March In The Bird Room --- Month By Month Journal

Mid March 2019

I jumped into March with a four day cleaning marathon!   We are now at mid month, and the first pair laid an egg this morning!  Nests and nesting material are ready, and I have printed my record-keeping forms.  I am taking many photos, so I hope to keep up with my resolve to include interesting photos with every blog post!

Washing up is not my favorite chore in the bird room.  I have found several things that help get it over and done quickly:

1. Keep at least two sets of water tubes and feed dishes.
   You can swap out dirty ones one day each week, and wash them the next day. 
   I also keep extra sets of perches.  Time-saving!
2. Do one extra thing after the daily chores are done.
   Don't leave all 'clean up' to do in one day.
   Don't say:  I'll wait and catch up later.
   I have one little maintenance job to do on each of the 5 weekdays.  Weekends are for 'enjoying' the birds with a latte and the rocking chair!

I rearranged the room, and now have cages for 32 pairs.  Whew.....

I am beginning this year's breeding season with the largest number of adult birds, ever!
I am so excited to see if my plans and expectations will be as wonderful as I hope!!!  Even if only some of the pairs produce what I want, it will be a great year!!!  

Here are a few of my 'rules' when arranging cages: (continued...)

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:

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

Late January 2019 

My intentions are to keep this Month by Month Journal up to date, with two posts each month:  one at the beginning, with my plans, and one at the end to see how well the month went!  (and to include photos with each post!)

Here is a video of a 'singing' American Singer hen.  Yes, I know:  canary hens do not USUALLY sing.  However, I have had several who were such good singers, they fooled visitors in my bird room!  This hen does not have a beautiful song... those little peeps and bubbling notes are her best.
But, she sure seems to be having fun!  And she has hatched chicks the past three years! 

Activity In My Bird Room:
My DIET RESEARCH is nearly done... tomorrow I will be doing the last experiments with commercial soft food mixes.  When the Research is ready, I will publish it here.  I won't be writing out all the technical nutrition information I found, but  have added links to my CANARY SEEDS (LINKS) page, if anyone would like to do research for themselves.

It was so much fun, and I found answers to many questions!  More on this soon!

I 'bit the bullet' and spent the cash to get a full third set of water tubes and a second set of seed dishes.
Many of the older plastic water tubes were cracking, leaking and it was time to get new ones.
Having duplicates of the waterers and seed saucers will save time later this season.

My birds are beginning to awake to the fact it is nearly Spring.  Montana weather outside has been warm and sunny, but the forecast for February is for more normal, colder conditions. I would like the hens to wait until late February, at least, before seriously beginning to nest.  So far so good!

Tips on Photographing Your Birds

We all love to share photos of our birds!  And there are many different types of photos:  some people like to catch their birds in their everyday activities, such as flying, eating or nesting.  Sometimes, we want to show off the shape or color of a particularly beautiful bird.

Of course, we want these photos to be perfect!  Considering how active birds are, our photographs often fall short of what we had hoped to capture! I have found good instructions on a few web pages, and have found a setup that works for me. There are other good methods, and I am always looking for ways to improve my canary photos.

Here are a few of my best tips
and I will add links to the informative webpages following the photos.

• A smartphone WILL take good canary photos, but there are differences between the camera on your phone and a good digital SLR camera.  If you experiment with your smartphone camera, you will find little tricks that give you good photos.
• Strong lighting and a clear or uncluttered background do make the photos more striking.
• I have found that a combination of both natural window light, not necessarily direct sunshine, with a small lamp works the best, for me. (Photo #4)
• Having the camera lens touching, or very close, to the cage wires forces the camera to focus on the birds inside.  My cellphone camera lens has a view that actually fits between the 1/2 inch spacing when I am very close to the cage wires.(Photo #7)
• If you cannot get very, very near the cage wires, it is better to move back one foot or more.  At that point, both the cage and the birds inside will be in focus. (Photo #5)  If you are close, but not close enough, to the wires, your camera will want to focus on the wires, and not the birds inside. (Photo #6)
• A single perch at the far end of the cage will encourage the bird to sit in one place.  Even a nervous bird will return to the perch.

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

Links to good informational webpages below......

January In The Bird Room --- Month By Month Journal

I am excited about so many things for the upcoming year!  There are NEW birds!
I have also been researching some 'Diet' questions.  I have pretty definite opinions about feeding canaries, and I have been generally happy with my methods.  But, there are new products for sale, and other breeders have different ideas.  In several areas, my research is confirming my original opinions and at other times, I am learning something new!  I will share my research over several posts later this month.

But, whatever I decide is best for my bird room, may not be best for you!  And what I do is definitely not the ONLY WAY, no matter how well it works for me!  There are nearly as many different ways of caring for and breeding canaries as there are people who own birds!  There are a few basic things nearly every successful canary person will do, but they each do them slightly differently, and in combination with many other aspects of canary husbandry!

One of my complaints about 'social media' is that every time a beginner canary owner posts a question, most of the replies will say 'You MUST do this, or that.'  Or 'This is the ONLY way.'  There is a time and place for in depth answers, but they can also discourage someone who is not ever going to have more than a few canaries as pets.   And many times, the people replying will begin to disagree with each other.
Oh, dear.

The take-away from all this is:  I am posting what happens in my bird room,
what I've learned, and my OPINIONS that result from those experiences!
If my posts make you think, that is all I ask.

New Waterslager hens are enjoying baths.
This song breed is new to me this year and I am having fun learning all I can!

The first CANARY GAME is open -- three more to follow!