Can Canaries Share a Cage? and No, He Won't Be Lonely!

You may think:  what a strange question!  Of course, canaries can share a cage!
Yes, they can share a cage... in fact, you can put many canaries in a cage.
Remember our grade school language lesson:  'Can' means you are physically able; 'May' means you have permission and it's a good idea!
In many situations, two or more canaries can co-exist in the same cage.  I've heard of two male canaries living peacefully in the same small cage for years.  Only one would sing at a time.. one did not sing much until the other one died.
My dad had a pair who lived happily side by side also for years.  Recently, my mom bought a pair, and they did not exist peacefully!  The hen was the Boss, and would not let the male eat until she had eaten her favorites and was full.
I've seen birds who died of a broken heart soon after their mate passed away.
One lady had a beautiful aviary and tried many times to set up a flock of multiple canaries.  Time after time, they fought and squabbled until all were dead but the strongest one.  How sad.

PLEASE watch your birds.... please separate any that have personality conflicts! 
Some canaries will peacefully share a cage.... others will not stop fighting, picking feathers, keeping others from eating... often times until one or more are dead!

Are you thinking:  won't a single bird be lonely?
Like other companion pets, such as cats, one bird alone will attach itself to you, if you give it any attention at all.  If you have more than one canary, they will be more interested and entertained by each other, and won't be as devoted to you!  Just like a two-cat household.... what trouble one doesn't think of, the other one will!
A cage that is in a room where people spend time, such as a kitchen or living room, is ideal for a single canary.  Make sure you feed him everyday, and that is all the time and attention he needs.  He will appreciate and respond to more time spent talking to him, feeding him treats, or having your chair close to his cage.  But if you have a busy schedule, throw away the cups that hold feed and water for a week... and simply give him seed, water, and treats every day.

Here are two interesting articles to read, and then make your decision of how many birds to buy, how many to put in a single cage, and how a canary or two will fit in your life and your house!

And read this article:

Canaries are particular about their Territorial Rights!

August in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

August
Month by Month Journal
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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

July in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

July

Month by Month Journal
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I also learned something this month:
FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS!
If you suspect the seed mix you have trusted is NOT as good as it was in the past, stop using it and find another source for fresh seed!!!

For the past four months, I have battled seed/flour moths that I KNOW came from the 25# bags of seed mix.  I also cringed every time I emptied the bottom 'dust' of each bag into the garbage.
Last fall, I purchased 100's of pounds of canary seed mixes from two sources.  I had good storage areas and I was hoping not to worry about buying seed for some time. Well......
From the first bag, one of the mixes was less than ideal.  I kept thinking the next bag would be better.  It wasn't.

Poor mixes with stale seed and low quality ingredients WILL have a noticeable effect on your birds!
I 'got by' because I also had a good seed mix to feed... and my soft food mix recipe is very nutritious.
But as soon as I bought a new brand of FRESH seed mix, there was an immediate improvement in the youngsters' condition!!!


So, do not ignore your instincts!  If you think something is not quite right, change it.


Another tip:  Watch your youngsters for cage mates who fight.  Sometimes it is simply a normal squabble around the feed dishes.  Or it could be something really serious, such as young males fighting.  Even if they don't show broken, tattered feathers, the more dominate birds usually keep one or more of the more timid ones away from the food.
Please watch for slower, thinner birds in cages where you have multiple canaries... they may not be eating or drinking enough. 
I always keep extra cages ready so I can move out any that are causing disruptions in the flights.

June in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

June
Month by Month
Journal
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This month was a month of DON'Ts and mistakes!!!
      There were some exciting, big events happening in my family, and I was needed many places besides the bird room.  I had made plans for several SHORTCUTS, that I thought would let me spend less time in the bird room.
     Well, I discovered there is no substitute for TIME.
     First, the things I did right:

