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

We are HALF WAY into breeding season in the new bird room!
I did make a Bird Room Make Over video together;  watch it below or larger sized on my YouTube channel.
The 'new' birds I bought last fall were a bit slow to set/hatch, but the hens of my own raising are doing well.  I am most excited over the beautiful American Singers!  Even a couple of older AS hens have given me chicks.  A five year old agate opal-carrying hen is on her second nest!  Several older males are also producing youngsters.

Soon, the FUN of choosing the youngsters to include in next year's breeding BEGINS!
I love to watch the young ones as they mature and begin to show their potential!
This year will be even more exciting as my favorite birds have produced Beautiful Kids!
I will have LOTS of youngsters to choose my own keepers and to sell! (See photo, left, for my Bird Room Numbers!)

I made THREE decisions:

#1)  I will be removing each egg as it is laid, and replacing it with a fake egg... storing each hen's eggs in a little cup, and returning them all when she lays the fourth or last egg.
I just left the eggs with the hens, for all the first round of nests.  And I lost a few chicks!

Half of the hens did okay.... because they laid an egg each day, thus the eggs were hatching day after day.  Most of these same hens also did not begin incubating until the final egg.  And, they fed well after hatching, searching out the youngest ones and feeding them in turn.  The other hens were less efficient, in all aspects of breeding.
The males behaved similarly:  half were skilled, half not so much.

This was a good learning experience for me.... but for this second round of nests, I removed the eggs as they were laid, and returned them all at the same time!  :)

#2)  When/IF I buy new stock birds, no matter how 'well-known' the breeder is, I will carefully, and cautiously, observe them before I mingle them with my own birds!

Ten years ago, when I first began buying 'new birds' in the fall of one year, I would pair some of them with my own birds the very next spring.  And, in the following years, I would pair their offspring with more of my own birds.
Three years ago,  I took a critical look at the 'new birds' and discovered some of them produced good offspring, and others did nothing but pass along serious faults!
In the two breeding seasons since, after culling some birds that 'should have been good' but were NOT, and keeping my own lines clean, I am now seeing some great results!!

After the past 10 years of buying birds, I am convinced the best birds are of my own breeding!  I am learning how to pair birds!  :)

I have found about 6 'good' birds, and several exceptional ones, from various American Singer breeders.  I am building the opals from very good groups of birds I bought from two breeders, both of whom I believe are no longer breeding with the same bloodlines.  I have several great, solid families of yellows from Bruce Thompson.  I am thinking of selling all my bronzes and mahoganies, but they are really very nice birds, from three breeders.

Long story short:  I have LOTS of good families.... with good solid genetics.
From here into the future, I need to remind myself: 

no matter how fun it is to get new birds,  resist the temptation!

#3)  36 pairs are too many!  :) 
I have no idea how I will make the decision of which ones to keep, but I am setting a goal of 25 pairs for 2021!  I'll keep you all updated on how well I am doing toward this goal!

Cleaning and Disinfecting Things In Our Bird Cages

I have always used a very dilute bleach solution to soak watering tubes, feed dishes, nests, and etc.
The use of bleach is a topic of debate among bird owners.
I have experimented with bleach, vinegar, citric acid, botanical/natural disinfectants and various soaps to wash bird cage accessories.

My usual method is to pour a few 'glugs' of bleach into a shallow sink of warm water, to a level to cover the water tubes, and leave them to soak for a couple hours or overnight.  I rinse each well under the faucet, keeping the original bleach water in the sink and letting the rinse water fill the sink.  I then add the feed/seed saucers to soak.
I don't soak the wooden perches, but do use a scouring pad and the bleach water to clean them.

• Actual 'soap' may leave a cloudy residue on the dishes, if left to soak die for longer than an hour.
• Rinse well.  I don't skimp on running clean water.
• I have a complete second set of water tubes and cups.
  This means I can soak, rinse and let dry one set while the other set is in use in the cages.

I decided to do a little research to learn more about the proper use of various cleaners and disinfectants.

I first looked for mixing instructions for a handful of common ingredients.  Then I found the time needed for effective cleaning.

• Heavily soiled and built up debris should be removed/rinsed before soaking.
• BLEACH:
  1 TB to 1/2 cup chlorine bleach per gallon of water
  Soaking for 10 minutes is effective.
• VINEGAR (5% white vinegar):
  1:4 vinegar to water for general cleaning
  1:1 vinegar to water for heavier cleaning.
  Soaking/remaining wet for 1 hour is recommended.
• CITRIC ACID:
  2 TB per quart of warm water
  Soaking for an hour is recommended.
• BOTANICAL DISINFECTANTS, using thymol oil:
  Most are Ready To Use products.
  Keeping wet for 10 minutes was the average time for effective disinfecting.

I have used all of the above, with success. I have also used hand dish soap, which seemed to rinse off well.
I dump out the 'dirty' water in a water tube every day, and put up clean ones weekly.
Unless there is algae growth, or something slimy in the bottoms, an actual disinfectant is not necessary, but it does make all the cage dishes look clean.
We have a private septic system, so I am careful to use the strongest 'antimicrobial' cleansers sparingly, to prevent problems with our septic tank and drain field.

