Black horn parts in the canary, s: Giving the bride’s veilย ย
Every canary breeder, especially who breeds to our standard, knows that our canaries in the black series must have black horn parts, in other words the legs, nails and beak should be as dark as possible. People regularly see the extremes at our exhibitions, either perfectly dark or not dark enough (too light). You then wonder how this is possible. Most of us know that nature can help us with this, it is well known that the birds in the black series must have a lot of sunlight , this is very beneficial to the color and horn parts of these birds in the black series and you can immediately see to these birds which have been outside in the sun and which birds have not. So breeders have already made a decision, let the birds in the black series enjoy the sunlight as much as possible. Another thing that also benefits the birds is that they always provide a container with piglet compost, the birds are very happy to peck at it, and this also contains substances that benefit the horn parts. Make sure to replace this compost weekly, so give fresh regularly. But despite these two things, the legs will not turn completely dark, and yet there are those birds, you will say yes, that’s right, but there is another natural product that makes the legs leaves a very dark color, and that is also widely available in nature and that is the Bridal Veil!!! Most of you will know this, for those who don’t know it yet, look up the following.
ย Bridal veil:
ย The polygonum or fallopia auberti is a particularly vigorous grower that can reach a height of 8 to 10 meters. It actually comes from China and has oval heart-shaped leaves that are light green at the base. The trumpet-shaped flowers appear from July to September and grow in bunches. They are initially white or greenish-white, but later turn pink when fruiting. The plant tolerates rigorous pruning in winter, which is often necessary to prevent the shrub from becoming too dense or acquiring an irregular shape. The bridal veil is an ideal plant for growing all kinds of walls or objects in a short time. Also as a natural wall against In existing aviaries, it is often used. It produces shoots up to 6 meters in a season, making it ideal for fencing to cover part of an aviary or an ugly wall or against an old dead tree and thus conceal it from view. This climbing plant requires a sunny to semi-shaded position and is very winter hardy. You can propagate it from shoot cuttings (S, summers) or lignified cuttings (S, winters).
ย How to feed this now:
ย The bridal veil can be given in a number of ways, actually they can all be called good, but depending on what you have at home, there are a few options. For breeders who cannot place the birds outside, they can dry this wedding veil and grind it and thus make it available to the birds. They can also cut off stems and give these green wedding veil stems to the birds every day, the birds will certainly get black ones. horn parts, it’s just a pity if the sun can’t reach them otherwise they will become even more beautiful. It is striking when eating the bridal veil, especially if you feed it fresh and green, that they mainly peel the bark from the stems, which will then have a contain nutrients that the birds really like to consume, they eat them almost completely naked. Very interesting to see this. Breeders who can also keep their birds of the black series outside in the sun have an advantage, they can grow the bridal veil against the aviary, so that the birds can always peck at it, or they give it is also taken daily in green cuttings, and of course it can also be ground, but I have seen birds that took it themselves from the plant that grew against and over the aviary, and it is unimaginable how black these horn parts were, and how the sunlight residual brown had also disappeared. Beautiful in color and very nice dark horn parts.ย
How much should one give now:
ย Many will wonder if my birds do not get intestinal disorders by giving them this greenery or having them picked themselves. No, this is strangely not the case. I followed this for several years with a friend where almost the entire top and side were covered with vegetation. with a bridal veil, the birds could eat from it all summer long, if you saw how healthy and how dark these birds were, then I dare say no, that can’t hurt, of course if you give shoots or cut parts then they should be used daily to be changed. If it is dried, this ground and dried bridal veil is given to the birds to eat every two days in a separate feeding bowl.
Result:
ย The result will be that your birds will have neat dark horn parts, very nice to look at, even your black back and flank markings will look nicer, especially when the sunlight has made the last bit of brown disappear. Some breeders also add some extra seaweed to their egg food, but to my knowledge this was not the case and the horn parts are indeed pitch black. Purely and solely through the bridal veil.ย
Still pay attention:!!!!ย
It is actually not necessary to pay attention to feeding canaries from the black series with bridal veil, only if you give it in cut pieces that you still have to replace every 2 days. It is important to be careful that you do not give bridal veil to birds that do not have black horn parts. questions, for example birds from the agate series, these will also have dark horn parts and nails, but here the standard does not require it and this will in turn be punished by the judge. So be very careful with this. Bridal veil should only be given to birds from the black series!!ย
Tip: Nowadays there is also a very good powder on the market, also to darken the horn parts, the product is called Black Magic . I have already seen this with growers who already give this, and yes, the horn parts are very dark colored.
Decision:ย
I hope that many breeders now know how it is possible to get the horn parts of our birds from the black series perfectly dark without much effort and with the help of a plant from our nature and, if you can, also use sunlight. I hope this has answered the many questions I received about the darkening of the horn parts of our canary birds in the black series! Good luck . Wout van Gilsย Keurmester Aob / CoMย
Email wout@woutvangils.be
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