ISSN 1492-8132
Issue 89, © 2004
No reprints without permission

Bird & Cage Co has made it their goal to provide bird keepers with great quality cages and accessories for great prices. The newest cage might just be one of the best pet canary cages you will ever see!

There are great cage deals available to bird owners, from small and large pet cages, to breeding cages, stands, and some of the best flight cages you will find anywhere! There's even free shipping, if you live in the continental US! See Robirda's cage reviews for more.

For a full selection of cages and cage accessories, visit BirdandCage.com.

If you are seeing a few occasional feathers now and then about your canary's cage and you know there's no drafts, maybe your canary is feeling stressed by something in his environment.

Stress can be caused by many things - an inadequate, incomplete, or unbalanced diet, widely varying temperatures, an object the bird considers scary being placed near the cage, too much silence in the his environment, and especially being stared at, whether by adults, children, or pets; their instincts will tell them that this means that they are being considered for dinner.

Birds do not like quiet! They don't like sudden loud unannounced noises either - but an environment with lots of steady noise makes them feel right at home.

Feather loss caused by stress can also cause a loss of song, so if some such event turns out to be happening in your home, you will need to see that it is stopped, ASAP. Your canary will be much more comfortable, and should soon reward you with his song!

Most canary owners know that their canary will probably stop singing while he is growing in new feathers. But many don't realize that this is the best time to take steps to ensure that the songs he will sing when he resumes singing will be as good as the songs he sang previously.

There is an important factor in how canary songs develop, which does not seem to be widely acknowledged. But, science has shown us that not only do our canaries grow in new feathers when they moult - but that at the same time as they grow in new feathers, they also grow new brain cells! These are put into use when they begin to sing again, after the feathers have finished growing.

During the time these new brain cells are growing, they listen to everything they hear, listening for sounds to incorporate into their new songs. A group of scientists proved that canaries kept in a quiet environment with little to no sound stimulation during their moult, developed poor songs in the following months, no matter how good their song was previously.

So this means that while he is growing in feathers is the best time to play him all the kinds of music you like best, knowing that the sounds he is hearing will be reflected in his song afterwards, when he finally does begin to sing again.

A lot of people use recorded canary songs for this kind of thing, but it doesn't have to be birdsong that he listens to, to achieve this purpose - any music you like will do just fine.

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Our new CD of Robirda's canaries singing replaces our old song CD, and is an improvement in almost every way. It consists of 12 16-bit true-stereo tracks, each averaging almost 5 minutes long, for a total of 58 minutes and 48 seconds of canary songs. You can hear to a 10 second sample in mp3 format, at www.robirda.com/songs.html Listen carefully, and you will be able to hear the different positions of each bird!

We are pleased to annouce that for a short time we will be offering New Songs From The Birdroom at a special price of only $10.00 (plus $2.99 shipping and handling). This price won't last long, so order yours soon! www.robirda.com/songs.html

Feature Article

One of the most puzzling problems that can arise for a new pet canary owner, is learning to understand the causes of (and learning how to prevent), an...

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © 2004

Winter feather-loss problems are very easily caused by drafts from a heating system, either directly, as in a draft from a vent - or indirectly, say, from some air bouncing off a wall into a corner, or blowing down from a duct, or some such. Sometimes heat rising from a heating vent can get trapped under a cage cover, and when that happens, it is most definitely very stressful on the bird, and will almost always cause feather loss and cessation of song, due to the widely-ranging temperatures it can cause.

So particularly if you find fallen feathers in the morning when you uncover your bird, be sure to check that there is no hot air rising from a nearby register into his cage, at night. Generally all you need to do to solve such a problem, is either to block the draft so it no longer reaches him, or sometimes just to provide a sheltered area where he can step out of the draft.

Most canaries will stop singing when they begin to drop their feaethers, whether due to an unseasonal moult, stress, or illness. Only an exceptionally well-nourished canary will sing while he is growing in feathers, because doing so takes quite a lot of energy and nutrition. And if there is feathers missing, his body will be trying to grow in more, even if you can't tell!

If you can manage to find and stop the problem that is making him drop his feathers in the first place, you will probably find that he will resume singing within a couple of weeks or so of the time when he finally has all his feathers back.

Missing feathers around a canary's neck is a sign of what the old-timers used to call a 'stuck moult'. The most usual causes are a draft that he can't get out of (the most common cause for this symptom), or lack of adequate nutrition for growing in new feathers (another fairly common cause), or stress. Stress can be caused by many things, including being harrassed by another bird sharing the cage or even living nearby (especially if the cage and perches in the nearby cage are higher than those for the canary's cage) - or just general stress.

That leads us to another important cause of stress, his regular diet. (All of it, including treats, greens etc... ) It is almost always necessary to take a good overall look at diet as well as environment when trying to solve problems, as even small items missing or given in too large quantities can make a huge difference in a canary's health.

One of the biggest problems that can be caused by the diet is fatty liver problems, from feeding too much fatty foods. Most often, this is due to offering too much treat seed. These mixes are usually VERY fatty - one teaspoonful of one of these mixes for a canary, is the equivalent of you or I eating an 8-inch, fully iced, double-layer chocolate cake, all by ourselves. As I am sure you realize - to do so might make him very happy, but it certainly won't do much for his health!

