• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Nat

Moving in
Joined
4/26/21
Messages
6
Hi,

we got these 2 canaries last year in May (2020) and we were told that they are 3-4 months and that they are a male and a female. So we named them Mira (female) - the brown one and a bit smaller and Seb (male) - the yellow one. They are a bit older than a year now and we still cannot tell if Mira is indeed a girl and Seb a boy.

They get fresh salad (different varieties) from our balcony, fruit and vegetables every day, we give them 2 different bags of seeds . They both have a cuttlebone in their part.

We had them together in a cage when we saw that in middle of February 2021 they started having fights. Nothing major (later we saw major fights...), so we placed a paper wall in the middle but they would mutually create holes in it and most of the times I would find Mira in the Seb´s half part of the cage. Most of the times, they were just hanging out ok together (in half of the cage). I would replace the paper wall but they would still open holes and stay together but as the time passed, they would fight more often and longer. They started also making a lot of new voices.

Seeing the situation and not wanting them to get hurt, we got a bigger cage with a separation. They were still getting angry and fight through the bars, so I added paper on the bars, cause I didn´t want them to hurt each other with their beaks and again they are making holes in the paper to see each other.

Since we got the bigger cage, we let them fly free in the house cause they have less space its one in its part of the cage.

About them
Seb: the one we were told is a boy - sings a lot and long. I think he could sing almost non stop all the day, if Mira wouldn´t get angry (or at least, this is what I think). He eats more, he is less aggressive most of the times, he has longer showers and when I put nesting material, he just takes it and in 5 seconds he just lets it fall on the bottom of the cage. He is more curious than Mira and he comes to eat salad from my hand really easier than Mira. He will explore everything faster than Mira. In the beginning when I was giving them salad with my hand inside the cage, he was trying to escape the cage, taking his head outside the cage between the bars. Sometimes when Mira is aggressive, he just doesn´t look at her and like this they do not fight.

Mira: the one we were told is a girl - she also sings. Makes all the voices that Seb makes but she doesn´t sing that much. Let´s say she sings less than 1/3 that Seb does throughout the day. She is really aggressive and when Seb sings sometimes she does everything she can to make him stop, like falling on the ground making extra noise. When I put them together, she will be the one normally to get angry after a while. She needs really more time to trust me and come eat from my hand and she will do it most of the times after Seb has already done it. She gets the hair of the head more often vertical like being excited or afraid. If Seb flies away from the cage somewhere that she cannot see him ( I let them fly free since I got the new cage), she gets very anxious. This doesn´t happen with Seb. I can make also here a video.

Last but not least, they are being also sweet to each other.I think they are feeding each other but I am not sure:

But they both sing:

And they fight:

They can also stay together without problems (till Mira gets aggressive) and I am separating them. I let them without the division, only when I can stay there with them and I am doing it, cause like this, they have more space horizontally also. When Mira gets aggressive I put the division again.

I am sorry for the long text. What do you think? Are they a boy and a girl or both boys? Can 2 boys feed each other? I guess it cannot be that I got 2 females that are both singing. Can they be a girl and a boy that just do not like each other?

Thank you in advance for your help,
Nat
 

Attachments

Solly

Strolling the yard
Joined
6/14/21
Messages
148
Gorgeous birds! :heart:I would suggest they are both male. Occasionally a female canary will sing (their song is usually more broken than a males and shorter).
when you have two males like here one will often attack the other when it’s singing. It’s like a challenge.

Mr Tweetie will occasionally still feed his son through the cage bars but they will square up to one another.
George his son is more aggressive and will really try to have a go at his dad - as he started to take him out of the sky (launch himself at Tweetie when he was mid flight and take him to the ground) he got his own cage and flight time separately. I wouldn’t trust him with my finches either as he took my “escaped Gouldian Mulder out of the sky too” when I was cleaning the cages.

canaries will fight to the death so I would definitely consider 2 bachelor pads :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nat

.........

Jogging around the block
Joined
6/13/21
Messages
703
Beautiful canaries!
As Solly said I think they would be both males if they are both singing.
I have two males that get along just fine but their cage is huge and there's another canary with them, I think it just depends on the individual bird a bit. If they are fighting do get separate cages or they could seriously injure each other.
 

Nat

Moving in
Joined
4/26/21
Messages
6
Thank you very much for the replies.

Since I started letting them out, I also let them separately. I am afraid that if they start fighting in the house I will not be able to stop them easily.

I guess if one of them was a girl, she should have done a nest. I give them once a week material and even if the small one, Mira, goes around with the material in her beak, she still doesn´t make a nest. Seb is only checking if the material is eatable and leaves it immediately. But Seb cuts the paper I have them at the bottom in small papers.

But I read in some forums, that it might also be that they do not like each other and in this case Mira wouldn´t make a nest. Is this even true? If the are the only two birds around?
 

.........

Jogging around the block
Joined
6/13/21
Messages
703
I cannot answer many of your questions, but I have one * probably * female bird that still has her squabbles with the male birds. Even if they are opposite gender they do not always like each other in my experience.
 

Nat

Moving in
Joined
4/26/21
Messages
6
That is pretty interesting.

The thing is then, that whatever the case is, I do not see how these 2 can be a family and live happily together. Maybe with the time. Cause buying one more bird is not an option.
 

Solly

Strolling the yard
Joined
6/14/21
Messages
148
Thank you very much for the replies.

Since I started letting them out, I also let them separately. I am afraid that if they start fighting in the house I will not be able to stop them easily.

I guess if one of them was a girl, she should have done a nest. I give them once a week material and even if the small one, Mira, goes around with the material in her beak, she still doesn´t make a nest. Seb is only checking if the material is eatable and leaves it immediately. But Seb cuts the paper I have them at the bottom in small papers.

But I read in some forums, that it might also be that they do not like each other and in this case Mira wouldn´t make a nest. Is this even true? If the are the only two birds around?
its really good you are not letting them out together.

males will build nests too. Tweetie rips and shreds his cage liner and will pull nesting material through the bars. But mostly when breeding canarieS, they are put into a double breeder with a divider where they see one another and a nest pan with materials is supplied to the female. When she’s finished building her nest and the male is feeding her it’s usually then you know they are ready to breed, and the divider is removed.
depending on where you live, breeding season will vary. Here in the U.K. it’s just finished and my birds have started to moult.

I genuinely don’t think this is a male and female but two males. While a male and female will have the odd domestic it’s not usually that aggressive And the female makes a different noise.
you do have lovely birds, I would just enjoy them. :ycanary:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nat

Nat

Moving in
Joined
4/26/21
Messages
6
Thank you Solly. That is very sweet. I am really happy I have them, even if I wished them to be a family. Now that at least the gender is clear, I can put in order in my head the rest of the questions I have and post them!
 
Top