Does anyone have canaries?

[brezo]

Hi there, Its kinda weird to ask infos about canaries on arachno forum but ill give it a try.

I have from sunday 3 baby canaries, and the mother doesent feed them properly so i am thinking to intervene and feed the chicks. Their mother does feed them, but just not enuf, couz after 4 days the babys are still about the same size as they were at hatching. Well maybe they are a bit bigger, but just a tiny bit. Everytime i look at their pouch its empty. Anyhow, if i start feeding the chicks now, i may cause the mother to stop feeding them all together. How to avoid that?

 

[Meezerkoko]

I definitely think that you should intervene, however either google this issue or find a canary forum so you can find a wealth of infomation instead of just from a couple people. (If you were having a sling problem you probably wouldn't post about it in a canary forum, you'd google or come here) I do know that in nature that is not true, if you intervene and take a baby bird inside or touch it the mother will still care for it. I just don't know if the dynamic is different in a captive bred species (because maybe it'd trust you and just assume you'd care for its babies)

 

[brezo]

Lol this is why there is a section here with not so spineless wonders right? I already asked on a bird forum but that forum is practically dead so noone is answering, and on google i got little info about this.

 

[Meezerkoko]

Ah fun stuff. Well I'd say go ahead and get a syringe, baby bird mash of your choice, and some patience and begin the fun. At the very least they'll be very hand tame when they get older. If the mom abandons her babies is a toss up, I have no clue about that but if you feel as if their health might suffer then do what you need to do. Being a bird owner you know how fragile they are at that age, feed those babies.

And I wasn't trying to be rude, I just figured that you'd find more/better info elsewhere, guess I was wrong :/ T owners are more obsessed with forums I guess. Lol

 

[brezo]

I ordered baby hand feeding food from internet, it comes tommorow to my home, and yea i will start feeding. no worries i didnt think you were rude

 

[Meezerkoko]

Okay good, and I'm sure they'll be just fine. Is she keeping them warm? If not you may need to see to that too. And if they seem dehydrated (how do you even tell with a baby that big) you may want to give them a small syringe of water or maybe even pedialite/Gatorade. (I don't know if that's actually good for birds I just think I vaguely remember doing that for a dehydrated baby bird many years ago {please google that though, I don't want to give you bad advice})

 

[brezo]

yep, she still keeps them warm. ok, thnx for the advice!

 

[Meezerkoko]

No problem! :biggrin:

 

[bugmankeith]

http://birdpoet.com/articles/Canary-baby-food.html
http://pacificamericansingers.org/articles/arthandf.htm
bunch of videos http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=hand+feeding+baby+canary

 

[monostomatic]

Once you start feeding the babies watch for the first day or so to see if the mom is still feeding and sitting on them if she is going to abandon
Them it should happen pretty early on.
When feeding little birds like canaries and finches i have found it takes two or three feedings before they
Really take to the baby bird food.
Sometimes it seems to stimulate the feeding response if you touch the corners of their beaks.
make sure to mix some petamine with the moms seed or some dry baby bird food when you get it.

 

[brezo]

2 of the chicks died, one is barely clinging to his life. Mother didnt feed any of them, she just sits on them so she keeps them warm,.. well them,... now its only one. :S

 

[brezo]

The one baby that survived started to beg for food 15 minutes ago and i fed him, previous feeding i had to open his mouth on my own since he was so weak.

Another thing, how frequently do i need to feed him? Every 1 hour and half is ok?

 

[monostomatic]

Should be every couple hours just watch to see when the crop empties

 

[Tarac]

Should be every couple hours just watch to see when the crop empties

Yeah, was going to mention that. It's easy to drown a baby chick with food. You have to hit their mouth at the proper angle when they are small especially.

I would've recommended finding a canary breeder with a phone number or email and asking them about it. The forum may be dead but chances are a breeder would be more than happy to share advice with you. If you still need it, I would try that.

I know that in captivity for many finch species where mothers are frequently deficient that other species of finch are used to foster the babies, i.e. Gouldian chicks being raised by Zebra parents. It's not an uncommon mode for many of the more difficult species. I don't have experience with canaries specifically though so not sure if this is true for canaries or not. Good luck!

 

[brezo]

Hi guys!

I have some bad news. I think the mother suffocated the last chick, i saw her standing on chicks neck, and when i shoo her of the nest, the chick was not moving. I think when canary neglects their babis by not feeding them, incubator is the only option. I am building one with a thermostat and a heating lamp right now.

Hope next clutch goes better and i wont even have to use an incubator.