Instruction
Try to hear the song of a young canary, as vocal abilities are considered its main sexual difference. However, you should wait until the chick is more than six months old. By the 4th month, these birds end their juvenile molt, and they are gaining strength. Babies (both males and females) can make timid ones, so it is extremely difficult to accurately determine their gender. In addition, some begin to sing in full voice only at the age of one.
Watch mature birds. Kenar always shows more interest in singing, every time he "plays music" louder and diversifies the repertoire. Notice how strong his throat is. In rare cases, it can also master singing, but its roulades do not differ in beauty and richness. The neck of the female does not swell; more familiar sounds for her are squeaking, whistling and cooing.
Try to distinguish a kenar from a female canary by external signs. Usually the tail " " is a little shorter. Carefully turn the bird upside down and blow on the feathers in the lower abdomen. In female birds, the cloaca looks flat; in "boys" it is convex, has the shape of a small cylinder. If you hold a cockerel under the tail, he will actively resist; the chicken “shamefully” will press its paws. However, the described method for determining the sex of a canary does not give a 100% guarantee.
If an exquisite song helps to identify a canary, then a female canary is her first egg. In the second half of March, prepare a nesting cage or watch the birds at the breeder. Birds (among which presumably there are pairs) should fly freely around the room or in the aviary. An important condition for a normal "marriage" is the age of the birds from 11-18 months to 4 years and good health.
Quite often, people choose small birds as a pet. In a small apartment, they do not take up too much space, they do not require daily walks, they do not spoil furniture, and there is much more communication from them than from fish or turtles. Among all feathered living creatures, in the first place in popularity are budgerigars, and on the second - a domestic canary. We will talk about representatives of the latter species.
Types of canaries
Most people mistakenly believe that this bird is only yellow. Most often, indeed, they are given as pets. However, in fact, the canary bird is found in three varieties.
Whatever canaries are chosen, their maintenance and care are the same. And although taking care of them is not difficult, every future owner of these birds must know the basics and details.
Right house
First of all, you will need, of course, a cage for canaries. It is better to choose it in a simple form, without decorative excesses, domes and other details. The birds themselves are beautiful and do not need additional accessories, and it will be more difficult to clean the house. What size cage to buy depends on your goals. To keep a single canary-singer, a rectangular cage measuring 45/30/25 cm will be enough. If breeding canaries is supposed, three cages will be needed:
- described above - a kenar will live in it during non-breeding time;
- a cage 70/30/40 cm, in which the birds will breed;
- a cage up to a meter long, where females and the younger generation will be after nesting.
The ideal choice would be cages of the "box" type. On the one hand, they should be lattice (or mesh), and on the rest - plywood, plastic or made of plexiglass. Any should have two doors: one will hang a nest or a bath (it's easier to clean and change them), and the other - to care for the cage.
Cell equipment
There must be several perches in the house - canaries love to fly from place to place. Well, if they are made of natural wood - willow, hazel or bird cherry. The perches should be at different heights and have a thickness of 8 to 15 mm, otherwise the birds will be uncomfortable on them. A cage for canaries should include at least three feeders: for mineral feeding, grain and soft food. A bath is obligatory, preferably a hanging one - these birds love to “splash in the water”. No hanging - put at least a ground bath in the cage, not too light or attached so that the canaries do not turn it over. Drinkers should be placed with spouts inward, and fasteners outward. This will make it easier to fill them up. That, in principle, is all that canaries need. Maintenance and care for them will consist in cleaning and feeding - as you can see, there is nothing complicated about this. The main thing is that everything is done regularly and accurately.
Place for a cell
It is very important for the canary, the maintenance and care of which you have undertaken, to properly place its house. Drafts are dangerous for birds with a cold, so you should not place them near air conditioners and balcony doors, and the window on the selected window sill should be closed. The kitchen is also banned: humidity and temperature are constantly changing there. And the smells from cooking and cleaning surfaces will not benefit the canaries. Other pets, if you have them, should not be able to drop the cage or even get to it. In addition, it is desirable that the house gets Sun rays- at least for a short time: they are good for birds. In summer, you can put the cage on the balcony, be sure to shade part of the dwelling so that the canaries have somewhere to hide from the sun.
