The Red Factor Canary.
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...
and of course the most popular Color canary...
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...:-)
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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
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.
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...
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. Feed these foods and concentrates immediately before and during the molt. All new feathers will come in red. You can continue to feed carotenoids to your red factor canary after the molt so that if a feather is lost and re-grown it will also grow-in red. Have an interest in what your reading? Learn more... ...Keeps your canary SINGING! Thousands of canary lovers are enjoying
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