ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 66, © 2003
No reprints without permission

This is one of the best bird sites I have ever visited, and is definitely the best I have ever seen on Australian birds. I have always been fascinated by these birds, rare though many are outside of their native continent, and over the years have kept and cared for a variety.

I was very pleased to note that there is an abundance of top-quality, highly informative articles posted here, enough to keep an interested bird-hobbyist happy for hours, if not days! Learn about how to succeed at keeping species rarely seen by most of us, or instead choose to learn things about commonly kept species that you never would have imagined in your wildest dreams! Or, just read everything - you won't be sorry you did, I promise!

When you need help with housing, feeding, care or behavioral questions, you can get a personal answer from Robirda. Even avian vets sometimes consult with Robirda on small-bird behaviour and other such issues!

They, and her other customers, have found her answers to be detailed and reliable, caring and supportive. Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better. Learn more here

This issue, instead of a question, we would like to share a comment from a recent consultee with you. She writes,

"My heartfelt thanks go to Robirda. When I consulted her through the 'Ask Robirda' link, I learned things that you will never find in any book... not basics, but detail after detail in caring for a sick bird (which, in turn, often applies to any other birds you own.)

"I am not new to the canary, I have owned one (as a pet) for a good portion of my life.

"She asked question and after question and then would ask another question after my reply. All in all, she gave me three days of her time and expertise, helping me help my bird. Her knowledge of the smallest details has to be unsurpassed.

"Most of all, she has the uncanny ability to advise without criticism... truly remarkable!

"My suggestion? If you don't have confidence in what you are doing, 'Ask Robirda.' She saved my bird."

Robirda can help you learn to understand your birds better. Learn more here

As far as I am concerned, fake canary eggs fall into the 'must-have' catagory for those of us who keep canary hens. This is true whether you plan to breed them or not.

A hen will lay eggs whether or not she has been bred with a male, and fake eggs will not hatch, cannot be accidentally broken, and cannot be eaten. Sometimes breeding hens will try to lay, brood, and hatch out so many eggs that it can threaten their health, and here too, fake canary eggs can come to your rescue.

These artificial eggs are safe, non-toxic, and readily accepted in place of real eggs. If you have a canary hen, do yourself a favour, and stock up now - you will find that they will come in far more useful than you will have ever anticipated!

Do you have or sell a great bird product? Send us a sample, and have it reviewed for Flock Talk readers! We will be reviewing foods, cages and cage accessories, toys, and other bird items we have direct experience with in upcoming issues. To arrange for a review, send your inquiry and a brief description of your product(s) here, to Robirda.

Welcome to Robirda's Companion Birds eZine

For breeder or pet bird owners who care.

We rely on our readers and sponsors to help keep this publication and its associated websites in existence. If you find help you need here, please consider joining our sponsors.

For all those who've helped out, thank you for your continued support! Our next issue is due March 16th - we hope you enjoy this issue's feature stories, and we will look forward to seeing you all then!

Robirda
Mar 2, 2003

Feature Stories

This issue it seemed time for something a bit different. At a loss for a theme, my search for inspiration was cut short when I realized that I already had several short pieces, all on the same theme! This is the time of year, when a hen's heart turns fondly towards dreams of nesting... and you never know just where that dream might lead! So here's several different takes on...

Copyright © March 2003

This first story follows the antics of Shadow, the little hand-tamed canary featured in issues 56 and 62 of Flock Talk. It seems Shadow's come up with yet another new twist...

by by J T Johnson
Copyright © March 2003

It seems that my Shadow has fallen head over tail-feathers in love with a small, dark, and (at least from a bird's-eye), handsome... cordless telephone/answering machine!

It's probably my fault as I've allowed them to share a room for some time now. From early on, whenever 'Vtech' would call out with it's familiar series of four rings, Shadow would respond in kind and return the call.

*Rinnng*- *Rrrrr*, *Rinnng*- *Rrrrr*... A 'Rrrrr' from across the room for each and every ring - without fail.

But it now looks as if what may have started out as a harmless crush, has now turned into something much more serious. I have Shadow out of the cage and with me a lot throughout the day, most days, but oddly it never happened to coincide with one of the daily calls that came in... until one day last week.

Shadow happened to be on my shoulder when the phone rang this time, and after two *Rinnng*- *Rrrrs*, I picked it up to answer. I immediately found myself completely distracted from the call, because no sooner had I picked it up, then Shadow began this small yet keen twittering right next to my ear.

She was creeling to the black handset that she found held before her! (Finally a meeting, after so many months of long distance calls!)

Ever since that call, her return *Rrrrrs* are now sweet twitterings accompanied by that 'come hither' look of a sustained canary curtsey, accompanied by a fluttering of her wing-tips - if she had eyelashes, I'm betting she'd be batting them flirtatiously!

Since then, out of curiosity, I've held up both the stereo and the TV remote controls to my ear, as they are both of the same color and similar shape, to see if they'd elicit a similar response. (I made sure to try this while no other members of my human family were around, to save explanation time)

Nope, no reaction... it seems, its Vtech or nothing!

Now whenever Shadow's out, she makes it a point to fly over to 'V' just to see what's blinking (usually, it's the little red light that indicates the time/date function is out of sync), and say hello before returning to me.

Shadow's 'lacy' side seems to be showing, at least as I see it, and it may be just a matter of time before an egg confirms what we now believe to be true.

