Sunday, January 24, 2016

Breeding Better Looking Birds - Part 1 Feather Type - Yellow Feathering

When I fail to win the best prize at a bird show, I spend some time comparing my bird to the best in the show and comparing them both to the standard. I always know when I am trouble because I immediately start planning next years breeding program and sometimes that is even four or five months away!

Honest Stock Assessment - Knowing where to improve and knowing what basic ingredients you have or need is critical and that includes recognizing differences in feather types. Its the type of feather that can influence the overall look of a bird.

There are six basic kinds to feathers and the first two division each has numerous names. Let's begin with identifying the first two feather types one is known as intensive (colorbred) or hard or non-frost (Staffords) or yellow (not the color at all - term used in most type canaries) or gold (lizards) feathering as opposed to the second feather type which is the opposite and is known frost (colorbred and Staffords) or buff (most type canaries) or  non-intensive or silver (lizards) feathering. A third type of colorbred feathering is Mosaic which is shown in other posts on this blog and is not covered in this post. For simplicity, in this post I will use the feather terms of most of the type canaries terms yellow feathering versus buff feathering.

First Yellow Feathering- Is a feather that regardless of its color, has its color right through to the very tip and give the bird a bright, intense, deeper color. Yellow feathering, a mutation from the original buff, is a dominant characteristic and in the typical breeding is heterozygous meaning the bird which has yellow type feathering has one gene for yellow feathering and one for buff feathering. When this bird with yellow feathering is paired with a buff feathered bird,  produces theoretically half yellow feathered canaries and half buff feathered canaries.

Yellow (referring to feather type not color) Cinnamon Variegated Border
Yellow (referring to feather type not color) Green 3/4 Dark Variegated Border

Yellow Intensive or Hard Feathered 3/4 Variegated Blue Gloster Corona
Red Ground (lipochrome color) Intensive (feather type)
Gold Cap Lizard
Yellow (in this case refers to feathering and color) Clear Irish Fancy
Clear Red Ground Grizzle Crested Non-Frost (feather type) Stafford

Yellow (feather type) Green Variegated Gibber Italicus Frill
Yellow (feather type) Green self Border


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