Final Count

Posted on Jul 5 2011 - 10:24pm

This was a tough breeding season for me.  I produced 25 chicks out of 8 hens, giving me an average of 3.13 chicks per hen.  I guess the number isn't bad for borders but not good compared to my result last year of 5.25 chicks per hen.  I am not complaining about the final count of chicks that I produced as I am only 5 away from reaching the maxmimum number of chicks that I had wanted to produce.  I am complaning more about the amount of work it took to produce 25 chicks.  Fertility was not the problem after the first round of eggs, the problem was fertile eggs that stopped developing, dead in shells, and 3 hens that were not in the right condition.  I had one hen that got so fat it did not come into breeding condition and two hens with strange laying cycles, also an indication that they weren't in the right condition. 

A good example of how this season played out would be to describe my last three nests.  There were 8 fertile eggs in 3 nests and I ended up with 2 chicks.  Two eggs stopped developing at about 8 days, two were dead in shells and two chicks died after hatching.

I made some changes with food and vitamins this year and I think the diet change was too rich for the hens.  I will have to adjust next year.  Maybe try to replicate last year.  As for the other problems?  I can only guess.


One of the two last chicks to hatch this season.


The second of the last two chicks of 2011.  My note indicates that it hatched on June 6th.


A young bird in the middle of its first moult.  This bird was produced from a double yellow pairing that I experimented with so I can see first hand the results.  The result is a thinner bird showing more legs.

8 Comments

Hi Leng, I'm wondering and

Submitted by Tony on Jan 13 2012 - 9:10am.
Hi Leng, I'm wondering and hopping you can help me with an issue I'm having with my canaries, I have about 5 or 6 pairs that have not laid or tried to make nests they just don't seem interested, what do you think it could be the cause, do you have any suggestion as to what I can do. Thank you for your help Tony

Hi Tony,   It all depends on

Submitted by leng on Jan 14 2012 - 10:15am.

Hi Tony,

 

It all depends on what you have done to prepare your birds to breed.  Do you have more than 5 or 6 pairs of canaries and are the other canaries breeding?  Are these border canaries?  If you only have the 5/6 pairs and they are all not breeding then you have not provided them with the right conditions and food to bring them into breeding condition.  How many hours of light have you given them and how long has it been since you started to raise the lights?  What type of foods are you feeding your birds?  You can call me if you like.  Send me an email and I will give you my number.

Hi All I have returned the

Submitted by Donald on Jul 10 2011 - 11:47am.
Hi All I have returned the birds to the revamped birdroom.It is very pleasing to be back.Will take pic to show birds in room. I do believe that no 2 years are the same when it comes to breeding.One has got to make adjustments as the challenges arise.I will only get my birds into the sun next sunday,as I have a cat show on saturday and on sunday I will erect my 2 flight cages and then the birds will be prepped for breeding.Tomorrow I will start with ferti-vit 2 a week and will give the cocks soya powder every day.The hens will get only the border veggies (broccoli,cauliflower,cabbage ,brussel sprouts and carrots).The cocks will start get 1 drop of wheatgerm oil ist week,2nd week 2 drops and 3rd week 3 drops per week and for the rest of the season. It is with regret to let you know that I was unable to take any photos at our National Bird Show.

That's a pity that you did

Submitted by Dandelion on Jul 12 2011 - 6:52am.
That's a pity that you did not take pics of the South African National winners. There are no pics anywhere on the web of South African shows!! Why is that?!?! How did your birds do? Or did you enter any. Look forward to seeing pics of your birds back in their shed.

It would have been nice to

Submitted by leng on Jul 12 2011 - 9:37pm.

It would have been nice to see pictures or videos of the show birds.  How about the folks in Great Britain and Ireland? You folks have the biggest border shows and the highest quality of birds.  Please share the pictures/videos of the birds if you attend the shows.  I am sure that all border fanciers would be interested in knowing the results and seeing the birds that won.

Thanks Christel and

Submitted by leng on Jul 8 2011 - 4:14pm.

Thanks Christel and 'Anonymous'.  I do put in a lot of effort when looking after my birds because I don't want the work and time that I have already invested to go to waste by let us say not changing the water daily or not cleaning out the trays weekly.

Nice to hear from you Christel.  What changes do I propose for next year?  This past season I increased the amount of soybean/broccoli mix that I fed to the birds and I also started earlier prior to the breeding season.  I also gave extra hemp seeds to the hens.  The multi-vitamin was changed from Orlux Muti-vit to another brand due to the Orlux multi vitamins becoming unavailable in Canada.  I continued to use Orlux Ferti-vit as I still had enough remaining from the previous year.  I increased the frequency of multi vitamins from twice a week to three times a week and with calcium as well.  I think the calcium helped to decrease any cases of stiff claws or slip claws.  I have 1 bird out of 25 that started to have stiff hind claws this past week.  Last year, out of 21 chicks, there were about 4 cases of stiff claws that developed at an older age.  I wonder if it is because their claws become longer and some are clumsy and get it caught on the edge of the perch or some other part of the cage.  I am not sure if I believe that the cause is entirely genetics.

Next year I will slightly decrease the amount of soybean/broccoli mix fed to all the birds and decrease the frequency of multi-vitamins.  Maybe twice a week is good enough and no extra hemp.  My seed mix already contain a bit of hemp.  I'll also have to watch for any hens that are becoming too fat as the breeding season approaches and feed them with less fatty seeds.

Christel...Phil started the

Submitted by Anonymous on Jul 7 2011 - 3:04pm.
Christel...Phil started the season with over 80 hens...I do not know what he has bred but I bet his average is no better than Leng's. Leng, your average is perfectly acceptable in Border land!! Well done!

Hi Leng, Five is better as

Submitted by Christel on Jul 7 2011 - 10:34am.
Hi Leng, Five is better as three, but still well done! I think most of the breeders breeding with linebred birds won't beat you, except for Phil... What changes would you propose for next year? Christel

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