Part 11

Birds have been known to skip the entire moult and apparently be none the worse for it. Also, some canaries continue to sing right through the whole process, with no interruption.

Loss of feathers at other than the regular moult indicates a weakened condition and is not normal or desirable. Sometimes referred to as soft moult, this condition may be due to interruptions of the bird's sleep when a light in the room is turned on and off at night. Wrong feeding is an important cause, and keeping the bird in a hot, steamy atmosphere will also lead to this trouble.

Feed freshly made egg food, as above, daily for two weeks or so, and place French's Iron Compound in its drinking water (10 drops daily) for the same period. See that the cage location is changed if it is in a room that is too warm, even for brief periods, as is usual in a kitchen. The cage should also be moved if it is where the bird might be disturbed several times during the night. Examine for lice and make sure that mice are not keeping your bird awake by climbing into his cage for seed and water.

NERVOUS TICS

Cage birds sometimes develop annoying habits as a result of excess energy and playfulness. They may get in the habit of tugging at the paper on the cage floor; or if they have a band on their leg, they will sometimes pick at it until their leg becomes very sore. Ridding a bird of such annoying or harmful habits will be a good test of your ingenuity. In the case of a leg band, the easiest thing to do is to remove the band. A change in the location of the cage might help. Sometimes a new cage of different shape or color will turn the trick. Some owners allow their birds the freedom of a whole room and this usually is beneficial--providing windows and doors are kept shut.

OBESITY

When a canary eats more than it requires for energy, some of the excess eventually accumulates as fat. Birds differ individually in the amount of food necessary. Some do much better in a large cage where they have more chance for exercise and all birds benefit by free flying.

A bird usually eats from daylight to dark and in some homes "lights out" comes rather late. Try to let the bird keep a natural day, dawn to dusk, and if he is to be kept awake during the evening, cover his cage part of the day.

SORE EYES

Sore and inflamed eyes or lids should be treated with 2% yellow oxide of mercury ointment, obtainable from your druggist in a long necked metal tube. Squeeze a tiny amount beneath each lid and wipe the excess on the outside of the lids. Cover the perches with a wrap of soft cloth tied in place in order to prevent irritation when the bird rubs its eyes on the perch.

SORE FEET AND LEGS

As with many conditions that differ from normal, sore feet and legs are generally only the end result of conditions which may have no apparent connection. However, if the cage and perches are not kept clean, if the bird does not bathe regularly, or if the perches are the wrong size or are coated with gravel, it becomes necessary to correct these obvious errors in management. When a bird is ailing it will often refuse its bath, and its feet are likely to become quite dirty. The corrective measure here is to put the bird on a normal seed and green food diet with rich additions such as egg food only during the moulting and breeding seasons.

In older birds, scales on the legs and toes will very often build up rather than slough off, causing an unsightly and sometimes a painful condition. These can be softened with a little olive oil and gently removed without injury to the bird. Heavy callouses on the bottom of a bird's feet may be due to improper perching or to a fungus growth. In hot, humid climates the latter is a possibility, and it is suggested that you ask your druggist for a small amount of one of the new fungicides for trial. Perches should be made of soft wood and should never be gravel coated.

If the sore feet are accompanied by overgrown claws it may be that a joint was strained due to the claw catching somewhere in the cage. The remedy, of course, is to keep the claws properly trimmed.

WHEEZING

Wheezing in a canary is not an uncommon disorder and is usually due to the effects of a cold. It may also be due to an overfat condition. If either of these conditions are present, treat as indicated. Otherwise, write us giving full details.

If you have a particular canary problem not fully covered in these pages, write to us explaining in detail what the problem is, what you are doing for your canary, and what you have been feeding him. We will send you our best advice without cost or obligation. Please enclose stamp for reply. Address: Bird, The R. T. French Company, Rochester 9, N. Y.

Index

B Baldness 66 Bathing 10 Bird gravel 9 Blindness 66 Breeding cages and nests 55 Breeding problems 58 Broken bones 67 Broken feathers 67 Buying a canary 5

C Cage 6 Cage care 7 Cats 11 Chills and colds 67 Color bred canaries 64 Color feeding 10 Constipation 67 Cutting beak and claws 68

D Dainties 8 Diarrhoea 67

E Egg-binding 59 Egg food 10 Escaped bird 11 Exercise and play 11

F First nest 57 Fits--paroxysms 68

G Green food 9

I Insect food 10

L Loss of song 68

M Mating 57 Mice 12 Mites 69 Moulting--loss of feathers 69

N Nervous tics 70 Nestlings, care of 57 Non-feeding hen 59