| The eggs are usually laid every other day, with the last egg being
smaller and darker blue than the first ones. I'll check a book I
have at home about this for incubation time, but I suspect it is
about 2 weeks, then another 2 weeks before the little ones start
to have any noticeable feathers, then another two or more weeks
before they fledge (jump out of the nest and try to fly). Hope
someone else more knowledgeable replies to you soon!! There are
books on canaries at most pet stores in the U.S. Can you get them
where you are? Anyway, it would seem the pair will be right in
the middle of things when you move. You could candle the eggs
to see if they are fertile (hold a light under them to see if there
are bloodveins...this works with white eggs at least, like budgies
have..don't know if it works with the darker canary eggs.)/Linda
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| OK - here's the message regarding canaries and their eggs:
If you want your canaries to breed you should keep the two separated
from December until February-March, when the breeding season starts.
Provide the female with a nest around February, and keep the male in
the same room so they will get the breeding urge. Around February or
so you will see the male trying to get to the female; he will be
singing to her and seeming to feed his feet. He is ready. The female
is ready when you see her finally enter her nest and turn about in it.
This may not happen for a while. When it does, enter the cock the
following day. He can be left in there for up to a week, when the
mating will be concluded and the female will begin building her nest.
Provide her with nesting material and things to trim her nest with.
White yarn pieces work great. She will build her nest in a day or so.
If you leave the cock in there or provide the hen with the nesting
material too soon either may tear the nest down.
Within a week (mine only took 3 days!) the hen will begin laying and
will lay 4-5 eggs total, and will lay every day or every other day.
As each eggs is laid you must carefully remove it and replace it with a
dummy egg (The Fish Nook in Acton sells them). Put the eggs on
something soft such as cornmeal, oatmeal, or cotton. DO NOT TOUCH THE
EGGS WITH YOUR FINGERS; they are very fragile and will break! Use a
teaspoon! Turn the eggs twice a day; they will be fine for up to 2
weeks this way. The reason for taking the eggs out and replacing them
with dummy eggs is this: If the eggs are left in the nest she will
incubate them from the day they are laid, and they will also hatch 13
days from then. So the babies will hatch every other day, and raising
babies in different stages of development is too hard on the hen. She
may neglect the last to hatch because he is not as loud as his
nest-mates and he may die. Once all the eggs have been laid (you can
tell the last egg because it is darker in color than all the rest)
remove all the dummy eggs and place the real ones back in the nest.
She will incubate them and they will hatch 13 days from this point.
Be sure to provide plenty of soft food for the hen a month before you
intend to breed her; this gives her ample time to get used to her new
soft food diet. You can still provide her with seeds also. A good
soft food mixture is one part minced (very minced) hard boiled egg with
2 parts nestling food (purchased at local pet stores). Provide her
with vitamins in her water because she needs to be in top condition to
meet the demand that will be set upon her.
Sometimes you can leave the cock in the cage with the hen, it all
depends. The majority will be pests; they will tear the nest down, try
to lure the hen into mating again which may result in her neglecting
her eggs/young or fighting. When the young are born he may help feed
them or may attack them. My male was a PEST so they have been
separated since mating.
The female can handle the responsibility of doing all the work raising
the young herself. The eggs should hatch 13 days from incubation and
they will be born naked and blind. Provide a LOT of soft food at this
time so she can fill their crops. She may not do this for a day
because the young still have their egg yolk sac eaten. Never try to
help a canary out of it's shell, it will hurt it. If one can't get out
they say it's best left for nature do deal with as it's probably to
weak to live. Sad but I guess true.
The young will be ready to try CRUSHED shells at about 3 weeks; roll
some on a paper towel with a rolling pin to break the hulls open as
their beaks are too soft to hull it themselves. Still provide soft
foods until at least 48 days. Lower the nest to the floor at 3/12
weeks with a perch nearby and food on the floor, they will now try to
leave the nest on their own. At this time the female will begin to
build another nest; if you want her to breed again (which is fine for
her at this time) provide her with a new nest and material - otherwise
she may begin to pluck herself and her young. The young can be separated
from the hen at 28 days, if you can leave them in with her a little longer
all the better. The last feathers to develop are the pin feathers
around the bill and face so they may look a little funny still. The
males will being perching tall and trying to sing while the females do
not. Most stores sell red factor birds (especially orange ones) for
$89.99 for males and about $20.00 less for females.
Any more questions feel free to reply, and anyone feel free to add
anything I forgot!
Peggy
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