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Questions regarding my new canary?

samj

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Hello all, this is my first time posting here. I just got a beautiful new canary yesterday. He's aged around 8 or 9 months and used to sing frequently in his old home. I'm worried though that he's not getting used to his new environment in my home. Since yesterday, he's rarely eaten anything. He just hops around from perch to perch then to the ground, and back up to the perch. He's been hopping around a lot in a quick manner while making little chirps. He has been drinking but I'm worried that he hasn't eaten properly yet. I placed some food on the ground, as well as in the cage's food holders, to encourage him to eat but he just jumps to the ground, ignores the food, and jumps back up. I find it difficult to believe that he's not hungry after a day without eating properly. Yesterday, he slept but his feathers were puffed up. Today, he woke up and started hopping around again. The canary is not sick or in poor health. I made sure of that before I got him. But in his old home, he was housed with 2 other males in the same cage and his cage was placed in a room full of about 20 canaries. So he was used to being in the presence of other birds. Could that be why he is refusing to eat? The only other birds I have in my house are two budgies. Another question I've been wondering about is whether I should put the canary and budgies in the same room. Currently, I've put the canary in a different room than the budgies. At his age, could they cause him to stop singing or would he enjoy seeing other birds in the same room? Maybe the presence of other birds might help him get accustomed to his new home, perhaps? I hope you can give me some advice on how to get my new bird to start eating and to be comfortable in my house. And what could I do if I continues to refuse to eat? Thank you.
 

Mizzely

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It's normal for a pret animal who is used to a flock to help warn him of danger to be alert and untrusting. That extends to eating. Eating means his guard is down. He's not ready for that yet.

Not sure on the rest
 

Mr Peepers

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Hi samj Welcome to AA

Reading your post I thought you might be living in my house because I too just got a canary that's about a year old and all he did the 1st couple of days was hop from perch to perch and the cage bottom and make a single little PEEP. Congrats on your new amazing little bird. :)

I'm sure he's eating something if you look in his seed dish you will probably see some seed shells in the mix or if you see seeds all over the floor.. that's how I knew my bird was eating that way. Canary's are MESSY!

I wouldn't place seeds or fresh foods on the bottom of the canaries cage as canaries are poop monsters so you don't want him pooping on his food and eating it.. its not good for him. You can offer him something green to eat either raw spinach or fresh raw dandelion leaves even a piece of broccoli or a leaf of romaine lettuce just place it between the bars and he should nibble at it. Canaries love fresh greens and also like a slice of fresh apple so give it a try!

You can expect him to be a little nervous in his new home so yes he will hop around nervously, try and play some music in the room he's in so he's not in the quiet. I'm sure he will settle in soon.

I have my new canary in another room for quarantine for a month as I am treating it for mites and I don't want it to be in contact with my budgie until the month and treatment is over. I will move the canary into the same room as the budgie and the canary will have free flight from his cage where I fully expect the canary to visit the play center with the budgie where he can share fresh foods I leave for them daily.

I use to have another canary and he flew free hanging out with the 2 budgies who also flew free daily.. it always amused me to see this little bird stand up to the larger budgies and bully them showing he was the boss and no budgie was going to stop him from getting the fresh food he wanted! :D

Keep us posted how things work out with your new canary.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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You could drape a hand towel over one back corner of his cage (is possible, where he likes to sleep) to give him a little "shelter" from the strange new world you brought him to. It could be what he needs to settle down and sit still for a while.

When I first got my four canaries, they were quieter than churchmice. They hid in their towel drape and came out furtively to eat, all in a crowd. Over the first month, the birds began to become independent from one another. After six months I let them lose in the birdroom with every other bird and they did great. Due to a run in with contaminated greens, all but one of my canaries died suddenly. Kirk, however, is bright, active and pushy. He takes food from the cockatiels but backs off when the lovies and Sunny Senegal exerts themselves.

Just give him time and continue providing the food and looking for those seed hulls which show he is eating. He will adjust soon.
 

Mr Peepers

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You could drape a hand towel over one back corner of his cage (is possible, where he likes to sleep) to give him a little "shelter" from the strange new world you brought him to. It could be what he needs to settle down and sit still for a while.

When I first got my four canaries, they were quieter than churchmice. They hid in their towel drape and came out furtively to eat, all in a crowd. Over the first month, the birds began to become independent from one another. After six months I let them lose in the birdroom with every other bird and they did great. Due to a run in with contaminated greens, all but one of my canaries died suddenly. Kirk, however, is bright, active and pushy. He takes food from the cockatiels but backs off when the lovies and Sunny Senegal exerts themselves.

Just give him time and continue providing the food and looking for those seed hulls which show he is eating. He will adjust soon.
:hehe: at Kirk pushing his way around the other birds and stealing their food, these amazing little birds never stop making me laugh.
 

thekarens

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We've had our canary, Steve, for a couple weeks. The only thing he will eat is fresh greens. He will not eat seed or sprouted seed yet. I've read it can take up to a couple weeks for canaries to feel comfortable and start singing. Steve did sing from day one, but he still doesn't eat seed.

We have Steve in our finch room, but in a cage by himself.
 

wyrinth

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His hopping around shows that he is still nervous. A good way to check if a bird is eating is to check how much he's pooping ( it has to come from somewhere ;)). Also, while canaries LOVE greens, I would be careful giving too much to a nervous canary because it can contribute to loose stool. A piece about the size of a quarter is good.
To encourage him to eat, you can try different dishes at different heights. Maybe he doesn't recognize the food dish as a food dish, or maybe it's too low or close to the front. I find canaries to be little piggies and cannot resist eating for too long. :D
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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Wyrinth. Are you a Dragonriders of Pern fan? Wyrinth was the name of Brekke's Queen. Just curious. I really miss Anne McCafferty's novels.

But back to canaries... When the canaries were new and nervous, I put a solid cardboard perch (supported by two wooden perches) in their cage to shield a flat dish of seed I kept under the solid perch to keep the food clean. The birds often hid under the perch and ate those first three or four weeks as they acclimated. I have since read about wild canaries and found out they often feed on the ground under small bushes and crawl around in larger bushes to feed as well. They understand they are small and tasty snacks for predators and take great care in their foraging. Of course, it is one reason they are such prolific breeders; just about everything likes to eat them. I once heard a breeder of large birds refer to sparrows, canaries and other small birds a flighted mice. :hehe:
 

wyrinth

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Wyrinth. Are you a Dragonriders of Pern fan? Wyrinth was the name of Brekke's Queen. Just curious. I really miss Anne McCafferty's novels.



Exactly, although I think I got the spelling wrong. You must be a true fan :D.

For the canaries, I also cover the back half of the cage with a towel, that way they have a safe place to perch. Or you can try raising the cage above head level, it helps to calm little birds to be high up...it depends on how big/heavy the cage is.
 

samj

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Thank you everyone for your advice. After the second day, the canary began to warm up to his new home. Now he is singing and eating seeds, carrots, dandelion leaves, and everything else! I have now placed him in the same room as my budgies and they both seem to be singing, sometimes together. :)
 

cupoftea

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I'm happy to hear your canary is doing well!
 
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