My breeding season started early this year and getting better day after day.  Every clutch that hatched in May and after is a big one 3+ babies. April was not that good, mostly 2 babies.  Finally, I did happen to find my best hen.  Of course, since she is so friendly and you can pet her at any time, on the nest or off the nest my wife calls her "my bird".  It is hard to believe but that same hen "hen 087" likes my wife more than me for some reason.  We both take care of our birds on daily bases and really look after them like our own children.

Honey has been used as food for hundreds of years.  Roman soldiers used it on their long journeys into far off lands of conquest. It also claims its virility in some parts of the world.  A few years ago there was an article on feeding honey meal to cattle by a diary farmer in New Jersey.   The milk from the cows was fed to his leghorn hens.  The hens produced eggs weighing 32 ounces to the dozen.

There is one thing for sure, not all breeders appreciate hen canaries.  Do not agree with this and personally think that hens should get more love and care than males.  Yes, we are happy to have good results from shows and everyone likes to win a prize but thanks to whom?  Already know the answer… Yes HENS. If sons win a prize (trophy or ribbon) it gets attached to hens flight cage.

Foods have two functions, to supply energy and to build bodies. The body building parts of food are minerals, vitamins, and more especially, proteins, birds take in proteins in their food, digest them to amino acids which they absorb into their bodies. A bird's body contains great numbers of different proteins - some in muscle, others in skin, organs and other body parts. Feathers are largely made of protein called Keratin. Proteins came originally from the food. A bird needs a certain group of amino acids to build any particular protein. About twenty sorts of amino acids are found in foods. Some are easily obtained in adequate quantity but others may be scare or even absent from the protein of some foods.
Although cereals such as canary seed, oats and millet have a protein content of 10%, the cereal protein is deficient in the amino acid Lysine that is needed to build bird protein. As a result, species that feed their young entirely on cereal grains must feed large quantities of grain to obtain enough Lysine, and the young may be slow in developing. The other amino acids in grain are wasted since they are out of proportion with the needed Lysine and cannot be stored in the bodies of birds for future use.

The females should not be neglected if you expect them to produce good, healthy young for you. Unless they are properly cared for they cannot feed and care for the babies they hatch. You may also have a great many clear eggs. To avoid this, give good nourishing food all through the molting period and the following spring. The hens you have used this year for breeding should, as soon as through in the breeding room, show signs of molting. They should be placed in a flight as large as possible to give them plenty of room for exercise after being confined to the small breeding cage.