saying all is perfect!

As we turn on the light in the entry nearby in the mornings, I have had to hang a curtain over the open doorway to the birdroom.  And the canaries do wake up to some degree, when they hear our activity in the rest of the house.  Plus, I am still working out when/how much to close off the heat/ac vent in  their room.  With each year in this room, I am learning what is best for my birds.

I do think they are healthier.... and I no longer have feathers 'all over' year around.  They molt at the proper time, and begin to think of breeding only after a period of rest.

I do have some adjustments to make to MYSELF!
As winter comes, I have fewer chores outdoors, so I have more time for indoor hobbies.
That means, I want to spend more time with the canaries:  experimenting with new foods, feeding treats, and dreaming of next year's chicks.
Every winter, I have to fight the temptation to begin breeding early.

I have to remind myself of the times in the early summer when I watch a tired hen building a nest yet again... watching her and the ragged male as they struggle to raise yet another clutch of youngsters.
They don't automatically stop after a nest or two!
And I want to keep the good ones, and my favorite pets, for years to come.
The sad fact is they can/do 'work themselves to death'!