July in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

July

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 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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 COMMENTS are enabled for these journal posts so please jump in with your advice or questions!
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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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COMMENTS are enabled for these journal posts so please jump in with your advice or questions!
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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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COMMENTS are enabled for these journal posts so please jump in with your advice or questions!
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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!  : )

March in the Bird Room -- Month by Month Journal

March
Month by Month
Journal
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March came in like a lion here in Montana... it seems to be ending with nice SPRING weather!     COMMENTS are enabled for these journal posts so please jump in with your advice or questions!
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This month was spent in preparing my birds for breeding.  I have gradually increased the variety and nutrient-dense seeds and grains.  And the natural light from outdoors has increased by hours as spring is nearing! 
    Please watch your birds!  I noticed they are consuming much more water and seed!  : )
    I mixed a small amount of pellets in their  basic seed mix, and for the first time, they loved it!  I believe a GOOD fresh seed mix should be the largest part of my canary food.... but I do want any birds I sell to be willing to eat anything, including pellets.  In years past, whenever I fed pellets, most of my birds were unwilling to try them.  But this year, all but two males seems to love them.
    I am also feeding black and white lettuce seeds.  Several years ago, I saved lettuce seed from my garden, and found my canaries loved them.  I read several books that listed the good nutrients in lettuce seed, so I ordered several bags to use this month.
    Washing nests, ordering new water tubes, and printing off my hatch records are all done.  And I nearly have all the cages restacked, the bird room rearranged, and cage liner sheets cut in bulk.
     PLEASE, set up some sort of record keeping system, even a simple blank notebook.  For some ideas of what I use and what other breeders like, see:
*** Record Keeping -- Worth Your Time! (what I use)
*** Keeping Records
     It is now the last week of March, and by April 1st, all my pairs will be set, and Spring will have sprung in my bird room!  : )

Record Keeping -- Worth Your Time! (Updated 2021)

It is that time of year!  I am ready to begin breeding, and many breeders are well under way!
You may not want to think of it, or you may even laugh at it, but RECORD-KEEPING is an important part of breeding canaries!  In all aspects of animal breeding, record keeping is a tool to improving your herd or flock.
By using records, you can pair birds that produce strong and beautiful offspring.  You will be able to keep the best for your own bird room, and you can be confident of your advice to other breeders buying your birds.

• Observation of youngsters is important, but only IF you actually take notes!
• These notes are only useful IF you can find them when you want them, and
• IF you understand what you wrote!

Your records may be as simple as making notes in a small pocket notebook during the breeding season.  At the end of the year, enter all the information into a simple student notebook.
Or you may use a computer software program, either using a simple spreadsheet or purchasing avian breeding software.
There are many methods that fall between those two extremes.  I think every breeder will eventually work out a way to keep records that suits his/her time and expectations.
Most canary clubs offer forms, and their online websites will have forms and suggestions available.
My only suggestion is:  KEEP RECORDS of some sort!  I don't think HOW you keep the records as important as DOING it!
Here is what I am using: (links to my forms are at end of this post)

• a calendar as a place to quickly note things such as:
  when I changed diet, or lighting, or administered medication
  when I put a pair together, first egg laid, first chick hatched, when weaned, etc.
• a clipboard with notepaper to quickly note youngsters singing, older males fighting, hens plucking young, etc.
• a hatch record in the bird room, to note dates of hatching, descriptions of youngsters, with space to also note band numbers
• an identical hatch record in my bird record file.  Once a month, I transfer the information from the sheet in the bird room into the 'good record'.  The sheet in the bird room tends to get smudged!  : )
• a notebook to enter notes about each pair.  This can be a simple notebook or a three ring binder with more detailed printed forms.
• pedigrees of your parent birds.  This could be optional, as you can look up the information through the past year's records, but I love seeing the past two to four years at a glance.

Record keeping does not have to take lots of time.... it will actually save time later, maybe years breeding with pairs that do not produce as well as other pairs!
I use the following forms (links are pdfs) :

• a wall calendar
• the hatch record by the Maryland All Canary Club
• NEW hatch record by Savoy Singers Aviary 2021
  
• NEW pairing worksheet by Savoy Singers Aviary 2021
  
• a simple pair record sheet to keep in the birdroom (new to me this year)
• a year-end Pair for Year record
• parent pedigrees for each bird
  
  >>>   all of the above in a plastic expanding file

Keep records, even if in a simple notebook!

Canary 'Seeds' of Information

It is a busy time of year in our bird rooms!
We may have questions or need answers to problems.
I just updated my list of great canary links:
'Seeds' of Canary Information
and, again, I am amazed by the wealth of canary information by solid breeders!
Take a look at the list of articles, and I'll bet you find much to learn!
Also, if your favorite link or website is not listed, please send me an email, or add a comment to this post!
I cannot guarantee to list every one, but I know there are many good articles that I have not yet found!
Thanks!