I have fallen down on the job, so to speak, in keeping up this blog. For those who would like to read about what is going on in the bird room, I frequently post on the Google American Singer group which can be found at http://groups.google.com/group/american-singer-canaries.

I may begin another blog site for this blog- I have found a new Blog host provider (I have no idea what the "proper" term for the site that offers such a service) that offers significantly better services than this one. If I do so I will post a link here and on the website.

Much is happening- check out the Google group for details!

 

 

Breeding season 2009 is well under way with ten chicks hatched (two ready for banding today) and more due to hatch by mid month. The hens have been a bit slower coming into condition, but this is fine as I am in no particular hurry. Remember the story of the tortise and the hare- patience pays off when breeding canaries.

My goal is 40-50 chicks this year- between my health challenges and the state of the economy in the Midwest, I hesitate to breed more than that. I was able to sell all of the birds I bred in 2008 that I wanted to- and a number of other breeders birds- but it seemed to take more effort than in previous years. In past years, buyers could hardly wait until the birds were ready while last year they seemed to drag their feet about coming for the birds they had reserved. Those that were serious about birds came from amazing distances to select their birds, though. Those who are really committed always find a way.

For those who are unaware, I assumed the office of Newsletter Editor for the American Singers Club this past January. American Singer canaries and the fancy dedicated to them have long been particular passions of mine and I look forward to serving the fancy and the club's membership for the next four years in this capacity. I have some definate opinions about the role of leadership in an organization led by volunteers and intend to work hard on behalf of the fancy. I also hope to be able to share my vision of the future of the fancy with the membership. Working together as one we can accomplish far more than a few folks could ever hope for.

For those who are not already a member, please consider joining the American Singer group on Google groups. The website for the group is http://groups.google.com/group/american-singer-canaries and we are over 200 members strong. The group is fairly active and a great place to learn about American Singers. Check it out!

Yours in the American Singer fancy,

~Marie

I have been seriously remiss in maintaining this blog! After being reminded about it numerous times, here I am at long last.

This past fall I experienced some serious difficulties with my health. With the stress and activity of the show season on top of my health problems, I was able to get the basics accomplished and little else. Now, due to the wonders of modern medicine and several weeks of rest, I am back to my old self and ready to spread the word about our amazing American Singers once again!

For those who are not aware of it, I also have an email group on Google to which I try to post something regularily. The website for that list can be found at http://groups.google.com/group/american-singer-canaries. It is open to the public and anyone is welcome to join, but it is moderated to ensure a good experience for all the members. Last time I checked, we had 176 members! That isn't bad at all for a group that is just a little over a year old.

Due to the problems I had with my health, I had to seriously consider my ability to keep my birds and, if I kept them, if I should breed this year. I have decided to breed again this year, but not the numbers I have in the past. This February I will pair up very select pairs and allow them only one round of chicks. My target date for pairing up is St. Valentine's Day, though there are usually one or two hens who are simply crazed and end up paired a bit earlier. This year, I am really going to make them wait.

For the month of January, the birds are just relaxing. The males are in tabletop flights and the hens are in the walk-in flight. As my target date for pairing approaches, I am very slowly increasing the amount of protein and fresh food being offered. By the beginning of February, the birds will be getting a very small portion of moist eggfood once or twice a week and fresh, finely chopped broccoli and carrot three times a week in addition to their seed mix, which is fairly rich. I offer a richer seed blend before and during breeding season as the oils contained in the darker seeds are essential to successful egg laying- and to the production of healthy chicks.

In the days to come, I will be adding much more to the website. I am hard at work writing new articles for upcoming issues of various newsletters and will be adding some of these to the site.

Yours in the American Singer fancy,

~Marie

I have all of my males caged up and the hens are back in their newly sterilized walk-in flight. Males began singing within an hour of being caged up, which is always a good sign!

I appear to have had an extraordinary percentage of males this year- over 80%. Normally, the percentages run much closer to 50% males and 50% hens.

I have a large number of articles to post to the website, so keep an eye on the site for the next week or two- I will try to get them up as time allows.

Yours in the fancy,

~Marie

It has been a busy, busy summer here! We have spent the summer painting and wallpapering the interior of the house, doing a variety of exterior projects, and gardening.

