Letters From England From My Mail Bag

by Linda S. Hogan

Dear Linda,

The last two years I have experienced terrible breeding seasons. Can you offer me any advice?
From 7 pairs I have produced only 15 young birds. I have bred border canaries for almost 15 years and never have I had such bad luck until now, only since I have moved home.
My methods are: Feeding a mixed canary seed - hemp, plain canary, rape, teazie and linseed daily, tap water, E.M.P. soft food which I start once a week from January increasing it to 3 - 4 times a week and a mixed condition seed once a week. Over the past month I've added hard boiled egg (ratio of 1 egg to 1 cup full of E.M.P. and a handful of pinhead oat meal.) and soak seed soaked for 8 hours. I have given all the breeding pairs the above egg and E.M.P. daily about 1 tsp. per bird. I did soak the condition seed with wheat germ oil prior to pairing, yet I've had poor fertility and to date from 7 pairs only have 5 young ones in the nest. Can you help me to prevent this next year. My birds always have grit and cuttlefish as well. I will look forward to hearing from you soon. I think your book "A Collection of Canary Tales" is excellent. It has shed a whole new light on the way I see my birds.
Yours Sincerely,
Troubled Breeder
P.S. I do not use artificial light, do you think I should? I do not continue with the eggfood when a hen is sitting only during periods in between incubating although I do give cock birds daily. Can you tell me what my birds diet should have added to improve things.
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

So glad to hear from you. You are certainly a dedicated border canary breeder. Naturally, it is a little difficult for me to accurately respond to your breeding problems from afar, but I think I have some good ideas about what is most likely wrong.
The basic problem in your letter is infertile eggs. Most infertile eggs are a result of the hen laying before she is in full breeding condition. If the hen begs the male to breed with her, fertility is not generally a problem. An occasional male is infertile, especially when breeding closely related birds, but these can be culled from the stock. It is a common practice to increase the frequency of extras such as eggfood and greens in a well-meaning attempt to rush the birds into breeding. However, successful breeding will come naturally for the birds if we avoid the temptation to rush them into breeding condition.
To be successful in breeding take your clues from the birds. When we study the birds and pick up on their signals, we will produce optimal results. I will give you some general guidelines. Foods are either high in carbohydrates, proteins, or both. Foods that are high in carbohydrates push breeding behavior (egg laying, loss of body confirmation, and loud frequent singing). Greens, canary seed, eggfood (EMP) without egg added are all high in carbohydrates be very careful not to rush the hens with these foods; infertile eggs will result. The more rushing you do, the lower your fertility rate.
Often I receive phone calls during breeding season from people having almost no fertility. Almost always, they are giving the birds everything and lots of it. They fail to understand the birds are being pushed to lay eggs which is not the same as laying fertile eggs. I tell them to stop giving any extras and within about 3-4 weeks they call back and are surprised because now the fertility is almost 100%. You have to feed right to get good results.
Higher protein foods include: hard-boiled egg, wheat germ, petamine, and oily seeds (hemp, rape and niger). Higher protein foods encourage breeding behavior but not egg laying.
In January, feed seed mix daily, fresh water daily, cuttlebone available, and a digestible mineral available (no sand or true grit).

The extras:

Petamine made in US by Kellogg. It is a powder with niger seeds. You probably have a similar product there. It is 21 % protein, 13% fat and is sold as a conditioner because it has lots of vitamins and minerals. The most important ingredients in a conditioner are vitamins, minerals, brewers dried yeast, soy protein concentrate, wheat germ meal, cod liver oil, and fish meal. Feed four days a week.
Toasted wheat germ. 100% natural lightly toasted wheat germ. It is 2% carbohydrate, 2% fat, 4 gms of protein, and is high in vitamin E. Feed three days a week.
Once a week feed a small amount of bee pollen (no more than 1/4 teaspoon per bird). This is high in vitamins, approximately 25% protein and high in carbohydrate.
Hard-boiled egg yolk small amount once a week. DO NOT FEED EMP OR OTHER NESTLING FOOD UNTIL THE FIRST BABY HATCHES!!!
Feed a small amount of greens once a week. Greens are high in carbohydrates. Large quantities fed frequent will push.

Get the males ready first. If the males are lagging behind (not dropping wings and displaying breeding behavior about one month before you plan to breed) coat their seed with a little wheat germ oil and powdered vitamin containing amino acids.
One may also increase toasted wheat germ available to the males. Toasted wheat germ brings birds along more slowly than wheat germ oil. If wheat germ oil is overdone, males become aggressive and mean.
On the 13th day of egg incubation, offer eggfood daily only if babies are expected. EMP with hard boiled egg will work fine. (Eggfood should be high carbohydrates and high proteins. High protein discourages the hen from laying the second nest too quickly.) The first five days or until the chicks are banded, also feed 1/4 of a hard-boiled egg to each pair. If the hen feeds poorly, the hard boiled egg yolk will sustain chicks until she feeds more. If you continue to offer pure hard boiled egg after the chicks are banded, watch the vents. This may be too rich and cause sealed vents. If this happens, increase carbohydrates (greens) and stop the pure hard boiled egg. Offer green and sprouted seed daily after the chicks are banded. When weaning, feed the young eggfood, hard boiled egg, greens, sprouted seeds, and couscous. I prefer wheat couscous. To one cup of couscous, add one cup of hot water. Stir and let set about 5 minutes, stir again. If it is lumpy, break it up with your fingers. Couscous prevents weight loss and going light. (Separate male and female babies to prevent females from going light.)
Wheat germ oil should be added to eggfood when birds reach peak breeding condition. This will prolong fertility and breeding, but be sure to stop adding it about a month before molting. If you don't the hens will keep laying. Also discourage egg laying by taking away greens and increasing rape seed. During molting feed more oily seeds and proteins. Add some carbohydrates when you trying to stop the molt but be careful not to overdue it as that will destroy the type confirmation.
From your letter, I can see you are offering your birds a good diet. Unfortunately, you are overfeeding foods that push the hens to lay infertile eggs before they reach breeding condition. When this happens, hens lay lots of single dark blue eggs, skip laying for a few days, lay eggs off the perch, abdomens are not red and do not feel hot, fail to build good nests and desert their nests. Be more patient. Breeding is natural if we don't rush egg laying. Always slowly and progressively bring the birds toward breeding condition.
As far as lighting it must be a consistent total daily photoperiod and progressively longer days as breeding season approaches. In the US, Borders breed best at 14 1/2 hours of total daylight. I don't know about your area. I have heard that your days are much longer. Make no lights are coming on at night. Artificial lights are not essential but adequate lighting is necessary for the hens to see the chicks begging for food.
Let me know your questions and thoughts.... You know all the right things to do for the birds, you only have to adjust when you do them to have tremendous breeding success.
* My e-mail address is: canarytales@juno.com