Cleaning question
Since a canary is not a dog that can be taken outside to "do its job" there, the future owners of this bird should think in advance about how they will perform regular cleaning in the cage. To make your task as easy as possible, you should line the pallet of your feathered pet's dwelling with something. For this purpose, you can use sand, which will absorb excrement. It can also be easily replaced if needed. However, keep in mind that canaries are very active birds and will most likely scatter sand around the cage. Therefore, it is best to line the bottom with absorbent paper - it is not difficult to change it, and there will be less debris.
Release or not?
There remains the last question that concerns your canary. Maintenance and care includes concern for her health and safety. So if you take your pet for walks around the apartment (especially if you have a cat or a dog at home), then you can lose your feathered friend. Open windows are a risk that the bird will fly away. Hot surfaces like irons and hotplates are also a hazard to canaries. Moreover, even a curtain in which a bird can get entangled, or a narrow gap from which it cannot get out, threatens it with injuries. So most canine breeders advise not to let the birds out of the cage.
What to feed a canary?
AT wild nature the bird earns its own food, paying attention to grains, greens and insects in the right doses. In captivity, she is deprived of the ability to control her diet, so the owners will have to buy special food for canaries. Moreover, it is impossible to replace it with, for example, food for parrots - the composition is not the same. You should choose the average for the price of feed. During molting or nesting, ordinary food should be replaced with specialized food: this way the “difficult” periods will be easier for the birds to survive. Sunflower seeds and crushed buckwheat can be added to ready-made mixtures. Do not forget that the canary eats and soft food. A couple of times a week she will have to give a boiled egg.
Vitamins for health
Feeding birds only with grain and ready-made mixtures is like sitting on oatmeal and pasta all the time. Remember that the canary eats greens willingly and with pleasure. In summer, it is sometimes easy to pick the leaves of dandelion, lettuce, sorrel or young plantain. Out of season, bell peppers, apples and grated carrots are suitable. In the end, in the same pet store you can buy greens for sprouting. Just don’t be zealous with the amount of vitamins, since the bird’s stomach can react negatively to such “care”.
Minerals are a must!
The food for canaries must certainly include some, at first glance, inedible things. First of all, it is coarse river sand, which is necessary for birds for digestion. It can be bought at a pet store. If you can't find it, collect it on the beach and scald it several times to disinfect it. To provide birds with calcium, ground egg shells or chalk are given (can be hung on a hook). Charcoal is also needed - they canaries are treated in case of malaise. Pharmacy is perfect. All these top dressings are placed in a dedicated feeder. Do not forget to change them weekly - the birds pollute the contents of the bowls.
Beware of obesity!
Oddly enough, for such mobile birds, the problem of excess weight is also relevant. Therefore, you need to limit them in grain nutrition. One canary is enough for a couple of spoons of the main food per day, so try and stick to this norm.
Canary breeding
If you are interested in getting offspring from your pets, decide how you will proceed. There are three possibilities:
- Create a permanent couple. In this case, the canaries will always live in the same cage. This option is especially suitable for those who have a small "poultry farm".
- If there are several females, the male can be placed next to them in turn. In this case, you will need a cage for each canary. Maintenance and care will therefore become more troublesome and time consuming.
- Equip a spacious aviary in which the birds will be kept together - 3-4 "girls" for each "guy". In such conditions, the canaries themselves will deal with their "matchmaking", and only one room will have to be cleaned. Just remember to put the males in their cages when the nesting is over.
In nature, all mating games begin in the spring - with warming and the appearance of a sufficient amount of food. At home, canary breeding can occur at any time.
We have already talked about the houses necessary for successful breeding. Now let's talk about the material for building nests. Pieces of thick thread no longer than two centimeters are quite suitable so that the canaries do not get tangled in them with their paws. Next to the nest, you need to equip an additional perch, on which the female will move before taking off. Otherwise, she may crush the egg or chick.
mating season
The signal of readiness for mating will be a short, sharp, invocative song of the kenar, and the female answers it (if she agrees) with a squeak. At the same time, she begins to collect, in her opinion, suitable building materials (twigs, feathers, etc.) and tries to make a nest in some secluded corner. Having noticed these signs, canaries need to lengthen daylight hours: later throw fabric over the cage. At the same time, the share of vitamin feed in the diet of birds should be increased: greens, sprouted grains, vegetables, fruits. If the courtship process is successful in canaries, the first egg will appear in a week, after which the female will rush for another 2-3 days.
