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ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 146, © 2006
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Welcome to Robirda's Companion Bird eZine
For breeder or pet bird owners who care.
Website News
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We now have over 4 dozen lovely photos entered into our Flock Talk Photo Contest, and we're looking forward to receiving lots more before the July 3rd deadline.
Submit as many photos as you wish, of any kind of pet or breeder bird, tame or not, the more the merrier! Just remember to put 'Flock Photo Contest' into the subject line of each entry, and accompany each photo with a description and the name of the photographer.
Voting will commence on July 4th, and run until midnight on July 14th. The winners will be announced in Flock Talk's 150th issue, Sunday, July 16th, 2006.
Our sponsors have supplied some great prizes - in fact there's over $800 US dollars worth! So send in your best bird photos, and find out when voting starts if others find your birds as beautiful as you do!
See the photos entered so far; http://robirda.com/flockphotos/
Find all contest details here; http://robirda.com/contest.html
Feature Article
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Contents
Julio Valella
Texas, USA
Copyright © May 2006
Some European authors, with scientific backgrounds on bird fertility, agree on a simple definition for fertility. This is, having viable young!
A canary that succeeds in having its own genetic living young is fertile. A canary can lay multiple eggs that hatch BUT if none of the young survive, and it then dies without any LIVING Young, it dies INFERTILE.
A simple definition, and a correct one. The Measure of Fertility is in having one or more LIVING Young descendants.
Breeding success is a very complex and natural process. I've learned some other fundamentals about breeding which have proven important. Note that there is no magic single variable. It is a multi-variable system, with many critical variables, and all are important.
Among them:
Generally: (All rules of thumb are just approximate!)
Canaries need about ¾ to 1 cubic foot of ‘space’ Per Bird. Less than this creates stress and compromises health, conditioning, and social interaction.
Perching Space is the MOST Critical Factor. At least 2 to 3 inches per bird.
At roosting time dominant birds will fiercely fight for as much perching space as they can achieve by driving others away. This is pretty much independent of the above ‘space per bird’.
A smart and effective way to deal with this is to provide a few stubby perches at just slightly higher placement around the cage. The fiercest, most dominant birds will occupy one each and leave most of the larger perches to the rest of the birds. More peaceful and less stressful conditions result. This helps maximize birds in a flight or large cage.
For example, A 10 ft long by 2 ft wide by 2 ft tall flight, ‘space’ is 10 x 2x 2 = 40 cubit feet. There are 2 perches 2 ft wide in the flight. That is 2 x 24 inches = 48 inches for roosting.
There is “space’ for 40+ birds, but only 16 to 24 can perch at roosting time with little fighting. (48 inches divided by 2 or 3 inches per bird)
Doubling the perches allows populating it to ‘space’ capacity. Then adding 20 more stubby individual perches, 10 per side, will allow up to 60 birds to successfully share that flight. The 20 fiercest take those stubby perches, the other 40 take the four long perches.
Ultimate conditioning is achieved when birds must fly upwards to reach high perches. This develops stamina and chest and wing muscles. Its like stair climbing for humans. The bird must overcome gravity to reach elevation. One can notice overweight birds when placed in a flight are initially unable to do this. After some exercise and weight loss they can do this, and they improve quickly.
Next best is having a long distance between perches on a horizontal space. Preferably, these perches will be at least 12 inches apart; for optimum conditioning at least 24 inches apart.
In any flight cage placing the perches as high off the floor as possible helps. It makes the birds work their wings to Fly up to perch and again to slow their ‘drop’ to floor. I put water at the perches and one at the floor, so any injured bird unable to fly up gets water.
Canaries can ‘jump’ or ‘jump + one wing stroke’ a space of up to 8-10 inches from perch to perch. And ‘jumping’ does not encourage conditioning of the flight muscles, respiratory system, or developing endurance and stamina. Endurance is the ability to sustain prolonged exercise and stress with minimum fatigue. Stamina is that, PLUS resistance to illness combined with quick recovery from fatigue after a short rest.
Optimum or Superb Conditioning is achieving maximum capacity in both.
Having around 18 to 24 inches between perches requires several wing strokes to sustain elevation and get from perch to perch. Even just 1 to 2 inches difference in height placement of those perches makes them fly up and down and helps build conditioning.
So, most breeders have a big enough flight cage but place the perches at the same height, usually because they know that some fighting will occur since most birds prefer the higher placed perch to roost. But, a small difference helps them ALL DAY LONG and should be done.
I've observed superbly conditioned birds moved from a large flight to a small flight cage engage in air combat and pure flight exercise. They fly fast from end to end doing a quick aerobatic turn at each end against the wires, without perching, and sustain these for several back & forth turns.
One never observes this behaviour in sub-conditioned birds. Any canary that does this is in superb condition and will have no problem flying a long distance. If it escapes it will reach the tree tops in its first flight!
Interestingly most canaries in superb condition lose this after several weeks in a small breeding cage, and to regain it must spend several days to weeks in a large flight (with proper diet of course).
