Cavys and other Small Animals

Source of Photograph.....

Color canaries are bred for color...imagine that. The variation of colors and color schemes bred into canaries is FLABBERGASTING! Of course...you have the standard yellow but don't forget the light yellow, dark yellow, and intensive yellow.

Dig a little deeper and you'll find...

green, orange, red, white, gray, not to mention...

     Please stay tuned for the next installment.....

orange agate, frosted orange agate, Red Bronze, Orange Brown, Frosted Orange Brown, Frosted Red Orange Brown...WHEW!

The list goes on and on and on...

The average canary buyer LIKELY won't end up with any of the Color canaries as pets. They tend to circulate among breeders only for the purpose of exhibiting in shows...except for the Red Factor.

The most popular Color canaries are...

The Red Factor canaries. If you end up with a Color canary it will probably be the red. They are by far the most popular of the color canaries.

Typically when the average person shops for a canary they want one that has a pretty song. The third of the canary types is the...

Song Canary.

Song canaries are bred for...guess what...SONG. This canary type can be broken down even further into types of song...

• soft
• loud
• trilled
• rolling
• etc

The song is of course what canaries are generally known for. The other two canary types do sing but not as remarkably as the song canary. No other bird has such a beautiful song.

Popular Song canaries are...

The American Singer which was developed in the U.S.A. in the 1930's and 40's is the most popular pet canary in the U.S. The American Singer is hailed by many to the best canary to be kept as a pet.

The American Singer Canary is hailed by many to be the best canary to be kept as a pet.

Why?

Because they are bred not only to be great singers but to have an awesome appearance too.

A cross between the Border Canary (Type Canary) and a German Roller (Song Canary) created the...

American Singer Canary.

The plan was to create a canary that is 2/3 Roller and 1/3 Border--The Roller being a well respected singer from Germany and the Border a beautiful Type canary from Great Britain.

The idea was to create an American canary that was BOTH considered pleasing to the eye as well as the ear. These canaries use both rolled and chopped notes giving them a reputation for a WIDE variety of song. The breed was dreamed up in the 1930's by group of women who became known as...

The idea was to create an American canary that was BOTH considered pleasing to the eye as well as the ear. These canaries use both rolled and chopped notes giving them a reputation for a WIDE variety of song. The breed was dreamed up in the 1930's by group of women who became known as...

"The Eight Boston Housewives"

These women began and organized the breeding program for the American Singer Canary.  Known as the "North American" canary, eventually a club formed and their creation became the most widely spread canaries in America...AND the only popular canary developed in America.

Most "common" or "kitchen" canaries in the USA are descendants of the American Singer Canary and are often called "American Singer" by mistake. A true American Singer will have a leg band noting that it is a pure-bred American Singer Canary.

The American Singer is hardy and strong making it a good choice for a beginner keeping canaries and he is easy to breed. This canary comes in a variety of...

• green
• buff
• yellow
• white
• "blue" (slate grey)
• orange
• bronze
• brown
• fawn
• or variegated.

But a true registered American Singer may not be color fed or crested.

The American Singer Canaries are of the few canary's that are judged BOTH for appearance and song. They are of average size...about 5 3/4 inches long.

Color canaries are one of the...

Three Types of Canaries--->

1. Type

2. Song

3. Colorbred

The Colorbred is a type of canary that has been bred to bring a specific desired color with little or no regard for singing ability or Type. The Red Factor canary being the most well known.

Any canary with a red factor gene can be referred to as a "red factor". Keep in mind though that within this group there are many different colors and shades of red.

Through selection of color mutations AND "intensive breeding" there have been discovered...

MANY Colors. 

Some of the colors you will see exhibited at a Colorbred canary show are...

• White
• Blue
• Fawn
• Yellow
• Green
• Brown
• Silver
• Gold
• Rose
• Bronze
• Mosaic
• Orange
• And a WHOLE lot more

and of course the most popular Color canary...

• Red --Sometimes referred to as the...

RED FACTOR Canary.

By far the most well known is the red factor canary. This Color canary was developed in the early 1900's by crossing a Venezuelan Black-Hooded Red Siskin with a yellow canary. Some say the yellow canary was a German Roller while others say it was a Border...I guess no one knows for sure.

Everyone pretty much agrees it was a yellow canary though...it's nice to agree on something...

www.hansclassen.de

This pairing resulted in a couple of...

Controversies...

1.  The Venezuelan Black-Hooded Red Siskin is not a canary at all.  So is the offspring a canary? 

---My KNEE-JERK reaction:---

"Who cares?" 

To the average red factor canary owner it doesn't matter.  You have a beautiful bird.  There is someone who cares though...

Breeders and Exhibitors.

It's difficult to have a canary show if half the birds are not "pure-bred" canaries.

Today's red factor canary offspring is more canary than Siskin--I will say that.

The Siskin is in the mix just to get a start in the development of red canaries.  The first offspring of that initial pairing were then bred to other canaries...

...and those to other canaries...

...and those to other canaries...

...and on and on and on...

The level of Siskin blood is virtually gone by now.  So...the real answer is...

