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My female canaries keeps laying eggs, sits on them and they are not hatching. I do have a male in the cage with her. they do not fight. What should I do?
Optional Information: Age: 1; Female; Breed: american singer Already Tried: I do not have funds to buy incubator, so I am feeding the birds a good balanced seed, stress balance, singer feed, egg meal. Change water everyday. Birds are housed inside home. I cover them each night and do not allow draft. I have waited twice for eggs to hatch. I do know that the male have mated her.
Hello Nina, I'm sorry to hear that your canaries are having difficulties breeding. Normally, the breeding season begins in the early spring, so your hen is laying eggs in the off season. It may be that the two birds haven't actually mated. The male may not be interested in breeding at this time of year. Another possibility is that the male is infertile. If the birds are young and haven't been bred before, it wouldn't be unusual for them to lay infertile eggs at first. Canary breeding can be more challenging than breeding some other bird species. Canaries reach sexual maturity at about nine months of age, but that doesn't mean they'll want to breed then. When they will breed depends on the number of daylight hours. In birds exposed to natural light, the breeding season is likely to begin in most areas sometime in February. Artificial light can interfere with normal breeding seasons. You may have better luck getting babies as we move closer to spring. To read more about breeding canaries: http://www.petcraft.com/docs/canb.shtml http://members.authorsguild.net/goodbird/work11.htm http://birdpoet.com/articles/Canary_breeding_FAQ.html If you have more questions about this, just let me know by clicking on REPLY. I hope your canaries will eventually breed successfully. Anna
Experience: Have owned and/or raised parakeets, finches, cockatiels, and poultry over a period of thirty years.
Do I need to move the male out of the cage? I appreciate your input. Nina
Since they're getting along, you wouldn't have to, but I think it would be a good idea. Having them apart may make them more likely to mate when you put them back together. In the meantime, make sure your female is receiving plenty of calcium in her diet. Laying eggs can easily deplete her body's stores of it, and then, egg binding or other problems can result. Again, if you need anything else, let me know. Anna