Aussie Finch Forum

I have read frequently that Goldfinch-canary hybrids are wonderful singers, superior to either bird, and are frequently bred for that purpose.
I am going to find out this spring, I hope, but am interested to know if the canary cock should mate the goldfinch hen or vice versa. I have not yet found a reference which states a preference, but on the model of mules compared with asses, the hybrid pairing seems predictably to affect the offspring.
Is anyone aware of which pairing would be optimal?
Perhaps it doesn't matter in this case...
Thank you in advance for opinions various.

Matty I think you use the goldfinch cock over the canary hen. Canary are easer to get to nest. I've got spare goldfinch cocks and am thinking of trying a cross this year over a Gloster hen.

Great, I have a stray American Singer hen and a stray Goldfinch cock.
Thank you WF.

mattymeischke wrote:Great, I have a stray American Singer hen and a stray Goldfinch cock.

Hi,

How did you obtain an American Singer hen in NSW?

I didn't think that there were any in Australia.

West finch is right, use a canary female and a male finch except with bullfinches as the male bullfinch has poor fertility. When breeding exhibition mules it is traditional to use a Norwich to gain size and type. There is a trend in Europe now to breed for color mules using red factors etc.

Cheers

Red

G'day Red.

I got the cock I bred her from in the ACT. It would have been more cumbersome but also more accurate to say 'hen born to an american singer cock and a normal hen'.

The cock is an ugly blue bird but an amzing singer, and I had no reason to doubt the bloke I bought it from, but if it is true that there are no American singers in aust then I was had.

No joy so far in raising a mule, and have lost my spare goldfinch cock while trying to so back to the drawing board.
Would love to hear the much-famed song of the mule.

Isn't the AS just a cross between the Border type canary and the Roller song canary, if so why are there none in Oz? Surely they could be bred, we have both varieties here.

Hey mattymeischke,

I am a novice so I'm just really surprised that there are American Singers in Australia. I have been compiling a list of canary breeds available in Australia:

Australian Plainhead
Border Fancy
Crest and Crestbred
Fife Fancy
German Roller
Gloster Fancy
Lancashire
Lizard
Norwich Plainhead (Cinnamon Norwich considered a separate variety)
North Dutch Frill
Stafford
Yorkshire

I have heard talk of Scotch Fancy as well as South Dutch, Milan and Parisian Frills but I haven't found an Australian club that recognises these breeds so I guess they just exist unofficially. Dosn't mean they don't come up to the overseas standards though.

natamambo wrote:Isn't the AS just a cross between the Border type canary and the Roller song canary, if so why are there none in Oz? Surely they could be bred, we have both varieties here.

I don't see why they couldn't be created, which I assume is what has happened here. I think the standard calls for a bird that is 69% Roller and 31% Border Fancy.

Cheers