For two weeks, the new mother will incubate the eggs. The male does not take part in this process. Chicks that are one month old are already quite independent. They are moved to a meter-long enclosure where they can fly. As soon as it becomes possible to determine the sex of the young, all males are seated in their own apartments, as they are aggressive towards members of their own sex and can fight to the point of injury. Female canaries get along quite well in a common cage.
How to transport canaries
Sometimes it becomes necessary to transport your birds. If transportation is expected over short distances (within hometown, maximum - to the cottage), this can be done by seating the canaries in small transport cages measuring 15/7/7 cm. Please note that the road should not last more than three hours: the lack of space will have a bad effect on the birds. To make them feel calmer, you can cover them with a thick rag - “make the night”. Food and an incomplete drinker must be in every cell.
Health control
The owner of the canary must carefully monitor his pet in order to determine in time whether he has lost weight or, on the contrary, whether he has recovered, whether the molting time has come. Other health problems can only be determined by a veterinarian. Find out how to independently examine the bird. So, the canary is carefully taken in the palm of your hand, its head is fixed with the index and middle fingers, and the body is turned upside down. Very quietly, the owner blows lightly on a place not covered with feathers. It is called apteria. If panicles of new feathers or hemp are visible, then this means that the bird is shedding. She may need to be fed special food. If the aptery is completely covered with fat, then your canary needs a diet and a transplant into a larger cage - a kind of gym.
A well-groomed, grown in appropriate conditions and normally fed canary (the photo convincingly proves this) is extraordinarily beautiful. And you will be happy to sing!
Canary finch - the progenitor of the domestic canary
photo can be enlarged
Canary- a popular unpretentious poultry. Over many centuries of captivity, it has undergone significant changes and is very different from its wild ancestor - the Canarian canary finch shown in the photo. On this page of the site "" we will consider this bird in detail. The advantages of such a pet are the simplicity and cheapness of maintenance, melodic singing, bright and varied colors obtained by crossing with related species. What this interesting animal looks like is best seen in the photo in the text. The singing of this bird is very melodious and gives great pleasure to the owner. The size of such a pet ranges from 11 to 22 cm, depending on the species.
Domestic canaries are divided into colored, decorative and singing varieties. Colored ones come in a variety of colors (yellow, red, orange, white, brown, etc.), from plain to variegated. There are two varieties of whites: English and German, the latter is not very pure in color and the appearance of yellow canaries in the offspring. The gray variety is a cross between green and yellow canaries, and can range in color from light gray to almost black.
color canary
photo can be enlarged
The yellow canary is the most popular among hobbyists, the brightness of the color of such a pet can vary greatly. The green variety is closest in coloration to its wild ancestor and also has several color modifications. Very popular and red, uncharacteristic for birds, the color of canaries, varying from dark to light. Orange came from crossing the yellow and red varieties. Often there are variegated individuals of these pets, containing all the colors listed above, called harlequins.
Decorative ones include hunchbacked, curly, fife fensi and lizard. These birds differ in non-standard body shape, plumage or size.
Well, the name of the singers speaks for itself. Usually only the male canary sings - the canary and is most active during the breeding season, in spring, from February to March. Singing stops almost completely during molting, in August. Females sing much less often, shortly and less melodicly. Young kenari are easily trained, even adopting songs from other birds or from a tape recording. This is how the oatmeal canaries appeared, using the knees of the song of the wild oatmeal. You can listen to the singing of the canary below.
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If the player does not work, you can use the video.
singing canary
Usually young males, when kept in the same room, adopt the song of their father. As a singer, the canary is fully developed by the age of 2-3 and is no longer able to copy someone else's song. In the absence of an adult well-singing male next to the young, you can get by with a recording of a good canary singer, for example, by downloading it from the Internet. The canary is even able to copy and memorize a simple melody repeatedly played to it on a pipe or similar musical instrument. The song of the kenar is divided into knees and good singers are able to produce up to 12-14 melodic knees, with smooth transitions without harsh sounds.
Canary - content
yellow canary
photo can be enlarged
The first thing you need to keeping a domestic canary- cell. It is better if it is rectangular or square, the shape of the roof does not play a special role. In order for the animal to feel freer, the dimensions of the sides of the house should be at least 40 - 50 cm. Such a cage is more convenient both for the pet and for cleaning it. There should be several perches in this room, as this breed of bird likes to flutter from one to another. There should be feeders, a drinking bowl and a bathing bowl in the cage. All equipment that does not come with the house needs to be checked for compatibility with it, it will be a shame if the purchased item cannot be fixed and you have to go back to the store and try to change it.
