AUSTRALIAN FIFE CANARY

INDEX | TIPS & TRICKS | PHOTOS | WHY Keep | HOW to Keep | WHAT to Feed | COST | LIFE SPAN | COLOURS | SEXING | DISEASES/Bird Health | WEBMASTER | SHOW DATES | LINKS | ©COPYRIGHT | Privacy Policy | Feedback / Question | TRANSLATE | AU Weather | BACK

- I Hope this Web site helps. This site was designed very simply on a "no cost budget" and generates NO Income. The members of Australian Fife Canary cannot sell birds via contacts on this web site and receive no payment for services or articles provided. "AFC" is NOT a club you can join, however you can submit articles and be invited to be a member; see feedback page. The site content is primarily for the beginner and for Australian conditions. Everything on this website is absolutely FREE. There are plenty of Tips & Tricks and Articles, use the Menu at the top or bottom of this the Home page or at the bottom of every other page, or use the  Index - Click here.   The index is the most valuable tool on this site.! The Tips and articles which have been selected for this site are relevant to both the beginner and may help in reminding the enthusiast of the basic principles of keeping Canaries. The content changes from time to time as the authors produce more text. We are also limited by the WEB storage capacity, therefore some articles will disappear.  See also Tips & Tricks.

With EMPHASIS on the FIFE. This site is specifically targeted at the Fife Canary. I love the Fife because it is so active, small, sings like a little beauty, and breeds like a rabbit. Hear me sing Click Here What more could a person want. I forgot to say and they come in all the colours you could possibly want, without colour feeding. Cost also being a factor is another reason to choose the Fife. Unlike the Gloster, Fifes don't get feather lumps and have few hereditary problems.(singing Fife compliments University of St Andrews Scotland "Its cheap to cheep". If your sound does not work, the most common problem is the speakers are turned off.)

Ctrl+D to BOOKMARK this page so you can come back another day.

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"Why Keep Fife Canaries"

The hobby of keeping Canaries has been around for a very long time, and with time there comes a lot of truths and fallacies. This website has been designed to be simple, and with the tried methods that the author of each article has used. The particular breed of Canary that is covered here is the Fife; a small Canary which is often said breeds like rabbits; which to the beginner gives the thrill of breeding and multiplication.

The Fife Canary is very easy to keep, is hardy and suffers from few diseases. The Fife in Australia is reasonably cheap to purchase and comes in all of the canary colours.

The Cock Fife is a brilliant singer and is often kept just for the singing. The elderly often keep a Canary as a companion and the Fife can be a joy to keep and own with little effort or fear of illness.

Watching young birds develop and grow with the expectation of the perfect bird in every respect; beautiful colour, perfect shape, just the correct length, stands perfectly on the perch. To the expert a show winner, to the hack a beautiful bird. Both can say, "I bred that Canary".

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"How to Keep Fife Canaries"

If your keeping a single bird as a companion you can use an all wire cage that you buy from a Pet Shop or Produce Store. Remember to keep your bird out of strong drafts and it helps to cover the cage at night. Make sure your bird has plenty of clean water and seed and give a little greens each day. If your going to breed, then to have a consistent breeding quantity and quality however, you need to breed in a smaller cage that is closed in on all sides except for a wire front. A cage like this is often referred to as a breeding box and when there are many separate compartments is known as a breeding cabinet. In each box you would only have 1 hen [girl] and 1 cock [boy]. This gives the breeder the ability to create a more consistent quality and also is a more reliable method than an Aviary You can also keep the Fife in an aviary. At a minimum the aviary must have a closed in area for protection from the cold, wind and wet. Be particularly careful in colder climates as Canaries don't like to be chilled. When breeding in an aviary you usually have more hens than cocks, to avoid the cocks fighting. I personally breed in cabinets and then release into Aviaries for the rest of the time. Breeders who show, keep their birds in cabinets to keep them better trained and not as wild. see also [ Breeding Box ]

[ click here for more Photos ]

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"What to feed the Fife Canary"

SEED
Feeding your Fife Canaries is easy, they will survive on just plain canary [Phalaris], or mixed Canary as purchased from the supermarket or produce supplier. They will survive but they won’t live up to there potential. For good health, Canaries like humans, need a balanced and varying diet, which should include mixed seeds and greens.-- more information on Seed

