swapping males

[Redwing]

Hope someone can help here. I have 2 canary pairs who have raised babies very successfully over the last couple of years. Currently pair number 1's eggs are due to hatch in about a week and pair number 2 are getting ready for their second round. I'd like to "borrow" cock number 1 and put him in with hen number 2 for a couple of days so he can mate with her but then remove him and put him back to raise his own chicks. How many days should I leave him in with her to guarantee that the chicks are genetically his?

[BOF33]

Sounds like a long shot. Once any species has paired up, it's just asking for trouble to consider swapping mates halfway through the job. Just my opinion, but I don't like your chances...

[Canary]

Put the cock from pair 2 in a cage on his own.

Then put cock 1 in with hen 2, either for the week, or just until you see him mate with hen 2, and then put him back with hen 1, and just keep putting him back in with hen 2 daily until you see them mate and she has set on the eggs.

Once she has set you can then put cock 2 back in with hen 2 to help raise the chicks. The thing to watch out for is that cock 2 does not attack hen 2 on the nest. I expect that if he has been with her before and knows her that he should be okay.

I am currently moving one cock between 3 hens, and he goes in the cage and mates within 2 minutes and is back out again. All the Border canaries have been trained to jump straight into a show cage and I can move them around readily. The Lizard cock I catch in my hand and put him in with the hens. He mates straight away and then I catch him again and put him back in his cage. I can’t leave him with a hen as he attacks them and scalps the hens. I swear he is waiting for me to catch him in the morning.

[elferoz777]

Sounds like a long shot. Once any species has paired up, it's just asking for trouble to consider swapping mates halfway through the job. Just my opinion, but I don't like your chances...

I agree,

You can really only get away with a permanent swap like when breeding mules...you swap the cock bird out when the hen has chick s and put mr goldfinch in to take over until nest 2...then remove mr goldfinch and allow canary to hatch eggs in peace.

Swapping back could work but it runs a risk that will result in crushed eggs more than likely.

[Redwing]

Thanks for your advice everyone. At the moment Pair number 2 are separate (but can see each other) as I wanted to give her a couple of weeks break before letting her sit again. Think I'll give it a try as they are all really easy (like Canary's birds ) to move between aviary/different cages. But the thing I'm not sure of is do they need to mate before each egg or is once enough and then take out number 1 and put her own mate back in with her??

[Canary]

I have seen birds mate and the hen still has clear eggs.

I would be leaving the cock in, or putting him in each day, until the hen has set on her eggs. Tht is what I do now. As I said I am currently moving a cock between 3 hens. That is one in the morning, the second at lunch and the third in the evening. He mates with each hen almost straaight away, as soon as I put him in their cage.

[mattymeischke]

You can really only get away with a permanent swap like when breeding mules...you swap the cock bird out when the hen has chick s and put mr goldfinch in to take over until nest 2...then remove mr goldfinch and allow canary to hatch eggs in peace.

Interesting.
I had always understood that when breeding mules the cock is a canary and the goldfinch (or other) is the hen. I think I asked this on the forum a little while ago. I see no reason why it couldn't be either way, but this was the 'received wisdom'.

Do you breed mules?
I have found it to be more of a challenge than it seems at first glance.
Have you had success with the method you describe?

[Redwing]

Put number 1 cock in with hen yesterday afternoon. Haven't seen them mate but put a nest in this morning and she started to build straight away. Will leave them together now until she's finished laying as you suggest Canary. Will be interesting to see what happens. The whole purpose of this was to see what colour babies this pairing up produces.

[Redwing]

Just an update on the canaries and a question. Everything went fine with switching the males. Waited until the evening that she had laid 3 eggs and put her original mate back in. She ended up laying 5 eggs and her and her mate settled in together again with no problems. The eggs started hatching 3 days ago and have 3 chicks so far. Brought them inside on Wednesday because of the weather and have noticed that he is not only sitting on the chicks sometimes when she is out of the nest feeding but has started sitting on the nest with her at other times. Is this normal? Have never seen him do this before. They've been outside today but are back inside again tonight as it's still cold here.

[Canary]

Glad to hear that it all worked out well. It will be interesting to see if the chick colours come out as you expected.

That is normal for SOME cocks. Not all cocks will do it. I have 2 cocks that are doing the same with no problems. They only seem to do it while the hen is off the nest eating, and as soon as the hen goes back up then they usually get off for the hen to feed the chicks.

I had one cock last year that would get under the hen on the nest and sit on the eggs at dusk. I would have to kick him off the nest once it was dark to let the hen sit on the eggs overnight, as I was concerned that he would not be keeping the eggs as warm as the hen incubating. The eggs all hatched.