Keep in mind that superb conditioning and health are different. One can have very healthy birds that are simply not in superb condition. Also, while superb conditioned birds are generally healthy they can become sick. Think of it as healthy, fit people and healthy competitive athletes. All are fit but the competitive athletes will be in superb condition. Yet both can get sick.
Going into breeding season I prefer to have my males in (male-only) Flights as long as possible, until fighting makes it necessary to place them in single cages. Sometimes I take the weakest out to another males' flight then finally start moving bullies into single cages. This gives the least conditioned ones more time in the flights, and more chance of reaching superb condition.
With females the issues are less fighting and more paper tearing and sometimes the start of egg laying. I prefer to keep them in hen flights as long as possible, reducing the number as I begin to move some to pair in breeding cages.
Abundance is critical for breeding success. Nature has ‘wired’ birds to detect and respond to nutrient abundance as ONE trigger to mating, nest building, laying, incubation, feeding, and nestling young.
Its noteworthy that abundance in excess of too much rich food, excessive supplements, especially protein and fats, can CAUSE loss of conditioning and vitality that diminishes probability of success. It is possible to harm our breeders with excessive protein, fat, and vitamins. This is ESPECIALLY true if the birds live in confined quarters with reduced flying and exercise. Birds get fat, their hormones get un-balanced, stamina diminishes and copulation falters.
Watch carefully House Finches and Sparrows; they demonstrate how ALL these factors play a significant role in their breeding and fertility. NONE gets ‘Supplements’ and ‘Enhancers’, they consume all natural products and by-products, and do best when they do not get man made food (NOT seed, which is natural and may be simply man provided).
I find that most breeders (including me!) can improve results by simply providing more flying space for exercise, an ample, clean, fresh, well balanced natural diet; and clean fresh water to drink and to bathe during Summer, Fall, and early Winter. That builds Conditioning leading up to Breeding Season.
I do use Vitamins. I use them sparingly and routinely, to ensure a Complete Diet. I have used Vitamin E and Wheat Germ, both do have a positive impact on breeding, if not used in excess.
BUT, I find when my birds are already in great condition the effect is far less than when my birds are NOT in optimum condition. And while the E or Wheat Germ helps get them breeding it does NOT, by itself, provide the lacking conditioning. Results are simply not as good as with well conditioned birds.
Superbly conditioned birds have excellent tight feathering that barely gets wet when they bathe. E and Wheat Germ do NOT make a noticeable difference on those birds. For birds lacking that superb condition E & Wheat Germ noticeably improves feathering.
My advice is to steer away from ALL those advertised ‘Breeding’ supplements and additives.
Concentrate on selecting your strongest, most vigorous birds, to start. Then give them plenty of flight space with long distances between perching opportunities, and a terrific fresh, natural diet that includes greens and fruits, plus plenty of fresh drinking and bathing water.
Carefully provide plenty of broad spectrum light, and slowly increase the light to dark ratio until a level of 13 to 14 hours light to 10 to 11 hours of dark is established. While doing so increase protein (I use hard boiled egg) and oily seeds; soaked seed, and sprouted seeds are excellent.
This regimen gets them ‘Show Ready’ and ‘Conditioned for Breeding’. Natural nutrients like Bee Pollen, Spirulina, and Sprouted Seeds are excellent to mix with chopped greens and provide as daily or twice a week Conditioning Foods.
Take time to select pairs, place them near each other and when signs of nest building and courting songs abound pair them. You'll find your success rate climbs to close to 100%.
My rules of thumb are based on observations and advice from experienced and successful breeders. It's my hope that sharing them here will help you and others!
Julio Valella ∑
Texas, USA
Copyright © May 2006
"Everyone always asks me why my birds are such beautiful singers and breed such magnificent babies...I tell them that I learned from Robirda! While they give their birds all kinds of 'magical' formulas, I just follow your guide to 'keep it simple.' My birds are now very healthy, and there has been no recurrence of the infection. Thank Goodness!" R.C., Florida
Sponsor's Space
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Song CD
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Do you like to keep your canaries singing? Our CD of Robirda's canaries in full song song encourages pet canaries to sing, and is a popular choice for many canary owners. But its potential uses don't end there! It can help to call wild birds to your feeders, or make your pet parrots more comfortable in their surroundings.
We get a great deal of positive comments from happy customers, so we're sure you'll be pleased. A recent customers tells us:
"Your CD is playing right now and my bird room is going crazy - in a good way! We have cockatiels, parrotlet, budgies and 2 canaries, and we want to assist the canaries with their song, which is why I purchased your CD. Years ago I had a CD for canaries but it had muzak in the background and was awfully annoying to listen to. With yours we can play it in the yard, in the house... wherever all day long and not get sick of it."
Find out more about out Canary Song CD here!
For You & Your Birds, With Love
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Our next issue is due Sunday, June 4th. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then!
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