How long can a canary go without food and water? Incl. 3 tips for keeping your canaries healthy

As a responsible pet owner, you always keep an eye on your animals and make sure that your canaries always have fresh water and sufficient food available.

Nevertheless, you are obviously interested in the question of how long canaries can go without food and water in an emergency.

For this reason, in this article we will deal in detail with the digestion of the canary and in the course of this, of course, also clarify the initial question.

What does a canary eat?

Canaries are vegans by nature and need a well thought-out feeding.

In addition to a varied grain diet, various grasses and greens as well as vegetables and fruits should also be on your canaries’ menu.

Caution. Some vegetables and fruits are not suitable for canaries. These include avocado, plums, plums, but also green beans and any cabbage.

In order to support the digestion of your animals optimally, a small bowl with bird grit may not be missing in any cage. The grit is needed to grind the grains and thus easier to digest.

Since the energy consumption of the canaries is very high, the animals survive only 2 – 3 days without food.

So make sure that your canaries have enough food available, because already after 24 hours without food the condition of your animals will deteriorate considerably – in weaker animals it can already lead to death.
What about the drinking behavior of canaries?

Unlike budgies, which can go for weeks without drinking water if necessary, the canary is very dependent on a steady supply of fluids.

Between 20 and 30 ml of fresh water must be consumed per day to avoid dehydration. This can be up to 20% of their body weight.

Especially with canaries, it is particularly important that the water is changed daily. The freshness of the water is essential for keeping the animals healthy. A drinking water dispenser is recommended here to protect the water from contamination. Although the drinking water dispenser offers a lot of protection to the water, you should both change the water at least once a day and clean the dispenser itself thoroughly.

Without water, a canary will only survive for a maximum of 24 hours!
This is how the canary’s digestion works

To give you a better idea of why fresh food and water is so important for your canaries, we will now take a closer look at the digestive process.

When your bird picks up food grains, the food enters the crop through the esophagus.

By the way: Almost all birds have a crop, but in grain-eaters such as budgies or canaries, the crop is particularly large.

So, continue in the text: Once in the crop, the food is moistened with water and saliva and, if necessary, can be regurgitated after soaking and fed to the offspring or partner animal. Once the food is properly soaked, the actual digestion process starts.

For this purpose, the food is transported from the crop to the glandular stomach, where it is acidified with the digestive enzymes hydrochloric acid and pepsin. Acidification makes it easier to dissolve calcium, which is essential for eggshell formation and therefore plays a major role, especially in females.

Now the journey continues – next stop: gizzard. This functions like a kind of mill and shreds the grains – with the help of the muscle layer of the stomach in combination with the bird grit – into a coarse-grained pulp.

On it goes into the small intestine! Once in the small intestine, more enzymes are added to the feed mush. This time, these are enzymes from the bile, the pancreas and the intestinal mucosa. With the help of these enzymes, fats, starches and nutrients are now broken down so that they can be absorbed on their way through the small intestine.

Note: The small intestine is relatively short. For optimum digestion, it is therefore advisable to always provide sufficient grit so that the gizzard can do a good preliminary job and the small intestine has to do as little work as possible. This is the only way to guarantee an adequate supply of nutrients.

The parts of the mash that cannot be utilized are now passed directly to the cloaca, where the canary excretes the food in the form of feces. Did you know that canaries always defecate and urinate together? Compared to humans or other animals, the cloaca is responsible for both excretions. Exciting, isn’t it?

Since food and water do not remain in the body for a long time, it is necessary to constantly replenish them in order to maintain all the functions of the organism.
The thing about being left alone

It is always nicest at home!

That much is clear.

But sometimes you can’t avoid leaving the house for a while.

Since you have already learned that canaries need to be very careful about their food and liquid intake, it will not surprise you if we now tell you that this could become a problem if you spontaneously have to leave the house for several days.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you think about a solution for these eventualities in advance.

However, if you have to go to the hospital spontaneously or your boss sends you on a business trip, there is usually not enough time to instruct other people who have nothing to do with canaries in the care of the animals.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you think about a solution for these eventualities in advance.

Since canaries have a certain shyness towards people, it makes sense to hand over the care to people who are known to the animals. Therefore, invite people to your home and familiarize them with the canaries’ needs. Also, let the people talk to the animals or otherwise engage with them (depending on how calm your animals are) so that the animals can get used to the people.

This way you will prevent unnecessary stress in the event of an emergency and know that your animals can be adequately cared for by other people.
Help! My canary is sick!

If you notice that your canary is behaving unusually quietly, this may indicate that an illness is developing. Observe the animal more closely and check if it is eating and drinking. If it eats or drinks less than usual, you should immediately make your way to the vet!

A fluffed up canary also indicates that something is wrong with your pet.

If your canary also vomits, smells strangely foul from the beak and the neck feathers are stuck together, this indicates a crop inflammation.

A crop inflammation can have psychological and physical causes, not rarely however the bird dies, if the inflammation is not treated, since a food intake can take place only with difficulty or not at all.

Action is required here!

Vomiting in combination with diarrhea indicates major problems in the digestive tract. Here, too, all alarm bells should ring and your way should lead you directly to the vet.

Generally speaking, canaries are very sensitive animals and there is not much time to think about them.

If you have the impression that something is wrong with your animal, you should therefore not wait, but immediately present your canary to an avian veterinarian.

3 tips to keep your canary healthy and old as a rock

1. check regularly the cloaca of the animals

To avoid nasty surprises, it is advisable that you check the cloaca of your birds daily, because most diseases cause a change in the feces in terms of color and/or consistency.

In this way you can act directly and significantly increase the chances of a speedy recovery of your canary.

2. reduce stress to a minimum

Canaries are extremely sensitive animals that sometimes react very violently to (permanent) stress.

So make sure your animals harmonize with each other, the cage is in as quiet a place as possible, and the daily routine is as predictable as possible for the animals.

A move or the death of a flock member will be very challenging for the canaries. Structure in the form of fixed feeding and free flight times can help to give the animals more security again, so that they can soon find peace again.

3. give the defendant the benefit of the doubt

If you are unsure whether your canary’s behavior is normal, you should at least call an avian veterinarian, describe the behavior, and ask for advice on whether a visit to the veterinarian is advisable.

Always remember: You are fully responsible for the welfare of your animals, because your animals can not tell what is wrong with them!