Linda S. Hogan
Canary Tales

Dear Linda,

Thank you for your reply to my letter, it has given me a lot to think about. I am thinking of not using green food this year.
I cannot gather any wild green food due to contamination. I also think that commercially grown grains like lettuce is being sprayed with to many pesticides. I am hoping that soak seed will replace the greens. I know of a fancier who does this and has good breeding seasons.
Could you give me your opinion on what I am considering to feed my birds on from January'98. Mixed canary seed, topped up twice a week, containing plain canary, rape, linseed, hemp and a small amount of greens. it is a Belgium mix by "Buyers". A hard boiled egg mixed with one dry wheetabix biscuit, fed once a week? Soak seed (soaked for 8 hours rinsed and left in a sieve, and fed over a period of days during rearing and moulting, so they get the benefit of soak seed I sprouted seed.) During conditioning fed once a week? and sprinkled with P.Y.M.
Do you think this will be sufficient? If not what do I need to add or change, some of the products you mention are not available around here?
I will feed E.M.P. or Ce'De with hard boiled egg from the 13th day of incubation. Should I feed a condition seed? the usual mixture is hemp, niger, poppy seed, etc. I think it might cause the birds to go fat, especially as I already feed a mixed seed. I also offer oyster shell grit daily and a cuttlefish is always available. I add crushed iodine blocks to the grit.
I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on my proposal.
Myself and a couple of my friends are a little concerned over the hens not feeding the young with the soft food when it is offered on the 13th day of incubation. Because canaries can be very fussy, have you had any problems? Would you suggest feeding any soft food prior to breeding just so the hens get a taste of it?
Yours in the Fancy.
Troubled Breeder
P.S. I have a pro-biotic on hand in case of any ill birds, do you use this, I don't like antibiotics. I let nature take its course. I only offer a little help with the pro-biotics. Have you used P.Y.M.? Is it a sufficient vitamin and mineral supplement. It contains the following: Dried brewer's yeast, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, magnesium sulphate, manganese sulphate, potassium iodide.
P.P.S. Your book is excellent reading. Thank you for your time and knowledge.
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

I so wish you had e-mail. Do you have a son or daughter with e-mail? Surely, there is a computer buff near you. If so, my e-mail address is canarytales@juno.com
I enjoyed your letter very much and will respond to your questions.

Questions:

Does sprouted seed substitute for greens? Basically, yes. You will need to consider how you will color your birds. Even though you do not color fed with dyes, the color still comes from the natural coloring agents in the foods especially greens and carrots. You could use spirulina in the egg food. This a blue-green algae and would be available at health food stores. Frozen peas are also good.
Your seed mix. It is important to control the portions of seeds. Linseed and hemp need to represent a small portion of the mix since they are high oil and therefore fattening. A thin layer of fat is desirable but excess can cause problems for both the males and females. A second and equally important consideration is the percentage of canary to rape seed. Canary seed, being a high carbohydrate seed, encourages breeding and egg laying. The rape seed holds them back. In January about 40% canola rape is appropriate. Gradually decreasing the amount of rape and increasing the amount of canary until at pairing you have about 20% rape. The rape must be the canola type. Other kinds maybe the industrial type rape seed and toxic. Taste your rape seed. It should be nutty flavored but never bifter!! Bitter rape seed causes diarrhea and may result in bird loss. A simple way is to use your basic seed mix and then add more canola rape to it. When you increase the rape seed you will notice the hens stop setting in the seed cups. Increasing the amount of rape seed in the seed mix is also a good trick when you want them to stop breeding. Likewise, increasing canary seed will encourage the birds to stop normal molting or soft molt.
Hard-boiled egg mixed with dry weetabix biscuit fed once a week. I am not familiar with this biscuit but it surely adds carbohydrate and depending on the amount you give, can push your birds. I would prefer that you not add anything to the hard-boiled egg. Offer only the hard-boiled egg yolk once a week. Since you don't have petamine, this will be your protein source to condition the birds without pushing them to lay eggs.
Soaked seed soaked for 8 hours etc and fed during rearing and molting. During conditioning once a week sprinkled with P. Y.M. Soaked seed need not soak that long especially when the weather is hot, it is better to cut it back to 3 or 4 hours. Yes, feed it during rearing and molting. Begin offering it when the babies are five days old. During conditioning, once a week would be good since you are not going to be feeding greens. I like P.Y.M. although I haven't been able to get it lately. I used it a lot since it is high in vitamins and minerals etc.
Is this sufficient? Some of the products mentioned are not available in England. You should also add vitamins to the water during conditioning, breeding, and molting. The best is to go to a farm feed store or veterinary supply and buy the poultry vitamins. They are very good, concentrated, and not expensive. Use about 1/4 tsp. to 1/2 gallon water. Make fresh daily. Change water daily. Maybe you cannot find petamine or a similar product with 21% protein and fish meal but toasted wheat germ should be in the cereal section of your grocery store. If not, raw wheat germ should be easy to find at a health food store. The wheat couscous is a common middle-eastern product. Our health food stores sell it. I buy it in 25 lbs sacks. I think you need at least one wheat product even with P.Y.M. You could sprout whole untreated wheat. Be sure it has not been treated for planting.
Condition seed can be fed during breeding and molting. Yes, they are fattening. Niger is known for making the birds more active. Hemp will make them more active until you overdose them on it. Hemp builds up for four weeks in the tissue. Overdosing will sedate the birds. I use soaked hemp to get lethargic males going and for the setting hen to increase hatch rate and encourage her to set tight on the nest. Since seed is deficient in vitamins, it is not a good conditioner. Can you get bee pollen at your health food store or from a beekeeper? It stimulates and conditions.
Concern about hens feeding egg food if it isn't offered until 13th day of incubation, what about fussy eaters? Bird are choosey about what they eat when they have been given large amount of extras. They, just like kids, will pig out on their favorites and not eat a well balanced diet. Birds feed a plain diet will readily accept egg food!! The first 5 days, I would rather she feed the hard-boiled egg yolk. I think I told you about cutting the hard-boiled egg so that it has a sharp ridge. They love to nibble on the ridge. If it scares you, offer a very small amount (no more than 1/4 tsp/bird) of you egg food mix once and watch them go for it!!
Pro-biotics. I too do not use antibiotics. I add pro-biotics to egg food during breeding season and sprinkle on soaked seeds periodically.