The question immediately arises where to put the bird house. Do not put on drafts, the pet may get sick. Do not put in the kitchen, sudden changes in temperature and humidity, smells from cooking will not benefit the animal. The dog or cat, if you have one, should not get to the cage and scare the pet canary. It is better to choose a place where the bird will be calm. An important factor is the simplicity and convenience of cleaning the cage. The easiest way is to cover the bottom with paper and change it every few days. Since the canary sings and usually does so in the morning, if you don't want him to wake you up on the weekends, cover the cage with a piece of thick cloth in the evening. Regarding the walks of the canary around the apartment, opinions vary greatly. Oddly enough, there are many dangers for such a pet indoors. These are pets (cats, dogs) and hot objects (irons, pots) and a burning gas stove and open windows and even narrow gaps behind cabinets and beds, from where the bird sometimes cannot get out.
Yellow canary on a branch
Proper feeding ensure good health and the mood of your pet. The ancestors of the canary in nature fed on the seeds of plants with the addition of green parts, as well as a certain number of caught insects. At home, it is better for your bird to buy special feed from well-known manufacturers at a pet store. Please note that this food is specifically for canaries, food for other animals is not suitable. Everyday food should also be basic and not specialized, for example to improve molting or for feeding during breeding.
Decorative (crested) canary
It is better to buy food in the middle price range, cheap options may be of poor quality, and when buying the most expensive ones, you will overpay for the "company". Naturally, the feed should be hermetically sealed and the expiration date should not expire before your bird has time to eat it. And yet, it is believed that the canary gets used to one type of food and hardly switches to another, so it’s worth clarifying when buying an animal what exactly the bird ate before.
Obesity is a common problem in captive animals, so try to avoid overfeeding. For one canary, 1 to 2 teaspoons of grain feed per day is enough. It is useful to periodically add sunflower seeds, buckwheat seeds to it. As a soft food 1 - 2 times a week, you can give hard chicken eggs, adding grated crackers and carrots to it, the latter as a vitamin supplement.
Vitamin top dressing is recommended to be given separately, several times a week. In summer, dandelion leaves, wood lice, lettuce, young ears of plantain, horse sorrel, and other plants are suitable. In winter, you can give a sweet apple, grated carrots, sweet peppers. It should be borne in mind that an excess amount of greenery causes diarrhea in canaries.
Sprouted grain of wheat or rapeseed has a good stimulating effect on animals. Usually it is used in winter, in the pre-breeding period, when there is no fresh greenery. For germination, the selected portion of the grain is thoroughly washed in running water and then left in it for a day. After this period, they are washed again, allowed to drain and laid out in a flat dish, covered with plastic wrap to create a humid atmosphere. The dishes are placed in a warm place. After another day, sprouts usually peck at the grain and it can be used for bird feed. First, it is washed again and slightly dried.
You can buy a ready-made mixture of seeds for sprouting "rio" at the pet store, instructions for sprouting are attached to it. It is somewhat different from the one described above and is based on moistening the seeds every 6 hours. Please note that wet seeds can become moldy; in no case should you give such food to birds.
Also constantly in the cage should be mineral top dressing. It must necessarily include coarse-grained river sand, after being swallowed by a canary, it is used as a millstone for grinding seeds in the animal's stomach. You also need finely ground eggshells, shell rock or chalk, as a source of calcium.
Canary - breeding
Often it is not enough for a canary lover to keep these wonderful birds. There is a desire to have offspring. In this case, you need to take into account that you will inevitably have a whole economy of several cells. There are several options for breeding canaries. You can create a permanent pair of male and female living in the same cage. You can use one male and several females. In this case, all canaries live in their individual cages, and the male, as needed, sits down in the cages with the females. But with this method of keeping and breeding your pets, a large number of cages will be required. And the third option - the reproduction of canaries takes place in a large aviary, where birds live at the rate of 2 - 4 females per male.
In nature, canaries, like most other animals, begin to hatch the young generation in the spring. This is facilitated by an increase in temperature and the appearance of excess feed. At home, you can breed birds at any time of the year, creating optimal conditions for them is not difficult. Usually, first of all, they pay attention to age, these animals become older than a year old, and they can be used for breeding up to 3-4 years. It is undesirable to use inbreeding and crossbreeding of birds of different colors and breeds. In one breeding cycle, the female can lay several clutches, but it is impossible to let her do more than 2 - 3, the animal's body will be very worn out.
