Canaries Month By Month:

Show season is upon us and BRIAN KEENAN is enjoying all the space in his birdroom

- Brian Keenan

CANARIES

THIS year, as always, October brings the start of the UK canary show season, which makes a pleasant change from sweeping up feathers in the bedroom every visit.

Most of my birds found new homes very early this year, so as October arrives, I am more or less already down to my numbers for next season. A few late-bred birds are still molting, of course, and may or may not stay with me, but it’s nice to see a few empty cages and have space to enjoy the birds I intend to work with myself.

I have used cardboard bedding for most of the year, and just recently found a new supplier in West Yorkshire with a superior product at a fraction of the cost – if you can collect it, that is! Cut into postage-stamp-sized squares, the new bedding is made from thicker corrugated cardboard than that which I previously used, so it stays where it should do – on the floor of the cage. It is an affordable choice compared with other bedding materials and is completely dust-free. It is absorbent, copes well with bath and water drinker spills, and keeps the birds’ feet clean. Clumps of the soiled cards can easily be removed and topped up with a new card, as necessary. About a third of a bale cleaned 60 cages and flights for me, providing a deep litter on the cage floor, so it is economical too.

On my first visit to the supplier, I filled my car with multiple 20kg bales of card, which will last me several months. In the future, I can top up whenever I am in the area, to minimize my traveling costs. And because it’s a farm, new free-range eggs are also available to the discerning buyer!