Yes...the red factor canary is a canary.

2.  At one time way back in the "old days" of canary exhibition there was some controversy over the red factor canary.  Red factor canaries were not allowed to be shown if they had been fed concentrates of carotenoids--they were considered unnatural--See "Color Fed" below.  But they soon came to their senses and realized there was no way to enforce such a ruling. Besides...

The rule was inconsistent with other feeding routines.  Breeding pairs are often fed boiled egg for a protein supplement...boiled egg is definitely NOT a natural food source for canaries.

How many different canary colors are there?

Over 200 Canary Colors...

Breeders who specialize in the Colorbred canary are veritable experts at canary genetics.  Studying such topics as

• cells, chromosomes, and genes
• Recessive and dominant traits
• Homozygous and Heterozygous pairings

and other such high-falutin' sounding words.

Me? I know nothing about genetics AND if you want to keep a red factor canary as a pet...

YOU don't need to know all that stuff either.

The study of canary genetics is for the serious canary breeder and exhibitor.

When breeding those original Canary-Siskin crosses only a small percentage of the offspring were fertile...typical when...

Crossing Two Breeds. 

• Breed a donkey and a horse and you end up with a mule that is sterile...
• Breed a siskin or any other bird with a canary and you get mule canaries of which MOST are sterile.

Like I said I'm not "into" genetics so I won't go into detail. 

To bring out that pretty red coloring these canaries must be...

Color Fed.

The Venezuelan Black-Hooded Red Siskin obtains it's brilliant red coloring by eating foods high in carotenoids.  Take a Siskin out of his natural habitat and feed him foods devoid of carotenoids and you end up with little or no red in the Red Siskin...IRONIC ISN'T IT?

It's a similar story with the PINK Flamingo.  They obtain their color from the plankton they feed on in the wild. 

Take them out of the wild where they have no access to that plankton and they are as white as the background on this page.

"White Flamingo" -->just doesn't have the same ring to it...

I understand zoos feed their Flamingos beet juice so they will obtain the pink coloring.  Interesting...I just can't figure out how they get the Flamingos to drink beet juice.  YUCK!

Same with red factor canaries...

A red factor canary will get some color from natural foods that you supply...

• greens
• Red peppers
• sweet potatoes
• squashes
• tomatoes
• beets
• cayenne pepper
• paprika
• berries
• cherries

These foods, fed regularly, will help your red factor canary maintain an orange to reddish hue.  To get a really nice deep red you'll want to use a...

Concentrate of Carotenoids.

You can buy a mix that should be added to water or food. 

You must have a red factor canary for this to work.  Color feeding would have little or no effect on common canaries.

This mix is a concentrate of Canthaxanthin and Beta-Carotene.  For best results get a concentrate that has BOTH Canthaxanthin AND Beta-Carotene--not just one.

Some have sugar additives of sucrose, dextrose, as well as vitamin C and vitamin B but these FILLERS don't help with the coloring. They only dilute the mix.  Try to buy pure concentrate to get your moneys worth.

It has been said that feeding these concentrates year-round will cause liver and kidney damage to your red factor canary but I've known breeders that use concentrates all the time, year-round, and have never had any problems.  Just follow the directions on the box and you and your red factor canary will be fine.

Song Canary.

Song canaries are bred for...guess what...SONG. This canary type can be broken down even further into types of song...

• soft
• loud
• trilled
• rolling
• etc

The song is of course what canaries are generally known for. The other two canary types do sing but not as remarkably as the song canary. No other bird has such a beautiful song.

Popular Song canaries are...

The German Roller gets its name from the rolling tours of its song. Often said to have the most beautiful song of all the canaries the German Roller Canary has been bred in Germany for 300 years...and some say they've nearly perfected the breed!

The German Roller Canary is one of the oldest of the Song Canary varieties.

AKA (Also Known As)...

--Hartz Mountain Roller

--Hartz Roller

--Roller

As shown...the German Roller is also referred to as "Hartz Roller" but this can lead to some confusion because...

Even though the German Roller may also be known as the Hartz Roller there is a variety of canary bred in the USA known as the...

"Hartz Canary".

The Hartz Canary is not a Song canary but a Type canary.

Confused yet?...

Of all the canaries, this Song Canary is said to have the...

MOST Enjoyable Singing Voice.

That is exactly why the Boston Housewives used the Roller to help create their American Singer Canary. They paired the..

Best voice-->German Roller Canary...
with the most attractive appearance-->the Border canary.

Developed in the Hartz mountain region of Germany in the 1700's the Roller sings with his beak closed and, as a result, sings with the lowest volume of any canary.

All canaries have the ability to mimic other birds but the German Roller Canary is considered the BEST at mimicry. In shows the Roller is exhibited in teams of four to help bring out each individuals singing.

The Russian Singer is one of the least known canaries however it is gaining popularity earth wide. The breed got its' start when Russian canary breeders realized their German canaries could...

Development of the Russian canary began about 300 years ago when canary breeders in Tyrol, Germany introduced their canary to Russia in the early 1700's.