How to Fight the Winter Blues by Raising a Canary as a Pet

A lot of people think about getting a bird as a pet, but sometimes they make a mistake and choose the wrong type of bird, only to regret their decision and end up selling or giving the bird away later. Usually the reasons for regretting the type of bird chosen, is the noise the bird makes or the amount of time and other needs that one must devote to the bird. Birds that can be very noisy at times are Cockatiels and Parrots, back in the 1990′s my wife and I bought a cockatiel, it used to drive me nuts with it’s sharp piercing screams, and whistles.

When I was a child my Grandmother used to have two birds in a cage, and they were two of the nicest birds anyone could have, in fact they are the perfect birds for pets when it comes to most people, the bird I am talking about is a canary.

Canaries are not large birds, in fact they are about the size of a skinny robin. They do not holler or shriek like some bird do, instead they like to sing, and when they sing it’s a nice pleasant tune that anyone would love to hear. Male canaries seem to sing better then females, so you may wish to select a male if you decide to purchase one as a pet. Unlike some other species of birds, canaries are almost always antisocial when it comes to being around other canaries and humans, so if you just get one, it will often do better, then if it had a companion. This again, makes it an ideal pet, since you only need to purchase and care for one.

It’s been said that canaries can be trained to talk or mimic a few words, but the ones my Grandmother had never talked, but they did sing like wondrous songbirds. If you are more interested in a bird that will sit on your shoulder and talk, then you might better invest in a parrot. A canary is a hearty bird, and they will survive just fine inside a normal home or apartment in the winter, if the place has heating and is comfortable for humans, it will be comfortable for the canary.

A canary should have as large a cage as possible, although the cage my Grandmother had was a normal or small size cage, and she had two canaries in it that lived for years. A canary likes to fly around as much as possible, and a large cage gives them room to do so, flying is also the only way the bird can exercise and stay fit. But if you cannot afford a large cage, don’t worry about it, just buy what you can.

You can buy a couple small bird safe toys for your canary if you wish, my Grandmother had a small bell attached towards the top of her cage, every once in awhile one of her canaries would peck at it, and seemed the birds enjoyed hearing the bell ring, also she had a small mirror fastened to one side of the cage, often one of her birds would sit and look at it’s self in the mirror.

Canaries like to sleep when the sun goes down, and wake when it comes up, so if possible, cover your birds cage at night, by draping an old towel or such, over the top of it, and turn off any lights in the room where your canary lives. Canaries need fresh clean water daily, and they survive just fine on a container of standard canary food that is available at most pet stores.

If you treat your canary well, they can live upwards of 15 years, although 10 years seems to be the normal life span. Raising a canary as a pet, can be very exciting and it is one of the easiest birds to keep as a pet, your canary will give you lots of fun over the winter season and all year around, and it’s a great way to help fight the winter blues.

There is a website that describes numerous activities and other methods to help eliminate the Winter Blues, this website is called: Winter Activities – and it may be found at this url: http://www.winter-activities.com

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About the Author

Robert W. Benjamin has been involved in weight loss and has been researching the Winter Blues for a few years. He has personally turned his life around at the age of 50, by reducing his body weight from 400 lbs to 185 lbs. If you want to turn your life around, and read other great info and ideas on beating the winter blues, please check out the website below:

Winter Activities

http://www.winter-activities.com

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A Guide to Australian White Cockatoos: Their Management, Care and Breeding $38.91 New – Australia’s white cockatoos have fascinated the world over for over 200 years, and their popularity is evidenced by the frequency with which you encounter them in Australia’s backyards as pets. However, it has often been said that familiarity breeds contempt. It is unfortunate that their proper care, both as pets and in aviculture, has long been neglected. If aviculturists truly wish to argue that they keep birds because they love them, this situation must be remedied. Contents include man

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