The bird room is beginning to fill with the sounds of bird song once again. The older males are finishing up their molts and the the young males are just beginning to develop their songs and are moving beyond merely burbling to singing actual notes, which is an exciting time for them.

I will begin to cage up males the first week of September- show training will begin a few days afterwards. 

Second round babies are now all hatched! Total for the 2008 breeding season is 73 chicks, which includes 8 Hartz canaries.

All chicks from the first round are now weaned and flying in the walk-in flight. They continue to receive moist eggfood twice a day until all chicks are six to eight weeks old and eating seed well. Then the moist eggfood is cut to once a day until the birds have completed their annual molt.

I have had a large number of babies singing at four weeks old- this bodes well for their freedom. Already the bird room is filling up with the sounds of babies warbling... I do love to hear the baby babble!

I successfully bred this year on only 13 hours of light. When all of the chicks are at least 6 weeks of age I will drop the hours of light to 9.5 hours a day and all the birds will begin to molt.

Yours in the American Singer fancy,

~Marie

Only three nests of chicks remain from the first round. Most hens are sitting on their second clutches although a few who were later to come into condition are sitting on what is for them their first round. 

The first round produced some gorgeous babies. The second round appears to be as fertile as the first- I have several nests of 6 fertile eggs.

Some of the youngsters who are in the walk-in flight are already babbling- they began before they were 5 weeks old! In my experience this has always been a sign of tremendous freedom so I am happy to hear it. Freedom is bred into birds- it cannot be taught.

Babies in the flight are receiving the same high quality diet they got in the breeding cages- their bodies are continuing to grow and they need the extra nutrition. Don't make the mistake of slacking off on nutrition once the babies are weaned.

In the flight plenty of toys are supplied- a small investment in toys results in a huge savings later by avoiding plucking. I rarely have a plucked bird since I began offering a variety of preening toys for the birds- just be sure to have enough so that everyone can have access when they want to.

Another factor in plucking is space. Your birds need plenty of room to get away from more aggressive birds. Short individual perches can be placed in the flight- this provides birds a place to relax and as they begin to practice their songs it allows them to do so undisturbed.

~Marie

 

Breeding is in full swing- 16 weaned chicks are in the walk-in flight and another 6 chicks are in the weaning cage with 5 due to join them today. Then a few days to adjust to life without Mom and Dad, then they go into the walk-in flight and are replaced in the weaning cage with 9 new weanlings. There are a number of stragglers that will follow in the coming weeks. All of the early hens are laying or sitting on their second rounds now. First round results: 45 American Singers and 3 Hartz canaries out of a dozen hens.

In all the excitement of breeding season, do not overlook your weanlings- they need care and attention more than ever now that they are on their own. Make certain that they are getting a healthy and nutritious soft diet- my own birds receive the same moist nestling food they were reared on twice daily until all of the young birds in the bird room are at least eight 8 weeks of age, when they can crack seed. After this, they get the moist food once daily. They continue to receive dry commerical nestling food daily through the end of the molt.

There are breeders who go into the molt expecting to lose young birds- I do not. I have never lost a young or an old bird during the molt for health-related reasons. I attribute this to ensuring that the birds receive the same quality of nutrition, care, and attention through the molt as they do during the breeding season. While the QUANTITY may decrease, the QUALITY must not.

Most of the hens have hatched their chicks with the exception of a few stragglers. First round has produced nearly 40 chicks from 9 hens with a 90% fertility rate- pretty exceptional.

The only clear nest was from a male who was only 8 months old- clear eggs from him was not unexpected. The 2nd try with him produced five babies.

I will have a very selective 2nd round- only 4-5 hens as I will have so many chicks this year from the first round. Too many more and I will be overrun.

A breeder should always be very aware of the number of birds he or she can properly care for and still enjoy the hobby. The number I am likely to have this year is at the upper end of my ability- the birds are no problem until fall when the males must be caged up in individual show cages. That is when things really become labor intensive.

With American Singers, the challenge is always being able to LISTEN to the birds. Unless one does some pretty intensive listening, one can make major mistakes in choosing what to sell and what to keep. Breeders who breed 150 birds are setting themselves up to listen to 75 birds (assuming that there is a 50/50 male to female ratio) every day for several weeks- that is almost half of a 151 bird show! (Not to mention 75 show cages - plus older males in show cages- to clean each day.)