A Good Website With LOTS Of Information is back online!

Matt's Fife Canary Page is back online!
Great!
This site has lots of information

for anyone looking for guidance to serious breeding of canaries.

 

Matt also has eight episodes of Season Three

of The Canary Room on YouTube.

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

Breeding season is in FULL SWING here! 
So far, things are going as planned.

For this first round of nesting, I did NOT remove the eggs as laid.
I just made a note of the dates each egg was lay'd, and I will do some study after I see how they hatch.
For the past eight or nine years, I have taken out each egg and return all the eggs when the fourth egg appears. 
Following several other breeders' lead, I decided to experiment with the first round of nests.  I'll know more in a couple of weeks, but so far the eggs are hatching at nearly the same time, and the parents are feeding well.

The hens began building nests almost immediately after I paired up the males and hens.
Eggs appeared within a week of caging.

I was a bit worried that there would be many infertile eggs in this first round.  But, so far, all hens seem to be hatching on schedule, with multiple chicks.

None are old enough to band yet.  I have literally just started, 4 days ago!  :)

I am feeding a basic 'heavy on canary' seed mix, with a little added oat groats.  My soft food for laying or feeding hens is my basic recipe (found on Page Five of My Canary Diet Research article).

I did update the way I keep records.
In the past, I used a calendar and loose leaf filler sheets to keep a running diary of who began setting, when they began incubation, and dates of hatching.  As I banded the youngsters, I used a 'hatch record' to write down the final description/family/band numbers.

This year, I made my own forms.
1) I wanted a quick way to see at a glance who was expected to hatch on what date.  I also wanted to have a record of each nest, just to give me an idea of each pair's good or bad points.
2) I wanted my hatch records in order by DATE of hatch, rather than in order of band numbers.  I also wanted to be able to quickly count how many chicks hatched.

I made a 'Pair Worksheet' , with the first column being the date DUE to HATCH.
Each pair gets a line on the form when they begin a nest... then I write down the date of first egg.  Then date incubation begins, and number of eggs. I figure date of expected hatch and put that in the first column, easy to see!  After hatch, there is space to add number of chicks, and any notes of their behavior.
I put the chicks each on my new 'Hatch Record' , by date each nest hatched. This also helps me keep track of when chicks need to be banded... a reminder of their age.
At the bottom of this hatch record, I make note of the week of these hatchings.  I will go back later to see if early hatches are more successful, contain more hens or males, and other things, such as how long between nests, etc. 

I also make notes as to possible sex while banding.
I watch for these hints:  males often have more 'fuzz' on the tops of their heads at this age.  Males are often more 'jumpy' than the females.  Some people say the males have a longer middle toe when young. 
Here is a list of possible 'indicators' of sex:
Tips On Determining Sex of Your Chick.

If any of these 'indicators' were absolutely true, all canary breeders worldwide would give a collective sigh of relief... as our largest question IS determining sex as soon as possible.
But the question remains, so these indicators are just that:  something that MAY indicate if a chick is male or female.

List of CANARY LINKS has been updated!

The list of CANARY LINKS has been updated.
Broken links have been deleted or corrected.
Several new links have been added!

https://www.sscanaries.com/p/info.html

Seed Moths -- Cause, Prevention, Eradication

Moths and other bugs in our seed, and bird rooms, are NOT FUN!
Here is my post on Facebook, for a few hints on the subject.

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

One of my major 2020 goals was to completely REDO my bird room! 
It needed a major DEEP CLEAN, and some CHANGES to my cage system, food storage, and the number of cages!
#1) Get my cages onto wheels! 
For the past 5 years, my cages have been stacked:  a row of cages stacked on top of several other rows of cages, with a sheet of plywood between, and bungee cords to keep the stack secure.  Most 'stack's were 3 high... and I had them tied to the wall to keep them from toppling!
The bottom row was off the floor at least a few inches, and I swept what I could reach nearly every day, but if I wanted to clean up behind the cages, it was a major job to get all the cages apart and moved.
I have been in this room for 7 years.  At first, I put paper on the walls behind the cages, and changed the paper at least once a year.  Recently, I simply had TOO MANY cages and too many birds to take time to clean properly!

*** Another reminder that YES, we can have TOO MANY BIRDS! 😄 ***

#2) Get a shop vac!  This is great.  It made cleaning under and between the stacks so easy and efficient!
#3) All my canary supplies should be IN the bird room.  Up until now, I have stashed various canary things all over my house. I have some good ideas to solve this.

#4) Paint!  Lori sent me a photo of her bird room... and that kept floating around in my brain.  I wanted a green bird room!

#5) Clean:  the laundry appliances, light fixture, window blinds, etc.

#6) Add a few improvements: such as a clock, dry erase board on freezer, etc.

I bought paint early February.

It was early March before I moved the birds out into a spare bedroom.

The birds were returned to the bird room March 30.  I don't have all the new cage stands in the room, and there is much to do as I begin pairing the canaries in April.
But the end is near!  YEAH!!!

I took videos and photos of the process and I will put them all together into a video story, but for now, I will share a few photos. (read complete post)