Weaning Young & The Moult

Weaning

When I'm confident the young can feed themselves the youngsters are then placed in the weaning cages - no more than 4 chicks in each cage and initially with no perches. The floors of each of the cages are covered in newspaper which is replaced daily - this is to ensure the inquisitive young fifes don't pick up stale food.

They are fed daily on a mixture of soaked seed, greenfood (broccoli, watercress, spinach) and egg food - I use the Orlux brand of eggfood and follow part of a "recipe" suggested in Terry Kelly's books and videos, that is rather than mix the eggfood with water I mix it with finely grated carrot and broccoli stalk. In addition charcoal and oyster shell grit are available daily.

At about 4 weeks old I start to introduce small hard seed to the young fifes as a complement rather than replacement of their diet. I prefer to use a mixture of conditioning seed and Haiths Kraker tonic mix - these smaller and richly nourishing seeds give the fifes a great start. Between 5-6 weeks the young fifes are moved into single cages and mixed canary seed is added to the diet.

The Moult

The early bred fifes will start to take on their adult plumage at about 10-12 weeks, later bred birds seem to start the moult earlier. The moult is the annual replacement of feathers brought on by a reduction in daylight hours.

Young fifes will start to take their adult shape during the moult - it's at this time that you can start to judge their likely exhibition potential. I prefer to house my young fifes in pairs (cock and hens or nest mates) during the moult providing baths on a regular basis - keep an eye on, particularly after bathing to ensure there's no bickering and feather plucking.