Birdkeeping
Border model
When starting the hobby it's best to go to a reputable bird breeder who can advise you on what to buy. The Border model shows you what to look for in a Border canary and is the ideal bird you should be aiming for. The main things to look for are shape, size and quality of feather. A Border canary should have a curved round shape with no corners and a round head. The feathers should be silky smooth, the front body solid with no split down the middle of the chest and the wings should be neat and compact and fit above the tail but not cross one another. The bird should be 5 1/2 inches long from the top of the head to the tip of the tail. It can be difficult to tell the sex of a canary but a cock canary will sing, the hen doesn't and the cock will be more bold and aggressive.
Buy a couple of pair of birds to start off with to see how you get on. You should expect to pay about £30 for a decent bird. You can pay hundreds even thousands of pounds for a canary from the top bird breeders but for them keeping canaries is a business not a hobby.
You'll need somewhere to keep them. You can build a small shed or keep them in your garden shed. As long as the birds get plenty of daylight and are draught free they'll be fine. You can either make your own cages or buy two double breeders. Your cages should be 18inches by 12 inches. The Cage and Avairy Birds newspaper has lots of adverts for suppliers or try your local pet shop.
2 double cages
You'll need perches, seed boxes, drinkers and grit hoppers. It's best to get perches that have a bit of bounce to them rather than rigid to avoid your birds getting slipped claws.
I feed my birds plain canary as their staple diet. You have to blow the husks off the seed boxes everyday and give them fresh water. I put rough sawdust in the bottom of the cages but you can use newspaper, wood based cat litter or shavings and clean them out once a week. I give them a little hopper with condition seed once a fortnight. They also like a little bit of apple, lettuce or carrot.
You can keep hens together in the same cage but you will have to keep the cocks separate as they will fight. Only pair them up during the breeding season.