Abstract
Some canary breeders shy away from formulating their own food and seek an easy way out by purchasing already formulated seed mixtures and nestling foods. There is nothing wrong with purchasing already prepared diets providing you purchase from a reliable source. There are many commercial companies that provide such foods, and some of them are good.
On the other hand, if you are the type of person who is a skeptic and likes to know exactly what your birds are eating, you must learn something about diets and dietary requirements. This article will point to the known facts about nutrition already discovered by scientists throughout the world; then we will logically use this knowledge and prepare our own food to benefit our birds and pockets.
Let's look at some of the facts. On the average, nestlings and young birds are made up of 70% water, 22% protein, 3.5% fats and 4.5% ashes. The adults instead are made up of60% water, 17% protein, 19.5% fats and 3.5% ashes. Sticking to our subject "Nutrition During Breeding Season," we are mainly concerned with the nestlings and young birds. We already learned that if we remove all of the moisture from the young bird, the only thing left is protein (mainly what makes up muscles, body organs, skin and feathers), and ashes (mostly calcium and phosphorus, which makes up the skeleton).
Considering these facts, we can conclude that young birds need food rich in good proteins (proteins of high biological values), minerals and water.
The food value of proteins depends on the kind and anlount of amino acids it contains, not on the total amount of protein in each serving. For example, peanuts are high in total protein, but the biological value of the protein (percentage of useful amino acids) is low. Eggs have a much lower percentage of pro-
tein, but the percentage of useful amino acids in eggs is three times that in a peanut. (Figure 1)
In order for protein to have high value, it is necessary that it contains the following essential amino acids. For example, for a total of 20% protein, for babies up to 2 months, the amino acids should be present in quantity as follows: Lysine 0.9, Valine 0.8, Arginine 1.2, Methionine 0.45, Tirosine 0.7, Threonine 0.6, Phenylalonine 0.9, Lencine I .4, Isolencine 0.6, Clicine 1.0, Istidine 0 .15, Cistine 0. 3 5, Tryptophan 0.2.
Proteins are critical for optimum growth. Nestlings grow very rapid! y the first 15 days. The baby at birth is about 1.5 grams. At the 15th day it is approximately 21 to 25 grams. The graph in Figure 2 is of two canaries which I recorded in the last breeding season.
The top curve is of the Northern Frill, and the lower curve is of the Roller canary. Note the similarities with the exception of the Northern Frill reaching higher weight. Note also the loss of weight at approximately the 22nd day when the nestlings fledged the nest. I don't know if loss of weight is a coincidence or if this is typical loss of weight prior to the big day of flight. The relevant part of the graph is the first 15 days. Note that the first 15 to 16 days indicates the fastest gain of weight and, therefore, the most critical period of good nutrition.