This is a general guide to breeding your birds and basically what I do. I make minor adjustments for individual birds who seem to be lagging behind or are going too fast. I mostly hold the hens back from egg laying and bring the males into breeding condition first. I watch the birds and respond to them.
One last thought, be sure your nests are secured several inches out from the cage sides so that nest mating is easy. Some breeders secure the nest in the middle of the cage floor for the same reason. We also like square and oval perches for the same reasons. This is especially important when breeding larger birds.
It is great that you have so many bird friends to discuss these ideas with. Being in Kansas, I am pretty isolated and have only one local bird friend. Many days she has patiently listened to me expound on the birds and ask me some very good questions. I learned to breed canaries by researching scientific literature on ornithology and veterinary medicine, and by experimenting and observing the birds..

Your Friend in the Fancy
Linda S. Hogan
Canary Tales

Dear Linda,

Many thanks for your reply to my letter. I am sorry I do not have access to an e-mail.
Your letters make excellent reading my friends also agree. Over here the normal practice is condition birds for breeding is to feed a rearing food starting in January once a week then build up to three times a week by March, plus green food etc. It is the norm over here and most people seem to do ok.
I have decided to use Ce'De rearing food this year with hard-boiled egg. To date all my birds have had is the basic seed mix, a condition food once a week, water, oyster grit with iodine mineral block ground up. I mixed with it, they appear to be fit, the cocks are singing well although the hens are dormant. I have treated all birds for mite periodically with inj. ivomec diluted 1-10 with propylene glycol. I am this is the same as in the US.
I have a cock canary, which always appears to be wet around the eyes and above the beak. He continuously licks and rubs the perches, so much that the perches are saturated, he appears very healthy otherwise. A vet has treated him with different antibiotics but he has not responded, he has been like this for at least 3 months now. Can you offer any advice? I will look forward to hearing from you soon, have a good breeding season, I hope I will do better with the help of your advice.
Yours in the Hobby,
P.S. I have had an excellent show season, at the Border Canary Specialty Shows I have been in the cards in classes of 17 - 30 birds. And recently at our local show I won best border, best champion unflighted, and best champion flighted and best opposite sex, (with two birds). I entered 6 and had 4 x lst, 1 x 2nd, and 1 x 3rd. Your advice of not offering condition seed 3 days prior to show day, does make a difference!! I have a shelf full of trophies and plaques, more polishing for the wife.
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

Congratulations on the show wins!!! Glad my advice helped you a bit. I am excited that you are sticking with my advice on preparing the birds for breeding. I am a little frustrated that you have not found toasted wheat germ, bee pollen, and poultry vitamins. Today, I mailed you a care package that contains poultry vitamins, toasted wheat germ, bee pollen, and petamine. Use the poultry vitamins 1/4 tsp to 1/2 gallon of water, change daily. Give to all birds from January through August. Observe your birds. They will probably look more fit the next day after you start this. Give the males about 1/2 tsp bee pollen one to three times a week depending on how they are coming along. Give the hens toasted wheat germ 1/2 tsp per bird 2 times a week and petamine on 2 days a week. It is still about 6 weeks until you plan on breeding.
Concerning the male with the eye problem, antibiotic drops such as gentamycin in the eyes twice a day and pediatric liquid amoxicillin one drop in the beak twice a day is a standard treatment.
I have recently discovered an effective treatment for this chronic eye problem using frontline dog spray. The active ingredient is fipronil. One drop of Fipronil is applied to the skin under the wing or on the neck. It collects in the oils of follicles and continues to be released from the follicles onto the skin , resulting in long residual activity. The concentration of fipronil in the spray is .29%. Here it is sold over-the-counter in veterinary offices. It is advertised as killing fleas for 3 months and ticks for 1 month. Frontline is a better treatment for mites because of its mode of action and long lasting effect. Ivomec works by getting into the blood and kills mites when they bite the bird. Since it does not kill eggs, a second treatment at 4 weeks is recommended. I like to treat with frontline when I pair the birds. Check with your vet and see if it is available there. The spray is flammable, shipping from here could be a problem. I will call the company. Another option is if you have a veterinarian or pharmacist who could help you, I could send the more concentrated, non-flammable to you. It is 9.7% fipronil and would need to be diluted. Is this feasible for you?
I look forward to hearing about the effect of the products I sent on your birds.
Your Friend in the Fancy,
Linda S. Hogan
Canary Tales

Dear Linda,

Thank you for the "care package", you are a true bird fancier it is a shame there are not many more like you. The man you mentioned in your letter is it Phil Warne? He was the one I purchased your book from.
I have found some of the products you mention, toasted wheat germ, couscous and I think I have also found a product similar to your petamine, I still can not find a supplier for natural bee pollen.
I have started the birds with the products you have sent, they do not appear to keen on them yet.
The parcel arrived ripped open it contained petamine, bee pollen, toasted wheat germ and the water vitamins, was this what you sent?
At the moment my birds appear to be coming along nicely, although a couple of hens appear sleepy and ruffled.
I am currently feeding CeDe with hard-boiled egg (yolk and white) once a week, soak seed sprinkled with vitamin, mineral and amino acids once a week, also condition seed once a week, I have treated for worm, mites and lice. I have also started your products as you described. I only feed 1 cup of ce'De and egg. I may increase this to twice a week in March, I know you disagree with using softfood other than for rearing but so many breeders do this over here, with reasonable-good results.
What exactly does the petamine contain, so I can compare to this product I have found. Perhaps you have it over there, it's made by the same people who make E.M.P.its called Pro-mix, did I send you a leaflet on it before?
I really do enjoy reading your letters, myself and my friends spend a lot of time discussing your ideas.
Do you use any of the pigeon products, they are popular among many canary breeders, I have the block mineral which the birds don't seem to keen on.
I will look forward to hearing from you soon.
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

