Lipchrome Canaries II

Yellow - one of the first mutations, yellow canaries obtain their color from carotenes (xanthophylls) via their food transported through the lipids to the feathers. Yellow is the ancestral ground color of the canary and one of the most difficult to cultivate for show. Many factors of heredity such as brown producing genes and dimorphism hinder the production of a true citron exhibition color. Exhibition yellows have gone through the same depuration process as exhibition Greens. A show specimen should have an even distributed citron yellow color that reaches the outer part of the flight feathers tail and under parts. Beak feet and nails should be flesh colored. Under flue is white.

MOST COMMON DEFFECTS

· Golden color in areas around beak wing butts and rump

· Golden color which denotes presence of brown producing genes

· Lack or low pigmentation on flight and tail feathers

· Check frost on intensive birds

· Concentration of frost around neck area in frosted birds

BREEDING SUGGESTIONS

· If your objective is the show bench, purchase birds from a breeder who has been successful with the type of bird you plan to breed.

· Purchase the best that you can afford

· Always breed intensive to frost

· Never breed two birds with long feather

· At least one of the pair should have optical blue factor

· Do not cross two small birds, or two large birds

· Make sure your breeding birds can carry the yellow to the flight and tail feathers

· You may cross to dominant white, but it is best to keep you yellow lines pure

· Remember that lipochrome birds obtain their color from food and it will be necessary to add powdered xanthophylls particularly during the first 10 days of life.

Ivory - pigmentation saturation is reduced practically in half to a delicate pastel yellow. All the points exposed for Yellow also apply for Ivory. It is important to know that many times Ivories are crossed with Recessive White because the Ivory factor alters the feather structure making it silkier and softer, theoretically you obtain Recessive White Ivories which are good competition subjects. Make sure your Ivories are not Recessive White Carriers because they fail to fully express adequate saturation of their color. Ivories are also crossed with Dominant Whites to reduce the yellow expression on the outer edge of the flight feathers. Ivories should be crossed back to yellow every few years to perk up the color saturation.

MOST COMMON DEFFECTS

· Lack of pigmentation on tail and flight feathers

· Pigmentation too pale

Yellow Intensive or Frost

Ivory Intensive or Frost

Yellow or Ivory Intensive or Frost Lutino