Early moult?

[Johnny99]

Hi. I have been advised by a vet that in order to prevent egg laying in my female birds (zebra finches and canaries) I should reduce daylight to 8-10 hours per day. Soon after I started doing that, one of my male canaries started shedding feathers from his chest (there are also new ones growing, however for some reason he is not shedding feathers from his head or his wings). What am I supposed to do? Should I put the male canaries in a different room where they'd have more daylight hours, and keep the female canaries where they currently are and ensure they get 10 hours of daylight max?

 

[Zara]

 

[Zara]

 

[Rædwalda]

Hi. I have been advised by a vet that in order to prevent egg laying in my female birds (zebra finches and canaries) I should reduce daylight to 8-10 hours per day. Soon after I started doing that, one of my male canaries started shedding feathers from his chest (there are also new ones growing, however for some reason he is not shedding feathers from his head or his wings). What am I supposed to do? Should I put the male canaries in a different room where they'd have more daylight hours, and keep the female canaries where they currently are and ensure they get 10 hours of daylight max?

No, absolutely not. And I would not have messed around with their circadian rhythms by changing their amount of daylight overnight, it is no surprise that it has triggered early moults and probably other stressed behaviours you may not have noticed, they have simply not adjusted to cope with this like we have. It will have been very confusing and strange for them.

Why would male and female birds get different amounts of light? Apart from the middle of winter time, what part of the world only gets 10 hours of daylight at a maximum? Certainly not Australia, and certainly not the Canary Islands, which is where these birds are from. They should be sleeping and rising with the sun, as they would in nature, and as they would in an outdoor aviary if kept in one.

To prevent egg-laying you merely need to remove any nests and nesting materials. They do not need nests for any other purpose than raising their young, they will happily sleep on perches. You do not need to separate your birds.

Surely this cannot be a bird-specialist vet to give such strange advice? I would tell your vet they are wrong so they can stop giving out bad advice to paying customers. In the end it's the birds who lose out.

 

[Johnny99]

No, absolutely not. And I would not have messed around with their circadian rhythms by changing their amount of daylight overnight, it is no surprise that it has triggered early moults and probably other stressed behaviours you may not have noticed, they have simply not adjusted to cope with this like we have. It will have been very confusing and strange for them.

Why would male and female birds get different amounts of light? Apart from the middle of winter time, what part of the world only gets 10 hours of daylight at a maximum? Certainly not Australia, and certainly not the Canary Islands, which is where these birds are from. They should be sleeping and rising with the sun, as they would in nature, and as they would in an outdoor aviary if kept in one.

To prevent egg-laying you merely need to remove any nests and nesting materials. They do not need nests for any other purpose than raising their young, they will happily sleep on perches. You do not need to separate your birds.

Surely this cannot be a bird-specialist vet to give such strange advice? I would tell your vet they are wrong so they can stop giving out bad advice to paying customers. In the end it's the birds who lose out.

I've seen many websites say that shortening daylight hours helps prevent egg laying.

 

[Johnny99]

I'll put them back on the natural amount of daylight then. One of my female canaries however has been born with a bad leg (she has slight balance problems) so she has an empty nest in her cage where she sleeps. Should I remove it?

 

[Rædwalda]

I also have a female Canary who is missing all the toes on one of her feet, I just make sure I provide wide enough perches for her to balance on. I would remove the nest and give a wider or doubled/tripled up perch.

Shortening the daylight hours may prevent the Canaries from laying eggs, but as far as I know Zebra Finches will lay eggs all year round, but it would work by tricking the birds into thinking that it is winter time all year round, which I don't think can be a good thing.

 

[Johnny99]

I also have a female Canary who is missing all the toes on one of her feet, I just make sure I provide wide enough perches for her to balance on. I would remove the nest and give a wider or doubled/tripled up perch.

Shortening the daylight hours may prevent the Canaries from laying eggs, but as far as I know Zebra Finches will lay eggs all year round, but it would work by tricking the birds into thinking that it is winter time all year round, which I don't think can be a good thing.

Thank you for the replies. Should I also remove my female zebra finch's nest? I put it in her cage because before when she didn't have it, she'd sit in food bowls instead.

 

[Rædwalda]

I just read this article you might find useful:

Canary moulting

I think your Canary has gone into a shock moult, because of the sudden change in daylight hours.

Also note it says light should be kept under 10 hours during the winter. I would never restrict my bird's light during the summer time and if kept indoors they will probably be rising a little later than birds outdoors anyway as it will still be a bit darker indoors after daybreak.

Yes I would remove the nest and perhaps get a nice new perch that is very comfy for them.

 

[Rædwalda]

Check the Finches Vs Canaries thread, I have posted some info about Finch egg laying there.

 

[Johnny99]

I just read this article you might find useful:

Canary moulting

I think your Canary has gone into a shock moult, because of the sudden change in daylight hours.

Also note it says light should be kept under 10 hours during the winter. I would never restrict my bird's light during the summer time and if kept indoors they will probably be rising a little later than birds outdoors anyway as it will still be a bit darker indoors after daybreak.

Yes I would remove the nest and perhaps get a nice new perch that is very comfy for them.

So what do I do now? How do I stop the shock molt? It's spring over here...

 

[Rædwalda]

I'm sorry I don't know, you will have to try and get advice from you vet or research online. If it were me I would return them to their normal schedule.

 

[Johnny99]

I'm sorry I don't know, you will have to try and get advice from you vet or research online. If it were me I would return them to their normal schedule.

Normal schedule meaning not closing the window shutters unless it's already dark outside and also not ever turning on ceiling lights in the room?

 

[Johnny99]

Also (sorry for all the questions) can I feed my females egg food? Or will it stimulate egg laying?

 

[Rædwalda]

If that's what you were doing before, then yes.

It could be worth giving him some Guardian Angel if you can get it where you are:

Guardian Angel

And I just read that Apple Cider vinegar in water can be good for birds in moult. I give to my birds occasionally to prevent sour crop. It's simply 5ml apple cider vinegar in 500ml of drinking water, I give them once a month.

Giving egg food will not stimulate egg-laying. I give mine daily mixed in with their regular seed.

 

[Johnny99]

I have been feeding them egg food, but last month I lost TWO of my female zebra finches (I've had them for not even 3 years...), one of them to a prolapsed cloaca, and the other to a tumor that also could have been related to egg laying, so I absolutely need to do my DARNDEST to prevent that from happening EVER AGAIN. I would kill to have them alive, happy and healthy.