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Greetings everyone, I hope that your
breeding program is in full swing? Most of the groups that I am a member
of and participate in have been dormant for several days or weeks. I
wonder why? I know of many fellow fanciers and friends, they have been
getting a lot of aggravation because of the negative occurrences in the
bird rooms. Accept the situation with a grain of salt; it is part of the
fun! And remember, it's always a challenge to try to correct whatever we
are doing wrong with our birds. Don't panic, the season is still young,
better days are ahead.
On today's date, I completed my last
treatment. The doctors and hospitals promised me that they would do OK
for a while without my subsidy. They gave me permission to fly back to
the Garden State, New Jersey. They also told me to go make some money
and come back to them in about 5 weeks!
Despite the facts that my health
conditions have been less than I want them to be, I manage to read and
reply to a lot of e-mails by many fellow fanciers describing their
problems. I wish that many of the e-mails had been posted for all of us
to share; nevertheless, we must respect the wishes of others and remain
in private.
Several e-mails stated more or less the
following: "I never experienced a breeding season like in 2007" and "All
the eggs are clear, and the few that hatch die in just a couple days";
plus many other laments. The first thing that I ask everyone is "What
did you do different in managing your birds?" and "Did you feed your
birds the same way that you did last year?" Many of them make changes in
the management of their birds because they believe it may produce better
results.
Some try to save money in feeding their
birds by adding chicken scratches to the birds nestling food. Chickens
are bred for meat; they are supposed to live less than year. The
biological system of a little canary is not a match to the biological
system of a chicken. It is better to keep fewer birds in the cage, but
provide them with the right food.
I read several postings that some
fanciers are experiencing Air Sac mite problems. Prevention of this
problem and also other health problems is the best solution. All birds,
at least 2 times per year, should be treated with an Ivermectin solution
in the drinking water. Personally, in the last couple years, I treat all
my birds with Ivermectin in the bathing water in the middle of the
breeding season. So far I haven't experienced any negativism amongst my
birds. On any given day, just before the bird room goes totally dark, we
remove all the drinking water from all the breeding cages. The next
morning, bright and early, we place a bathtub full of bathing water
containing the Ivermectin in every cage. We add 5 cc of the 1% solution
to each gallon of bathing water and we shake the gallon continuously.
The thirsty bird will drink the solution and then take a bath. This type
of bathing has kept the avian parasites under control in my bird room.
Personally, I would not use corncob for
the bottoms of the cages. Mold in corn can and will be detrimental to
the health of the birds. Corncobs are also good breeding grounds for
avian parasites fangs. These are all bad to the health and welfare of
the cage birds. Bottoms grills, in my opinion, are the best for the cage
bottoms. The second, better alternative is to use a sheet of paper that
can be easily removed, if possible, every day.
Be very careful in the process of
soaking the seed to feed to the feeding parents and the youngsters. In
my opinion, the best nutritional value is achieved in the soak seed if
the same is soaked only about 6 to 8 hours, than drained and kept in the
same glass jar for a total of 24 hours in cool place. Rinse it well
under running water before each feeding and no one will experience the
problems of developing fungus in attempt to sprout the seed mixture.
Sprouted seed retains less nutritional value in comparison to the
properly soaked seed.
For some of you that breed Red Orange
color bred Canaries, to achieve optimal results in coloration, the
youngster should receive the color enhancer via their nestling food
beginning at six or seven days of age. This should continue during the
feeding every day until the end of the exhibition season and thereafter,
at least a couple times a week to maintain the red coloration. This
method will keep the color bred looking beautiful at all the times.
In New Jersey, as well as other parts of
the world, a lot of rain has been falling. Obviously, the spring is
blooming everywhere where the calendar marks spring? A lot of delicious
greens are available in most parts of the countryside, parks, etc. Also,
a lot of seeding heads of weeds and grasses are beginning to be
available. All birds devour all of these natural bounties. The Carduelan
finches need seeding weeds and grass to induce them to breed. The
Gouldian Finches and similar species really enjoy the natural seeding
grass in the milky stage. Gouldians, as well as all the other cage
birds, will achieve shining plumages by supplying them with what nature
has to offer outdoors.
All feeding parents will feed their
young better with the supplements available at this time of the year in
nature.
The hot weather is approaching very
rapidly, make sure to not allow the moist food to go rancid and spoil;
this will result in the loss of youngsters in the nest. Don't allow
avian parasites to destroy the young birds either. Use with caution, a
safe insecticide powder between the nest and the nest pad to minimize
the over infestation of these detrimental critters.
During the hot muggy weather, feed very
small amounts of soft food to the feeding parents. They will continue on
feeding their young with the dry seed mixture that they have before
them. Also, it is a good idea to keep a good dry nestling food before
all feeding birds at all the times.
This is all for now, I will be flying to
New Jersey this afternoon. I am looking forward to seeing my birds
breeding progress.
If you are not a member of the following
groups, please join and be part of the learning experience.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABBASEEDBIRDSQANDA/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/COM_USA/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColorbredCanaries101Genetics/?yguid=472023\
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EuropeanGoldFinch/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GPA101911/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NFSS/?yguid=47202339
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/timbrado/?yguid=47202339
Best regards to all,
G.A. Abbate
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