How to care for your first canary
By: Mry Contreras
Tags: Pet Birds, Birds, Canaries

I came to love canaries late… I inherited Happy, shown in the photo, from a dear relative that passed away a couple of years ago. Her beloved canary filled my condo with song and made me happier than I expected. What started as an act of service became a gift to me. I loved that little bird. He was an older bird, and he passed away recently at the ripe age of about 10. My home was uncomfortably quiet, and still after he passed. This is dedicated to Happy, aptly named because he embodied happiness with his cheerful song and easy nature.

The canaries are often considered to be the perfect bird for first-time bird owners since they require less attention than, for example, cockatiels or budgies. These finch family members are tiny, usually about 4–5 inches, while some breeds can grow up to be about 8 inches. The canaries have been bred into more than 200 breeds, each of which is renowned for either its song, coloring, or behavior. With good care, a canary can live about 10 years, so make sure you are in it for the long haul.

History of Canaries as Pets

The canary is originally native to the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, after which it got its name. After the Latin word for dog, canis, the islands themselves are named after the inhabitants’ dogs. In the 1500s, Europeans fell in love with the canary due to its beautiful song and began to export, domesticate, and breed it. In his article The Origin and Dispersal of the Domesticated Canary, James Parsons calls this a prime example of domestication for non-utilitarian purposes. Instead of cattle or sheepdogs and watchdogs, canaries were not chosen as pets for their immediate practical usefulness.

Once its sensitivity to carbon monoxide was discovered, the canary was used as an indicator for toxic gases by mine workers in the 1800s and early 1900s. Workers would carry a small cage with a canary into a tunnel to be alerted to the presence of toxic gas. The bird would stop singing, start panting for air or be unable to grasp its perch.

During the First World War, canaries came to fame in Britain for their service in the trenches. They were kept at rescue stations to test the tunnels below the trenches for carbon monoxide. Of course, the soldiers, so far from home and in a mentally and physically destructive situation, also bonded with their canaries as can be seen in heartwarming photographs.

Setup

If you want to keep happy and healthy birds, buy the largest cage possible. Being able to fly is indispensable for a canary’s health, so provide them with a big flight cage and never clip their wings.

The cage’s height is less important than its length to allow for their natural flight since they fly horizontally, not vertically, and enjoy flitting back and forth. The cage should be at least 24 inches long and have no more than 1/2 inch spacing between the bars. Avoid round cages since they do not allow for the natural flight patterns of canaries.

Inside their cage, your canary will need smooth but slightly irregular perches, so the bird has something to grasp on. Good materials are cement, cotton rope, or natural branch perches. Do not use sandpaper perch coverings since they are abrasive to birds’ feet. Provide your pet with perches in a variety of heights, as they like to hop from perch to perch. Perches in different sizes and materials will prevent sore feet and other foot-related health issues.

As toys, they like swings, mirrors, bells. Make sure that the toys are hung in a way that still leaves room for flying!

You should place sand sheets or bird sand at the bottom of the cage since canaries need this to help digest their food. Replace this cage liner at least once a week, more often when needed.

The canaries are not very social birds and are happy to be kept alone. Unless you plan to leave your pet home alone for a great deal of time, in this case, it would be better to keep your bird with a mate. But be careful, canaries are very territorial — never house two male canaries in the same cage!

Temperature-wise, a canary will be happy at normal room temperature. Make sure not to put the cage directly next to air conditioning units, any draft, or windows that receive direct sunlight. The canaries need a light/dark rhythm that announces the difference between day and night. It is best to cover the cage when the sun goes down so that your canary can get enough rest. Do not put the cage in the kitchen — even a small amount of smoke can be fatal!

Caring for Your Canary

70% of a canary’s diet should consist of a seed mixture suitable for canaries. Store birdseed in airtight containers to avoid a pantry moth infestation. Birdseed often has pantry moth eggs in it. Pet shops will offer you a variety to chose from. Pellets are not as nutritious as seeds, but you can feed them once in a while for a bit of variety. You should also offer your bird fresh fruit or vegetables every day to get all the nutrition it needs. The canaries like, for example, apples, bananas, pears, peaches, strawberries, corn, cucumbers, cooked broccoli, and raw spinach. If your bird is of a red or orange coloring, orange food like carrots will help keep this color bright. Cooked egg is a good source of vitamin A and protein. They do not need much of this, though, except during the molt, the shedding and replacing of their feathers usually happen in late summer or early fall.

The canaries also enjoy sprouted seeds — they will leave the hulls in the dish, so a dish that looks full can already be empty.

The only supplement, healthy birds with balanced diets, will need calcium. You can get a calcium block for birds in any pet store.

Always have fresh drinking water available in the cage. Use bottled drinking water or fresh spring water for this. The water should not contain calcium, fluoride, or heavy metals — if you need to use tap water, treat it with a water conditioner first.

Keep water, dry food, and fresh food in different bowls.

Do not feed canaries lettuce, avocado, or lemon, and do not give them drinks made for human consumption, like soft drinks. Make sure to remove any food that has not been eaten in a 24 hour period.

The water bottle and the feed bowls have to be cleaned daily. Make sure to thoroughly clean the entire cage with a pet-friendly disinfectant at least once a month.

The right perches and toys will help to keep their nail short. If your bird’s nails have to be trimmed, it is best to go to a veterinarian experienced at trimming avian nails since this process is very stressful for your canary and can easily lead to injuries.

Provide a bath for them a few times a week. Bathing helps canaries to cool off and cleans dust from their feathers. Some canaries also like to be sprayed with tepid water.

Keep your eye on any signs that your canary might be ill and inform a veterinarian when you are worried. Common indications that something might be wrong are, for example, eyes that are red or swollen, eye or nasal discharge, a canary sitting on the bottom of its cage, favoring one foot, loss of appetite, and runny or discolored stool. The canaries are susceptible to mite infections that can be treated when caught early. In the summer months, especially with canaries kept in an outside aviary, avian pox transmitted by mosquitoes poses a risk.

The Canary at Play

The canaries are very playful and should be provided with a variety of toys. No matter how many opportunities for playing they have inside their cage, they will also need regular exercise outside of their cage! Be sure to turn the ceiling fan off and cover fireplaces when your canary can explore a room.

Male canaries will sing very loudly during the mating season. Female canaries chirp rather than sing. Male canaries learn their song by imitating adult males, often their father (see research done by Fernando Nottebohm and colleagues). Since you will be most likely keeping only one canary, you can play recorded birdsong to your pet as well as other types of music. It will often incorporate parts of the songs it hears into its own personal song.

The canaries like being talked to and will answer in their own way, but they do not imitate human voices like other birds. And while they are not as cuddly and hands-on as other pets, they enjoy it when you spend time with them and hang out in the same room as they are in.

Because they are so small and friendly, people think that canaries are good pets for children. Because they are fragile and easily frightened, likely, children cannot treat them with the care they need.

Additionally, canaries do not like being handled. When you need to pick up your canary, cover its back and wings with your palm and surround its neck with your middle and index finger. Use your other fingers to support its feet and body. Be very gentle. The canaries will bite when they feel threatened.

Final Words

When caring for birds sounds intriguing to you, but you do not want an all too noisy companion or a pet that needs constant attention, a canary may be just right for you. But keep in mind that even a pet that is relatively “low maintenance” requires care. When you are willing to put thought and effort into selecting a canary that goes well with your expectations and the care you can provide, you might soon join the thousands of canary enthusiasts all over the world.