You got all the products I sent in the package but I don't think you got my letter. I had a hand written and type written letter in the package. I am copying you my type written letter of February 20, 1998 because I think you didn't get it.
The man I mentioned was Nigel Hastead who I met on the canary list group on e-mail. I am quite a fan of Phil Warne!! He is surely the best border breeder in the world!! I sent him a few books last year and I am so happy you got one of them. He sent me his video on pairing borders. It is great!!
I am so glad you have found some of the products. The bee pollen would come from a health food store or beekeeper. I will send the ingrediens from the package of petamine. It is similar to P.Y.M. with some cod liver oil. I called Kellogg, the manufacture of petamine, and it is currently distributed in the US and Canada. I like to make up some couscous (one cup couscous to one cup hot water) and add petamine to it. Then the birds eat every bit of it.
I am trying to get the company Rhone Merieux in Athens, Georgia who makes frontline. So far, the number I have for them doesn't answer.
I am not familiar with pigeon products and I haven't seen the pro-mix leaflet.
I am concerned about the couple of hens who are sleepy and ruffled. Be sure to separate them from the others and start them on couscous daily. It sounds like they are going light. How is there weight? I would also treat them with frontline if you had it.
How does the amount of nestling food you are feeding this year compare with last year? Of course you know that I prefer you not feeding any nestling food until the babies hatch but if you give only a little you can probably get by with it. If you are going to feed it, I would rather you were feeding no more than 1/2 teaspoon per bird. I am glad you are adding the hard-boiled egg to it as this will help to counter the effect of the high carbohydrate CeDes. It is critical that you not feed it while the hen sits on eggs.
The trick to having a good season is responding to the birds and not pushing. My methods are not common here in the US either. My results are quite outstanding however. I have made my advice to you fairly rigid partly because I think you love the birds and have a tendency to overdue the quantity of foods that push the birds and hence results in infertile eggs. And because I know anyone can get good results if they work with the natural breeding tendencies and don't push. This is a good case against the idea that if some is good more is better.
Right now I would like to see your males vigorously singing and acting macho with their wings dropped as they dance. The hens should be active, calling and feeding each other. If you think the hens are lagging increase the frequency of toasted wheat germ and offer them some bee pollen once a week.
How much total daylight hours will you have the birds on at pairing?
My friends likewise really enjoy our letters!! I have them posted on my web site under Letters from England. Of course I have left your name off but I would love to add it if you don't mind.
Your Friend in the Fancy
Linda S. Hogan
Canary Tales

Dear Linda,

Again thank you very much for the bee pollen. I am very grateful, the birds enjoy all the products you have sent.
I am pleased to say so far the birds appear to be in good condition, certainly better than last year. I am just about to put the nest bowls in. With a majority of my pairings I use the "strike" method. Pairing the best cock bird to 2-3 hens, this is achieved by only moving the cock bird in with the hen to mate, this is achieved only when the hen is weaving her nest. She will tend to accept the cock immediately when he enters the cage. If after 10 minutes nothing happens, you try again the next day, the cock bird only needs to be entered twice a day, morning and evening time. This system is widely used over here. I do also pair some up side by side. Hens are usually left to rear alone.
I feel there are a couple of other causes to our breeding problems over here.
First, the border canary has been bred for its body, with an increase in size and roundness, and carrying a lot more feather. I think this has caused problems in mating and making the cock bird attractive to the hen although they seem to pull themselves like a pencil, but only if they are 100% fit for breeding. The shape of a border goes completely against nature.
Second, in England this year especially, we haven't had much of a winter with an average temperature of 5 - 7 degrees C for December, January, and February, so I think that the birds are not using body fat for keeping warm and are also not active enough to do the same. So I feel that feeding from Jan, all the usual condition foods is causing the birds to be over weight. Come the breeding season thus causing the problems. Also it tends to be very dull during the early part of the season so the use of artificial light during normal daylight hours will also be beneficial. I am following this pattern this year with the hope of having a better breeding season. What are your thoughts on this?
I have managed to find the frontline you mentioned. I obtained it from my local vet.
I am not using as much egg food this year as I did last. I am only offering a very small amount twice a week.
My birds are exactly as you described, I am very pleased. The birds are currently on about 13 1/2 hours and I am about a week away from pairing up (introducing the cock). I know some local fife breeders who have 10 day old chicks already, but I know the smaller breeds do breed better. Borders are a challenge.
I don't mind at all if you put my name and address on the web site. I would be interested to hear from other fanciers.
I hope I have answered your questions. I feel that not using greenfood is a bonus so far you just don't know what is being put on it these days.
I will look forward to hearing from you soon.
Please find enclosed picture of myself with my winning birds. Can you put this on your web site?
Yours,
April 1, 1998
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

