The Good The Bad And The Ugly About Canaries

[waterfaller1]

The attributes listed in this thread are the experiences of each individual and your experiences may differ with your individual bird.

I am going to keep this to my experience only without much generalization, as Kismet is the only canary I have had the pleasure of having in my life.
The Good
He is a wonderfully sweet and soft little guy. What he may lack in willingness to hop on your finger, he makes up for with his beautiful song. He is really easy to care for. He loves fresh veggies, his seed mix with a bit of Harrison's mash, and occasionally a bit of scrambled egg. A cuttlebone and mineral block, and fresh water often for drinking and bathing should be provided,

The Bad
Canaries, like most small birds{and this is just my opinion} get the shaft as far as I am concerned. To me, small birds need big cages just as much as the bigger guys. More so, because they hop and fly.
They can go quiet for a few months{male} during their molt.

The warning I want to write here is just be careful to thoroughly check out the bird you are thinking of adding to your family. A bird that comes from where many are kept, or outdoors, may have scaley mites, or air sac mites.
There is no ugly I can add. I think they are wonderful birds.

 

[cupoftea]

Kismet is so adorable!! I know I want to own a canary one day.

 

[Maxsmom]

Aww thanks so much! Having a sweet singing canary sounds so nice.

 

[Ashleigh]

Awww, just beautiful!
Ive always had a soft spot for canaries.

 

[waterfaller1]

CLUE: Clue

Look across the street for your next clue!

Thanks all.

 

[Anne & Gang]

Carole he is just gorgeous..having had two female canaries, I just want to add that female canaries are lovely, mild mannered little beauties and oftentimes left behind at pet stores and end up as breeders because they do not sing like the males. They are lovely and sweet in their own right. They loved veggies and scrambled eggs and they do love toys as well. And yes, air sac mites can be a problem and in females, egg laying.

 

[waterfaller1]

Aww, thanks for your comments Anne. That is sad that females are not as desirable. I have read about singing females! We were lucky that Kismet landed in our yard.
Another sad aspect is their short lifespan. About 10 years or so with good care.
If you are considering a canary, this is a great resource for info. You receive an e-zine in e-mails. Darren is a complete gentleman, and will answer questions personally as well.
Smart Canary Care Will Make Your Canary Bird Sing

 

[Skyler]

The Good: Like Carole I had the experience of only one canary. But what a bird.

Herbie was sold as a male and was selected because of "his" beautiful song. We had purchased a canary for my dementia suffering mother to "entertain" her and thought as long as the bird was given food and basic care that that was all ---- a wind up toy. But Herbie had other ideas---you wouldn't know that canaries were territorial and not flock creatures with Herbie. It took me months to realize that Herbie was calling , greeting us and expecting daily interactions. I started to (a little late) visit a canary website and read that some could be hand tamed. It took only a week with Herbie who would do anything for food and attention.
Eventually Herbie was revealed as a hen when she started to perform the mating dance. Herbie was so her own bird---she sang to passing planes in the summer, took baths in her water bowl and screamed when I made eggs. I gave her 3 clipped "treats" a day, and if I missed one she dangled from the empty space until I filled it. She played with toys and when she rang the bell on one and I crooned "good girl" that was it------ from then on if I wasn't paying her enough attention she would ring it non stop and I had to good girl her and Mom had to clap.
Herbie was a great communicator , a fantastic singer (she had gorgeous trills and rolls) but was the worst nest builder ever. She would grab all her special nesting materials and somehow had them all over her beak, wings , back, but would proudly take one strand , tuck it in her food bowl and then sit on/in it.

The only "Bad" about canaries was that due to my initial ignorance I didn't give Herbie the right care and food from the start .

 

[SunUp]

We had Flute, our male canary, for many years. He was such a joy. He loved all sorts of food...seed, greens, mash, soaked pellets, and would "call" for his food at meal times. I found a couple of little toys he liked to bop around a bit with his beak. His song was so sweet. What was interesting is he learned to sing other things. For example, my husband and Makana whistle a certain tune back and forth when my husband comes home from work. Flute learned to "sing" this same tune! It was really cool. He didn't sing during molt. It was always so exciting when he started up again. He was just a sweet, bright presence.

