My canary just stopped singing!

[JayBird+16]

I have a 2 year old male canary, he was a wonderful singer. He molted in August and has not yet resumed his singing. It looks like he is starting to loose feathers again. He lives at my boutique, it is warm & bright. He gets fresh greens from the chef at the café next door every morning, fresh water, 2 types of seed and a clean bath everyday. He seems very healthy and active, but will not sing. Anyone have ay advice for how to get my little man to sing again?

 

[toletiquesbysam]

I found some great info when I googled canary stopped singing....

http://www.geocities.com/pacificamericansingers/articles/artpc972.htm

Also this.......

I'm going to suggest some changes and additions in the diet. Like most “seed eating” birds, Canarys need more than just seed. Wild canaries also eat insects, fruits, plant leaves, and get direct sunshine which creates vitamin D. The typical pet canary gets an unlimited supply of just seed. Some get just a poor-quality box mix from the grocery store, which is mostly millet. However, even the best quality seed-only mix is not a complete diet for long-term health. Canary diet should be supplemented with hard-boiled chicken eggs, vegetable greens, calcium from cuttlebone, fruits, vegetables, and greens. You can also offer apples, oranges, bananas, green peppers, canned corn, fresh corn on the cob, cooked broccoli, carrots, raw spinach, raw dandelion greens, raw collard greens, raw Swiss chard, pears, peaches, strawberries, and cherries. The various berries are very good, especially for red factor birds. Iceberg type lettuce is useless and should not be fed but Romaine is fine.
Cooked egg-white is also very beneficial for canaries, and most beneficial during molting.
It's fine to continue giving your bird the seed mix. It's just that he needs some of the other things dailey as well. Obviously you don't try to give him something of all of it, everyday. Another important factor, both in maintaining color and song, but also for the proper absorption of many vitamins and minerals, is proper full spectrum lighting. I'm going to give you a link to information about that. Also, just because you aren't seeing any feathers dropping yet is no guarantee you bird is not about to begin a molt. I'm including a link to information on that as well. While you are trying these things, keep an ever watchful eye out for those illness symptoms I listed for you. Birds are masters at disguising all symptoms until they have become so ill they can no longer keep it up so we have to be ever alert and watchful for the slightest hint that something is awry. If you should see some of those indicators, then it's time to be off to the vet right away.

 

[spook]

From my experience raising and breeding canaries, this is coming up on breeding season, usually December. The diet you are feeding him is wonderful, I do give my guy fruits, veggies (lettuce is lower in nutrients- not a bad food!), but spinach, celery, cooked carrots and yes, wheat germ and egg. The whole egg crushed, shell included, sounds strange but the calcium, fat and protein. What I do is boil a 20 min egg, you must make sure the egg is fully cooked- 20 min is what a gentleman told me to do way back when to insure nothing is passed on. Take a fork, mash mash mash, add 2 tbl wheat germ to the egg and place it in a baggie in the freezer ( the little bit you take out each day and thaw it out for a few min 5-10 min). Feed him a milk jug capful each day (about 1 tbls, just set the clean cover on the bottom of the cage).
Wheat germ is like that little blue pill for canaries, it brings them some zing. Canaries sing to attract females. If you are able to find a type of music he likes (sounds strange our bird will sing to certain TV programs). Do you give him a bath or mist him? Canary's love to splash in a bird bath, it is wonderful for them. Also, could he have mites? I swear they can come in the feed, so watch to see if he is over preening his feet, pants and wings as these are prime places to find mites, they will be the tiniest brown or red dust. If do purchase a disk for mites, do not just hang it on his cage and close the door, I had a yellow canary that went into a reaction with them.
I hope that I've helped out a bit, good luck and keeping a canary is the best thing in my world.
(I have a bald canary. He sings, is happy and no matter what I feed him, he has not grown feathers back on his head. Sometimes you just have to smile, accept them for what they are, just like we do for each other!)

 

[FrChuckW]

You might want to make sure any seed mix you give him contains rape seed. That is paramount to helping them sing. Also you can get a CD that has different canary songs on it. Depending on where you live, this is the quiet time of the year for canaries just before the breeding season really gets into full swing in February.

I usually pair my birds up on Valentines Day (It used to be called Birds Mating Day) Part of the problem is that with the shortning of natural daylight they are less inclined to sing, so supplementing with a full spectrum light will help bring him back into full song.

Good Luck

 

[JayBird+16]

I do feed him egg food and mixed greens, veggies and sometimes fruit. I think he might be going into another molt. He molted in August and is losing feathers again.
He also has weird yellowish deposits on his feet, like feather casings. I noticed them while I was looking for mites. They flaked off when I pick at them and looked and felt like feather casings.
Is it normal for them to molt twice in a row?
He is about 2 years old, I'm not sure if that makes a difference.
Thanks for all your help.

 

[SimplcitiyAltered]

How has he been acting is he all fluffed up been spending more time in the bottom of his cage how is his appetite? here is a list for you go through

http://www.canaryadvisor.com/canary-disease.html

The scaley feet sounds a lot like mites has your avian vet ran tests to rule all possible diseases out?