Canaries naturally live in groups – they are not solitary. A single bird sings because it’s lonely and is desperately trying to attract others.

Forcing a bird to live alone for the term of its natural life amounts to CRUELTY - don’t do it.

Often people purchase a single male in the mistaken belief that a male sings better when alone. What is more important – the happiness and welfare of the bird or your pleasure? You can have both. My birds sing on and off all day long, wooing the females, teaching the young males, competing with each other, or just singing happily when the hen is on the nest.

A bird on its own cannot engage in its natural social behaviours, which can create psychological and health problems. Birds can die of loneliness and melancholy. On a few occasions I had briefly separated a bird from the others for up to a week. When uncovering the cage in the morning, the solitary bird gave a continuous distressed cheep until it could see the other birds. On another occasion a hen was sick and I took her to the vet, where she stayed overnight. Her mate was agitated all day and escaped while I was cleaning the cage. When the female came back and couldn’t find her mate she became depressed, sat quite still all day long and showed little interest in her offspring. She remained like that for several weeks until another male showed interest in her. Suddenly she had a new lease on life, quickly built a nest and raised another brood with the same energy she had before. Canaries get quite attached to their mate and are much happier with other birds than being condemned to a life of solitude.