Abstract
Attractive, diminutive, easy to breed
and easy to care for, Gloster canaries
are one of the most in-demand type of
canaries today.
Lacking the in-depth history of
many canary varieties, the Gloster
canary is a fairly new phenomenon,
first a pp~aring on the British show
bench in the 1920's. In a crossing of
rollers, cresteds and borders, Mrs.
Rogerson is credited for starting the
Gloster fancy further popularized by
active show enthusiasts of the time.
Mrs. Rogerson hailed from Gloucestershire
County, hence the name
Gloster for the type.
Glosters come in two compatible
types; the corona or crested bird and
the consort without a crest. Either
male or female can have the crest -
but a crest must be bred to a non-crest
- a corona to a consort.
Breeding crest to crest can cause not
only undesirable visual damage but
may cause damage to the cranial bone
structure and produce a lethal gene
combination where chicks will die in
the shell or shortly after hatching.
The ideal Gloster should have a
short, cobby body approximately four
to four and a half inches in length. The
tail should not be exceedingly long
and if crested, the crest should radiate
in a uniform fashion from a good
center and the feathers should come
down to, but not block, the eyes, leaving
them discernible. A show bird
should sit balanced on the perch with
no swaying or hunching of the back.
Unlike some of the larger canary
breeds, Glosters are fairly easy to
breed. As previously mentioned, one
bird will have a crest, the other should
not and it doesn't matter who has the
crest.
Care should be given in matching
pairs. If a hard-feathered bird (one
with tight feathering) is used, a softfeathered
(more loose feathering)
mate should be chosen.
Glosters lay three to five eggs and it
is best to remove eggs so they won't
start developing until the last egg is
laid (often a different shade of blue). If
all the eggs start incubation together
there is less of a risk of losing a baby
that is younger and smaller and cannot
stretch as far as its older siblings
for food from the parents.
An open nest of wicker or an open
box can be used. Grasses, cotton
string and washed burlap make good
nesting material. When the hen is
ready, and only when she is ready,
she will spend a day, maybe two,
building and preparing her nest, testing
it often by sitting in it and making
proper adjustments.
Eggs hatch in 13 to 15 days and most
hens will remain quite tight to the nest
for the first week. Baby Glosters
should be banded at six or seven to
eight days when pin feathers are evident
on the wings - any earlier and
the bands may fall off or the hen may
remove them; any later and the
babies' feet will have grown too large
to get the bands on.
It's fun to watch the babies develop,
which can be done easily in the opennest
environment. The male will help
with the feeding and sometimes sit on
the nest when the hen leaves for a
break.
Gloster babies fledge at approximately
21 days. A second nesting site
with fresh material should be offered
or the hen may decide her offsprings'
feathers may line her new nest very
well.
Once fledged, the young with their
father can be separated from the hen.
The male can be removed once a day
for a short period of time and placed
back with the hen to fertilize her new
clutch of eggs, but should be back
with the chicks to spend approximately
the next two weeks weaning
them.
Hard boiled eggs or commercial egg
food and spray millet work well as
weaning tools. The babies will fly
down and beg from their father at the
food dish and soon learn where the
food actually comes from.
A seed diet needs to be supplemented
with green, leafy vegetables
and whole grain bread as well as other
fruit and vegetable treats the canaries
will take. Egg food can be offered as
an enticement to begin nesting, but
should be limited while the hen is
incubating her eggs. Once babies
hatch, fresh egg food a couple times a
day will encourage feeding.
Grit should be offered to canaries as
well as ground, dried egg shells, cuttlebone
and/ or commercial calcium
powder. Canary hens, especially,
require a lot of calcium for egg production.
A lack of calcium can result
in soft shelled eggs or the inability to
lay eggs altogether. This can be fatal
to the hen.
Many young male Glosters will try to
warble a little song at eight or 10
weeks of age. However, they won't
develop their full song until after their
first molt at four to six months of age.
Most bird fanciers and breeders are
sold on the pleasure brought by a canary's
song. Glosters, with their cute
Beatle-like haircut appearances, have
looks to match their songs. •