What and how to feed the canaries?

Canary singing, according to some experts, has a relaxing and calming effect.

How and how to feed canaries at home, we will consider in the article.

Correctly selected fruits, vegetables and grains not only have a positive effect on the canary's body, but also improve the mood of these birds, make them more sociable and curious.

The advantage of such nutrition, in contrast to ready-made feed, is that the owner can independently regulate the composition of the feed, add vitamins or fresh berries / fruits to it at any time. The complexity of this method in the need to constantly monitor the vitamin balance, as well as in continuous work with portions of certain products.

Let's get acquainted with the lists of permitted products of plant and animal origin in feeding canaries.

Let's start with a plant-based food - a diet that includes grains, vegetables, fruits, bran and seeds.

Most often they are served as a mixture of several crops. The most popular grain-type feeds are: corn (the share in the total feed is about 20%), oats (ideal during the molting or nesting period - from 9 to 13%), millet (an irreplaceable product in any season - no more than 6%), buckwheat (as porridge in milk with crushed seeds),wheat (soaked grains are an indispensable source of vitamins E and B1), rice (in small doses in the presence of gastrointestinal problems), bran, peas and semolina (as components of vegetable purees or water-based cereals).

In the wild, a canary's diet consists of about 10% seasonal nuts.

At least 40% of the diet for most species of canaries is rape seeds. In addition, seeds of spring rape, young seeds of bulbous plants (plantain, sow thistle, quinoa and timothy), vegetable seeds (white cabbage, pumpkin, squash) should be involved in feeding birds; agricultural seeds (hemp, poppy), as well as some legumes (beans, lentils and peas).

In the wild, canaries often feed on seasonal fruits and vegetables, but at home, this food should be alternated with the main food. When it comes to fruit, canaries prefer apricots, apples (sweet) and cherries (pitted).

From vegetable crops, these birds eat boiled or fresh carrots, beets and cabbage leaves.

Food of animal origin is extremely saturated with useful proteins and amino acids, and therefore it is vital in the nutrition of these birds.

These foods should be fed separately from plant foods and should be washed regularly.

• Boiled egg: white and yolk are one of the key elements of animal origin in the feeding of these birds. They contain a huge amount of minerals, vitamins and protein.
• Low-fat cottage cheese - Ideal for poultry with a lack of protein. Cottage cheese is one of the few products that are absorbed by almost 100%.
• Small doses of honey are recommended for canaries (necessarily natural), can be both liquid and solid. For some species of canaries, honey is an indispensable element of the daily diet. It has a positive effect on the work of the gastrointestinal tract, has restorative and strengthening properties (especially important for young chicks or individuals during molting and nesting periods).
• Fish fat - a universal prophylactic agent in any period, especially useful during breeding and feeding of chicks. For one teaspoon of feed, one to two drops of fat are given.
• Some breeders prefer to feed insects to canaries, however, this is not practical under normal conditions due to the cost and storage of such food.

Many owners, when considering the best ways to feed canaries, stop at ready-made mixtures and commercial feed options. This choice is easy to explain - such food is pre-balanced, does not need any vitamin supplements or mixing.

Among budgetary Russian manufacturers, the brand can be distinguished "Native feed". Its products consist of such important vegetables and grains as flax, carrots, rapeseed, millet (red and yellow), hemp and canary seeds.

When choosing ready-made mixes in a store, you should pay attention to several factors.

• Tightness - the main requirement for feed sold in packages. It is undesirable to buy feed "by weight" - all of them are usually stored in large, unventilated containers, where they can become moldy or simply deteriorate.
• Inspect the packaging carefully - it should literally say that the food is made exclusively for canaries.There are several varieties of canary food: "for rich plumage color", "to stimulate and improve singing", "during moulting or nesting", and "for daily feeding."
• Read the instructions for the feed - so you can find out the daily feed intake for your pet, familiarize yourself with the composition of the product (which is extremely useful in case of individual intolerance to certain products by the bird) and its shelf life.

Unfortunately, even premium canary foods, which are very expensive, do not always have all the necessary vitamin elements for the canary's body to function properly.

Today in pet stores it is much easier to find ready-made food for the same parrot than for a canary, and therefore many owners decide to stop at them.

Food for canaries and parrots has a completely different vitamin composition and is otherwise balanced. In parrot food, canaries will not find many of the ingredients vital for the proper functioning of their digestive system.

The most common diseases that can occur with such a diet are obesity, gastrointestinal problems, and severe allergic reactions.

The body of canaries is capricious about many seemingly harmless vegetables, fruits and plants. Below you can find a list of foods that should not be given to canaries, even occasionally and in small doses.

