Breeding and Exhibiting Champion Yorkshires©

By Tony Ruiz

Obtaining the finest stock available at this time should be your number one priority.

The stock must be consistently as close to the Yorkshire standard of perfection as possible. In most cases the best way of going about this is, attending bird shows and talking to as many breeders of Yorkshires as possible. One should then get on the list, of the breeders that are winning and that have proven to be quality breeders.

Once this has been established you are now on your way to develop and improve your foundation stock. Be aware, that you will have many set backs and you must have determination if you are going to succeed. The goals from this day onward will be to improve your stock according to the Yorkshire standard.

Keeping close records of your breeding stock to insure you are not inbreeding or breeding birds that are too closely related at this time. Line breeding will be something you can get into once you have gained more experience with your stud of Yorkshires. Making sure you cull out any youngsters with undesirable faults. This will be very important in the beginning, to establish a strong and healthy stud.

One of the top priorities must be to learn about feather texture. Over one third of the points are given to the Yorkshire Canary for its feather quality. Birds that must be culled out are birds with serious feather faults such as coarse, long feathers, cuts, and frills. Brownness, and washed up color in birds are also a fault that needs to be culled. Washed up color or birds that have such poor color they look white, are usually a result of breeding clear birds as a line or family for a long period of time.

In many cases this can be fixed by breeding a really rich color green bird, throwing in some variegation. The variegation can be culled out through selective breeding, leaving your clear birds with the feather quality and rich color they should have.

One of the biggest mistakes made by many fanciers every where, is sacrificing

type, feather quality, and shape for size. Using a bird just because of its size can prove to be very costly.

The goal is to breed Yorkshires with feathers that are short, tight compact, and silky in texture, like the standard of perfection calls for. As a rule of thumb, always remember shape, and feather before size... To maintain and improve feather, you must breed these birds with correct mating of yellow to buff. Some fanciers will tell you that breeding buff to buff can increase the size; however, this is the fastest way of getting in trouble and ending up with birds that look big because of long thick feather. Therefore, setting you back a season and leaving you with birds that never win. Many fanciers breed Yorkshires to the 6 ¾”that is called for in the standard of perfection. I personally lean towards a bird that is about 7 to 7 ½” that can be dual purpose, show and stock bird at the same time. By this I think the stock can be more useful during the breeding season, also allowing you to maintain less stock.

If your goal is to breed birds that are about 7 to 7 ½ “you never have the problem of having show birds that are too small to use for breeding, but always keeping in mind, shape, and quality before size.

Breeders which have goals of breeding, showing and consistently producing Champion Yorkshires, must put training their show birds at the top of the priority list.

This is as important as management and good nutrition. Many times you attend a show and see great specimens let the owners down do to the lack of training.

The importance of training is to get the youngsters familiar with the surroundings as well as the show cage, placing them under lights similar to the ones used at the shows. This will help the youngsters get familiar with the judges stand. However, keeping in mind that position and style must be bred into your stock or all the training will not help if the youngsters are not well bred. I personally like to start training my youngsters at 5 weeks of age. I first start by hanging a show cage with no perches onto the stock cage. Once the youngsters are familiar with the show cage I then add bottom perches. Shortly, after the youngster start molting, I move them in the show cage to different areas of the bird room. allowing them to spend a little time in the show cage. Once, the birds are well into the molt training stops, till the birds are almost done molting. Once the chicks look like they have molted up to the shoulders, training starts again with all the perches in the show cage and the cages are then handled as often as possible.

One very important factor in breeding Champion Yorkshires is making sure the legs are correct. Legs that are to short or set to far back will spoil the over all look of the Yorkshire. This fault can be very difficult to breed out of your strain. Yorkshires with these leg faults can never stand at about 65° to70° or on a clock, 20 to25 minutes to 1 o’clock.

Yorkshires of poor position that lay across the perch should never be used for breeding.

