BREEDING HARZER CANARIES

Harzer birds have been raised in Europe they got used to the Middle European climate. Even in rooms without heating breeding is no problem today, provided that the breeder keeps guards the rhythme of the birds nature.

The cage should have approximately 24 x 16 x 16 inches. In addition to the normal equipment, perches, seed, water and sand there should be a device for making it easy to the canaries to build a nest and a crib that contains hemp or burlap.

Whenever you plan to breed, be sure you have enough room in your cages for the little birds, even after they are grown to be independent.

The male and female birds are placed in the breedingcage in the second half of march. Soon the hen begins to carry the nesting material in her beak, let it fall disorderly at the nesting place and it’s vincinity. A few days later the female starts working more goal directed and then within a few days she is forming a compact nest by turning her body in the nesting place, scrabbing with her feet. At the same time the male starts courting the hen, the hen crouches down and they mate.

In a day, seldom two interval the hen lays four or five bluegreen, brown spickled eggs. After 13 or 14 days of incubating with the hen sitting on the nest, the tiny little canaries hatch out.

Now you should give egg-food to your birds, in addition to normal seeds. You can buy this egg-food also in a pet shop. Nursing their descendents makes that theu consuming more water. Be aware to refresh it every day. The little ones are fed by their parents for about four weeks. At the age of 14 days the young birds leave the nest, moving clumsily around in the cage and proceed in coordination their movements and in feeding on egg-food and seeds by themselves. As soon as they are fully fledged, the young canaries should be transferred to their own cages.

FOOD AND WATER

The staple food from birds are seeds. The best way to buy it is to go to a specialized animal shop. Ask for the freshest quality. The birds also like to eat vegetables, for example: salad, cucumber and so on. They also like apple. But you should be sure that the green is free of possible toxic spray residue. The birds needs fresh water every day.

HISTORY OF THE HARZER ROLLER CANARY

The canary birds is coming from the Canary Island Tenerif on the west coast of Northern Africa. For about 500 years ago sailors took de birds with the lovely song from these islands to Spain. Making money by selling the little birds was probably the main reason that Spanish monks started breeding them.

First they sold only the singing males, holding back the females for breeding. But after a while the Italians managed to get some females birds too. Since then the canary has spread all over Europe. Most of them in Germany. Particularly the miners in Tirol became experts in breeding canaries. Travelling salesmen toured around Europe to sell the popular merchandise.

When the Tirol mines turned uneconomic, the miners went north to the Harz mountains, where a new mining industry started to grow. They took along their songbirds and made some extra income by breeding and selling them. The town of St. Andreasberg was the stronghold of the breeding songbirds. There is also a museum of Harzer songbirds, in memory of the songbirdbreeder Wilhelm Trute ( 1836 – 1889 ). This is where the common canary developed into the tipical Harzer songbird, who grew into "the bird with the outstanding melodious song".

PURCHASE

The best way to buy a Harzer songbird is to buy it at the breeder. The breeder will answer your questions an will give you the best advice how to keep them. Most of the people ask for a single male because of his song. Two male canaries in one normal size cage may start territorial fights. If the cage is big enough you can try to keep two male songbirds. You should only keep a couple of them if you really want to breed.

The best time to buy a Harzer is in the month November or December. The birds have finished their moulting thenand the cocks shows their complete song. Reliable breeders present a different number of singing young birds, so you can shoose the one you like the most.

To get addresses of Harzer songbirdsbreeders you can asked for your local club or in Holland by the secretary of the "Landelijke Speciaalclub Harzers" (national specialclub).

THE SONG OF THE HARZER ROLLER CANARY

Its vocal ability is characteristic for the Harzer Roller Canary. All along the fivehundred years people kept the canary bird, because of its busy and pleasant singing. Man-made breeding of canaries didn’t only produce variety in colour and appearance but also variation in its song. The melodiousness of the bird’s song more and more determined value and price of the popular pet.

In the middle van the 19th century birdbuyers came to the Harz Mountains and subjectively defined the worth of the song and thus the bird. Later on people came together in clubs where the birds were presented and where songcontests took place. The members of the club tried to establish special criteria of valuation. The canary song was subdivided in "tours" which were given special names. Basis of the valuation was to give lower, smooth parts of the song a higher valuation than shrill noisy parts. The peaceful, low, calm song was more pleasant to the human ear. The most important parts of the Harzer Roller Canary are for instance: Hollow Roll, Bass, Hollow Bell and Flute.