Abstract
A Few Words of Caution When the Chicks Leave the Nest Food and Care in the Weaning Cage Control.Records
A FEW WORDS OF CAUTION
J am sure that most people realize that fruits and vegetables, commercially grown and harvested, are sprayed with insecticides to assure the farmer the largest crop and monetary returns. I hope, therefore, it is common knowledge that these same vegetables must be washed thoroughly before serving to our families AND OUR BIRDS!
Famous last words! Somehow, one or two leaves of the Romaine lettuce I served to no less than 85 birds (including baby Gouldians and hens feeding babies) escaped my water faucet because ten canaries were poisoned.
The symptoms were obvious - their beaks were green with the well-loved lettuce, each was squatting on the floor of their cages, liquid exuding from their beaks - some already convulsing.
My hand was shaking as I finally reached a veterinarian by phone, and he advised a dose of milk of magnesia or molasses directly in to each beak. Fortunately, I had black-strap molasses on hand and proceeded to treat each victim. By the time I reached the ten th canary, he was dead.
Percentage-wise, l was lucky because as I treated the affected birds, I had visions of every one of my birds succumbing. The one fatality was sent to the laboratory in San Gabriel for analysis, if only to discover the type of insecticide used on the lettuce.
WHEN THE CHICKS LEA VE THE NEST
From the correspondence and phone calls received recently, it seems that novices usually get along fine with their first nests until the chicks are ready to leave the nest. Then, confusion starts and the questions asked are similar:
"My hen laid another clutch of eggs before the chicks left the nest. Can I remove the babies? Will the cock feed the babies in another cage? What can I do about preventing the parents from plucking the babies? What do I feed the chicks after they are weaned?"
When breeding on a "pair-to-pair" basis, the proximity of the cock and the rich egg food intake sometimes stimulates the hen into mating and laying her second clutch earlier than if she were raising her brood alone.
When the hen starts plucking feathers from her young or crowds into the nest before they leave (18-21 days), she will no doubt be laying her second clutch of eggs and is using the only nest available to her.
When the signs are obvious, move the nest of babies to the other side of the breeding cage and place a new nest where the old one was. If she will not build a new nest with fresh nesting material and persists in using the old one, move the babies to the new nest and freshen the old one for her. Allow the cock and the young to remain in the same cage until the second egg is laid. You may then remove the young and their father to a new cage where he will continue to feed them until they learn to pick up food for themselves. He can then be returned to the hen or placed in an individual cage until the new babies are four days old.