Canary Parts:

1) Crown 2) Forehead 3) Eye 4) Upper mandible or upper beak 5) Lower mandible or lower beak 6) Chin, malar region, and throat 7) Jugulum and breast 8) Front toes 9) Back toe 10) Tibia 11) Cloaca and undertail coverts 12) Tail and upper tail coverts 13) Rump 14) Wing 15) Bend of wing and shoulder 16) Back

Wing Parts:

1) Primaries 2) Secondaries 3) Tertiaries 4) Scapulars 5) Middle and lesser coverts 6) Primary Coverts 7) Spurious wing

The Egg:

Clockwise (from top left) 20 hours; 48 hours; 50 hours; 7 days; 10 days; 13-14 days.

2 Different ways to hold your Canary:

What a healthy bird looks like:

A bird sitting fluffed is just resting and comfortable.

The normal sleeping posture.

What a sick bird looks like:

A sick canary will sit on the bottom of the cage with its feathers fluffed up, half -shut eyes and droopy wings.

Nails and clipping:

The nails below are to long.

The proper way to clip nails. You will see the vein in the nail. Clip just below that. If you feel uncomfortable, clip just the tips. Then clip a little more each time.

Proper Perch Size:

Baths:

All Canaries love to bath everyday. Just make sure it's in the morning or early afternoon, so they have a chance to dry before evening.

A few problems:

Bands rarely cause problems. Just be aware that they can cause damage.

A feather Lump:

Scale: Caused by mites.

Adrien wrote some basic instructions for taking care of your bird.

Care of caged birds

Keeping your birds happy and healthy will make it easier to sell them. This are the BARE, MINIMUM guidelines for the care of smaller caged birds.

1. Keep cages clean, do not simply change papers, but wash / disinfect cages at least once a month; more often if a bird has shown signs of illness. If the cage has grills at the bottom, those grills should be wiped daily and cleaned, disinfected weekly.

A. Signs of illness are: lack of movement, puffed out feathers, discolored droppings, sleeping a lot during daylight hours. Sick birds should be removed from the presence of other birds, and, if possible, moved away from public display, since stress contributes to some birds ill health.

B. Change paper on the floor of the cage every day.

2. Change the bird's drinking water at least once a day. Clean the watering containers each day.

3. Many birds leave the hulls of seed in their feed cups, this makes it appear that they have more food than the actually do have. Empty seed cups daily, offer small amounts of food at least twice a day. (figure each small bird will need a tablespoon of food per feeding). Seed cups need to be washed (and disinfected) twice a week. Make certain that the cups are completely dry before filling again.

4. Birds like and need FRESH fruits and vegetables. They need such foodstuff at least twice a week. Green vegetables, carrots, apples, grapes and oranges are all excellent for birds. Birds rarely need more than one cubic inch of fruit per day, and about the same of a vegetable, if both are offered.

5. Birds need cages which are large enough for them to actually fly, not simply hop about.

6. Water containers should be ones which cannot be easily contaminated by droppings.

7. Seed cups should be small enough that a bird cannot attempt to nest in it.

8. Baths should be offered no less often that twice a week. Baths should be taken before the cage and the seed cups are cleaned. The bath should not be left in so long that the water can become fouled and drunk.

9. For small birds cage toys and swings are not necessary.

10. A cuttlebone should be available in every cage in which small birds are housed. A mineral block should be available for the larger birds.

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Here are some buying tips from Rich and Rose. This is for Canaries and Finches.

General criteria that we use to evaluate a prospective purchase are the following.

1. Does the bird have clear nostrils (no caked on mucous on its beak or surrounding the nostrils) indicating respiratory problems. You can also listen to the birds breathing to see if you hear any "clicking noises" indicating the possibility of air sac mites. You can also observe the bird on its perch to see if it is fluffed up, squatting low, and tail bobbing up and down with its breathing indicating respiratory problems.

2. Does the bird have a clean vent (if not it indicates loose stools or some digestive problems). In females check to make sure the vent is not "prolapsed" indicating that the bird has previously produced many eggs.

3. Does the bird have good muscle mass on each side of its keel bone. There should be solid tissue indicating good musculature, you should be able to feel the bone but tissue on both sides should not be concave. While the bird is in your hand notice how heavy it feels, it should feel solid. An over-weight bird will exhibit a yellowish fatty mass on its lower abdomen just above its vent. Or does it feel very "light". A light bird can indicate that it is under nourished or sick.

4. The bird should have all of its toes (nails are not quite as important) toes are needed for breeding stability. Also check any abnormal scaling of the feet which could indicate mites. You also want to make sure that the bird is not "club footed" which would inhibit breeding.

5. Birds should have complete wings (this sounds obvious but we have received birds that we did not check and discovered one wing was missing the lower half. While your checking wings also check the wing feathers to look for a lacy appearance up and down each side of the shaft. This indicates the presence of a mite problem which could be very stressful for the bird. Feather tips or ends may be frayed but this can be caused by the cage wire.

6. We also look for particular confirmation in a bird since we try to breed exhibition quality birds. This includes a nice rounded head, a straight back line, an over all big bird but the chest should not be "Dolly Parton" like and the wing tips should come together in the back centered over the rump. My particular preference is for a long pointed tail instead of the "whale tail" of some Gouldians. The bird should stand tall on its perch and be very alert to its surroundings. It is also nice if it is not overly flightly when approached.

7. Lastly, if it happens to be a parent raised bird we make a notation of that fact as well. If it is a young bird with no breeding experience we normally try to pair it with an experienced mate so that the first clutch of eggs has the best possibility of being incubated and cared for. We have also found it beneficial to pair an older male with a younger female because first clutches will then normally be fertile.

8) Check the overall condition of the birds feathers, is it a bright and shiny bird or is it "dull" looking possibly indicating some nutritional deficiency. A few missing feathers here and there is not a problem but we normally refrain from purchasing an actively molting bird as well. Not that there is anything wrong with this bird but the stress of placing it in a new environment could be fatal unless you are prepared to help it along.

9) Also check the birds beak to insure that it does not "cross over" at the tip. Again this is not a big deal but when purchasing this type of bird you are accepting a maintenance responsibility in that you will have to catch the bird every so often and trim its beak to keep it properly aligned. This characteristic does seem to geneticly passed on to offspring as well.

Don't forget that a "perfect bird" is going to command top $$$$ but some of the bad characteristics can be used to discount the price depending on how much you want the bird and how much you are willing to work with it in order to correct some of its flaws. Think that about wraps it up as for as what we look for in a good bird.