• Fruits and berries high in fat, glucose and sugar. First of all, these are grapes and raisins, mango (harmful to absolutely all feathered pets), avocado and persimmon. These foods interfere with the proper functioning of the gastrointestinal tract of canaries.
• All herbs of the spice type: parsley, dill, celery, cilantro. These plants cause very severe allergies in canaries.
• Plants containing tanning elements: branches of oak, pear and bird cherry.
• Absolutely all conifers - due to the high content of resin components.
• Canaries should be especially protected from poplar branches - from them, these birds accumulate toxins in the body.
• A separate danger is posed by all types of garden berries with seeds: cherry, sweet cherry, apricot and peach. The pulp of the seeds of these berries also contains an increased dose of toxins.
• Of vegetables, the strict ban applies only to on potatoeswhich has too high a starch content.
• In no case should you give a regular canary to drink. hard and unfiltered water. This water contains a huge percentage of unwanted salts.

Feeding canaries cannot do without vitamin and mineral supplements. In the home of this bird, there should always be such mineral-rich substances as charcoal, sepia, chalk, eggshells, river sand and clay. If we talk specifically about medicinal and strengthening agents, then here glucose, gluconate or calcium lactate tablets will be very useful for canaries.

Some owners resort to the creation of special fortified bars, which serve as a constant source of vitamins in the cage for the bird.

You can quickly make these tiles yourself.

Here is a table with the main ingredients for making the most useful and simple vitamin bar.

All ingredients should be thoroughly grated or chopped in one container, then gradually add warm filtered water until a homogeneous composition with a dough consistency is obtained. Spread the mixture on a flat surface with a layer of 1 cm and mark the zones of 3x3 cm squares on it. Next, using a knife, cut out the squares and place them in a warm and well-lit place for 1.5-3 weeks to dry.

If your canary's diet consists solely of grains or seeds, it should be sometimes enrich with herbal supplements from fresh plants. This is not a substitute for a full vitamin diet, but it is great for improving your pet's health during the cold seasons.

If we are talking about summer vitamin plants, then you can occasionally add to canary food: cross, dandelion leaves (young), wormwood, primrose, chicory, young nettle leaves, leaves of medium star (or wood lice), sorrel, lettuce.

In winter, the body of a canary should also not do without vitamin supplements; it is during this period that the body of these birds is most at risk of colds. Here, the best option would be to add a mixture of dried and pre-soaked summer plants to the feed. Besides, It will be useful to occasionally add a few drops of lemon juice to the main food.

An excellent substitute for fruit in winter will be soaked freshly bought dried fruits and berries. The most popular options for canaries are apple, apricot, pear, mountain ash, cherry (pitted), rose hips, tangerines, melons and kiwi, dried apricots, and prunes. Dried apple or pear seeds are best.

By the end of winter and early spring, young twigs (with buds and leaves) of such shrubs and plants as elderberry, viburnum, apple, currant, willow, linden, birch, ash, beech, mountain ash will be a wonderful vitamin seasoning for food.

Summarizing all of the above, you can make a short list of basic rules for feeding canaries at home.

If you have not been breeding canaries before, start with ready-made feeds - they have the necessary vitamin base for the life of this bird. Any canary, regardless of its species or age, needs carbohydrates (which are found in abundance in grains, seeds, and fresh greens), proteins (animals), fats (from nuts and seeds), and vitamins.

The canary should be fed at about the same time - most often 2 times a day (you can serve vegetables and fruit crops in the cage throughout the day, the bird will determine the rate of this food for itself).

It is considered a key element in the feeding of these songbirds. Canaries love to drink and swim in water. A drinking bowl with fresh and clean filtered, settled or boiled water should be in the pet's dwelling all day and night. The temperature level of the water should fluctuate around +22 degrees Celsius.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to immediately determine the daily food ration for canaries. It depends on the type of canary, its age, and also the state of health.All this is found out only by experience - just keep track of how much the bird leaves after eating.

The canary should not overdo it with the amount of vitamins or the frequency of their supply, this will only harm the pet's health and disrupt the balance of the diet.

Canaries are neat people who really do not like mess and dirty, spoiled food in their cage. In such conditions, these birds may completely lose their appetite and develop serious diseases. Moreover, from eating spoiled food, these birds can simply be poisoned.

During these periods, the canary needs your increased attention. It is most effective at this time to buy specialized feed, as well as constantly supply the diet with fresh twigs, berries and fruits.

You can get acquainted with the features of autumn feeding of canaries in the following video.