• I had placed a calendar on the wall of the birdroom, with three pencils!  : )  That made it easy for me to jot down when a hen began laying, when I returned the eggs to her nest, etc.  Definitely will do that next year!
• I also made an 'egg box' to store/organize the eggs as I took them out of the nests.  It was simply a large cardboard box, with a piece of paper as a lid.  ( I will do something a little more sophisticated next year!)  I padded 12 little foam cups with cotton balls, numbered them and 12 clothespins.  Inside each I placed 4 plastic eggs.
  When a hen layed her first egg, I put a clothespin on her cage, placed her egg in the corresponding cup, and placed a fake egg in her nest.  When I got busy and wasn't paying as much attention, the four eggs were a reminder that I was supposed to return all her eggs to her nest.  Sometimes if I was busy, and saw there was only one plastic egg left in the cup, I would simply return all the eggs to her that morning.
  The box also was a reminder for me to check the hens' nests.... I counted how many little cups had hen eggs, and would make sure I had check that many cages.
  You can tell how rushed I was!!!!!
• I also made sure I was stocked up with everything I would need for breeding:  extra nests and nesting material, extra bags of feed and seed, etc. 
• I also recommend, if you are rushed on time, to have twice as many feed dishes and waterers as needed..... this way, you will have a clean dish without washing the same one.
  Just remember, a tray of dirty dishes and water tubes do not wash themselves!  One of my chores just before bed was washing a sinkfull of canary stuff!

     Now... on to the things I did wrong!

• I did not schedule days to band chicks... sometimes chicks in each nest grow at different rates  and of course, different hatch dates mean clutches are ready for bands at different times.
  I just didn't have time for banding... but I do think two scheduled days each week would have made it possible, even with little time to spend in the birdroom.  Next year.....
• I did not feed softfood twice a day every day.  And the hens that were raising a nest by themselves, a poor feeding pair, and an older pair did not do well by themselves!  I did lose 4 young chicks that I think were because I did not provide softfood as often as was needed.
  :(  That was a sobering lesson to learn.
• I did not sweep the floor every day, and there was birdseed all over the rest of the house! 
• I did not write down my observations right that day.... and when I did scribble something on the calendar, often times I cannot read my writing or do not understand what I meant!!!
  I do remember which hens fought with which males, and which males were good fathers, etc., but I did not have any observations about the youngsters, which I will miss!
• I left some chicks with their parents too long.  Several hens plucked the tail feathers of their first kids while building their second nests. One hen is a sweetheart, and still has two of her first clutch while she is nesting now, but I am taking them out today!

     Got the bad out of the way, now on to the GOOD!   I was very pleased with my pairing plans.... I have some great youngsters!  I have already begun making plans for next year.  But more on that in the next two months!

May in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

May
Month by Month
Journal
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Things went well this month!!
      I do return my seed mix to the 'basic mix', instead of the enriched mix with all the 'goodies' I have been feeding for a few months.  The reason:  I don't want to push my hens too hard.  I don't want them laying larger than normal eggs, more eggs per nest than normal, or laying too closely together.  Each hen has her own 'schedule'... some hens lay an egg every day... other hens wait a day or two between producing eggs.
     I feel a hen that has been fed a healthy, strong diet will lay properly.  : )  I do continue the Ioford and DufoPlus combination.  And of course, there is cuttlebone and mineral powder in their cages.
    As they begin hatching clutches, I am careful to provide eggfood to parents twice a day.  I feed as soon as possible in the mornings, and again late afternoon.
    The precautions about spoiling egg or soft food are something to remember! 
    I do several things that I think help prevent my eggfood from souring:

• Each time I add fresh soft/egg food, I remove any food remaining from previous feeding.
• I wash the dish at least once a day.
• I prepare the soft food immediately before serving to the birds. DO NOT SAVE the food in your fridge.  You may freeze small amounts in freezer bags, pressing out excess air before placing in the freezer.  It crumbles apart while still frozen, and may be placed in their cage frozen.  
• Use fresh ingredients... including eggs and any other ingredients. Do not use any greens that have spoilage, oats that have been in a warm cupboard for months, or eggs that are anywhere close to their expiration dates.
  I use eggs from my own hens, and I am very fortunate that I know how many hours old they are!  : )
• I feed in small, flat dishes with low sides... such as dipping saucers, lids such as spaghetti sauce or pickle jar lids, or espresso cup saucers.  I have heard of breeders using small paper plates, the plastic lids from Pringles chip canisters, etc.
  These flat containers let any left over food dry out... rather than stay moist!  This extends the time the food remains edible and does not need removing immediately.
  I would not recommend re-using the dried leftovers!!!

April in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

April

Month by Month
Journal
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I continue preparing my birds for breeding.
     A few hens are beginning to tear at cage papers... so I am moving them into the cages they will breed in.  I am also adding the males... but watch to see the pair gets along!
If there is any bickering, remove the male until the hen has her nest almost completed.
     The birdroom is slowly coming together!  : )