 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
Tips for Success in the Bird Room By John Bernardes
Did you ever wonder how some breeders have great breeding seasons and others don’t? We all know breeders that have top quality birds who seem to always do well on the show bench. We probably also know breeders out there that no matter what they do they just can’t seem to get it right. Well, although I believe in a certain amount of good luck there is no doubt in my mind that there are things that can be done to increase your chances of having more success in your bird room. The reason I mention this is because not long ago I was sitting around with other bird enthusiasts and this same conversation came up. We talked about what we were doing in our bird rooms and how our breeding season was going. Before long we began exchanging horror stories about breeders that we had come across over the years. Not to get into specifics but some of the problems that were mentioned were poor diets, unsatisfactory environments for birds, and just plain negligence. The irony here is that many of these breeders had probably been around for a while yet they didn’t seem to see the errors of their ways. I finally came to the conclusion that I was going to attempt to try and write a three part article that would explain some of the more crucial and important points on raising birds successfully. I decided that if I had to choose the three most important things that a breeder can do to improve their success in the bird room that I would have to choose: environment, diet, and a focused plan for breeding. The first part of the article that I will discuss is the bird’s environment. The first thing a breeder can do to ensure success in the bird room is to provides the birds that they are caring for with a suitable environment. In a perfect world a breeder would have a bird room where there is plenty of sunshine. If there is not enough natural light for the room he/she must supplement with artificial lighting. The best artificial lighting would be fluorescent bulbs (Vita- Lites) because it provides uva and uvb rays that are essential for good health. The bird room should be an area of the house or perhaps even an unattached enclosure such as a shed where there are no disturbances such as people at late hours or pets; just to name a few. It should be an area where you can seriously tend to the breeding of your birds without these negative disturbances. I can’t even count the amount of times I have found one of my cats staring at my birds practically inches away from them. I’m sure that the stress that the birds go through from this is not good for breeding. Many times I have to disappoint a guest that is visiting because they want to see my birds. One rule that I am firm on is that when the bird room light goes out they do not go back on until they are intended to no matter how much my nieces and nephews plead. The room should also have proper ventilation. Avoid a place where it is too damp or hot. You should take care that there are no drafts in the room. This is a major problem for birds. A room that is moderately cold is fine because birds adapt well due to their natural insulation of feathers. A draft on the other hand will quickly kill your birds or give them illnesses. Try not to overcrowd your bird room. The more birds there are in a room in overcrowded conditions the more likely they are to catch a disease.
Always be on the alert for mites because once you have them in the bird room they are not very easily removed. One good precaution for avoiding mites is to quarantine a new bird for a few weeks if possible. Some good preventive medicine sprinkled or sprayed in the room occasionally will also help. If you are like myself and have wooden cages avoiding mites is very important because they like to hide in all the crevices of natural wood. This is probably the best argument for having metal or plastic cages but wooden cages work just fine if you are always on top of the possibility of mite infestation. Although it may seem obvious to do so I think it is important to mention that a bird room should always be kept sanitary. Try to change the paper of cage bottoms at least twice a week. Every day would be ideal if you have the time to do so. The easiest way to get your birds sick is to let things go too long in the cleaning department. Even though we all know this I’m sure we all know someone who keeps their room filthy and then wonders why they are always losing birds to disease. A tip I picked up from one of our club members was to sprinkle lime on the cage bottom floors in the summer or during the breeding season. It helps to keep that musty bird smell down. Of course make sure that you have screens on your cage bottoms to prevent the birds from eating it. As I mentioned earlier, in a perfect world a breeder would have the ideal environment set up in a room with adequate lighting and proper ventilation for their birds. They would also limit distractions from outside sources such as unwanted visitors like my cat always staring at my birds or people turning on the light at inappropriate times. Unfortunately for me I do not live in a perfect world. Even though I know all of what I have mentioned to be good for birds, I have to keep my birds in an environment that is less than perfect. I keep my birds in my basement. This is definitely not the ideal place for them but because I lack a more suitable place for them I must contend with what I have. I am sure I am not the first or last person to keep birds in the basement but because I am aware of the deficiencies of keeping my birds in this environment I try to make up for it by providing the essentials for good bird management. Obviously the lighting in a basement is poor. I have adapted by providing sufficient artificial lighting that is controlled by a timer (a must for bringing birds into breeding condition). Also because my birds are not very far from my heating unit I leave the doors open to other areas of the basement so that the heat generated by the heater is able to disperse to other rooms. I find that this works for me. The room the birds are in does not get hot. One negative effect of keeping the doors open is the unwanted visitations of my cat. This is part of the problem of not living in a perfect world. Fortunately my cat is quite content to just stare at the birds and not make a meal of them. The point that I am trying to make is that there are always little problems that we must contend with but nothing is impossible. Because I am aware of having an inferior environment for my birds I counteract by doing all the necessary things to make the environment more suitable. For instance in the summer it can get damp in my basement if it rains often. I confront this problem by having a dehumidifier in the bird room. Finally I am able to work around all my problems by adapting to them. Because I am aware of what is needed for my birds I do not let keeping them in the basement work against me. It also helps me to know that this is a temporary situation. Soon I will build an outside bird room so that I can give my birds the best of what they need. Until then I will just have to work around the problem. In the next bulletin I will talk about the canary diet, another important aspect of raising birds successfully.
