No its not a game...  I've provided a list of potential problems you may come across if you pair the following combinations of birds together.

Double Buff

If you pair a Buff Cock to a Buff Hen, their young will be double buffed.  In some fancies this is done regularly to increase the size of the young or to soften the feathers.  An unwanted side affect can be what are referred to as lumps.  A bird can  develop lumps during the molt, they are feathers that have failed to break the skin & have therefore grown under the surface of the skin.  This rarely causes a bird to become ill, but the lumps can be unsightly.  It's important to note this pairing will still produce Yellow coloured  youngsters.

Double Yellow

If you pair a Yellow Cock to a Yellow Hen, their young will be double yellow.  Some breeders do this to reduce the size of their birds & enrich the strength of the yellow colouring.  An unwanted side affect here can be a bird that looses its shape or appears course rather than evenly coloured.  If you have yellow birds that are weak in colour, this may be worth a try to improve the youngsters.  It's important to note this pairing will still produce Buff coloured youngsters.

Double Cinnamon

Some people recommend Cinnamon to Cinnamon because its the quickest & easiest way to breed a Cinnamon coloured Cock bird.  However whenever you introduce Cinnamon you refine the feather quality, which can affect the shape of the young making them appear narrow.  This may also be a good way to reduce the size of your birds if you can retain the shape (only good if you Fife not Borders).

Double Dominant White

If you pair two white or white ground (blue or faun) birds together, the chances are they are both Dominant Whites.  This will mean you will produce about 25% of eggs with a lethal genetic deficiency that causes those eggs to either be dead in shell or to hatch chicks that survive only a few days.  The best combination is to breed from a white & a normal that was breed from a white.  This will through about 75% white young.  This section doesn't apply to the Recessive White Canaries.

This page was last updated on 18-Nov-2005 .