Crazy Bird

[Geoffrey]

So, I figured out that the reason my canary eggs are not hatching is all the fault of my red male. First of all, he won't let the female anywhere near the nest. Somehow my male bird is as broody as a chicken...he puffs his chest feathers and hunkers down on the eggs like he's seriously going to incubate. However, he doesn't know what he's doing. He sits religiously all day....EXCEPT in the mornings. He leaves the eggs for 1-2hrs every morning, hence the problem. It's still cold in the mornings and I think they get chilled and die when he leaves. The silly bird has gone off the deep end with his incubation, though. I tossed the eggs and removed the nest and so he hopped into the food bowl and started incubating the seeds :rolleyes: They were in need of food though, so I tried to get him to leave the bowl - but he wouldn't. I figured he'd hop out when I started pouring food in the bowl....but he didn't. I actually buried him up to his neck in seeds and he STILL wouldn't move. He's not even a tame canary and I poked and prodded him (to try and get him out of the bowl) and buried him in seeds, but he's was very determined to hatch the seeds. His incubation style is lacking though, as he doesn't even bother to keep the eggs under him.... he'll be sitting on one out of 3-4 eggs total and the others will be scattered around the nest beside him.

I've separated him from the females now and I am trying to build him up, since he's incubated himself into a crazed, ragged bird.

Has anyone else experienced a broody male canary who is so obsessed he'll incubate anything (including an empty bowl)?

[Shirley]

I've raised a lot of canaries over the years... and he sure does sound like a hen. Are you sure he's a male?? What are you basing his "maleness" on?

[Geoffrey]

I think he sounds like a hen too, but he's the one who sings (the hen squeaks), when he's not acting like a broody chicken he struts and bounces around, the hen is the one who builds the nest, he was sold to me as a male, he just seems male.

I've put a guaranteed 100% female in the cage beside him (separated by a divider) so I guess I will find out when either he starts getting back to normal and "wooing" her....or if nothing occurs. The female he was originally with has been put beside my guaranteed 100% no question about it, male. So if it turns out I have them mixed up and put two males together....I'll probably find out pretty soon (the other pair is separated too, so if it turns out I paired them wrong, no injuries will result).