|
|
|
By John Bernardes
This article is the second part of an article that I wrote in a previous bulletin. As you may recall I mentioned that to be successful in the bird room three things needed to take place. The first thing I mentioned was that a proper environment needs to be provided for your birds. When I wrote the article about a good environment my bird room was in the basement of my house. Currently my birds are now in an outdoor bird room. I guess I followed my own advice. I believe that their new home will improve the breeding program this year. The second thing that needs to be attended to is a good nutritional plan for your birds. Remember the saying “You are what you eat” well it is surely true when it comes to your birds. When I was younger and less informed on bird husbandry I used to feed my birds regular canary seed and water. My birds did well; at least none died quickly. I have learned much since those early days. I now realize that canaries need more than just seed and water. In order for birds to do well one needs to feed our birds a proper and balanced diet. To start with, a breeder should provide their birds with the best nutritional, canary seed that is available. I am not trying to promote Abba products but from my experience I believe that they provide the best full canary seed diet that can be found at an affordable price. This should be available to your birds at all times. You may want to switch to plain canary seed if you see that your birds are a bit heavy. This should be done only for a temporary time until you are satisfied with the bird’s weight. As soon as the birds are at their ideal weight switch them back to the complete canary seed diet. Some people may not be of this opinion but I always provide nestling food to all of my birds year round. Some people claim that too much protein may interfere with a male birds personality and make them aggressive but I have not found that to be the case with my birds. As a matter of fact I find that my male birds only eat more of the nestling food when the breeding season is almost underway. It seems that instinct kicks in and they seem to know what their body needs. I believe that they actually seek the nutrition that they need to be in good breeding condition. There was a time when I used to make my own nestling food but those days are gone. Now that I have more birds and a family of my own I fined that I don’t have the time to prepare my own nestling food. Now I use Abba nestling food. Just make sure that if you decide to use the Abba nestling food make sure you use the proper one. One is for birds that require red coloring and the other is not. Certain birds will be disqualified on the show bench if they are perceived to have been color enhanced. For example Border canaries should not be colored while Yorkies and Norwich can be. Up until about a year ago I used to feed my birds a slice of apple on occasion but I don’t do this any more either. I have been convinced by other breeders that it is not necessary to feed fruit to the birds, and that I possibly risk poisoning them with pesticides that may be on the fruit. I do on occasion feed my birds a slice of cucumber but only the ones that I grow in my garden. I don’t take a chance of using supermarket cucumbers because of pesticide contamination. The ones in my garden are definitely pesticide free but the downside is that my birds only get them when they are in season. One fresh food that I do believe to be of much benefit to the birds is the green leafy vegetables. Some leafy vegetables that are considered good to feed to your birds are: chickweed, escarole, dandelion, collard greens, turnip tops and a host of others. To be honest I don’t think I could spot chickweed if it smacked me in the face because I have only seen pictures of it. I have not seen it for sale in a store but I do see some of the other greens such as dandelion available at my local farmers market. Perhaps at a club meeting some of the members can educate me on how to locate chickweed. The type of green that I use most often is collard greens followed by turnip tops simply because I have access to it. I grow it right in my backyard. Unfortunately I am not well educated on the use of many other greens for my birds but I can tell you that my birds seem to love collard greens very much. I do notice that their feathering seems to have a more lustrous color when I feed them collard greens on a regular basis. I always provide a cuttlebone for my birds along with good mineral grit. The females need the mineral grit especially at breeding time because they are forever laying eggs. I notice that aside from drinking a lot of water before egg laying they also eat the much-needed mineral grit to replenish the calcium that is used to form eggs. Of course fresh water is always available. I replace the water in the feeders every two days and I scrub them once a week. I would like to be even more sanitary with their water but time is short. Besides they seem to do fine with my regiment. Twice a week I feed all of my birds soak seed mixed with nestling food. The birds seem to like this almost as much as they like their greens. Of course as the breeding season approaches I provide more of this mixture, but the topic of bringing my birds into breeding condition will have to be explained in another article. All that I have mentioned is how I go about feeding my birds. The key to success for me is to provide a little variety and to be consistent, especially when it comes to hygiene. Not every breeder is going to agree with my manner of feeding canaries but that is fine. What is important is that as a breeder we always try to learn something new and keep abreast of things in the avicultural world. What works for me may not necessarily work for you but I hope that this article has been helpful.
|
|