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| | This page will contain answers to common questions
raised via email or in the guestbook. It will also contain some tips
and tricks that I have found useful and presented here as questions.
Note: Some answers will be listed below, others may link you
to another page on the website or even to another website. If this occurs
please use the back button on your browser to return to this page.
Whenever a bird becomes ill you must think how will this affect the rest of
my stock. Isolate the ill bird in a clean warm cage. If you can
place paper on the floor rather than sawdust, this will make it easier to keep
the cage clean & will stop the ill bird picking up anything off the floor
that could have created the illness. If possible place the bird in a
cage above another empty cage, this will allow you to place a low wattage bulb
in a small lamp in the lower cage. This will provide a little extra heat
for the ill bird & make a temporary hospital cage. Ideally a
hospital cage should be used & the temperature thermostatically
controlled. Next take a look at the "Ailments
Page" and see if you can match any symptoms your bird may have.
If in doubt call a vet for advise or take the bird into the vet for treatment.
There are many commercial Conditioning seed mixtures, some better than
others. If you look at the seeds used, most will contain Rape seed,
which is used as a cheap seed to bulk up the quantities & I object paying
for a seed I feed my birds as part of there daily Canary Mixture. Some
suppliers now offer Conditioning seed without Rape, but rather than increasing
the quality conditioning seeds they bulk this mixture out with millet
seed. This is another cheap seed used mainly for Budgies &
Finches. I know people do feed Canaries millet sprays, but can't say I'm
a great believer in Millet seed for Canaries. This is why I choose the
conditioning seeds for my own mixture.
Using standard genetic coding a normal cock would be "ZZ",
whereas a hen would be "ZY". The cinnamon gene we'll show as a
small "z".
There are 3 types of Cinnamon:
- Cinnamon Coloured Cock "zz"- he has two
cinnamon genes. When a Cinnamon Coloured Cock has young he passes
always passes a cinnamon gene onto his young. This will result in a
cinnamon hen or a cinnamon carrier cock. To breed a cinnamon
coloured cock you also need a cinnamon hen to pass her cinnamon gene.
- Cinnamon Coloured Hen "zW"
- she has only one
cinnamon gene, because the "W" gene doesn't have the cinnamon
genetic code. When a Cinnamon
coloured hen has young, she passes her cinnamon gene "z"
to her sons & her female gene "W" to her
daughters. You can only breed a cinnamon hen from a cinnamon
coloured or carrier cock regardless of the hens colour.
- Normal Coloured Cinnamon Carrier Cock "Zz" - he has
only one cinnamon gene. The Cinnamon carrier cock will pass his
cinnamon "z" gene on to 50% of his daughters, which will
produce Cinnamon coloured hens. He will also pass his cinnamon gene "z"
on to 50% of his sons, producing normal
coloured cinnamon carrier sons unless he has been paired to a Cinnamon hen, which will
produce Cinnamon coloured sons.
Genetic Table:
Substitute the AB CD with the genetic code for below parent birds to
establish the genetics of the youngsters.
For more information please Click here:
During breeding season you won't have any problem telling cocks from hens,
once they are in condition. The hardest time to tell is when they are
youngsters, however the following should help:
- Singing - It's true to say that 99% of cocks sing &
very few hens sing. Even when a hen sings her song usually isn't as
strong as a cock birds song. Cocks won't sing during the molt or
when they are out of condition or ill. Click
here to see a video clip of a cock singing during breeding season,
note the dropped wings & movement whilst singing as you'll never see a
hen sing this way.
- Nesting - Seems obvious that if it builds a nest its a
hen, but you will get some cocks who jump in the nest to encourage the
hens to build, they'll even drop nesting material into the nest pan, but
will never work the nest with their feet like a hen.
- Egg laying - No miracles, if it lays an egg its a hen.
- Stance & movement - Experienced breeders can by
looking at the way a bird stands & moves in a show cage determine if
its a cock or hen (80% of the time accurately). The cocks stand
between 5º & 10º more erect than the hens. Typically the cock
will stand at an angle of 50º to 60º, and the hens 40º to 50º.
- Size - If you look at a nest of youngsters who are 2
months plus, you may see that some are bigger than others, the bigger ones
usually turn out to be the cocks, but again this isn't a 100% accurate
method.
- Vent shape - People will tell you the vent shape on a cock
is different from the hens, but this is only during the height of the
breeding season & you'll know by then anyway by observing the singing
& reactions of the birds. If you want to take a look you should
see that the cock birds skin leading up to the vent is elongated and quite
prominent and the vent itself is still narrow. The hen birds skin
leading up to the vent is flat or only just raised and the vent itself is
rounder and flatter.
- DNA test
- If you are rich & eager to spend your hard
earned cash you can get a DNA test done to establish the gender.
- Sex Linking - If you have a Cinnamon bird & you know
its parents, you should be able to tell what gender the bird is under
certain circumstances. See Cinnamon
Sex Linking.
Every country will have one or more governing bodies that create a standard
for people to use when breeding exhibition birds. This will also give
guidance to the judges & will ensure to a greater or lesser degree a
common standard in judging across the country.
I have covered various aspects of this topic on the following pages:
This page was last updated on 18-Nov-2005
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