For laying eggs in a permanent pair, you will need a cage with sides of at least half a meter, preferably with a removable partition in the middle. It will allow to fence off the chicks, which are not yet ready for independent life, from the newly nested pair. It is also desirable that there be at least two doors in the cage, on one outside there is a special hanging nest, the second can be used for hanging bathing. If there are not enough doors, the nest base can be hung inside, on one of the walls of the cage, but in this case it is less convenient to inspect the clutch and chicks. Cup-shaped nest - the base, should be 10 - 11 cm in diameter in the upper part and 7 - 9 cm deep. The nest must be placed above the middle of the cage. It is desirable to have a second nest base, in case the birds, with not yet grown chicks, lay another clutch.
building material for your pets, trimmings can be used, 1 - 2 cm long, thick, 1.5 - 2 mm. diameter, thread or hemp rope. In longer material, canaries sometimes get entangled with their paws. Well suited burlap, torn into threads.
Close to the nest, you need to place a perch so that the bird can first step onto it, and only then take off. With a sharp departure directly from the nest, the canary can damage the egg or chick.
For older, monthly chicks that have already become independent, you will need a long cage, on one side at least a meter in length, or an aviary. Young birds need to be able to fly, this has a positive effect on their development and health. After determining the sex of the animals, the males will have to be seated in separate cages, as they show aggression towards each other, the females can be kept together.
A sign of the beginning of the breeding season in canaries is a sharp short song of the male, to which the female responds with a squeak, as well as the collection of the latter various garbage and an attempt to lay down a nest somewhere in a secluded place. At this time, your pets need to gradually increase daylight hours, give fresh fruits and vegetables, germinated seeds. High-quality and varied nutrition is necessary for the appearance of full-fledged offspring. If the canaries liked each other, then the first egg appears after 7 to 10 days, and then one more is laid every day. Their number usually does not exceed 3 - 4 pieces, the eggs are small, only 2 grams, bluish with brown specks.
The clutch is incubated only by the female for two weeks. Chicks appear unevenly, as the eggs were laid in turn. At the same time, older chicks can eat younger ones and the latter grow worse or may even die. To avoid this situation, sometimes plastic laying eggs are used when breeding canaries. The pending ones are removed from the nest and stored in cotton wool at room temperature, turning a couple of times a day. As soon as the female lays 3 - 4 eggs, the selected eggs are returned to the nest, and the dummies are removed. Due to the fact that the canary begins to incubate all the eggs almost simultaneously, the chicks also appear at about the same time and therefore grow in the same way.
After you have equipped a cage for your canary and made sure that it is comfortable for her to live with you under the same roof (more on), it's time to move on to teaching the bird to sing. And, is it really necessary to teach a canary to sing - someone may ask - do not these birds know how to publish their trills without human help and musical science? We invite you to learn about this from our today's publication ...
Singing period in canaries
Who sings with canaries - male or female
This question of which of the canaries sings louder, the canary or the canary, can be heard from the novice owners of these songbirds. Well, the experience of their content and knowledge of absolutely all the little things about them will come with time, but for now - the singer of canaries is a male, he is called a kenar. And, although some owners talk about the fact that their canaries are also trying to sing, but their singing is different from the trills of the kenar, and is inferior to it in perfection and beauty. Yes, and the canaries do not sing for long. It's a completely different matter for males. They have really unusual voice data, while they can even imitate the singing of other birds, imitate human speech and reproduce musical episodes played for them on different musical instruments. All this can be done by your kenar if ... you teach him this. Yes, yes, you will have to become a patient music teacher for him in order to develop in him all the inclinations that Nature has laid in this bird. By the way, so that you don’t get upset if something doesn’t work out for you and your kenar doesn’t sing as loudly as you wanted, selection work also plays an important role in the success of your undertaking. Thus, in particular, it was found that representatives of many species of canaries, including the Harz canaries, can pass on their musical abilities to their offspring, in the form of performing rather complex melodies in strict sequence.
Canary training to sing
Well, as you can see, how beautifully your canary will sing will depend on heredity and natural inclinations and on proper training. And, now we will devote you to all the nuances of this process.
