Having very bad breeding season so far!

[Howldaloom]

HI im having a bad breeding season so far.

My bengalese x2 and canary have all had 2 failed clutches each. i thought it was me taking the eggs away and the egg dying so the second time i left them alone and they still failed to hatch anything.

What am i doing wrong??? Or is it just a bad year for me?

Im feeding the bengalese, foriegn finch mix with added canary seed, niger,hemp and groats. Plus they are getting plenty of egg food, live food, greens,cuttlebone, oystershell,charcoal and they are also getting vitamins in the water *for vitamin d* Oh and they are alsohaving a bath everyday.

The canary is getting canary seed mix with added hemp,groats and niger plus everything extra like the bengalese.

They are sitting on their eggs religiously aswell. thinking of cutting out the groats and giving less hemp and niger *although there isnt much to cut down on* *i dont think im over feeding it*

Any suggestions? And btw my gouldian finches hatched 4 chicks so far on their first try *2 died at birth* and the other 2 are going strong!

[Tintola]

My bengalese x2 and canary have all had 2 failed clutches each. i thought it was me taking the eggs away and the egg dying so the second time i left them alone and they still failed to hatch anything.

Hi Howie (I hope you don't mind being called Howie)
Your post is a bit confusing, Eggs failing to hatch---- taking the eggs away will do it every time (especially if you fail to put them back) How many eggs did your Bengalese lay when you left them alone? as you may have two hens. Does either of them sing (buzzy sound)
By the way you have written your post it would appear that you have a single "canary". It's just a long shot but, have you thought of obtaining another one of the opposite sex to greatly increase your chances of breeding some more.
Adding some greens, cuttlefish and grit might also be beneficial.
The Gouldians are at least a pair and best of luck with the babies!

[Howldaloom]

Yes i take the eggs away an hour after laying to replace them with dummies. then when she has laid the whole clutch. i give her the eggs to start sitting on.

All my birds have bred before and produced, including my canary cock. the hen i got last year but have never bred. But for some reason nothing has hatched on first or second try

[VR1Ton]

Im feeding the bengalese, foriegn finch mix with added canary seed, niger,hemp and groats. Plus they are getting plenty of egg food, live food, greens,cuttlebone, oystershell,charcoal and they are also getting vitamins in the water *for vitamin d* Oh and they are alsohaving a bath everyday.

The canary is getting canary seed mix with added hemp,groats and niger plus everything extra like the bengalese.

Sounds like they've got it too good, they may too fat. See if they have any fat build up near their vent, this can cause infertility. Taking canary eggs away shouldn't effect them, I use to to it when I was breeding Red Factors, with the Bengalese, I'd just leave them to do what comes naturally, breed like .

[Tintola]

Is "Flopsy" a good breeder , is she?

[GregH]

Well your hens are laying and sitting so there is nothing wrong with them so the problem most likely lies with your cock birds. I don't think my birds fertility is great either but I think that's because they watch my kids too much - they hate eating their greens! There are food suppliments that you can give like Oropharma Ferti-Vit which can easily be purchased in the UK (hope you can read Dutch) but don't give up on the greens. I couldn't get my birds to eat greens but always gave them sprouted seed - ones with 1cm sprouts and then last year I decided it was all too much trouble and so switched to the Mike Fidler method with just "chitted" seed and my fertility dropped significantly so now I'm now giving both but the jury is still out on whether their fertility has been restored. Another problem with birds is that except for ducks and ostriches they don't posess an intromittent organ so they have to be pretty nimble to complete "the act". If your birds are a little on the rotund side they can't always successfully consumate the marriage and especially for the male birds if their toe-nails are too long they can't position themselves with the finesse required to transter their contribution to the next generation. Overly long toe-nails are a problem for many birds housed in cabinets and especially Lochura species like your Belengese.

[bargara]

I could be way off the mark here but Canary Season starts in about August where I live. I would nearly bet that the hen is very young.
Bargara

[Tintola]

I could be way off the mark here but Canary Season starts in about August where I live. I would nearly bet that the hen is very young.

I think you'll find that Howldaloom is in the U.K. so the breeding season is 6 months difference, it's spring now! ;)

[Howldaloom]

My hen was born 2009 becuase thats what closed leg tag she is wearing