My Canaries

[Rox]

These are the babies so far this season. I'm being spoilt with some great colors from this pair

[finches247]

Nice Canaries Rox

[Craig52]

Nice canaries Rox,i really like the grey/blue one in the last pic and first pic Craig

[Diane]

Im with Craig on the choice birds, grey bird top right in the first pic and the last pic. (probably the same bird looking at the markings) Very nice bird.
Im curious, how to do you get a colour like that?

[finchbreeder]

I concur that that is a very nice bird. White/gray is the blue version of the canary. So you need this gene, and as mum is white that takes care of that. The varigation is down to dad being a varigated.
LML

[Red]

I'm not a colour breeder so I can only speculate, but I think there is another gene at play here. In the top picture the dad in the middle is a typical blue variegate. The bird on the right is much paler, possibly blue opal variegate.

Another interesting thing is that both parents are probably dominant white which is a mating that type breeders never do because we have always been told the gene is lethal in a double dose. The truth is no-one in living memory has done test matings to find out if this is true.

[Rox]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm finding the genetics quite fascinating and I'm surprised by the colours that are coming out. Both mom and dad have a touch of yellow on their flight feathers, as does the blue/grey baby (same bird in top and bottom pic). I have a yellow pair of fife canaries in with them but my white hen wants nothing to do with my yellow cock. I was suspicious with the yellow variegated baby but I'm sure that comes from the heavily variegated cock. It's a guess, anyways, lol

I has read that putting dominant white to dominant white could be lethal, however I thought the variegate male was too dark in colour to be dominant white. But I've had healthy babies so far, so who knows

Here are better pic's of the adults

[finchbreeder]

Dominant white to dominant white is fatal, so all the information says. But how do you tell dominant white from recessive white? Breed it with another white. Why do I suspect that there are more recesssive whites arround than dominants? Because of the fatal gene. Yes this is just my guess/oppinion.
LML

[Red]

Why do I suspect that there are more recesssive whites arround than dominants? Because of the fatal gene. Yes this is just my guess/oppinion.

A little off topic but the chances of a blue or white canary being Recessive White are close to zero in Australia.

Some actually believe the trait to be extinct over here.

Regards

[Rox]

I'm totally clueless with genetic's, so please bear with me.

If putting dominant white to dominant white is fatal, does this mean that there is a high death rate in chicks or could death occur later on in the birds life? Also, since I am having success so far with this pair, would it mean that the male is recessive white or is it still anybody's guess? I am also guessing that the parents coloring (which I don't know) would have a play in genetics, like Gouldians?

I bought the 4 fife canaries a year ago from different petshop's not knowing their sex and by pure dumb luck I ended up with 2 pairs and nicely matched up in colour too. I've since learnt more and I will definitely not be adding any more males into the mix. 2 males in a 3mx2mx2m aviary is MORE than enough - they can have some spectacular arial arguments but luckily they never seem to make contact and if they do, it's not serious. It's mainly a lot of bluff between them all. But I can totally understand now why you would only keep 1 male in a breeding cage/cabinet. I do enjoy their singing competitions

They also eat/kill plants at an amazingly fast speed