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Conference 7.286::pet_birds

Title:Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN!
Notice:INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.*
Moderator:VIDEO::PULSIFER
Created:Mon Oct 10 1988
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:942
Total number of notes:6016

180.0. "Basic canary questions" by PHOOKA::DARROW () Wed May 24 1989 13:37

    
    I have a few VERY basic questions about canaries.  (I've had
    parakeets in the past, but never had a canary.)
    
    I saw a really pretty female canary last weekend in a local pet
    shop.  She was a typical canary color, but her primary feathers
    were black.  The effect was quite stunning.
    
    The pet shop owner said that female canaries don't sing.  Is this
    true?  Do they chirp?  What noise, if any, do they make?
    The shop was asking $50 for her.  Is that a reasonable price, 
    especially if females don't sing?  (Guess I'm used to parakeet
    prices.)

    My main concern in getting her is finding a spot where she can live
    without being bothered by our 3 cats.  After we got the cats, we 
    had to keep the keets in a room by themselves, which was a real
    bother.  If I got the canary, she'd be in a smaller cage, so I might
    consider keeping her in our bedroom but keep the cats out.  Thus,
    5 a.m. singing might not be very welcome.    

    Any suggestions are welcome.  (I've read the note on cats and birds.
    2 of our cats are fine with birds; we trained them from kittenhood
    that the birds are off-limits.  The third cat was abandoned and
    adopted us.  Her diet was birds and mice for quite a while, so
    training her to leave a canary alone is a fairly hopeless task.)
    
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180.1Go for it!DELNI::G_KNIGHTINGThinkingspeakingthinkingspeaking.Thu May 25 1989 16:0317
    	Female canaries don't sing, but they do chirp and twitter when
    they're happy, and are quite pleasant to have around.  Shouldn't
    be a problem to keep her in the bedroom.
    
    	$50 for a female with unusual colors is about average for a
    pet store.  You might be able to do a little better at a breeder's
    but if it's this particular bird you're after, then a few dollars may
    not make that much difference.
    
    	You can, with patience, finger tame a canary, but beyond that
    they're not much like keets.  They don't chew things up like a keet
    will, either.  Also, FWIW, canaries are almost as messy as parakeets.
    
    	Good luck.
    
    
    						GK
180.2Thanks.PHOOKA::DARROWThu May 25 1989 16:4210
    
    Thanks for the info.  I'm not really interested in finger taming
    her;  with 3 indoor cats and 1 dog, that's just asking for disaster.
    I mostly wanted to get her because she was so pretty and I really
    miss having a bird around.  Chirping and twittering is certainly
    acceptable.  Do they squawk like keets do?  I found that to be the
    keets' most obnoxious trait.
    
    The fact that she might be as messy as a keet is discouraging. 
    But then, there would be one of her, and we had 3 keets!
180.3Compared to parakeets, canaries are quiet!DELNI::G_KNIGHTINGThinkingspeakingthinkingspeaking.Tue May 30 1989 13:2114
    
    	Nope, they don't squawk.  The most you'll hear out of a female
    is a fairly long tweeeet, which seems to be either territorial or
    an alarm sound -- they make it when a cat gets too close, for example.
    One canary won't make nearly the mess that three parakeets make.
    They do tend to waste their seed, but, again, not as much as a keet.
    You can minimize the waste and mess by feeding her just a few 
    tablespoons of seed at a time and putting the seed in a fairly deep 
    container.  Canaries drink more water than parakeets, so keep fresh 
    water on hand all the time.  And be sure to give her the opportunity
    to take a bath at least once a week.  You can buy enclosed birdbaths
    that attach to the side of the cage, or just put 1/2 inch of water
    in a dish that fits through the cage door and set the dish on the floor
    of the cage.