Before You Commit

For most of us who are breeding and raising canaries, our interest began by being a pet owner.  Having a single canary as a pet is very enjoyable, but then something inside urges us to expand our hobby.  We want to "kick it up a notch", and that next level means finding a mate for our bird, breeding them, and raising babies.

If you are reading this, it means that you are at this point in the road.  I encourage you to move forward, but first learn all you can BEFORE you commit to this adventure.  One of the first challenges will be planning for enough cages to accommodate a breeding pair and their offspring.

Remember that canaries are very territorial by nature.  For most of the year, you have to house mature males individually.  Hens are fine in a flight cage together as long as they have enough personal space.  A rule of thumb is one square foot of space per bird, but keep in mind that canaries love the higher perching places.  Square footage of a cage does NOT equate to square footage at perching height.

One breeding pair that has two successful nests of three chicks each, would give you eight birds to provide housing for in your first season.  If you have more than one pair.... well, you can do the math and quickly determine that cage space will be a primary need.

Planning Pairings

I also have to confess that I love the colors of canaries, and will plan pairings that consider the ground colors of the parents and whether they have the brown gene (or are a carrier of that gene) that produces the lovely cinnamon and fawn birds.  See the Color Pairing Chart that is on this website that will show you the possible outcome of any pairing based on the color of the male and hen.  This paragraph will make hard core American Singer breeders shiver in their shoes, because we have been preached to that color "doesn't matter", and yes, I agree that color doesn't matter on the show bench.  Points are given primarily for the SONG of the American Singer, with a few other points for conformation and condition... no mention of color.  But I LIKE COLOR, too.  And I will plan pairings of males and hens from quality songsters, and solely make the pairing because of the color of the birds.  The youngsters will also be quality songsters, and I will get the added benefit of enjoying the color. 

One thing to keep in mind is the 'lethal factor' that is believed to be present when/if you pair a dominant white bird to another dominant white bird.  In American Singers, this would be a white, blue, or fawn, or any variegated bird with white ground color.  It is said that 25% of the chicks from such a pairing would not be viable, or would be badly feathered or have some other deformity.  I have not tested this theory, but choose to not take a chance.

I plan my pairings sitting on the couch with my pedigree records and notes.  I look at family lines, wanting to preserve them and keep them strong.  I will line breed (breeding daughter to father, or son to mother) for a generation or two to concentrate the qualities of the line, paying careful attention to the youngsters that are produced.

I'll also keep in mind who is a cinnamon bird or a male that is a carrier of cinnamon, as mentioned before because of color outcome possibilities.  I love the color of fawn canaries, a soft beige brown on a white bird.  One neat thing about pairing a cinnamon/fawn male to a non-cinnamon/fawn hen is that ALL of the babies hatched that are cinnamon will be girls.  All of the boys will be carrier's of the brown gene.

Breeding Condition

For your canaries to come into breeding condition, the primary thing they need is the right number of 'daylight' hours.  I use lights on timers in the birdroom, with bulbs that replicate sunlight (full spectrum).  Set the hours to coincide with YOUR best time to be in the birdroom.  For instance, I work during the day, so I need for birdroom lights to be on in the evening when I am home and can spend time there... so when my birds are on a nine our day, their lights come on at Noon and stay on until 9:00 PM.  They have nine hours of light and I have a few hours to spend with them in the evening.  When it is breeding season, with thirteen or more hours of light each day, I use 10:00 PM as the end of the day, and adjust the beginning hour to provide the total number of hours needed.

If you use artificial light, be sure to have smaller dawn and dusk lamps that come on shortly before lights come on and go off for the day.  This gives the birds a more natural day, and not a rude awakening when all of the room lights come on.  The dusk warning lets the hens get back on their nests before lights go out.  Should they be caught off the nest when lights go off, the babies will get chilled and, if they don't have enough feathers to keep warm, will most likely die before morning.

You should also feed greens which replicates the birds having access to budding plants as their Spring season unfolds. 

When your birds are in good breeding condition, the males will be singing stongly and dancing on the perch.  Hens will be tearing paper and building nests in seed cups or in the corners of the cage.

Making Introductions

They can interact and get to know each other with no bloodshed.  As their courtship begins, the male can feed the hen between the bars.  When you see that behavior, it is usually safe to remove the divider.

Making Introductions

Nesting materials can be anything from strips of newspaper to burlap fibers to grasses to unscented toilet paper.  If you use threads, be sure they are preshrunk, so that a fiber doesn't get wrapped around a tiny leg and create a problem.

I line the plastic nest form with coffee filters, taped around the upper edge with masking tape.  This is easy to use and gives the hen a non-slippery surface to begin building on, plus it is disposable when the babies fledge. 

Some breeders pull the eggs out of the nest as they are laid and collect them in a safe place until the entire clutch is laid.  They will place a fake canary egg in the nest when the remove the first one.  Once all the eggs are laid, they will remove the fake egg and put all of the eggs in the nest for the hen to incubate.  The purpose of doing this is so all of the eggs hatch together, rather than staggered with the eggs laid last hatching last.  I did this in the beginning, but don't any longer.  I broke a couple of eggs when transferring them, which was enough to discourage me.  I did find that using a pair of specially made plastic egg tweezers worked perfectly, so if you do decide to use this method, purchase this tool.

I let the hen lay her eggs and keep them.  I find that most nests hatch all the chicks within two days.  This is because the hen usually does not sit tight on the nest until the entire clutch is laid.  Once it is, she gets serious and sits with her bare belly making contact with the eggs and keeping them the perfect incubation temperature.

Flexible Penlight for Candler

Hatchlings to Fledglings

Here we have it, the moment when miracles happen, when we witness life beginning.

The egg in the nest is full of promise and hope of what may be, but the hatching of that egg is that hope taking wings. 

A poem from Emily Dickinson has a phrase "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul." 

Witnessing a Miracle

They continue to chip around the circumference of the egg until they have it split into two halves.  During their chipping process, they are also stretching, pressing against one half of the egg with their feet, and the other with their head.  They eventually push out of their confinement, and the hen throws the bits of shell out of the nest.  Seeing a shell on the floor of the cage is often your first sign that you have BABIES!

Pushing Free

They lift their heads on wobbly necks, their mouths gaping wide, begging for food.  As they grow and become stronger, their begging becomes more vigorous and you'll hear the chorus of 'cheep, cheep, cheep' rising from the hatchlings whenever Mom or Dad lands on the side of the nest.  They sense the movement of the nest, and soon learn that means "dinner is served".

The Mom will keep the nest clean by removing the waste of the babies for several days.

All of the light skinned areas will be yellow feathered (or white feathered if the bird is a white ground colored bird), with no melanin coloring.  All of the dark skinned areas will feather out with dark feathers. 

Five Hungry Mouths to Feed

If the nest material the the babies are sleeping on gets very soiled, I will tear up some newspaper or unscented toilet paper, and will add a layer of clean material.