Reply #5: she won't sing but she can still be a good companion

[pitohui]

it is unlikely that, as a female, that she would ever sing, however, if she responds to you and you like her color, enjoy

there is a powder you can use to sprinkle on her food to maintain color

you can always watch the classified ads and get a male later to serenade her as you can afford it

have some noise in the house when you can't be there, such as music or a canary song tape, for her to listen to, or if her office is cool w. birds at the office might want to bring her along

canaries are super easy to care for, although i always owned them in pairs and just sold my extra babies

if you do get a male and don't want them to have chicks, there are fake eggs so you can take away the real eggs and let her sit on the fakes until the urge passes

but they are really very little trouble at all

females should be sold at a substantial discount, at least when i was raising them, they were, but i'm no longer up on current prices so your ability to bargain the price may vary -- considering that she's a return and has a bad leg, i would talk frankly to the pet store owner and explain that while your finances are limited, you would be willing to provide her a good home if you got a really decent price -- couldn't hurt?