GREENS
Greens such as Dandelion, ChickWeed or Thistle, or purchasable greens like Buk Choy, Lettuce or Cabbage, should be fed daily if possible. Just a little if you have a single bird as you don't want to upset their metabolism. -- more information on Greens

GRIT
It is essential that your birds have some grit; this can be crushed stone or shell grit. My preference is fine shell grit which can be purchased from the produce store. The grit is used by the Canary in the gut as part of the digestion. I use shell grit because of the calcium which is essential when breeding -- more information on Grit and other things

EGG and BISCUIT
During the breeding season you should feed an "egg and biscuit", which will be fed by the adults too the chicks.

WATER
It is essential to have clean water available at all times. There are many different types of drinkers and it doesn't really matter as long as the water is clean. I cover this more in the free articles. I use a product in the water called Aviclens made by Vetafarm. This product helps to kill bacteria and is relatively inexpensive.

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"How much will a Fife Canary Cost"

The cost of a Fife Canary will vary considerably depending on where you purchase from and in which city in Australia. Prices are Australian $: [2005]

The cock birds are usually more expensive because of the higher demand [the Cock bird is the singer].
If you want to get quality Fife Canaries you should be talking with a Breeder as most Pet Shop birds are the breeders rejected birds [scrubbers].

Consider joining a club, meet other breeders who will give you access to better quality birds for less money.

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"Life Span - How long will a Fife Canary Live"

In a clean and well cared for environment a Fife Canary can live to ten years.
For breeding, a Hen is best from her 2nd year, to her 5th year.
The cock on the other hand is in his prime from 1st year, through to his 6th years.
I tend not to breed any birds after their 4th birthday unless it is an exceptionally good bird.

You can tell the age of a Canary by reading the numbers on the ring on its leg. This should be a closed ring and read something like 02 FIS 1111, where the first 2 numbers are the year and are sideways the FIS stands for the club, in this case Fife Improvement Society, and the last set of numbers is the unique identifier of that bird.
If a bird doesn’t have a ring, then it is difficult to tell its age and it probably did not come from a reliable breeder.

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"What Colour is the Fife Canary"

The colour range is the same as most other varieties of Canary; however for those who are contemplating showing, then no colour feeding is allowed.

I have only covered the colours here in a simplified form and left all the technical details to other pages.

See also how to achieve various colours etc. Click here to go to Pairing

See also the Standard for shape etc Click here to go to the Standard.

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"Sexing the Fife"

No I am not getting into the kinky side of life, and no this is not an ADULT content site. I have written this section only because of the high number of questions being asked by the novice breeders.

What sex is my Canary; Boy or Girl, Hen or Cock.
It is very difficult to tell the gender of a canary at first glance and many an expert has come to grief by getting it wrong.
Remember that during the moult and winter the cock bird sings less and sometimes not at all.
What I will not be covering in this section is Sex-linked which means in certain circumstances you can tell the gender by the colouring of the parents. This is particularly significant for Cinnamon. You can see an article on cinnamon by clicking here.===>Cinnamon and Faun....

THE OLD FASHIONED WAY
Hen / Girl
The certain way to tell a Hen Canary is if it lays an egg, then there is no doubt. Some breeders even put a pink split ring on the opposite leg to the closed ring to give the Hen a permanent marker.
If your Hen sings its a good chance its not a hen, read on.
Cock / Boy
There is no certain way to say a cock is a cock, however if the Fife Canary sings with gusto you have a 99.999’% chance of being a cock. Hear me sing I am a cock bird

. Very occasionally you will get a Hen bird that sings but, the song is usually weak and broken.
The best way I have found to get a cock bird to sing, is in spring, place the bird in a small cage, in a sheltered sunny spot; usually a healthy cock bird will sing within minutes.
The problem you have, is that if it does not sing it does not make it a Hen as some cocks may either be unfit or just stubborn. Luckily the Fife Canary cock usually sings.

