As winter days begin to extend and lengthen indicating the commencement of spring, a desire to mate and breed is triggered within the canary, and, provided they are fit, healthy, and carrying good condition their annual reproductive cycle will begin. It is essential however that male and female birds are compatible, ( that is, they like each other) for successful bonding, and therefore breeding to occur.
Courtship begins.
| The cock bird will prance on the perch, lower his wings, swell up his throat and whistle loudly and boldly to encourage the hen, to allow him to mount her, so that fertilization can take place. When she is ready the hen will squat low on the perch, spread her wings slightly to support the cock bird and allow him to penetrate and impregnate her. |
Cock bird on display |
Clutch of four eggs |
She will at first reject his advances while proceeding to make and line a nest in readiness for her clutch of eggs. Nest building will take several days until she is finally ready, and submits to the cock bird. The first, of from three to five eggs will be laid with in days. After which another egg will be laid early in the morning on consecutive days. When she has finished laying (usually four eggs), sitting and incubation will commence. |
| After the last egg is laid the hen sits on the nest to commence the incubating period. It will take thirteen to fourteen days for them to hatch. Her body temperature has now increased and she has stripped the feathers from her abdomen to allow her bared hot skin to come in direct contact with the eggs. During the hatching period she regularly turns the eggs to ensure their evenness of temperature throughout, until hatched. | 
Hen sitting on eggs |
Nest showing a new born chick. |
The tiny little featherless chicks hatch with their eyes closed. Both parents will share in the feeding, however the hen continues to sit over the chicks keeping them warm until they feather up sufficiently to maintain their own body heat. At first any motions passed by the chicks (stool) is eaten by the parents. This keeps the nest clean and prevents it from fouling. After eight days, their eyes are now open, the chicks will begin to instinctively back up to the edge of the nest and pass their stool over the side. |
| The chicks grow quickly and at about twenty one days are ready to leave the nest. They will still be dependant on the parents for another week. After this time they will have learnt to eat and drink of their own accord and will be able to fend for themselves. The parents will hatch two or even three, (if permitted), settings of eggs in a season. |
Parent birds with three young that have recently left the nest.
|
Typical of one days accumulation of feathers in a corner of a bird room during the moult. |
At six weeks old the young birds will begin to moult and loose their feathers except for the flight feathers in the wings, and the tail feathers. As the feathers are shed they are replaced with new ones over approximately a ten week period. They will retain these feathers until the autumn of the following year when the juveniles (which are now adult) and adult birds will go into their annual moult. This time all feathers are cast and replaced before the onset of the cold winter months. As winter days begin to extend and lengthen indicating the commencement of spring a desire to ... ................... |
The above explanation describes a situation which could or would occur in an open aviary environment where several or many birds are housed together, and where they have the opportunity to nest, and choose their own mate or partner.
The more serious canary breeder however manipulates his birds to try and breed the highest quality birds of the type he is aiming for, while at the same time trying to realize their maximum potential to hatch, and raise live healthy chicks without putting them under stress or burden.
The following lists and briefly describes some of the practices employed to to achieve these objectives.
1. Birds are placed on a high nutrient diet weeks prior too, and during the breeding season. This ensures they have the condition and stamina to successfully breed.
2. Female birds are housed in individual breeding cages and the breeder selects which male he places with her. Thus the breeder has the control to determine the type of offspring that will be produced. He must however establish that the birds are compatible or joining will not occur.
3. If a breeder has a particularly good cock bird of the type he is aiming to breed, he may share this bird with two or more hens. This of course then means that some hens will have to rear their young by themselves, usually not a problem.
4. Hens quite often begin incubation and sit on the eggs before the last egg of the clutch is laid, thus days may separate the first and the last born chick. The bigger older chicks will dominate and receive most feed while the younger weaker ones get less feed and become runts or die. To overcome this problem, as the hen lays each egg, it is carefully removed from the nest and replaced with a dummy egg. Then on the fourth day the three dummies are removed and her own eggs are returned. The eggs will then hatch within hours of each other, giving each chick an even chance of survival.
5. When the babies are between six and ten days old a closed, identifying ring is passed over the toes and slipped onto a leg. Under normal circumstances this ring remains in place for the life of the bird. On the ring is stamped the year of birth and a number unique for the year and to the Club, which issued the ring. This ring enables the breeder to readily identify each bird for such purposes as determining blood lines, which are reflected in the qualities or defects showing in the young birds, and so decisions can be made as to which stock should be culled, or kept on as breeders.
The above practices are but a small sample of the wealth of information, help and advice which is readily available from very experienced canary breeders when you are a member of a club or society. Having the opportunity to discuss problems as well as your achievements with others who have the same interests can be most rewarding and beneficial.
Foot note. The keeping and caring of canaries is a past time enjoyed by thousands and thousands of people, throughout the world. It does not matter if you are young or old, male or female, these little birds give immense satisfaction to those who care for them. Should you only have one or two birds to enjoy for their song and sprightly movement, or have many birds, and are a more serious enthusiast involved in the intriguing genetic challenge of striving to breed the perfect bird, your pleasure and enjoyment is assured.
