VMD 513: Pet animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

BREEDING OF CANARY

• Most commonly canaries bred in cages with a suitable nest pan attached to one of the walls.
• Two different breeding strategies are commonly used. In the first, cock and hen are introduced to the breeding cage simultaneously and remain together throughout the whole of the breeding period.
• Alternatively, the hen is placed in the cage on hen own, with nesting material being provided, while a cock bird is close at hand.
• Once the hen has constructed the nest, she solicits the cock, who is introduced for several days to enable mating to take place.
• The hen is then left to lay and rear the chicks on its own. This method means that one cock can be used to mate with several hens in fairly rapid succession and will not be above to disturb a sitting female.

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• The hen canary normally lays within two weeks of the cock being placed in the cage.
• The bluish green eggs, speckled with brown are laid one a day, usually in the morning. Four eggs form a typical clutch.
• It is common practice for the first three to be removed and replaced with dummy eggs, the real eggs being stored carefully in the box lined with cotton wool or tissue paper.
• On the morning that the fourth egg is anticipated, the dummy eggs are all removed and the real eggs replaced carefully under the hen.
• The idea behind this system is that the chicks will hatch together and have a greater chance of survival, since there is no age gap between them

     

Hatching of egg and rearing of young

• The eggs will hatch after thirteen days and the earliest sign is the presence of egg shell on the floor of the cage
• Nutritious food is essential for successful rearing of chicks.
• The chick will grow and start begging for food when they are about ten days old, being clearly visible in the nest at this stage.
• If the hen is to have a second round of chick, reintroduce the cock bird approximately eighteen days after the first chicks have hatched.
• A second nesting pan should be available for the hen at this stage along with additional nesting materials.