I know some "top breeders" - and I cannot begin to express how much that phrase amuses me - who simply let the judges decide which birds they will keep and which they will sell. In particular, one breeder has a policy of always selling birds which do not sing at the shows. One of his young birds didn't sing at a couple of shows so he was slated for sale. At the next four shows, he took 1st place and became a Grand Champion. How close was that breeder to selling the best bird he had bred that year???

If you aim to win at American Singer shows YOU HAVE TO BECOME A JUDGE. By this I do not mean that you must become a sanctioned American Singer judge, but that you must learn to JUDGE YOUR OWN BIRDS at home. How do you do this? By sitting in the judging room as long as you can at as many shows as you can for as long as you wish to remain a winning breeder.

For years I have watched the top breeders in the country at the shows- they can always be found in the judging room. Even though they may not be a judge, they know song better than anyone else because they listen, listen, listen!

~Marie

 

Breeding seaon 2008 is progressing well- there were over 30 fertile eggs in nests when I candled eggs the other day. there are a number of nests that are due to be candled in the next few days as well. in addition, there are several hens finishing laying and a couple just beginning to build a nest. All in all, it looks like I will only go one round with all but a few of the most valuable hens this year due to the great fertility I am seeing.

Breeding season 2008 has reached a bit of a lull- most of the hens I have caged up are sitting on eggs and are not due to hatch until March 3rd or later. While they are sitting, the hens receive their usual seed mixture, a small pinch of herb salad, and small servings of finely chopped broccoli and carrots. The day prior to the expected hatch date, the hens will receive a small taste of eggfood.

At this point, my lights are on for 12.5 hours a day with an additonal 15 minutes provided by an ordinary tabletop lamp for those hens who need a few extra minutes to get back to their nests.

The question has arisen on a few email lists about the hours of light needed for successful breeding. "Experts" like to make blanket statements about the number, but the reality is that different lines of birds require different amounts to come in to breeding condition and do all the things required for success (nest building, laying fertile eggs, incubating through hatching, feeding and weaning babies, etc). Also, WHAT WORKS FOR ONE BREED OF CANARY MAY NOT WORK FOR ANOTHER! My birds are generally getting pretty active at 11 hours of light. I may start seeing eggs at 11.5. I pair at 11.5-12, depending on the overall picture I am getting of the birds. (Older, experienced birds I will pair sooner than young ones.)

Despite the dire predictions of some experts,I have not had a hen that completely refused to feed- ever. Good hens will feed (unless they are very ill, and even then they will feed a little). Bad ones won't feed no matter how many hours of light you provide.

What I was told when I first began by a breeder with 25+ years of experience (and the greatest number of Grand Champions in the American Singer fancy since Cliff Williams at that point in time) was this: turn the lights up until all the birds are acting the way they are supposed to, then stop. If they are all doing very well at 13 hours of light, why turn them up any higher?

This season has been calmer than many- only a couple of my planned pairs had relationahip issues and of those, only one was serious enough for me to pull the male and change the pairing. In both instnaces, the hen was upset with a young male that approached her too aggressively. Older, experienced males (at least in my experience) are more likely to take the time to sing to the hen and to feed her. Even my most aggressive hens tend to respond to this treatment.

My waiting list is beginning to fill out. It seems to be the general consensus among bird folks that the difficult economic conditions in the Midwest have seriously impacted the number of folks interested in purchasing birds.

Experienced breeders have indicated to me that as economic conditions decline there tends to be an uptick in the numbers of folks buying and breeding canaries. I do not believe that this will prove to be the case as society has changed significantly. People lead much faster paced lives & work longer hours these days- canary breeding does not fit well into such a lifestyle. Also, the folks attracted to breeding canaries tend to be those who grew up with canaries in the home. Several generations have passed since canaries were a common household pet and one can see the impact of this at the exhibitions in the fall. There are a few younger faces among exhibitors, but not many. I really hope that this will change in the future!

Wishing you all success in the 2008 breeding season,

~Marie

 

Breeding season has arrived at last and I have caged up 14 hens. Six hens have begun laying eggs and the others are working on their nests. My best male from last year is with his second hen- I pulled him away from his first hen after she had laid three eggs and will keep him with this hen until she also has laid her third egg.

So far, all of my pairings are working- though there was one couple with relationship issues, they managed to work it out.