So try to make sure that your canary doesn't get more than a teaspoonful or so per week of any song food mixes or other such treat seeds, combined. A too-fatty diet can easily cause a bird to become too fat to sing, and/or too sick to sing, from stress caused on his heart and body by a fatty liver or heart.

Moulting food, song treat, eggs and egg food or egg biscuits, honey treats, millet, and all those kinds of treats tend to be very high in fat - often 60% fat or more. Even a heavily moulting bird should receive no more than a tablespoonful per week or so of all such treats combined. Outside of the moult, he should see no more than a teapspoonful or so per week, again, not of each, but of everything combined.

Another (very common) cause of loss of feathers is skin problems. This can occasionally be caused by mites or even a fungus growing on the skin, but the most common culprit is long term lack of vitamin A.

The fact is, vitamin supplements are always necessary for a seed-eating bird. Especially over the longer term (for a canary at least) not being given enough dark leafy greens can lead to problems too. Most people don't realize it, but most canaries can literally eat their weight in greens every day! (Spinach and chard are fairly high in oxalic acid, which binds with and prevents proper digestion of, calcium, so they should be given sparingly, if at all.)

Even if you think your canary has been getting adeqate amounts of vitamin A is his diet, there should be no harm in increasing the amount of foods in his diet that are known to aid the body in producing its own vitamin A, to see if it makes a difference or not. Much of the time, it can make a rather astonishing difference in quite short order, in actual fact!

I prefer to offer a good handful or more per canary, daily, of chopped dark leafy greens like kale, leafy endive, rapini (broccoli raba), and other similar greens. I usually mix them with coarse-grated carrot, which ups the overall nutrient content tremendously. Most canaries will usually like and eat a mix like this fairly well, unlike if you offer grated carrots separately. That usually just gets a 'what in heck is that' look from your bird, who will then procede to ignore them...

As mentioned above, regular vitamin/mineral supplementation is necessary if your bird is eating a seed-based diet - it is utterly impossible to supply an indoor bird with all the nutrients needed through a seed-based diet alone. I prefer a good basic supplement such as the Vetafarm products, but perhaps the best on the market is 'Prime', made by Hagen. It is sold in many pet stores, and most who carry their products can order it in for you, if you ask.

If you do buy some Prime be very sure to open the box and check the expiry date on the bottom of the bottle - many stores don't know to check this, and so sometimes you will find an expired bottle still on a shelf - but Hagen will replace such bottles with fresh, so don't let them fool you and tell you that they can't - they CAN return them and get you a fresh one instead.

I like to serve vitamins dry, on a soaked seed mix - this is the closest my birds ever get to a 'song food mix', and they love it! Basic instructions on what soak seed is and how to serve it are posted at robirda.com/soakseed.html

If the seed mix your canary eats has lots of dark seeds in it, then it is too fatty - the darker seeds are all quite high in oil. If you do see a lot of dark seeds in his mix, you might consider changing to a plainer brand of seed mix.

As for drafts - I couldn't tell you how many times people have been totally certain there was no draft anywhere around their bird - but when they tested using the following method, they found one.

Drafts tend to frequent the vicinity of windows, and heating and air conditioning vents can cause problems too. The fact is, that while many people worry about exposing their birds to drafts, most don't realize that there is a very simple and effective way to check any area for drafts - simply use a lit candle!

As long as you are careful with the flame, this is a very easy and effective way to check for the presence of an unsuspected draft. Simply remove the bird's cage from where it usually sits, then put the lit candle in the place the cage usually occupies.

Wait for a few minutes for the candle flame to steady down, then observe it from a little distance. Is it flickering? Then it is certain there is a draft.

If it is not flickering, there is still some checking to do - open and close nearby doors or windows, and turn furnaces on and off, watching the flame all the while.

Whenever it flickers, a draft has gone by; make note of its source and direction (from the way the flame leans) and remember to provide your bird with shelter from it which he can use if he so desires - a draft is no problem, as long as the bird can step out of it if he wishes! Often this can be as simple as a cloth draped over one corner of the cage.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that many kinds of cookware can produce fumes that are harmful to birds. Even a tiny trace of some of these fumes can cause problems, even if they were not strong enough to cause death or noticible damage. Because of this, your canary should be anywhere but nearby if you do any frying, and of course, any kind of appliance with a non-stick surface is anathema in any home with birds.

Non-stick surfaces can be found on oven mitts, baking pans, muffin or bread tins, cookie sheets, irons, ironing board covers, drip trays under stove elements, and other similar items. It used to be thought that these non-stick materials were only dangerous under high heat, but recent research has shown this not to be true - under certain conditions, normal cooking temperatures can suffice. So you will want to be extra careful that there is nothing of the sort in your kitchen, if you have a canary living in your home! (Or for that matter, any other kind of bird...)

Finally, remember that canaries sing to claim ownership of their territory. They need to feel that they are "Lord and master of all they survey" in order to feel like singing about it. Once his feathers have grown back in again, you will want to see if you can make him feel like "The Boss" so that he will be more liable to want to brag about 'his' home.

Take a good close look at his diet and environment, and it won't be long before you have found the cause - and solution - to your pet canary's feather loss and lack of song.

by R C McDonald
www.robirda.com
Copyright © 2004

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The next issue is due on Leap Day, Feb 29th. This will mark a special day; perhaps the only time we may see a 5th Sunday in February in our lifetimes. We hope you and your birds stay safe, well and happy in the meantime, and we look forward to seeing you all then! 

Robirda
Feb 15, 2004