CHECKING THE VENT / CLOACA
The sex organs of the canary do not have the distinct differences as with mammals and this method is only reliable in the Breeding season when the bird is fit and ready to breed.
You blow away the feathers of the vent
Cock bird the skin leading up to the vent is elongated and quite prominent and the vent itself is still narrow.
Hen bird the skin leading up to the vent is flat or only just raised and the vent itself is rounder and flatter.
I must stress that the differences are not always evident and only occur at the height of the breeding season.

TECHNOLOGY
If your loaded with money and nothing better to spend it, on you can take your bird to a vet with a suitable ultra sound and he can tell you within minutes what sex.
Or you can have a DNA test done which will prove gender
But this in my opinion is going too far. If you watch your canary in the breeding season you will soon know.

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"Diseases"

The diseases of the Fife Canary are the same as all other Canaries; however if you start with good healthy stock and keep them well fed and in clean conditions, your risk of having a major illness problem is very limited.

In an outdoor aviary there is the possibility of catching something from wild birds. The same goes for each new bird you bring into your colony. The preferred option is to quarantine new birds for as long as possible and to use a proprietary worming mixture. Worming is also necessary for Aviary Birds, at a minimum annually before the breeding season, but preferably every 3 months.

If you get an illness in your birds, isolate the ill birds and consult an Expert or an Avian Veterinarian as soon as possible. In a big colony it can become necessary to destroy any ill birds for the sake of the rest, but this should only be done after seeking advice.

Remember that you're more likely to have healthy Canaries than sick ones, if you care for them properly.
[ complete list of Problems / Illness / Diseases ]

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"About the WebMaster's"

James Hart

This is my “Pen Name” as I don’t wish my association or articles to be used by my detractors and stop my Judging appointments!!.
I have been showing and breeding canaries for many years, mainly Gloster & Fifes however I have dabbled in Finches and other varieties of Canary.
I have come from a family where birds are our life.

I think my main love is the Gloster, however I see this website as a place for all breeders of the Canary to come and gain information and assistance.
I have bred a number of Champions for both Gloster Corona and Gloster Consort.


Timothy Myles (aka Tim or TradeMark)

I love Canaries all breeds but am entranced by the Fife, mainly because of its ease of breeding and its jaunty and lively movements.

In the US I bred varieties such as the Waterslagers and American Singer canaries and it is my opinion that the Fife can sing better and more consistently.
In the UK I kept the Fife, where the Fifes are better to type than the Australian Fife which is somewhat of a bitser (a good Aussie word), rather than a true Fife as is the case in the UK. (Now that will raise the ire of many an Australian Breeder exhibitor.)

My next contention is of course the Standard that is different all over the world and there is even some dissention here in Australia. Having said that I like the Australian Standard (as produced by the “Fife Fancy Canary Club of NSW” which is the Australian Specialist Society for the Fife), which is something achievable, rather than the Super rounded bird that in my opinion will never stand on the perch without falling.
I was recently in Malta and wow do they keep canaries, probably more birds per head of population than the rest of the world. They have massive shows that are truly incredible.

As you can see I travel widely and one of the advantages of assisting Australian Fife Canary, is that I can do it from wherever I am. I just love technology.


Peter Ailwood (retired)

The founder of the concept of this website who has retired and left the work to the rest of us. We have kept his history current as it is a reflection of his desire for the Australian Fife Canary to continue.

I have been keeping and breeding birds for around My first birds were kept in an aviary and I had a mixture of Canaries that came from my Grandfather and Australian Finches which my brother and I would trap in the nearby bushland. My success as an aviary breeder was not good but we enjoyed our birds.

When I was around 15, my Grandfather died and I was given breeding boxes, which I hung on the walls of an old outside toilet [dunny].
Again I had little success, probably due to my lack of knowledge and my inability to know when the birds were fit to breed, and of course which is a hen and which is a cock.

When I was around 30 after a break in having birds, I started to breed Gloster Canaries. I had good success and was breeding in both an Aviary and in Breeding Boxes.
I started showing Glosters as a novice with good success.

I finally gave up on the Glosters because of feather lumps, which was in my bloodline. These lumps I could remove myself however I was reluctant to give away or sell excess stock because of the possibility of the birds developing a lump later, which if untreated becomes unsightly and sometimes fatal.

I then took-up the Fife Canary and have found these diminutive birds a delight to breed and keep. The cock birds sing magnificently, and all birds are very active and healthy.