I am so glad that your birds are looking good this year and I hope that will mean many offspring and naturally more winners!!!
I haven't heard of the "strike" method but I do something similar. I move the cock before I go to work and again when I get home in the afternoon. That way he is with two hens. Most of my hens lay six eggs so I keep this up until the third egg is laid. My experiments have shown that the optimal time for fertilization is 3 to 5 days before the first egg is laid. The closer the mating to the time the first egg is laid, the less likely the eggs will be fertile. Pairing for the first time after the first egg is laid usually only results in the 4th or later eggs being fertilized. For this reason, I don't bother with hens who have started laying before a cock has been introduced. I start introducing the male when the hen put the first thread of burlap in the nest. I have not had good fertilization when I move the cock among three hens. I have had 5 eggs fertilized when the only contact was with a cock 10 days before she laid. This was because I wanted to breed her to a cock owned by my good friend Janice Klein and the only way to achieve this was to take the hen to her house during one of our Saturday afternoon bird chats. I just threw her in a flight with cock and then took her home with me later that afternoon. She was probably with him only a couple of hours. Sounds kind of like the striker method.
Excess weight is an impairment to fertility. The cock should have a flat and sunken lower abdomen. The vent should be pointed forward and bright red in color. Feeding the cock egg food and other fattening foods prior to breeding and during breeding season is a major cause of this problem. Excess feathering is also a problem. I am sure you trim the feathers around the cock vent. The guide feathers should not be trimmed unless they are excessively long and would interfere with mating. After a good mating the hen will often go immediately to the nest.
As you mentioned, the smaller varieties breed earlier that the larger varieties. Small birds will breed with as little as 12 hours of light but they breed much better at 14 hours of daylight. In my opinion, 13.5 hours is to short for breeding borders. Move the light up 30 minutes every three days to 14.5 hours. The rapid change in lighting will increase the sperm count and help the birds reach full breeding condition.
Be sure and not feed egg food while the hen is setting on the eggs as this causes a drop in incubation temperature and thus dead in the shell. While the hen sets feed her 1/2 teaspoon soaked hemp each day until the babies hatch. To soak hemp wash it and keep covered with water in the refrigerator. Change the water every other day.
Be sure to offer 1/4 hard boiled egg in addition to egg food on the 13th day and until the chicks are banded. Once the baby birds have hatched, add 1 teaspoon wheat germ oil to the egg food. Stop giving wheat germ oil one month before the molt. I am sending you a sample of wheat germ oil and vitamin coated mix I use. I have it special made and I use it from pairing until one month before the molt. You might try making a mix like this.
I am happy you found the frontline spray. Be sure it is the .29% fipronil. In England, it may be .25%. If you use an eye dropper you can put one drop on the skin under the wing and save frontline. I spray it on under the wing or on the side of the neck but it does waste that way. I understand that mites are more of a problem in England than in the US. A Kansas thunderstorm is coming up so I must exit the computer. Let me know on what day of incubation the chicks are hatching. If you have the birds in full breeding condition it will be the 13th day.
Your Friend in the Fancy,
April 15, 1998
Linda S. Hogan
Canary Tales

Dear Linda,

My breeding season started ok. I have some hens down on eggs, but now I have come across my first problem. I had this last year as well. I have some cock birds which I wish to run to 2 or 3 hens, with this method the cock is introduced when the hen starts building a nest, only for mating then taken back out. This method is used by a lot of breeders over her i.e. Phil Warne. But I've had a couple of hens build and lay eggs without mating. I ran the cock bird in but they just fought. I currently have a hen building, I run the cock in, he sings, she runs away! What do you advise?
All my birds appear very fit, although the weather has just turned very cold and dull it's even currently snowing, I am using heating and lighting to counter all this. I will look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours,
April 13, 1998
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

Fertility is largely up to the hen. When she encourages mating, fertility is rarely a problem. I strongly believe that birds should come in to breeding condition naturally without being pushed with nestling foods because it makes the cock fat and it makes the hens lay eggs like a chicken before they are ready to breed. Even though you probably offered about the same diet to all your birds, they pick and choose from what you offer hence not all are in equal condition.
There are few things you can do with the problem hens:

Stop feeding them all extras including nestling food. Just seed mix, minerals, cuttlebone and vitamin water with a little vanodine.
The very best thing to bring the birds to full condition is chickweed with seeds in the dough stage. Those little reddish seeds will straighten the birds out! Ask all your friends and everyone you know if they have chickweed you might pick. Be sure the yard hasn't been treated in the last year. Give it twice a week if you can to all birds. In 3 weeks they will be in full condition.
Singing is not enough for some hens. They want the male to feed them first. Immediately before pairing offer the male some soft food to fill up on. I use frozen peas or frozen corn. Just run some hot water on the peas or corn and it is ready. You could also use nestling food or hard-boiled egg. Then when he see the hens, maybe he will get the idea to feed her. Also feed him bee pollen 2 or 3 times a week.
These males are getting down to business too quickly for the hens. Offer bath water to slow it down a bit. After bathing they are more likely to mate with the male. After mating you can take him out again.
If she is fighting him, introduce her into his cage. She will be less confident in a strange environment. You can move her nest if you want but put it in the same spot facing the same direction as her old cage. I would probably introduce allow mating to take place and put her back in her cage. Some times they will mate in a larger flight cage when they will not mate in a small cage. The hardest pair I ever bred, I got it done by turning them loose together in the aviary. They worked it out much better flying around the room!
Calm down the fighting birds by increasing the percentage of canola rape seed to 50% in the canary mix. Also no extras. This will take them out of condition a bit. This will also stop hens from laying when you want them to molt.
In severe cases where the hen fights the cock, trim the flight feathers on one wing. That will reduce her aggressiveness too.
Try another cock. Sometimes they just don't like the cock you picked out.

The wheat germ oil seed I sent should be used to prolong peak condition. It will keep the males fertile for a much longer period.
Keep me posted. It is always challenging to breed canaries!!!
Your Friend,
April 23, 1998
Linda S. Hogan

P.S. If you get anxious for snail mail to arrive, get a friend to look up my letter to you on my web site:
http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Valley/6364/

Dear Linda,

Did you receive my last letter and the Cage & Aviary Magazine?
Well it's now June and my breeding season has been the same as the past two years. Although every breeder I have spoken to, even those who have kept birds for 50 years, have had the same season.
I've had clear eggs, addied eggs, dead in the shell, hen's deserting, feather plucking hens, hens that would not mate, I've had one which had fits in the nest at two weeks old although it was very warm weather then. I also had one youngster leave the nest with a lump coming out of it's ear. It has been a bad season for most breeders over here, yet we all feed different and have different environments, it has been said that borders have been to inbred over here.
How is your season going? There is not many breeders with more than 15 youngsters over here, even from as many as 50 breeding hens.
I will look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours in the Fancy
P.S. I have 12 youngsters to date from 11 hens and 8 cocks.
June 6, 1998
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

