Hi, advice needed on a (possibly?) stressed/aggressive canary please?

Question

I rescued my canary (pootle) from a very unsuitable cage in a pet shop just before christmas - he is now in a big cage, with lots of branches/ toys/food/ bath etc. However, he is still very scared of me when i go in his cage (ie to change his bath, feed him etc) and can become aggressive towards me when I am outside the cage and he is in his nest/ top of the cage, especially when being covered for the night. I rescued another smaller canary (this time from a neighbour's garden) a couple of months ago, and since then pootle stopped singing and has become more aggressive. This new canary (nelson) appears male (at least it is singing) and is in a seperate cage next to pootle. i have taken out pootle's mirror as this seemed to get the brunt of his frustration and have tried letting him out, but he wont leave his cage (nelson happily flies around). Having no canary experience, I am just worried about him and whether this suggestes he is stressed/ unhappy? advice please!!!!

Answer 1

Birds don't have the best memory--And rather than remembering details about having been scared or abused, they simply remember the feeling. If they were abused at the pet store, or mistreated there, they re likely to be aggressive even when they are no longer being mistreated. "Refusing to back off" doesn't necessarily work, But it is something to try. Theres really not much you can do except try and make the bird feel comfortable, and you sound like you know what your doing.

Answer 2

He is protecting his turf. i would move the cages apart(so they can hear each other but not see each other)

soon they will become friends :)

Answer 3

The worst possible thing you can put in a male canary's cage is a mirror.  Canaries are, by natural, territorial and can be aggressive.  This is the whole point behind singing - to establish territory and attract mates.

Sticking a mirror in the cage is basically presenting the male with opposition for control of his territory and (potential) mates - which is what causes the aggression towards the mirror.

Often - if you place a female with a male, he will stop singing (what's the point, right?) - but if the other bird is singing, it is definitely a male.  Female canaries do not sing.

You need to separate the birds so they can't see each other, this should help with his aggression.

In terms of aggressiveness with you - you just need to realize that canaries aren't interactive birds.  You can probably sing, whistle, talk to them, etc - but in terms of interacting with them, they'll want much less to do with you than I think you're expecting.

Canaries, finches, etc., are flighty - reaching into the cage is going to typically cause them some amount of distress.

This is why it's best to have food/water dishes that are accessible from the outside.

Answer 4

I watched 'Britain's worst pet' recently and there was a bird on there that was aggressive to it's owner.  The advice was to stand your ground, do not duck or back off when the bird is aggressive.  It worked, the bird stopped attacking & being aggressive.