Keeping in mind that 25 points of the 100 points go for position. 20 points for feather and 25 points for shape, that’s 70 % of the 100 points given, leaving 30 points for condition, color and size.

Most breeders don’t realize that size is only 10 points. This is the very reason you will see many times smaller Yorkshires of good feather and shape beat out bigger birds on the show bench. Qualified judges know that shape, feather, and quality always prevail over size.

The Yorkshire Canary is Back!

Tony Ruiz

The Yorkshire canary is considered to be one of the largest and oldest of all the breed of canaries, dating as far back as 1894. In England, where the Yorkshire breed originates, it is still one of the top breeds shown at many specialty shows with numbers recording up to as many as 1,000 birds per show. The Yorkshire canary is finally starting to make a comeback in the United States, where at one time the numbers were at their lowest for Yorkshires. The Yorkshire canary is known as the “Gentleman of the Bird Fancy”. If you have the honor of setting eyes on a Yorkshire of excellent standard you will then know why the Yorkshire is called the “Gentleman of the Bird Fancy”. Mr. S.R. Golding of Middlesex, England, has drawn the model of the Yorkshire that is shown today. The following is a description of the Yorkshire features so that you will know what an excellent specimen will look like. These descriptions are a quote from the “Standard of Excellence”.

Head

Must be full, round, clean and very defined. The back skull should be deep and carried back in line with the rise of the shoulders.

Eye

Should be as near to the center of the head as possible, not too near the top of the head. This will give a rather bold expression.

Shoulders

Should be proportionately broad, rounded and carried well up and gradually merging into the head.

Chest

Should be full and deep, corresponding with the width and rise of the shoulders, and carried up to the base of the beak. The beak should be neat and fine not to mention trimmed.

Body Outline

Should be of the utmost importance in a Yorkshire canary. Being a bird of position, its outline or shape should be as close to the “Standard of Excellence” as possible. The body should be well rounded and gradually tapering throughout the tail. The neck must be very short and well filled in giving the bird a solid appearance. This appearance gives the impression of erectness and fearlessness, which earned the bird the nickname of “Guard man”. This is why it is also known as the “Gentleman of the Bird Fancy”.

Legs

Must be long yet not stilty. This helps the Yorkshire form a position of attention. It must not squat or lean over the perch but stand at attention. Some people believe this can be trained, but I believe it must be bred into them. The position of the Yorkshire helps tie in the head, shoulders, and back held high and tapering to the tail to form a nice wedge.

Feathers

Must be close, short and tight to the body. There should not be any frilliness found on the bird anywhere. The Yorkshire canary must have feather of the highest quality in order for it to be considered top quality.

Wings

Should be not too long but proportionately and evenly carried down the center of the back, firmly set on a compact folded tail. Meeting together nicely.

Tail

Should be held together very tight and not fanned. The size should be 6 ¾” with corresponding proportion. It should compliment its length.

Health

Cleanliness, and feather quality is of the utmost importance in order for the bird to look its best. The Yorkshire canary must be color fed. The color must be pure, even, and consistent, throughout the entire bird. Contrary to some reports of the Yorkshire being hard to breed or that it does not feed the young, it’s easier to blame the breed when in fact it’s due to their own failure of conditioning the birds.