In addition to the Singers, this year I am breeding one pair of Hartz and one pair of Waterslagers. I love the song of the Waterslager, which is the closest of the three COM recognized song canary breeds to the song of the American Singer.

I continue to write and hope to make progress on my second book during the fall and spring, but I will have more time to devote during the easier summer months when all the birds are in the walk-in flight and are molting.

The DRAGON club is already making plans for the 2008 show and working to make it even better than the last one, which was one of the most successful ones ever! What a great group of folks. Interested in the club? Visit the club's website at www.dragon.americansingercanary.com

There is a new American Singer chapter forming- this one is a regional chapter and will host a show in Indiana this fall. (No location has been announced yet.) I believe this chapter will be chapter 7, but the last I heard the chapter is still awaiting final word from the ASC Secretary/Treasurer about its designation. Keep an eye on www.americansingercanary.com/midwest.htm- I will post Midwest American Singer show information when it comes available.

I am preparing for the breeding season to begin soon- sometime around Valentine's Day. At 11.5 hours of day length, the birds are really beginning to look like they are ready. I plan on having my lights up to 12 hours in the next week.

My birds come into condition at a much lower number of hours than the birds of many breeders due to the excellent nutrition the birds receive year-round. It takes very, very lttle to nudge them into full breeding mode. Within a week of reaching 12 hours of light, 85% or better of my hens and 100% of my males will be in full breeding condition. I quit increasing the day length when 100% of my birds are in peak breeding condition and have never gone above 13.5 hours of light. The only exception (and a rare one at that) to this is birds I have purchased recently- sometimes they require a year in my breeding room before they "get with the program".

Many breeders would pair their birds at this point, but I want the birds to be at the peak of breeding condition when I pair them. Waiting until this point eliminates a great deal of hassle and botheration for the breeder and improves overall fertility. One will get more chicks in a shorter period of time with fewer headaches by waiting until later to begin breeding.

I am scrubbing and sterilizing the 30" x 18" flights I breed in at the moment. I will place the cages in a bank along one wall of my bird room and provide privacy between each cage with white posterboard cut to fit. There are more impressive breeding room set ups, but this is economical and has proven to be very efficient for me. Among the benefits to breeding in these large cages: males seem to bother hens less as they have more room and are able to get more exercise; babies become strong flyers straight out of the nest; I do not have to allow weanling chicks 6 weeks in a weaning cage- they are kept for only 3 days or so in a seperate flight cage to make sure they are eating well on their own then they are placed in the walk-in flight where it is easier to care for the 65+ chicks I raise; there is more room to provide the varied foods I offer in the breeding cage; and there is also plenty of room if one chooses to colony breed two or three sisters to one male.

I am quite busy at the moment working on DRAGON club related things. DRAGON is most likely the largest American Singer chapter in the US or Canada and is certainly the most active. If you have not already done so, check out the club's website at www.dragon.americansingercanary.com. It is one of the most informative on the internet and grows larger all the time as we add new articles just about monthly.

Yours in the American Singer fancy,

~Marie

 

 

Show season 2007 went very well for me- I had a young green bird which took Best in Show, 3rd Best in Show, and 8th Best in Show at various shows this fall. He is a beautful sounding bird who should improve as he matures.

Breeding season will not begin here until mid to late February so the birds are currently in a period of slow conditioning for the upcoming breeding season. A number of hens seem to be a little too advanced and are playing around in the flight as though they are thinking of nestbuilding, but no eggs so far.

This year I plan to also breed some Waterslagers and a few Hartz canaries for fun. No very many- perhaps 5-10 chicks.

Check the website often as I will be adding quite a bit in the upcoming months.

The show cages have been washed and painted and it is time to begin the caging-up process!

Males in the walk-in flight are caught and placed into show cages to begin show training prior to the shows which begin in the fall. Each male must be noted, have his nails trimmed, have a visual examination, and be placed in his very own show cage. Most begin singing within a day.

After the birds have calmed down in the cages, I begin to listen and will continue listening until the shows begin to determine which birds will be kept for my show team. Not all birds will be at the same stage of song development at this early stage so some allowance for immaturity is made. Some birds are easy to scratch from the show team due to song faults or other problems.

The shows begin in only a month and a half! Are you preparing yet? Hard work now pays off later.

The canaries are happily munching on the bountiful zucchini my garden is producing and hanging out practicing their songs.