The voice of the canar
In addition to the fact that the structure of the song and the quality of its performance are evaluated in the singing of the canary, of course, experts pay attention to the voice of the bird. It should not be hoarse, harsh or screaming. Therefore, choosing a canary and dreaming that one day he will perform an aria from the opera La Traviata for you, you should pay attention to his natural inclinations, and in particular to his voice -
it should be clean, strong, sonorous and at the same time gentle.
The bird must freely perform up to 10-12 knees of the song. If you have a kenar that is bred from different song breeds, unfortunately, you will have to give up the idea that he will become a great singer. Similarly, if a kenar comes from a family of birds where his kenar father did not sing or was a mediocre performer, unfortunately, one cannot count on the fact that the son will surpass his father in terms of performing musical knees.
Canary age
Of course, it is worth starting to learn to sing while your kenar is young. AT early age the bird is more flexible and capable. If you are going to teach canary music to an adult, and you yourself have never done this before and you yourself do not have an ear for music, your bird is unlikely to sing the way you want it to. Therefore, start training your songbird as early as possible.
Special conditions of detention
In fact, a songbird requires special conditions content that you would like to know about. Thus, the development of the singing skills of a canary will be facilitated by its transplantation from a flying cage into a small single cage, the size of which will be 35 by 25 by 18 centimeters. A transplant into this cage should be done immediately after the end of the molt at the kenar. If you separate the kenar from the female, then at the first time of separation, he may completely refuse to sing and thus show his grief. In order for the bird not to experience such severe stress and not be depressed and upset about its loneliness - you can set up cages with birds for the first few weeks so that they stand side by side, and the male and female see each other. When the birds adapt to such conditions, their cages can be placed one on top of the other, and the row is blocked with cardboard so that they cannot see each other, so that their communication does not distract them from learning.
The physical condition of the kenar
In order for your kenar to sing, he must be healthy and in good physical shape (more on). Try to look at the bird - if she is obese, if she is emaciated - all these lacks of care will need to be eliminated if you want your bird to sing.
Feeding the singing canary
The diet of the singing kenar should be such that the bird is in a state of normal fatness and is healthy, and it receives all the vitamins and minerals necessary for it along with the diet. Then, when she is healthy and full, she will definitely sing.
Materials for teaching canaries to sing
Until recently, special musical organs and instruments - pipes, flutes - were used to teach canaries to sing. Much more convenient and quite modern everything happens today - you can use electronic recordings of the singing of the best canaries for training, which can be easily found on the Internet, however, many experts argue that it is still better to teach young birds through live music lessons, that is, your canary should be taught music and singing ... an experienced canary singer. It is quite obvious that it is not so easy to find such a person, and one does not want to take just any teacher either. You run the risk of teaching your canary the shortcomings of his own teacher, since canaries very accurately reproduce the sounds they hear, therefore, not only notes, but also wheezing in the voice and high whistles will be reproduced. And this will affect the quality of performance, and it will be impossible to retrain the bird. So, choose for yourself what learning materials to use. For those who are at a loss and cannot make a decision, we will only say that even if you do not provide the kenar with a good teacher and do not play records with the musical trills of other kenars, he will still be able to learn to sing (albeit not so absolutely) thanks to his hereditary inclinations, but this will be his unique song.
Canary cage
The cage in which you are going to keep the kenar should be rectangular in shape and the bird should be comfortable and convenient in it. In the first weeks of training, it is recommended to darken it a little with the help of curtains. By the way, it is the entry of light into the cell and the change in its intensity that is one of the methods of learning. Experts have proven
when the canar is in the twilight, he listens more attentively to the sounds around him and is not distracted by anything, therefore, if you turn on the recording for him or arrange singing lessons with another canary at this time, he will be more attentive, respectively, he will learn his lesson better.
If you find that a young canary suddenly starts to make too loud and harsh trills, it should be darkened so that it sings quieter and listens better and more attentively to its teacher - an electronic recording or a live bird.
Musical audition
A month after the start of training, it will be possible to arrange the first musical audition for the bird. To do this, it should be released from a darkened cage and placed in a bright room, where for 30-40 minutes you will be able to hear the singing of your canary, identify errors in it. If there are any, bird singing should be stopped by darkening the cage. In the event that the bird repeats its mistakes again next time, it is discarded as a melodious one and is not recommended to be used for further breeding.