Isn't this just a hoot? Have any of you ever before heard of a bird becoming attracted to a machine? I will keep you posted as things develop, but just now, if you'll excuse me, I must hang up... err, cage up the phone - uh, I mean, Shadow!

by by J T Johnson
Copyright © March 2003

Here's some hilarious hen antics from the Birds Board...

from posts by Nest members
Copyright © March 2003

Mary B;
Homey (teen hen) is putting strips of paper into the half of a baked eggshell I put in each cage. Gets into it and scootches around. Hilarious! (Editor's note: for some reason, the picture this leaves in my mind reminds me quite strongly of one of those cute little Easter cards!)

Rosemary;
I have two flights of hens. One is right and one is left. One hen in the right cage works vigorously tearing paper and placing it in a neat pile in the corner, every day. When I open the cage doors for free flight, a hen from the left cage goes over and takes the paper (piece by piece) and places it in the corner of her flight. She also does this every day. Who is the smarter hen?

Another hen leaves her flight, flies into the other flight... and tries her very best to take an entire sheet of newspaper back to her flight. She struggles with determination with this large piece of newspaper at the door of the cage. She never gives up trying... this seems to be about a once a week effort.

If, as Robirda says, the male canary 'taught the angels how to sing,' I believe it must be the hens who keep those angels singing!

Maureen;
My birds are fabricholics just like me! One of their favorite activities when out of their cage is rummaging through my shelved stash of fabrics and picking on my stuffed animals.

We're snowed in here in Ohio so I moved my sewing machine and iron in by the fireplace. Had to remember not to let my bird-friends out while the iron was hot.

When they were out yesterday, I heard the sound of metal. The girls were on the ironing board and Tink had the end of a thread and was unthreading one of my bobbins!

As I chased her away, all I could think of was the beautiful birds dressing Cinderella... they must surely have been canaries!

from posts by Nest members
Copyright © March 2003

This story of a first experience at breeding pet birds was shared with us by a regular Flock Talk reader...

by Laurie Penn
Copyright © March 2003

I am now the proud 'mother' of 7 beautiful canaries.

I purchased Teddy and Bunny from a local pet shop in February, just before Valentine's day. A week later I bought a much larger cage and fastened a small handled basket with wide rubber-bands to the top and back corner of the cage.

I was lucky, because Teddy was already singing to Bunny when I bought them, so it didn't take long for them to get the idea after I supplied nesting material. Soon Bunny began filling and shaping the nest.

It took her three or four days to complete the nest to her satisfaction, and just in time, too, because on the fifth day, I found an egg in the nest!

There was one egg laid every day until she had five eggs in her nest. She didn't sit on the first two eggs much, but by the time the fourth and fifth eggs were laid, she was setting full time, and it was only by chance that I was occasionally able to see the clutch.

About fourteen days from the date that the third egg was laid, I woke up to see a tiny baby bird draped over the other four eggs!

By noon, there was another baby draped crosswise over the first. The third hatched around dinner-time, and the fourth around nine pm that evening.

There was still one egg left when I covered the cage for the night, and sure enough, in the morning the fifth egg had hatched too.

A friend who has a canary had told me that all five eggs would probably not hatch, that I would get maybe two or three chicks if I was lucky, so I was really surprised to have all five of them hatch out!

I supplied Teddy and Bunny with lots of good food. Teddy fed Bunny and she fed the chicks for the first couple of days, and then they both began feeding the babies.

When I tried to take a picture of them at this, they froze and looked at me as if to say, "Do you mind?!"

So I learned not to take pictures during feeding time! As the weeks went by they grew rapidly, until they had reached full size and begun looking like the beautiful little birds they were born to be.

Teddy is a beautiful orange color and Bunny is a soft yellow and white mix.

I named their babies Patch, Cricket, and Irving (all apricot-colored), LittleBob, and Speck (lemon-yellow-colored).

It wasn't long before they were eating seed and greens on their own and living in a large cage next to Teddy and Bunny.

I was amused to consistently see three of my junior birds at different times sitting puffed up making the funniest little noises, almost like a budgie! (I have two budgies that live in a cage nearby.) I guessed that they might be male because of this, but was not sure, since this was my first experience at raising canary chicks.

I let them all out to fly every morning and get them back in (usually) by putting food in the cage.

For the occasional free-flyer that doesn't want to go in yet, I've been training them by holding up a 3-foot dowel rod and saying, "jump on!" When they are tired and hungry enough, they do jump on and will often stay on until I get them into the cage!

They look very healthy and are beautifully colored, and they seem happy to be alive. I will treasure the memories of their hatching, birth, and growth - not to mention their friendship - for a very long time to come.

by Laurie Penn
Copyright © Mar 2003

Our CD of Robirda's canaries singing, is proving to be a popular choice both for Flock Talk readers, and visitors to our website. In the months since we began to offer this CD for sale, dozens of orders have been filled, and many a happy customer has sent in glowing praise a few days later.

Here's just a few of the comments we've received:

"The cd is so lovely, cute, uplifting... I could go on and on! Just listening to your little critters makes me smile... one little guy makes a squeak... then another a gurgle, then one by one they start warbling until it's a symphony of sweet, varied songs."

"THANKS FOR A GREAT, SMOOTH & SPEEDY TRANSACTION"

"Quick delivery, Awesome CD, even better than I expected! Super transaction!"

"Just received the Songs from the Birdroom CD - the birds are enjoying it tremendously - our cockatiel is telling them to 'be quiet'!"

"Wonderful!! Professional, shipped with lightning speed. GREAT CD... RECCOMMEND!"

Learn more about our CD at robirda.com/songs.html