Colour canaries

Canaries bred for colour and feather quality, the same birds that win on the show bench.

Red and white canaries on a perch in the flight cage

Colour varieties

The six colours, illustrated for now. Ask about any of them.

The breeder’s tip: red intensive paired with red frosted is the perfect cross.

Red intensive

Deep, even red with tight, glossy feathering. The classic red factor show bird.

Clear Intensive Illustration

Bred here

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Red frosted

A softer red with a fine pale frost on each feather edge, which gives a velvet finish.

Clear Non-intensive Illustration

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Red mosaic

Mostly pale, with red held to the face, shoulders and rump. Two lines: the cock line wears a broad red mask on the face, the hen line only a fine stroke behind the eye. The picture here is a hen-line bird.

Mosaic Illustration

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Yellow intensive

Clear lemon yellow with no dark markings and a bright, even finish. Bred in frosted and intensive lines, to the same standard as the red.

Clear Intensive Illustration

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Recessive white

Snow white from beak to tail, with no trace of pigment.

Clear Illustration

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Bronze (black-red)

A red ground with black melanin streaking over it, for a deep copper tone.

Marked Melanin Illustration

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From the aviary

Red canaries, Glosters and a Portuguese Harlequin, at home in the aviary.

A green Gloster canary with its crest, holding on to a branch — Gloster

A red canary on a weathered branch — Red canary

A yellow Gloster canary with a dark crest on a wooden perch — Gloster

A pale Portuguese Harlequin canary with its crest, behind the wire of its cage — Portuguese Harlequin

How a colour canary is judged

Colour: Depth, purity and evenness of the ground colour, head to tail (intensive or frosted).
Category: True to its category: intensive, frosted or mosaic. What the judge looks for in each is below.
Feather: Tight, complete and clean, even in colour, with nothing broken in wings or tail.
Condition: A healthy, steady bird that shows confidence and command of the cage, with smooth, controlled movements.

Read: what a judge looks for

What the judge looks for in each category

Intensive

Fully red and balanced from head to tail, with no frosting and no dark colouring in the plumage (head and breast).

Frosted

Even spread of frosting over the ground colour: a fine, continuous frost, with no heavy frosting bunched at the neck (like a collar) or on the rump. A vibrant tone.

Mosaic, cock line

Mask. Intense and sharp, well defined around the eyes and forehead, stopping short of the neck.

Shoulders and rump. Pure, bright, intense colour.

Breast. A triangle of bright colour that fades out before it reaches the belly.

Mosaic, hen line

Face. An eyebrow line: a fine stroke behind each eye, with forehead and chin chalk white.

Shoulders and rump. Intense colour, with the areas of ground colour kept small.

Breast. White if possible, though some show a fine, slightly red line down the centre.

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