Questions - canaries

[Wendy27]

Hello,

I am a new canary owner and I have a few questions. Thanks in advance!

Does a 6 month old male canary easily tame (or is this too stressful for this kind of bird) - if they do tame - how do you do that?

What is the best way to keep the beautiful yellow color - nice and bright - are you supposed to use the "color supplement for yellow canaries"?

Is it OK to have my canary's cage close to my parrotlet's cage?

Best diet for a canary?

 

[Serin]

Canaries can be tamed but it is not usually very easy. Some canaries are quite calm and will warm up to you. Others are very nervous and may never do so. One of my canaries I have had for two and a half years and he still won't come close enough to take food from my hand. He is the only bird out of the flock, including nine finches, which will not sit on my hand, and I don't think he ever will become more trusting. Nonetheless not every canary is so timid. The very best guide to taming a songbird I have found is linked below. She uses it to build trust with a goldfinch, a bird wilder than any canary by nature.

Yellow canaries will stay yellow on any diet. They do not lose their color like reds do as it is the result of a different gene and different metabolic process. I feed mine Volkman canary seed, Lafeber's canary pellets and Roudybush pellets in the nibles size. They also eat hemp seed as a treat and are given daily green leaf vegetables with crumbled hard boiled egg at least weekly, broccoli sometimes and an apple slice every now and again. They do well.

He will be fine in an adjacent cage but do not let them interact.

Be sure that your canary, as a temperate climate bird, is kept on a natural light cycle and experiences darkness after sunset until sunrise every day without exception to avoid issues with off-season molts and hormonal problems. A single day of lights left on a few hours too late can cause a molt and stop all singing for as long as three months and too much daylight especially in winter can reduce lifespan dramatically long-term (to about a year or two.)

 

[MauiWendy]

Canaries and parrotlets are both awesome! However, P’lets are very territorial birds and will seek out your canary. Protect you fragile canary, keep their cages separated. And if you parrotlet is flighted, I’d never have them out at the same time. They can interact from across the room.

 

[Wendy27]

Thank you for the information - much appreciated!