I did receive the Cage & Aviary Magazine. I thank you for it on a hand written note on my last letter which was dated April 23 in response to your letter of April 13th. I also returned the picture I put on the internet and sent it in a global priority with bee pollen. Did you get it? I will send a copy of my last letter just in case. Thanks again for the Cage & Aviary Magazine and for your comment wanting to see my articles there.
I am so sorry to hear that so many breeders have had a poor breeding season. Every breeding season brings challenges that we try to fix and recover. Prevention of problems is important but equally important is recognizing a problem and making adjustment to fix it. We must learn to read our birds and patiently work with them.
The first problem, I encountered this year was my first hen who didn't want to sit on the eggs. She would hop off the nest for no reason and even though I checked to make sure her nest was not to deep and well formed, she just didn't sit tight on it. If I chose to ignore this, if the eggs were fertile, they would never hatch. Upon noticing this, I started giving her 1/2 teaspoon of soaked hemp daily until the offspring hatched. The hemp is kept covered with water in the refrigerator and rinsed daily. I usually do this for any hen who is sitting without a male in the cage. I gave her about 1 teaspoon the first day and she started sitting normally and hatched all three fertile eggs. She successfully raised them.
Next, I noticed that the egg shells of a hen appeared a little thin. I use cuttlebone and a completely digestible mineral grit. Normally they eat a lot of the mineral grit. I had noticed that they had not eaten even half of what they normally do so it really shouldn't surprised me to see poor quality eggs. The calcium that is necessary for good eggs was missing. To fix this, I must add liquid calcium to the water. Neo-calglucon is expensive costing about $30 per pint. I used 1 cap full to 1/2 gallon water. After three days, the egg quality was good again. I used two pints before the season finished. Had I not responded to this challenge not only poor quality eggs that dry out rather than develop but also egg binding would surely result.
Another problem, I prefer my hens to hatch on the 13th day. If they are in full breeding condition they normally hatch the 13th day. Imagine my concern when four fertile eggs had not hatched by noon of the 14th day. This is an emergency. I must move the eggs to a back up hen who is sitting on clear eggs. I felt several back up hens clear eggs and picked the hen who had the hottest clear eggs. Two eggs hatched under the back up hen on the 15th day, and two hatched on the 16th day. I always move the eggs if they do not hatch by noon the 14th day. This hatching trick works well. I also use 2 or 3 drops of vanodine in a 1/2 gallon of water to prevent dead in the shell.
One of my hens, would feed hard-boiled egg but not my egg food. To correct this, I mixed a generous amount of poppy seed in the egg food so that I could see poppy seeds in it. Hens will feed anything if it has a good amount of poppy seed.
I watch the skin color of the chicks. I like a pink but not a red color. Red colors indicate dehydration. Nestling diarrhea can cause this. It is usually seen in a hen who feeds lots of egg food. Sometimes your first sign, is the hen looking out of sorts and later a foul smell coming from the cage. Immediately, add dry whole wheat bread crumbs to the egg food about 50%, and offer greens and saltine crackers. Failure to respond to this will result in the chicks dying. These chicks grow well initially but die shortly after banding. If the nest is soiled, change it. Be sure to also check the banded chicks vents daily for signs of diarrhea. Diarrhea can seal the vent with a very thin film vent. Most breeders think this is due to E. coli and should be treated with antibiotics. I have found it starts with to rich of diet and corrects nicely by changing the diet.
When weaning chicks, use a small cage and take out the perches. The chicks will stay on the floor and learn to eat faster. After they about a week, add perches. I like to turn my flat surface perches at an angle so they have to use their claws to perch. This helps ensure proper claw use.
It is critical to cull and breed only the most fit birds. I have seen chicks that acted like they had cerebral palsy. It was a genetic problem and the parents had to be culled from the breeding program.
I have a variegated hen that I bought three years ago. That first year she laid only two eggs. She wasn't sitting well so I foster her two eggs. One of her eggs was fertile and the foster mom raised a daughter. That daughter was variegated too and looked just like mom. She laid only two eggs and I foster them and got a granddaughter. This year the granddaughter laid only two eggs. Now I am sure that this is a genetic problem. I did not foster these eggs because even with three years of out crossing the problem is the same. I will cull all three of these hens from my breeding stock. It is a shame because I like the looks of all three hens.
Our weather has been extremely hot and I started quite late. Imagine the challenge of trying to breed birds with temperatures reaching 105. My goal was to raise 40 to 50 birds. Today, I hatched my 37th German roller and I also raised 9 bronze. So I raised the amount I wanted. Last year I made the mistake of raising 88 German rollers. I had so many that I could not work with them and it was very frustrating to me. I will never really know how good many of them were because I finally just sold them to get them out of my sight. Quality is much more important than quantity.
How did you like the bee pollen I sent you? It is an excellent food for the males and hens to encourage full breeding potential. It is also a great weaning food.
I look forward to hearing from you,
July 1, 1998
Linda S. Hogan

Dear Linda,

Thank you for your letter. I am sorry to say I never recieved the parcel you sent containing bee pollen and my photo.
I've had a better season than I've had for the past 5 years. Although it wasn't a good season. I had 105 eggs laid from 11 hens - only 40 hatched, I had dead in the shell, some young die after a few days, in fact I've had every breeding problem in the book.
I have 27 youngsters which is good compared to other breeders who only have 12 or 14 youngsters.
I am disappointed because it appears as though I have bred mainly cock's, apart from singing is there any other way of sexing young birds? I had a hen desert 3 rounds of eggs so I removed her and put her into another cage. She laid again, sat and reared. My friend also over came this problem in the same manner.
What did you think of the Cage & Aviary Magazine? Can you obtain it? How long does bee pollen keep in those frozen bags? How should it be stored? I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours,
August 9, 1998
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