No bad or ugly to canaries in my opinion.

 

[waterfaller1]

Thanks Pat & Dawn! What great write ups. Kismet LOVES attention. He can be a bit of a perch potato without it. But shower him with attention and love and he comes to life! Hopping and chirping. I tell him what a handsome boy he is, and he struts around showing off. He flies like a fat marshmallow out of his cage.He also likes shredded apple, as well as carrot and has to have a wet green dark leaf, like romaine, every day.

 

[Billi]

I was shocked by the title!! Of course there are no bad and uglies about canaries!! Mango is the cutest little guy, he's not hand tame, but sings back to me if I talk to him, and gets so excited about his dandelions every day!

 

[petiteoiseau]

The only 'bad' about canaries is that you have to keep each male in his own cage and that you have to be strict about a solar schedule for them. You can house hens together as long as the cage is really big and there are more than one feeding bowls but you can't house a male with a female. And the fact that people think they are good aviary birds and normally keep them to a human light schedule (as well as the small size of what is considered a canary cage and a diet of mostly seeds) is the reason why people think they have a lifespan of only 8 to 10 years when, in reality, canaries can live up to 20 (I had a hen that lived to be 18 years old -her name was Big Momma).

Also, Timbrados never stop singing, not even during molt.

PS I have a singing female -she sings so well that she was sold as a male and the man who purchased her returned her to the breeder so I lucked out!

 

[waterfaller1]

The reason for the title is we did this on most of the species specific forums as references. I did not create the title...they are all the same.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[Cricket64]

I have one male Canary currently. I have had several over the years. I must say they have all been easy to care for, and I really enjoy their happy song.

 

[petiteoiseau]

Oh, yes, indeed! A canary song fills your heart with joy even when you are feeling down!

 

[Mr Peepers]

I like that my canary is a pig.

He is a canary vacuum when it comes to fresh food.. my budgie will stare at fresh food from the furthest perch
and not go near it bless his suspicious little heart. But not a canary NOPE every canary I've ever owned has dug into fresh veggies and fruits like they are a feathery little hoover.

I gave my canary a 1/4 section of corn on the cob today he ate the entire thing extracting every tiny morsel out of each kernel while my budgie nonchalantly bit into 2 maybe 3 kernels and ignored the corn after that.

For the last 2 days I gave the canary about a heaping teaspoon of fresh hard boiled egg mixed with raw broccoli tips and shredded carrot I swear he licked the dish clean.

PIG bird.

But I'm not complaining

 

[camelotshadow]

My mom always liked canaries. I remember having them around the house. There song is delightful.
I remember how she would pick one out by listening for there type of song.
I still know little about them & never had much interaction but I remember there sweet song.

 

[Mr Peepers]

My mom always liked canaries. I remember having them around the house. There song is delightful.
I remember how she would pick one out by listening for there type of song.
I still know little about them & never had much interaction but I remember there sweet song.

Their song is what attracts me to them that and their many colors and types but really.. they have a huge personality for such little birds. I swear this bird sings to me when I speak to him, he's not like a parrot budgie one of the birds that can mimic imitate speech but he will sing his butt off when I speak to him. If I stop speaking to him he races around the cage in an angry way making a loud single PEEP while pacing.. one word from me and he stops the rant and rave flies down to the perch nearest me and starts singing again.

This is pretty cute but really its a pain in the butt at 6 am in the morning when I'm half dead sitting on the sofa near his cage wishing I could get 10 more mins of sleep before I need to shower drink coffee and force my eyes open.

A NAP IS NOT GONNA HAPPEN with Mr Peepers on a rampage

 

[camelotshadow]

Sounds delightful but 6 am is much too early & I enjoy an occasional nap

 

[Mr Peepers]

Sounds delightful but 6 am is much too early & I enjoy an occasional nap

Oh I agree its way too early for Peeping and freaking so this morning I put in ear plugs and closed my eyes for 10 mins. Then SPX started screaming for fun, odd I could hear SPX even with ear plugs in my ears the boys got lungs!