As a rule, the kenar forms the final version of his song before he reaches 7 months of age. After that, the cell can no longer be darkened.
It is very important that the song of the kenar is really perfect and correct, the knees in it alternate in a certain order, the trill is harmonious, and the transitions from one knee to the other are soft, and the kenar himself performs his entire song at once and without stops. It is very beautiful from the side and the pinnacle of the art of singing is considered when the kenar sings his song in full and then repeats its second half.
If you are interested in singing canaries, get ready for the fact that birds of such breeds will delight only your ears. Unlike decorative and non-ferrous breeds, songbirds do not have a beautiful appearance. In addition to choosing between singing and the beauty of plumage, you need to decide on the gender of the bird and the place of purchase. You also need to be able to understand the physical and mental state of the canary.
When choosing a decorative or colored breed of canaries, the question of the gender of a pet is not as acute as when choosing birds. Decorative or colored canaries sing equally badly, while among the singing breeds, the leader is the kenars - male canaries.
One, two or more
If you have enough time to communicate with the bird, you can get one kenar. A lonely pet always has the opportunity to replenish its repertoire with a new song and please its owner with it. When none of the tribesmen distracts the kenar, training is faster.
If you can't give a canary much attention, it will need the company of other birds. Alone, the canary begins to miss communication and wither away. Deterioration of well-being can lead to mental disorders, such as depression. In such conditions, the kenar not only, but may die.
Living a kenar in the same cage with a female can affect his singing. During the construction of the nest, feeding the female and chicks, the male will have no time to play music. But during the courtship and incubation of eggs by the female, the kenar enthusiastically demonstrates her musical abilities.
You can buy several canaries if there is enough space to keep them. In this case, the singing kenars will have a desire to attract the lady of the heart, hitting her with unusually beautiful songs. However, both the family and the canary living in a flock will have to be separate from other birds.
Where to buy
Those who wish to purchase a singing canary should know that purebred forest birds are sold along with purebred canaries. Unlike those specially trained, these canaries have learned to sing on their own. Nevertheless, the birds of the forest tune have become widely known among lovers of the singing breeds of canaries.
You can buy a canary at specialized store, at the bird market or at the breeder. Consider the pros and cons of each option.
Specialty stores
All birds entering pet stores are checked for the presence of ornithosis and salmonellosis - dangerous viral diseases. However, no one will give you a 100% guarantee that the selected canary is absolutely healthy. She might be sick with something else.
It is impossible to be completely sure that this particular canary received a certificate of passing veterinary control. Therefore, when choosing a bird, it is necessary to inspect it. How to choose a canary, we will describe below.
Often breeders rent uninteresting and unnecessary individuals to pet stores. Not the fact that the store will take care of the bird properly.
Many unscrupulous sellers of bad and wrong birds. Because of this, canaries become infected from sick individuals, suffer from hunger and cold.
Basically, stores keep several birds in small ones, depriving them of free space. A sedentary lifestyle is bad for their physical condition. But with the joint maintenance of canaries, weak individuals can be identified. Other birds constantly peck at them, trying to get rid of them.
If you decide to buy a canary in a specialized store, pay attention to the conditions in which it lives. Each canary of the song breed must be kept in a separate cage.
bird markets
The main advantages of bird markets are a huge selection and low price. In these places you can meet breeders who are well versed in canaries. The competence of the seller can be judged by detailed answers to questions about birds. Different prices for canaries also speak of his high knowledge.
In case the buyer is not prepared, the breeder should have food for the first time, as well as carrying. The seller who cares about his birds will not refuse to give his phone to new owner could advise if needed.
A good seller will not sell his birds next to people who sell talkers. Singing canaries are wonderful mockingbirds. They can copy some of the sounds of parrots, and it is almost impossible to wean them from this. In addition, among the noisy parrots, it is difficult to hear the singing of kenars.
If all canaries cost the same, chances are the seller doesn't know anything about them. After all, the birds different breeds and cost differently. And if they sell nearby wild birds or he keeps his own in cramped cages, then he takes bad care of them. Often, dealers have the same prices for different birds, many of which can easily slip a sick or old individual.
A big drawback of the bird market is the fact that in such places there is no veterinary control over the health of birds. Warranty is the word of the seller.
