Brian's Yorkshire Canary Page
Articles - Breeding & Management - back to my roots.
| BACK TO MY ROOTS Article published July 2001
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One of the most important documents I produced as a youngster, when just starting out in the Yorkshire canary hobby, was my breeding chart. I started with a pair, and drew this onto a wall chart. The young produced were added, and colour coded according to the split rings they wore. Each year as my stud grew, I added to my chart, until soon it resembled a map of the London Underground. Cocks were added in black ink, hens in red, with results resembling the following:
After a few years, I gave up on the idea, primarily because my chart needed to be drawn on a roll of wallpaper, as my stud expanded. And by then, I'd run out of coloured pencils.
Visual indicationAlthough simple, the chart gave me a visual indication of the relationships of my future pairings, and it was apparent, even in my early stages as a bird keeper, as to which birds were dominant, and from where the key birds had developed during the formation of my stud.
Since then, my stud has changed many times, with my current stock dating back perhaps fifteen years to birds based on the late Joe Cluderay's stud. I made a few changes along the way in terms of outcrosses, none of which served me very well. So it was back to the drawing board a couple of seasons ago, bringing birds back in to put my stud back on-track.
I had determined to work on my original Cluderay line, removing all traces of the outcrosses I had introduced, and pairing it back to two new buff cocks, one from Joe, and one from Bob Pepper, with whom Joe had worked for many years.
Key birdsThe two key birds I introduced were both variegated cocks, one which Joe had bred with himself for a year, and which contained "everything good that's in my room", and one from Bob, again a one year-old bird, related directly back to his SYCC winning Marked Yellow Cock, itself originating from Joe's blood.
The hens I had chosen for them were an aunt and niece, bred off original Cluderay blood, interbred by myself and Bill Borthwick, with common ancestors which produced known results.
When line breeding, you need a control, and so I also retained another niece to the above two hens, and the uncle to that bird, an adult Clear Yellow Cock. Naturally, I had other birds, but the above were the ones I really wanted to develop - to model my stud on for the future.
Results after the first year.Joe had warned me that the cock I had obtained was "a nasty so and so - don't trust him, whatever you do"! As well as the hen described, I had determined to pair him to a second hen, which had won Best Green at four out of five specialist shows entered, already bred into my Cluderay line, and which came into condition before the hen I really wanted results from.
Upon pairing these two birds, they got along fine, the cock feeding the hen, and she nest building and squatting for him obligingly. Into the house for a cup of coffee, I returned twenty minutes later to find the green hen a mass of blood - completely scalped by the cock, who had decided to help with nest-building - all obtained from the hen's head feathers. Separating the pair, the Green hen's season was stopped before it started, and the cock was completely unrepentant. Next time I am given advice, I shall listen to it!
Pairing him to his chosen hen, watching until mating took place, and then removing him, I finished the year with only two chicks from him, one a large Clear Buff Cock, what fanciers used to describe as a Stock Cock, and the second a Green Marked Yellow Hen, which was exhibited twice, winning 5th at her first attempt at the YCC in a class of 46 exhibits, and gaining Best Unflighted, Best Green Marked, Best Champion and Best in Show at the YCC of Scotland event, later in the year.
She is a fine hen, and I am looking forward to pairing her back to her father this time around, as well as repeating the original pairing, to obtain more material to work with. I shall again keep a watchful eye on the cock however, now knowing him for what he is! The young Clear Buff Cock will get the now recovered Self Green Hen, and we shall see what happens - so far, this cock does not have quite the same nasty temperament as his father, but it is still early days.
Pleasing resultsFrom the Pepper cock, results were very pleasing. He had been given an older hen, and produced 4 young, two Foul Green Buff Cocks, one Wing Ticked Clear Yellow Cock and one Cinnamon Wing Ticked Hen. One of the green cocks is extremely deep with exceptional head qualities, and has been in the first three at every show entered. The others have stayed at home, waiting for April. The Green Cock will go back to his mother this time, whilst I have obtained a young related hen from Bob to which I am pairing his original cock, plus of course, pairing him to his own daughter.
The control pair produced eight young, two of which are retained for this season, as well as the original pair. A Clear Buff Cock won a class of 23 birds at the LYCC, and followed this up with a win out of 37 entries at the YCC, whilst the brother, a Marked Yellow Cock, has scored highly at several events. Mother to Son is the order of the day, with the other stock used back into the original control line.
I have now re-invented my chart, with the above key birds firmly in place. I have modified the chart by adding the percentage relationships with the original birds, so that I can easily see the dominance of the original stock, and where my pairings are taking me. Because I am pairing back father to daughter, mother to son etc, I shall be reproducing 75% of the original characteristics of the parent stock, and should be able to tell immediately which birds will play key roles in the future of my own line, assuming I achieve reasonable breeding results. Birds resembling the Cluderay and Pepper stock will be paired back that way, whilst the remainder will fit back into my control line. When breeding along the above lines, you do not need to be constantly introducing new blood, unless of course it can add, rather than take away from what you are trying to produce. I'm not really wishing my life away, but I am already looking forward to next April, and then further ahead to October, 2001. And the year after, and the year after that, and.
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