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.
BROKEN LIMBS.
In case of bad fractures or injuries it is perhaps best for all concerned to end the trouble by killing the bird. If a valuable bird breaks a leg, a slender splint of wood wrapped in a slight wisp of cotton and held by a bandage may be applied with care. This support must not be touched for two or three weeks, but then it may be removed entirely. When the break occurs in the lower leg (tarsus) a small quill makes a simple support. The quill is split and cut down until it fits snugly around the part affected. It is then padded inside with a few shreds of cotton and tied carefully in place with silk thread.
Broken wings should be allowed to heal without outside interference. All high perches should be removed from the cage, and food and water made easily accessible. A bird with a broken wing must be kept as quiet as possible in order that the fracture may heal.
LOSS OF FEATHERS ABOUT HEAD.
Baldness is sometimes occasioned by mites or bird lice and may be treated best by removing the cause. Loss of feathers about the head, however, may indicate old age or general debility. At the natural time of molt the growth of feathers on the bare spots may be aided by warmth and a well-regulated diet. In addition to the usual food, twice a week give a little bread moistened with milk which has been dusted with a mixture of two parts of sulphur to one of potassium chlorate. At the same intervals rub a little carbolized petrolatum on the bare places. Baldness is said to arise at times, particularly in spring, through failure to provide the canary with lettuce, apple, or other green food. In such cases improvement may be made by supplying this need.