Purchase from a breeder
A breeder who is purposefully breeding canaries is the best option for buying such a bird. It is desirable that he work in tandem with a veterinarian. You can find out the addresses of well-established breeders in the clubs of bird lovers. You can go around veterinarians or animal shelters - they can also give the coordinates of the breeder.
Experienced breeders take over full responsibility for the quality of your product. They cannot afford to take risks, so they only buy canaries from known or trusted breeders.
It is breeders who often have the best specimens of singing kenars. Not just talented, but also competitive. There is always an opportunity to listen to birds singing in a calm home environment.
Also, at the breeder's, you can carefully examine all the birds, get to know the parents of the chicks, see the conditions under which the canaries are kept, and find out exactly their age. Many breeders hang a special ring on the paw of each bird indicating the year of its birth and the breeder's data. Each ring is recorded in the registration records of the bird lovers club.
You need to choose a singing canary especially carefully. No one better than a breeder can tell which of his birds has certain abilities. If the seller evades answers or claims that he does not know, for example, the exact age of the bird, feel free to choose another breeder.
Required documents
Each breeding canary from Russian or European nurseries must have a CITES certificate - the Convention on international trade endangered species of wild flora and fauna. Its presence confirms that the canary was bred in captivity, and the breeder has the right to sell it.
European breeding canaries have a veterinary passport for vaccinations. It also lists the names of the vaccines. In Russia, such measures in relation to canaries have not yet been taken. However, each Russian breeding canary must have a certificate of absence of chronic diseases containing the following information:
- the result of the absence of worms in the bird's body;
- the result of the analysis of a smear from the cloaca;
- results of a blood test to detect pathologies of the liver, heart and liver;
- results on the absence of such dangerous diseases in poultry as chlamydia, tuberculosis, psittacosis, salmonellosis.
Many breeders, for a complete guarantee in the health of the canary, along with a certificate, also provide an x-ray of the respiratory system. It allows you to identify possible hidden diseases.
If you bought a canary without a certificate, it is advisable to immediately take it to the veterinarian for a physical assessment.
When to buy
If a canary of a decorative or colored breed can be bought at a month old, then songbird it is better to buy when she is six or seven months old.
Not all canaries sing as chicks, and during the first, from two or three to five or six months, their voice drops to a quiet chirp. One or two months after the juvenile molt, the canary again begins to show its musical abilities. Closer to the year he already sings in full voice.
If you have purchased an adult bird, get ready for the fact that it may avoid contact with you for a long time. Attempts to make friends with an adult canary may not be successful.
Side view of the canary
In choosing a canary, the main thing is that it be healthy, both physically and mentally. You should not take the first bird that comes across, otherwise you risk buying a sick individual.
First of all, take a closer look at the behavior of the canary you like. A healthy bird sings beautifully and for a long time. Silence can be a sign of illness.
A cheerful and lively bird should have smooth movements. Lameness is not allowed. It's bad if the bird is huddled in a corner.
Lack of interest in everything around is an alarming symptom. If a canary sits in one place for a long time, then it has health problems. The bird may doze for some time in one position, with a ruffled look or head hidden under the wing. So she gains strength and heats up. But after a while, she should again do her usual things.
The bird should have a perky bright look and fully open eyes. If a canary has half-closed eyelids and an untidy appearance She wasn't tired, she was sick. Constant drowsiness or sluggish movements also indicate health problems. Especially if the canary fell asleep near the feeder. A healthy bird should have a good appetite.
If the bird is frightened of you, it may begin to rush around the cage, twitch its tail, and open its beak. In this case, you should move away from the cage and wait until the canary calms down. If she continues to behave inappropriately, this is a sign of a mental disorder.
close inspection
With the permission of the breeder, take the bird in your hands and carefully examine it. There should be no damage or growths on the cere and beak. On the nostrils and eyes should not be traces of discharge, especially purulent. Inflamed or sunken eyeballs indicate eye diseases.
Inspection of the paws of a bird will tell about its age. Young animals have neat paws, without scales, peeling, growths or spots. Older canaries have noticeable scales, lesions, and growths on their feet, and may be missing claws. This may indicate old injuries or metabolic disorders.
The slightly elongated belly of the canary should not sag. Excess weight or excessive thinness is associated with digestive problems or a poor diet. Be sure to inspect the cloaca - it should be clean around it. An inflamed and dirty cloaca is a sign of the work of worms or an upset of the gastrointestinal tract. Liquid droppings can also indicate this.
