October 9, 2009

Moving my canaries

My canaries have been living for several years in an amazing cage in a room that I call the 'bird room.' I designed this cage after one that came from France, built around 1900, probably to house doves or quails. As you can see, it is quite spacious and my canaries have been very happy. Last year, I decided to have another cage built, but with some modifications. One big improvement is a trough surrounding the bottom of the cage, which catches seed hulls, keeping the floor beneath much neater. The front of the trough is hinged and drops down for easy cleanup. I decided to give the birds entirely new surroundings and set up the new cage in my large 'brown room.'

Most of my birds are red factor canaries and I got my first ones eleven years ago from our pet expert, Marc Morrone. We were taping a Christmas special and Marc provided all the birds for a segment called The Twelve Days of Christmas. He brought four red canaries to represent the four calling birds and even trained them to fly and land on a wreath. Those four canaries stayed with me. Marc also acquired red factor canaries for me from a breeder in Belgium. The canaries were imported and quarantined and joined my brood. I really enjoy these birds and their singing adds so much to my home.