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Buying Yorkshires from an unknown breeder, regardless of price, can become a very painful experience. Cheap is never a bargain. Remember if it’s too good to be true it never is. Always try buying from a respectable Yorkshire breeder that is successful as a breeder and, as a top exhibitor, wins on a regular basis. This will ensure that the birds you purchase will be of the utmost quality and are from a good line. Only then will you produce Yorkshires closer to the “Standard of Excellence” than any other. I’m very pleased to say that the quality of the Yorkshires here in the U.S. has improved in the past 7 to 8 years tremendously, thanks to a handful of Yorkshire breeders. In my view the quality of Yorkshires here is very compatible to those in England. We need more breeders to get involved with this wonderful breed. Condition and training are very important. I start training my youngsters when they are a month old. I hang a show cage on the front of the stock cage so they can enter as they wish. After about a month I place the youngster in their show cages on a bench. This helps them get use to being handled. Make sure you handle the cage form the bottom, not from the top. Give them some greens in their show drinkers and they will soon learn how to drink from their show cages. I stop handling the birds during the molt and restart after they finish. At this time I handle the birds as much as my time will allow me to. Keep in mind that temperament and position has to be bred. If the young are not well bred, all the training in the world will not help. Keeping your birds in good condition is the key to success. The room and cages in which your Yorkshires are kept must be kept clean all the time along with good diet and clean water daily. Anyone that is interested in breeding Yorkshire for showing and improving the breed or just to improve their existing stock will find that the opportunity to purchase a better class Yorkshire canary in America is far better today than ever before. Keep in mind that the investment in the Yorkshires canary of today’s standard will be well represented in the very near future, a future as bright as its past.

There have been many articles written about how to raise birds of all breeds. These are some of the methods that work for me and how to feed my Yorkshires. First of all, never let anyone tell you what the best formula of nestling food or seed is, or how to feed your birds. The best formula is the one that works best for you. There’s an old saying that goes something like, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This means that if you are having any kind of result with the methods or foods you are currently using now don’t change it. There are too many types of foods on the market today and they are basically all good. Just find one that fits the needs of your birds and if it works, stick to it. I started raising Yorkshires in 1984. Believe it or not I got my first pair from a pet store. Before that, I raised pigeons as a kid. I later sold everything and just had canaries as pets. One day when buying food for my birds I saw my first Yorkshire. I knew then that if I even started raising birds that was what I was going to raise. I went back to that store the next day and bought a pair. To my surprise it cost the same to feed these big birds and they eat the same food as the common canaries. It wasn’t till 1987 that I started showing, but only locally. The rest is history.

I like feeding my birds a diet of seed that is mixed, 80%canary seed and 20% rapeseed. I find that this mixture works best for me. I give this to them all year round, in addition to treats 3 times a week, depending on the season. For example, during the show season I only give them treats just once a week and alternate with greens. The reason for this is that the birds become too fit during this time. The lights at most show halls are left on a lot longer than in the bird room for that time of the year, and if you over feed the birds, they will start to come in condition for breeding too early. In Yorkshires, diet is one of the biggest problems. Improper diet is the cause for poor breeding condition, keeping weight on them, and of course the main problem of poor feeding hens. You seldom see a fat Yorkshire. Usually they are too thin. I am not adverse to trying something new, if it sounds reasonable, but for the most part I stay with what works for me. If your birds are doing well your fertility is good and your hens are good feeders, certainly there is no reason to upset what is apparently a good system. When it comes to breeding I like to bring the birds in condition slowly, similar to the birds in the wild. Once the birds are in condition I only breed the best to the best. But I don’t pair the birds off. I like to run my best males to as many hens that they can handle. The hens then have the job of feeding the young alone. I find that this works better because if you leave the male with the hens she sometimes gets lazy and will not get off the nest to feed the young, especially if she is in with a cock that likes to feed her. This is bad for the babies because out of three to four feedings from the cock she will only feed the babies once. This also will able you to produce more chicks from your best cocks. Once the young are a month old I start show training them. These birds are not hard to breed. It’s what we make of it, keeping in mind that what works for one breed may not just work for another. It’s up to you the breeder to find what works for your birds needs. The markets are full of everything you can possibly think of, every mixer of seed, nestling foods of all types, and variety vitamins for everything. My advice to all the novices is to read articles and books, and ask known breeders how they care for their Yorkshires. Take everything you think that sounds reasonable advice and put together a management program for your Yorkshires that will work for you. I for one will remain the keeper of the Yorkshire.

Tony Ruiz selecting his show team