DISEASES AND INJURIES.
With ordinary care in cleanliness, freedom from cold damp drafts, and a well-regulated food supply, canaries are subject to few ills. In fact, most of their troubles may be traced to some untoward circumstance in handling them. Their diseases are very little understood and correct diagnosis is difficult, and though much has been written regarding them this has served mainly to reveal general ignorance on the subject. Present knowledge does not warrant an exhaustive account of diseases, but in the following notes information is given on the more usual complaints of canaries.
When canaries become sick the first care should be to see that the diet is proper and to examine into the general sanitary conditions under which the birds are living. If canaries are confined in company with others, sick birds must be removed at once to a separate cage, since their companions will continually peck and worry them. Where numbers of canaries are kept, as a precaution to prevent spread of contagious or infectious diseases ailing birds should be removed from the bird room. It is always well to move a sick bird to a warm place. Heat and protection from drafts work wonders with ailing canaries and often are sufficient alone to restore them to health.
When medicine is necessary it is best to administer it in the drinking water. If this can not be done it may be given directly in the bill by means of a quill or a medicine dropper. In administering medicines it must be remembered that a canary is small and that a single drop in most cases is a large dose. Indiscriminate dosing of birds with various remedies is to be avoided.
The few instructions that follow are not to be regarded as infallible, but they may be of assistance in simple ailments. When a bird is seriously ill there is usually little chance of its recovery.