# New canary trouble :(



## Therese89 (Jul 26, 2013)

Hello everyone,

My name's Nina (I'm new) - Nice to meet you all  

I hope some of you lovely people can help me and a lovely canary named David. 

I'm staying with my parents for the summer and recently their beautiful canary Daisy passed away from old age. She left behind David Copperfield, who's a 1 year old copper and brown colored canary 

He was out of his mind calling for her (the neighbors could even hear him!) and jumping around the cage or lying on the spot where she passed away - it was terrible. 

So my dad went to the pet store and got him a friend - a female we named Goldie (she's 4 months old). 

The first went well - David was a little agitated at first checking out the newcomer but he quickly settled down and she was completely unconcerned with him, eating salad and looking round and happy.

But a few days later she started attacking him! Badly! She injured his leg and we took him to the vet. She gave him something to reduce the pain and inflammation but advised us against separating them...

But Goldie still attacks him. He tried to court her briefly and she pinned him to the bottom of the cage and pecked at him. I chased her off him before she could do any real damage but it was scary. 

So we separated them despite the doctors orders and for 2 days they called and sang to each other. David had seemed thin and stressed but he was round and calm when she was out of the cage. 
We let them fly together briefly just to see if they could get along - flying was fine but Goldie claimed his cage and attacks him if he tries to enter. This has never happened to us before. 

What on earth should we do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated


----------



## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

I am new to canary keeping myself, but I read from an experienced canary keeper that canaries should be kept singly outside of breeding because they fight. Not sure how you kept two together for so long though if that's the case!


----------



## Therese89 (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks for the advice  

But I don't think that's it. My parents have pretty much always had canary's - either 2 together or 4 together and this is the first time any of them have shown aggression like this :sad:


----------



## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

Some times birds just don't get on and won't tolerate each other.But are you sure it's a hen? 
Cock canaries are well known for fighting.I have three cocks that are always bickering...but luckily I haven't had to separate them as they have a large aviary to avoid each other.
Just because someone has a group of birds that get along doesn't mean another group will behave the same.I don't know what advice the vet gave you...or why....but they should be caged separately,or housed in a cage with a central divider.


----------



## Therese89 (Jul 26, 2013)

Thank you so much  At the store they checked to make sure she was a "she" - also she doesn't sing. But I guess we'll just have to keep them separated - they are fine in the same room and call out to each and sit all plush like they never did together.


----------



## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

How do they sex them anyway - I have read it is very difficult to tell from just looking at them? And sometimes females sing, and sometimes males don't. *confused*


----------



## poohdog (May 16, 2010)

A 'Canary man' can sex them in seconds...a pet shop?...I suppose how much they want to sell their stock!


----------



## Therese89 (Jul 26, 2013)

Uhm - at the pet store they selected one they thought was female because of the finer texture of her feathers and lighter coloring, also she didn't sing. But to be sure they blew the feathers away from her vent - I'm not sure how to describe it but I found this quote on a canary site:

"Usually, the males sing and not the females. However, weve had females that sound like they were singing. They would trill and tweet kind of like a male canary. Its really difficult to tell a male from a female until breeding season.
To check, and if youre feeling brave enough to hold your canary, gently blow on its vent to move the feathers so you can see its underbelly. The male will have a penis like a very small swelling next to the vent. If the vent is smooth and round, torpedo-shaped, then it is female."


----------



## suewhite (Oct 31, 2009)

helloI breed canaries and you do get a pair who do not get along it is usually when the new bird is brought and put straight into the cage with the resident bird they should always be introduced in seperate cages for at least 3 weeks,I doubt now if they will ever get along with each other.Also it is not true you can keep a flock of canaries together outside breeding time when breeding time arrives males will fight often to the death,mine are put back together in the aviary in September.


----------



## Therese89 (Jul 26, 2013)

Thank you Suewhite  

This really helped me - I hope we haven't ruined it for them by introducing them so early  We're going to try keeping them in seperate cages in the same room as an introduction for 3 weeks and hopefully they can learn to get along. Fingers crossed! xx


----------



## RussellTerror (May 9, 2012)

I didn't see any other thread about canaries so I'm posting here:

We bought a male canary about a year ago (it was 3 months old I think) and it doesn't sing. We were suspicious that it's a female, but we took it to a petshop and they've told us that it's definitely a male. But it still doesn't sing. My grandparents had a male canary when I was kid (that was the main inspiration for buying one). So I asked them if there were any issues with singing, but they said that he started shortly after they bought him. What do you think it's the problem?


----------



## suewhite (Oct 31, 2009)

RussellTerror said:


> I didn't see any other thread about canaries so I'm posting here:
> 
> We bought a male canary about a year ago (it was 3 months old I think) and it doesn't sing. We were suspicious that it's a female, but we took it to a petshop and they've told us that it's definitely a male. But it still doesn't sing. My grandparents had a male canary when I was kid (that was the main inspiration for buying one). So I asked them if there were any issues with singing, but they said that he started shortly after they bought him. What do you think it's the problem?


Hi How did the pet shop sex it as a male?I breed them and all my males start singing at 6 months old,a good way to tell is google canaries singing and play it near him/her if its a male it will try to compete with the singing male,I personally think you have a hen there and all they do is cheep


----------



## RussellTerror (May 9, 2012)

suewhite said:


> Hi How did the pet shop sex it as a male?I breed them and all my males start singing at 6 months old,a good way to tell is google canaries singing and play it near him/her if its a male it will try to compete with the singing male,I personally think you have a hen there and all they do is cheep


Yes he (she?) is cheeping all the time, but I would try playing the canary singing, it's a great idea. How they sexed it? Honestly? I don't know, but it wasn't the same shop where we bought him, so I've trusted their judgment.


----------



## Helly2013 (Nov 5, 2013)

A Question for Sue;

I have 12 canaries in total. 9 are in a large indoor aviary and are let to fly in the room freely. There is a mixture of males and females, who stay together throughout the year, and have been kept this way for years. My boys do not fight or even squabble outside of breeding season. And whilst they do squabble during the breeding season, it has never been so severe that they might have killed each other.

It sounds as though this is an exception to the norm? What do you think?


----------