It is so good to hear from you! I called the post office and they tell me that global priority is not a trackable service. I wonder if it is hung up in customs over there? I either said it was bee pollen or conditioner on the tag. It is the first time I have sent something that was not received. The post office here says that if it was not delivered it should come back but it didn't. The picture and all of your letters are on my web page http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Valley/6364/ The picture could be printed from there if you have a friend that can access it. Do you know Nigel Halsted? I so wish you had e-mail.
I am very glad you had a better season than in the past and hopefully this is just the begining of better and better seasons in the future. Of your 105 eggs how many were fertile? Were the shells good or thin?
The fact that you have mostly cocks needs to be watched. In some show bird in bred lines, there is a lethal gene which certain males carry on the sex chromosome. The gene is fatal when the father transmits the sex gene to his daughters. This can cause hens to die in the shell, at weaning and as young hens. If that is not the problem, dead in the shell is easy to overcome by using vanodine, feeding soaked hemp, and moving eggs that didn't hatch by noon the 14th day. I can't remember loosing a fertile egg in years. Did you implement these things?
Some hens consistently have more cocks and some consistently have more daughters. Check your pedigrees.
Singing is the best way to sex offspring. In some birds, you can sex them in the nest because the males have a darker color. In flights, you can sometimes sex based on weight. The thin ones are most likely females. Feeding hard boiled egg and egg food to the hen with new chicks should prevent deaths till 5 days of age. Then add greens, sprouts etc. Did you implement this? Death of hatched birds should be very rare. Exactly when and why did they die? Did they have sealed vents from diarrhea? If so, the skin would get red. It is caused by the diet being too rich.
Young hens can die if they are not separated from the males after weaning because they are not aggressive enough to jump in and eat enough. Feeding couscous and hard-boiled egg in addition to egg food will stop this problem. Did you do this during weaning? Also did you use probiotics? Did you feed the newly weaned some bee pollen?
I hope this next season, you can resist feeding egg food and just give a little hard boiled egg, wheat germ, petamine, and bee pollen to let them come in naturally without pushing. This will help the fertility problem. Have you tried pelleted food? I am enclosing some pellets and a letter I wrote to another border breeder in England.
Changing the cage was a good trick. Was the new nest facing a different direction? I am sensitive to what the hen thinks about where her nest is placed. Did changing cages also slow her cycle down and thereby let her come into condition?
I subscribed to Cage & Aviary Magazine for a number of year but drop it about two years ago because it had very little on canaries. When you sent the copy, I realized I do miss it so maybe I will resubscribe.
I have kept bee pollen in the refrigerator or freezer for a year and it was still good. I only leave what I am currently feeding at room temperature. Do you have a way to get bee pollen over there? Many of our bee keepers who sell honey also sell bee pollen. It is also commonly available at health food stores and often sold for horse food.
Your Friend in the Fancy,
August 18, 1998
Linda

Dear Linda,

Many thanks for your reply. I am happy to say that I received this parcel containing the bird pellets. I have always considered using pellets, but not for replacing the seed. I feel the birds natural behavior is to crack seed. I thought about offering pellets a couple of times a week for the benefit of the pellets contents. Pelleted feeds are available over here from "verseie-laga". It is distributed by wagg-foods. I have enclosed the address and phone number for P.W. Wagg Foods LTD, Free Post, NEA 1138, Thirsk, 407 3BR, Free Phone 08-- 174277. Sorry I do not know Nigel Halsted.
Out of my 105 eggs only 45 were fertile, the shells were good, I only had a few dead in the shell, that was after we had a big thunderstorm. I am told that to have produced mainly cock's is not uncommon, some people have produced 18 young and had 18 cock's. I have been told something very interesting. An old man who has had bird's all his life claimed that he could produce mainly hen's by pairing the cock to the hen at a certain time. A friend of mine has tried for a couple of years, this year he says he's got it but he will not share his good fortune. All he will say is the hen has to be more in-form than the cock, I guess he must mean the hen squatting before the cock sings to her, although most of my hens were like that, he says you have to time it just right, but will not say when. What are your thoughts, the old man and my friend swear by it.
I have used an antibiotic which I found excellent for canaries, it's called Baytril. It's diluted 1 - 10 with water and used along with a probiotic in the water. It's given direct into the beak via a syringe (0.1 ml twice a day). I've had birds on deaths door, revived by it and bred for me this year, it is widely used in poultry over here. A vet provided me with it. Although I didn't have much hope, I was amazed. I have never had much success with antibiotics. Even a fancier of 50 years experience was surprised when he used it. I fell onto it at Christmas when I had some kind of virus going through the birds. I was loosing them after 3 days and fairly similar to going light without the eating of large amounts of food.
I think that many problems with borders could stem from the crossing with Norwich canaries who are well know for breeding problems. Norwich were used to increase the borders size. Not many fancier's have bred well. A top fancier (one of the best over here) with 54 hens has only produced 78 youngsters!
I will look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours Darren
P.S. I do use probiotics and an alternative to vanodine called Vydphor, it's still an iodine disinfectant. I also use a calcium supplement occasionally especially prior to pairing.
The letter about loss of feathers from P.W., I usually find that it's mite problems under the skin, Ivomec cures it. I would think a bad diet would be a cause, look at a pet canary. Only seed and water maybe a piece of cuttlefish. It will not last for years like my first canary.
September 21, 1998
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Darren,

