Conference 7.286::pet_birds

    Hi there,
    
    To answer your questions:  Males canaries will slow down then stop
    signing altogether when they moult.  This usually happens in late
    spring through summer.  If the room temperature is consistently high
    (78+) he might moult out of season.  My former male canary sang OK when
    I first got him the slowed down a lot; I then moved him to where he
    received some sunshine and he perked right up.  Canaries respond very
    well to sunlight, but they also need to have some shade to get out of
    the sun or they can overheat and die.  Sometime canary song food helps,
    I fed this to my canary at the same time I moved him to a sunny part of
    the room and he started singing, so I don't know which did the trick or
    if both did.
    
    I wouldn't put two males together in an enclosed cage - they would do
    fine in an avairy where they can fly freely, but two males together in
    close confinement WILL FIGHT, and they WILL do damage to each other. 
    And when they fight they definitely will stop singing.
    
    As for the female, you WILL have to separate them around December for
    the breeding season or they will breed, nesting material or not!  She
    will lay her eggs on the cage floor if she has to; they're not like
    parrots who need a nesting box to mate.  And she might lay two or more
    clutches (up to 10 eggs!).
    
    Your best bet is to get a finch(s).  They do fine together with
    canaries; they keep each other company, I've seen plenty of canaries in
    stores housed with finches and they're singing away.  He'll have some
    companionship.  I doubt if males/female finches make a difference, but
    before you go ahead I would ask a knowledgeable pet shop owner if it
    would.
    
    Hope that helps!  Peg Werber

    Me again.  I forgot to mention one thing - A singing tape would
    probably help a LOT.  I have a tape of singing canaries and whenever I
    play this tape my canary joins right in!  If you are not too far and
    you can supply me with a blank tape I would be happy to make a copy of
    this for you.  I live in Ayer (soon to be Westford) and work in
    Littleton.
    
    Peggy

    
    Now some finch questions!  If I get two finches, will I again have
    to be careful to get either two males or two females?  Finches breed
    with little encouragement, don't they?  Will two male finches get
    along ok?
    
    Peg, do they make CD's of singing canaries?  My only tape player
    is a small hand-held unit that runs on batteries.  I doubt
    Woody notices that my Nakamichi CD player sounds worlds better,
    but I'd rather not spend a fortune in batteries! (I guess I could
    get an AC adaptor for the tape player.)

    The cage I have Woody in is fairly big - I'd guess it's about 18
    inches wide by 18 deep by 36 tall.  Is this still too small
    for two male canaries?  I'd love to build some sort of indoor
    aviary someday so I could have birds in flight!

    Also, can someone recommend some good books about canaries?

    Thanks!
        
    Jennifer
    

    Hi,
    
    I don't know anything about finches - sorry.  I guess your best bet
    would be to talk to a pet shop or breeder.  I just know they get along
    great with canaries.  I've seen canaries housed with many finches and I
    would assume some were male and some female and they all got along.
    
    I don't know of any place that sells canary songs on a CD, just the
    tape.  Too bad they can't make a tape to CD copier!
    
    As for the size of the cage, that is a fairly large cage so I'm not
    sure as to the answer.  Everything I've heard and read says two male
    canaries will fight in "close confinement", but will do fine in an
    avairy (I believe they mean a walk-in sized avairy).  And they will
    fight viciously if in confinement during the breeding season.
    
    Sorry I don't know any more...
    
    Good Luck!   Peg

Hi,

	I've owned a few species of finches and I think that you should not have 
a problem mixing canaries with various finches.  I wouldn't get a very small
finch though, like an orange breasted waxbill.  If you want two finches and you 
don't want babies, you will need to get two birds of the same sex.  The problem
is that most finches (that you see in pet stores, at least) are not dimorphic.

I think your best bet would be zebra finches.  They are hardy, not too small, 
and you can tell the males from the females (the males have orange cheeks).  A
friend of mine kept three males together and they all got along OK.  They never
fought but the smallest one did get a few feathers plucked.  

The rest boils down to the birds personalities.  If you are lucky, they'll all
get along fine.  Watch them carefully the first few days!  If you have room 
for two small nest boxes, it might help to give each bird a place to call
his own.


Good Luck!

Roseanne