While the birds are occupied with molting, I am beginning work on my second book. This book will be dedicated entirely to American Singers... I will also be reprinting The Practical Canary Handbook so I will have some copies on hand during the show season.

Check back later- I will try to keep the blog updated and let everyone know what progress I am making on the book.

All of the young and old birds are happily residing together in the walk-in flight cage. While they are enjoying their spacious living quarters (and I am enjoying being able to care for 100 birds in less than 15 minutes a day) I am hard at work on the redesigned DRAGON website located at www.dragon.americansingercanary.com

I have added about a dozen NEW articles and a historical snippets page that contains a wide variety of information about American Singers from their creation as a breed to the present. More is added each day!

I am taking a little time each day to work on the garden (and my tan). The garden is lovely this year- last year I completely redesigned it and this year it is filling in nicely.

Hope you all are enjoying your post breeding season rest and recuperation period! The show season will be upon us before you know it, so be sure to enjoy the "down time" while it lasts!

All the birds, young and old, are now in the walk-in flight for the summer.

Lights were dropped to 9.25 hours yesterday so even those few birds which have been holding out on starting the molt will soon begin to drop feathers. The lights will remain at this level until late August/early September when I wil begin moving the lights up a little at a time until all of the birds are singing well for the shows this fall.

I have added some articles about the song of the American Singer to my website and will work on some about showing Singers to add to the site this week.

I have redesigned the website at www.practicalcanary.com and I continue to work on the new DRAGON website. I have also begun a new hassle-free webpage service at www.americansingercanaries.com for breeders who would like a webpage but don't know (or want to know) about how to build one. I have several breeders I am working with currently, so check that site out for breeders in your area.

The www.americansingercanary.com website is still being tweaked and some new content is being finished up. Work has begun on the new DRAGON website at www.dragon.americansingercanary.com.

Following those sites, I will work on www.songcanary.com and www.americansingercanaries.com- those are presently blank sites.

I have been playing around with Photoshop and making graphics for the websites- it's pretty fun once you get the hang of it.

All 2007 chicks are now weaned. Two cages full of weanlings will be moved into the walk-in flight by Sunday. At that point, all American Singers will be in the flight and my bird care chores will drop to under 20 minutes a day- which is great as the garden is in full swing and needing an hour or more of attention each day.

Check back often and check out all the new stuff on the websites!

The new and improved website is up and running - I have a few more articles to write, but the major body of the beast is there. I completely understand why folks don't re-do their websites very often! What a project!

The last baby of 2007 fledged (flew the nest) a couple of days ago so breeding season is nearly over. I am not quite ankle-deep in feathers yet, but the level is rising each day and the molt will soon be here in full force.

What lovely birds I produced this year! I am very pleased with them.

I am hard at work on the redesign for the website- within the next week or so, the new site should be up. And what a change! The new site will be MUCH more navigable and nearly twice as large, with new articles. It also looks much, much better!

Breeding season is winding down- the last baby of 2007 was banded on April 30th. The flight is full of singing babies and the adult birds are due for a much needed vacation. I too will be happy to see the end of the breeding season as the gardening season has begun! As my garden is better than 50% the size of my yard, that takes several hours a day to keep up- but any time one can spend in the warm sunshine outdoors is a joy after being cooped up in the house during a long, cold Michigan winter!

When the garden is growing well, I will begin harvesting fresh herbs such as mint, lemon balm, and oregano from my garden for the birds. They love it! They also receive a fresh strawberry or raspberry still warm from the garden once in a while. The red color does throw them off for a bit, but as soon as the first brave soul tries the treat they all decide they would like a bite! Later in the summer the cucumber and zucchini come in and they enjoy that, too.

 

The last chick of 2007 hatched on April 22nd. Seven chicks were placed in the weaning cage yesterday and three more will join them this afternoon. Strangely enough, my first round produced primarily dark birds and my second round primarily light-colored ones.

The amount of baby song I am hearing from the flight this year is simply amazing! This should be a wonderful year for singers. Believe it or not, as a breeder this is not always a positive thing- especially if you really need a hen for your breeding program and all you produce are males. Hopefully, this will not be the case for me...

