IVAN CHAPMAN shares some breeding tactics and tips suited to both beginners and older hands alike.
CANARIES
THE key to a good breeding season is good management. Coloured canaries are, by nature, free and willing breeders, so with good management you should not have any trouble achieving an average of five chicks per hen. For that reason, you have to find a technique that suits both you and your birds.
Increasing daylight stimulates the hormone prolactin, which in turn triggers breeding condition. This is nature’s way of ensuring breeding birds produce young when the days are long and the nights are short, so that their young don’t go too long without food. If using artificial light, at least 15 hours of light is required to replicate perfect natural conditions. Having more than one light in the shed means if a bulb was to blow, the change in both light length and intensity will not be as dramatically affected.
This story is from the February 7, 2018 edition of Cage & Aviary Birds.
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This story is from the February 7, 2018 edition of Cage & Aviary Birds.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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