Thanks for the pellet information. I will pass that on to P.W. I agree with you that birds like seeds but unfortunately they are deficient in numerous vitamins and minerals. Seeds also vary in nutritional value based on the condition of the soil they were grown in so it is hard to know the quality of a seed product. Looking at the birds feet can tell you how good of diet your birds are eating. The feet should be smooth and glossy, even on older birds. Many people say scaley feet is ok on older birds but the fact is they are expected because the diet was nutritional deficient for years.
I also filed a report about the lost package containing bee pollen and the picture. Maybe that will turn it up.
It is hard to accept that out of 105 good eggs only 45 hatched. Mostly due to infertility. Were any male in particular infertile? How closely related are they? My favorite close breeding is half brother and sister.
I keep up very well with all the scientific literature coming out of our avian vet association but I get behind on the biological and behavioral canary research. I was recently catching up on my scientific reading and I came across some interesting research on canary hen preference for certain cocks song. They were measuring the hens preference by counting the number of times she assumed the mating solicitation position. I was thinking that this would be a difficult experiment because the hens would need to be in great breeding condition and they would probably not cooperate for very long. As I read these experiments with interest, I discovered they were using estradiol implants so that the hen would easily go into the mating position when hearing the cocks song. This started me thinking about how to increase the estradiol in the hen with diet. Some experiments are currently being done on women with breast cancer to increase estradiol. This is accomplished by feeding them soya products. This blocks some of the estrogen and increases estradiol. You immediately came to my mind because I would sure like to see that fertility rate go up!! I checked my diet and sure enough both my pellets and petamine contains soybean meal. Before I used petamine, I added soya grits or soya flour to my egg food!! I also checked the breeder formula on my pellets and compared it to the maintenance formula. Sure enough the breeder formula has more protein and more soybean meal! I am trying to get some breeders in the Southern Hemisphere to do some experimenting for me since they are breeding right now. I also need to find the half life of estrogen to know when to feed the hen soybean products. I am guessing about 20 days before breeding. I need to check into some options. I will see what I can do with Tofu and the human study was also using an asian product, miso soup, which is a concentrated fermented soybean product.
The other thing, is why did the chicks die? If 45 hatched, you should have raised 45. You should rarely lose a chick. Do you think mites are a problem? I have come to the conclusion that all birds have some mites like house mites but usually they are under control except during stressful times. Vets in England have the frontline dog spray in the .29%. All canaries need to have at least one drop on the skin of the neck or under the wing every two months. If any canary looks out of sorts, give them another treatment. Young can be treated as soon as feathered. Ivomec does nothing about the eggs, it only kills live mites and does not have a long lasting effect like frontline.
As for increasing the number of hens, I doubt that the timing of mating has anything to do with the sex of the offspring. Unlike humans, the sex of the offspring is determine by the egg produced by the hen. Although I do not have data to back this up, I have found that it seems that the first clutch of eggs laid tends to produce more males and if the hen lays three clutches the number of hens out number the males in that clutch. Lethal genes also kill female offspring and some lines produce all of one sex or another.
I have also heard good things about Baytril. Baytril is enrofloxacin an equivalent to ciprofloxacin used in humans. It has been shown to be effective at treating chlamydia but many gram negative bacteria such as pseudomonas are resistant to it. Problems include development of secondary yeast infections, embryonic death in breeding birds, and caution with young birds as they may develop renal damage and joint problems. I am glad it got rid of your problem.
October 4, 1998
Linda

Dear Linda,

Thank you for the bee pollen, I was running low, we must set up some kind of payment. I have received notice from the Royal mail about that missing package so it looks like it's being investigated now. I still haven't received it yet.

It is funny you have mentioned soya products, I was considering using soya milk this year on my young birds bread and milk, but I was worried about the protein level not being accepted by the canaries liver. I will be very interested in your findings over soya products and breeding performance. I would also like to see my fertility rate rise. All my cocks fertilized eggs at some point, the man I had my stock from had a reasonable level of fertility so maybe it isn't stock related. Perhaps, it's a lack of condition.

We don't have easy scientific information available over here. I would be interested in some photo copies of the articles you have mentioned, I am interested in this area.

I believe you have had contact with Don Harrison. I know him well, he is a very respected Border breeder. He seemed very interested in your ideas, he says he may use some extracts from your book in the "Border Journal". I am so glad that other fancier's will be able to share your ideas. Perhaps it will help other's to turn around the growing trend of poor breeding seasons.

I will look forward to hearing from you.
darren.w@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi Darren,

First let me apologize for being so slow in replying to your letter. Once the my canary judging begins it seems my whole life is a whirl and l get very little correspondence answered. I judged a number of shows including the national and then I was able to exhibit my German rollers at two shows. I am proud to report that I won bought the Lou Abbott German Roller Show in Dayton, Ohio and the Milo Wells German Roller Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. During the time from the middle of November until the second weekend of December, my mind has been focused on diet and its effect on sound and performance. A few exhibitors have been consulting with me and I am proud to report several success. They include two American Singer breeders who each one show, two roller breeders one amateur breeder won best champion young and best four tour team and the other a master breeder won second best team in the show, and a waterslager novice breeder.

The waterslager breeder first contact me because all of his birds were in soft molt and had been for quite some time. He followed my advice to drop proteins and increase carbohydrate and keep them on B vitamins. They immediately stopped molting and went into the breeding cycle and he raised 23 birds. In the fall he again contacted me for advice on feeding and training for show. He was so panicked because the show was mid November and he feared that his birds would not be ready. He is one happy guy because he won the Kellogg trophy for waterslagers at the National Cage Bird Show!! When you talk about payment for the bee pollen, the price is not in dollars but what would be acceptable is for you to master border breeding!! I am confident it will come with patience and time.

I received a letter from the US post office that they were unable to locate the lost parcel. Oh well...

I was only able to get one breeder in the Southern hemisphere to participate in the fertility experiment on adding soya products and its effect on fertility. The study was small and of course it is too early to reach conclusions but preliminary data is good almost every egg was fertile!!

My soya experimenting have resulted in eliminating miso from consideration because it is very high in salt. Tofu was hard to mix in and gummy. I haven't given up on tofu but I don't have the answer yet. I have also found a problem with liquid soya products making the texture of food hard unless added to large batches. Simply adding it to for liquid with commercial nestling food did not work. It can be added to cornbread or liquid forms in big nestling food batches or added dry to dry foods. I plan to do all three.

To being the season, about a month before breeding, I will add soya powder to wheat germ. It is easy to monitor for too high protein levels. Each day you look at the color of the feet. If you see a change from the light creme color to pink or red immediately feed the birds some bread or crackers and you drop the protein back a little and adjust the mixture by dropping back the soya protein back a little. You will soon be able to feed the right amount and portions. Once the babies are five days old and I feed egg food, it will not be much problem because my egg food is high carbohydrate too.

I have received some excellent feedback from some Border breeders in England who have tried using frontline on birds with Northern mites. They have reported that it was very effective provided the treatment is on the rump. I am now recommending the rump treatment based on their results. I appreciate this feedback so much!!!

Why do you think you lost so many chicks? If you used bread and milk, did you scaled the milk? Did you offer the hen quartered hard-boiled egg?

I have had contact with Don Harrison and he seems to be a very dedicated Border breeder. I have agreed to write for the "Border Journal" and have just this week mailed him my first article. It is on the prebreeding season and I think it may comes out in the February issue.

I so wish you could look up my web site. I have an easy link now to it http://www.canarytales.com I would also ask that you help spread the word to canary breeders to check out my web site.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Linda