I made a supersized batch of eggfood this morning, seperated it into sealable plastic containers, and then froze it.  When it is needed, I will pull it out of the freezer and put it into the fridge to thaw overnight. In the morning, I will add finely chopped organic broccoli and carrots and cooked couscous. I make enough to last 2-3 days so I do not have to make it up daily.

I am currently hard at work on my new book and on new articles for the various websites I manage. I am writing articles on quinoa, selecting breeding stock, breeder interviews, and annual family newsletters for the two family reunions I coordinate.

If you ever have a question about American Singer canaries- or any kind of canaries- feel free to bring it to the American Singer canary list at Google. This group is new and growing by leaps and bounds!

 

The last nest of chicks is due to hatch on the 21st of April. This will signal the beginning of the end of the 2007 breeding season, whcih will produce about 65 babies. New males are popping up in the walk-in flight cage every day...

I am busy (when am I NOT?!?!?!) on coordinating two large family reunions and creating a website for the families. I am also working on newsletters for both families and a newsletter for Chapter 6 in Chicago. In addition to the daily work in the bird room- and daily life- I am very, very busy indeed!

Feathers are beginning to fall in the bird room already- a couple of males have begun to molt quite a bit. They are not feeding chicks, though, so that is fine. When they are molting in earnest I will place them in the flight with the chicks and older hens.

---

One issue I have encountered over and over again on the internet is the subject of "experts" in the canary field. Some of these experts are quite knowledgeable and honest about what they know- and what they do not know. Others are more interested in furthering their image as an expert than anything else. A few I would go so far as to say are bordering on dangerous as they really have much less knowledge than they would have folks believe.

Let me share with you the one, absolutely truthful secret to breeding, keeping, and showing canaries successfully- a secret that you will see absolutely NO WHERE else - there is no secret. There are methods that work well for some and not so well for others. It is overly simplistic for anyone to state that if you do "X" and "Y" you will end up at "Z" every time. If that were true every intelligent breeder would have an aviary filled with champions- and I know some very smart folks who have never had a single one.

And as for keeping birds- there are some very interesting ideas on the internet. One canary expert claims that you will kill your birds by feeding too many greens while another says that you cannot kill a bird with greens... As far as I am concerned- ask your breeder what your bird is accustomed to and stick with that until you are confident enough to begin making small adjustments on your own.

Birds are just like people- they are individuals with their own preferences and quirks. One hen may perform perfectly with a three ring circus in full swing going on around her while she is nesting while another requires a very peaceful and undisturbed setting. One male may sing with a mirror in his cage while another will go completely silent. You have to get to know your birds and experiment a little.

As a novice, you should begin by asking serious questions of the breeder from whom you purchase your stock- and you should purchase from a breeder if at all possible. Buy good quality books on the subject and read everything you can get your hands on- don't believe everything you read, but take the information and file it away for reference. As you gain experience you will learn what information to keep, what to toss, and what to pass along for someone else to use.

Remember that quality breeds quality and you get from any hobby what you put into it. Buy the best stock you can find (and educate yourself so you know what you need to look for in the breed you are interested in) and then work hard and be patient.

 

 

I now have 30 or more young birds in the walk-in flight cage. These birds, while now able to feed themselves, are still growing and are in need of the same great nutrition they received earlier in their lives.

Shortly they will be entering their first molt, a period of great danger for many young birds. Some breeders, exhausted from the workload of the breeding season, back off on providing for these young ones all the wonderful foods they gave their breeding birds. This is a very big mistake- and possibly a fatal one for your birds!

The way the birds are cared for just prior to and during the molt will in large part determine the quality of the feathers they will be wearing for the next year- poor nutrition results in dull, brittle feathers that wear poorly. Every year I hear from folks who wonder why the tail feathers of their birds break off despite being caged in good sized cages- in nearly all cases, the problem can be traced back to how the birds were fed during the molt.

Some people wonder how the molt can be fatal for a bird. Imagine if you had to replace all of the cells of your skin only one time per year- the stress on your body would be incredible! A bird's body must expend an incredible amount of energy to produce feathers in a relatively short period of time (right around 8 weeks). If provided with good nutrition, the bird is able to acquire the tools its body needs to build feathers without dipping into its physical reserves.

The molting period tends to weed out birds who are less healthy- they are simply not able to survive the enormous physical strain of the molt. This is a dangerous period for older hens and for young birds which may be borderline healthy or that go into the molt too thin. As birds age, their molts tend to lengthen as well as they may no longer have the vigor that youth provides to push them through the molt quickly.

