The Lizard Canary Association

I have never thought that heat has anything to do with bringing a canary into breeding condition and I still dont , to my mind its daylight that triggers the breeding cycle . 14 hours a day I think is the minimum requirement , this will kick in this year mid April . The maximum we shall get this year is 16 1/2 hours a day which will occur around mid July and it then drops quickly and by October we'll be down to 11 hours.

You may wonder what the hell I'm going on about , and the answer is this year I'm trying to 'tune into nature' when planning the breeding .
To have the birds ready for October shows I need them moulted out and finished , a moult can take anything from 10 to 14 weeks.

When I kept the Colour Canaries I found that if I started early the birds would sometimes have two moults ---one when they reached 12/14 weeks of age and another around the traditional moulting time of August .
August is the important date here as it just as we go over the hill of maximum daylight in July .
To my way of thinking you want birds that are 12/14 weeks of age by mid July so that a 10 /12 week moult will see you in October with finished birds.
All this I hope makes sense for your first round birds ---but here's my dilema , what about the second round ?
Even if they are hatched in late May they only be 8/10 weeks old by August yet they to will start to moult at the traditional time .

This leads me to think we need to have two management systems in place , one for first round and one for second especially as we colour feed .
For eample with the second round we have less time to get the required colourfood and nutrients into them before the moult kicks in . To this end I'm seperating the first and second rounds this year and will be giving the second round 'extra rations' -------your thoughts on this one plaese.

Regards Paul.

makes very good sense to me paul, although,if i have a good first round i may skip 2nd round altogether.



i will be putting down 7 hens,if i get 15/20 young i may well be tempted to stop at that.

i think i largly agree with you paul but there are always exceptions to everything.
last yr i was hatching chicks from 28th march...the yr before april 21st ( i was in my flat then.)
bob bunting last yr tried to hold his birds back and hatched his 1st round in may (he was late getting his shed built.)
this yr my first eggs are due to hatch 13th march ....2 weeks earlier than last yr ps...of the 5 due from the hen i checked, 3 fertile today and in total iv got 3 of my 8 hens sitting on 5 eggs each and another now laying....im puzzeld because iv done nothing different this yr apart from no heat what so ever,,( confirms your thoughts)
as for colour feeding sum people colour from 4 weeks old and then from birth in the second round.... sum start 1st week in june ..i personally wait till the tails are fully grown then start.

ttfn andy

Paul,

I had originally had 6th April in my mind for pairing up as it fit with my diary. However i was in the birdromm yesterday and noticed cockks literally battering the slides to get to the hens, in particular my hoso cock.

I don't use heat or light but the weather is getting better (just not today) and felt it was right to pair up so i did so yesterday. I currently have the following paired up:

1 pair of Hoso
1 pair of Stafford
7 pairs of Lizard (with an additional hen to run with a cock currently paired up)

Should the nests be built this week and eggs laid then all should be due to hatch at the end of March. This would mean that my first round youngsters should be moulted out through July with y second round in August. If a disaster strikes with the first round i suppose i have the oppurtunity to run a third albeit the youngsters may only be fit for November shows, I'll run the risk.

Fingers crossed eh, whats done is done. I have to say my cocks are fit as flees lets hope they do the business.

darren