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Our Fine, Feathered Friends: Birds as Pets
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A white canary hen, nesting
You’ve heard it said, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” How about doing as the Romans did in ancient days, and keep a lovely singing bird for a pet?
Centuries ago, medieval merchants offered birds for sale in the open marketplaces. Kept for their song, the linnet was quite in demand in late Victorian and Edwardian times as well. The russet- or blue-colored chaffinch was also popular and remains so even today in many countries. Both of these birds are small passerine birds, also known as perching birds and sometimes as songbirds. Today’s beautiful and melodious canaries are also members of this musical set.
When most people think of a canary, they are thinking of the rich, lemony-colored canary made popular by the cartoon Tweety-bird, a sweet-natured, sweet-singing, baby bird forever pursued by that lisping feline, Sylvester. But canaries come in many colors. Their lovely plumage comes in yellow, orange, brown, black, white, and red. Canaries crossed with other finch-like birds produce some amazing and arresting color and pattern combinations (although as cross-bred birds, they cannot produce their own babies).
First bred in captivity by the Spanish about 1600, eventually they were kept and sold only by the rich in Europe. As only the males sing, people most readily bought the boys and ignored the girls. But when some common citizens managed to obtain a few hens, canaries became quite popular with peasants as well as royalty.
Canaries are not difficult to breed in captivity, but they should only be kept together during mating. Male canaries fight ferociously and will kill each other if housed in the same cage. Sometimes the male will also dispatch the female if she in not ready to mate. So to breed canaries, you’ll need at least two cages, or at the very least a divided breeding cage.
Many good pet shops sell canary breeding cages, which is one cage with two dividers— a solid one and a wire one— that can be removed when the birds are ready to breed in late winter or early spring. You’ll need to provide a nesting bowl and some paper in the hen’s side of the cage, and add bits of cotton, hair from your hair brush, or commercially sold nesting hair. (Locate it down low so that the adult birds can perch on the edge to feed the fledglings.) When the hen begins ripping the paper to shreds, you’ll know she’s getting ready to mate. You will want to carefully remove the divider, one piece at a time, giving the birds time to court. When they begin to “kiss” through the second divider, you can remove it safely and let them share the cage.
Once the mating has occurred, the hen will lay from five to eight small, blue eggs. She frequently won’t sit on the eggs until they have all been laid. Fourteen days later, the eggs begin to hatch, and out tumble the naked, blind hatchlings with nothing but a little fluff to tell you that someday they, too, will bring someone much joy with their beautiful feathers and voices.
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