For this reason I always advise people not to purchase or move birds that are molting - if you must, be prepared for the possibility that they may perish from the extra stress. Also, I would never buy a young bird that has not completed its first molt - let the breeder take on the risk of it dying as a result of the molt. I have on rare occassions sold a bird that was molting for some extraordinary reason or another- but I never guarentee its health and provide detailed and clear instructions on care for the new owner.

All of that said, I have never lost a single bird during the molt. This may be unusual, based on my conversations with other breeders. The reason, I believe, is that I treat the molt in a similar manner to breeding season and provide the birds with very high levels of nutrition. I firmly believe that conditioning for breeding begins in the egg- treat your birds well from birth and they will reward you when they breed. If your birds must use up their physical reserves during the molt, that is just so much less of a reserve they will have for when they enter the most stressful period of their lives- breeding and feeding their young.

What I feed the birds during the molt as I said earlier is similar to what I feed during breeding season, but I do scale back the quantity they receive and the frequency it is offered. The birds are provided a high quality, clean, and fresh well balanced seed mix designed for canaries and Pretty Bird pellets (though nearly any good commercial pellet will do) at all times. They are also offered an "Herb Salad" blend I have developed which includes oregano, milk thistle, alfalfa, calendula petals, dandelion, and numerous other herbs in a shallow dish so they can pick out what they desire - this is offered free choice and replenished as needed.

I offer the following on a rotating basis- dry commercial nestling food, bee pollen granules, mixed homemade nestling food, prepared couscous, bird bread, and veggies & fruits.  Only one extra food is offered each day- though I sometimes combine foods- such as mixing finely chopped broccoli and carrots with nestling food or couscous. Approxiametely every other day dry commercial nestling food is offered - I prefer Witte Molen, but Quicko is popular with many breeders.  

The birds enjoy eating cucumber during the molt- lore has it that feeding cucumber hastens the molt, though I have seen no proof of this. Also, feeding rolled oats is said to hasten the molt and I do believe that there may be some truth to that. Oats are very high in carbohydrates, however- feeding too many oats will likely make your birds fat, so be careful. During the summer months the birds adore cantalope and zucchini and like the leaves of lemon balm, mint, sorrel, dandelion, plantain, and other plants I have in the garden.

I try to avoid offering too many eggs during this period- I prefer to rely on more complete proteins such as quinoa and other seeds and grains. I find that properly balancing COMPLETE protein foods with carbohydrates and fats greatly reduces the development of gout. In fact, my birds receive a very high level of protein- much higher than is generally reccommended- but they very rarely show any ill effects because it is properly balanced and derived from complete protein sources.

During the molt birds also need more fat in their diet- but it needs to be good fat and not excessive. I like using the Missing Link products to provide Omega oils to the birds- it really does add a sheen to the feathers. Just as with any other food, this needs to be provided in small amounts- too much of a good thing is still too much.

Watch the birds carefully- the birds should have a small amount of yellow fat on their bellies, but not be overly fat. Certain lines of birds- just like people- are prone to become obese and need to be manged more closely to maintain a healthy weight.

I now have four weanlings in the weaning cage. 30+ young birds are in the walk-in flight with the hens that are finished for this breeding season. Nine second round chicks have been banded and the last hen has been set on a clutch of eggs for this year.

I should end up with close to 70 chicks this year- which is rather a surprise as I had expected considerably fewer. Fertility was very, very good this year.

The birds seem to be weathering the recent radical change in weather quite well- a few weeks ago we had record high temperatures and now we are experiencing record lows (and several inches of snowfall).

The temperature in the bird room has swung between 58 to 72 degrees in the past few weeks, but thankfully no one has begun molting. The birds seem happiest about 65-68 degrees during breeding season, but manage just fine at 62 degrees- which is the lowest that I can personally handle. In order to maintain that temperature, I must use a space heater in the birdroom. The one I use looks like a radiator and circulates heated oil to warm the space by a few degrees- just enough to make it bearable for me. Never use a propane or kerosene space heater as they kill birds - often in large numbers and very quickly.

Breeding this many birds (and keeping them in a healthy manner) is a great deal of work, however. Next year I hope to breed fewer than 40 birds as I would like to be able to dedicate more time to my writing endeavors.