White Melanin

In Search of Recessive White Melanin Canaries

By Kevin Wirick

As a breeder of colorbred canaries I am always trying to challenge myself to keep the interest as high as I can. Recessive White melanin canaries have always been a bird that I would like to try to breed.

The recessive blue and the recessive fawn were first show at the Crystal Palace in 1927 by A.K. Gill. They were bred by Mr. L.P. Luke from birds imported by him in 1925 direct from Mr. Martin of New Zealand. Mr. Luke received four birds the survivors of a consignment of twelve. The remainder of the birds perished in the heat met with in the Panama Canal. From these four birds, Mr. Luke established this strain in England. Recessive whites now in our possession are the descendants of these four birds. In breeding blues and fawn our aim should be the production of light feathers, which in a dark self are defects. The breeders of recessive whites, blues and fawns are warned against crossing them with the dominant white, blues or fawns. This cross cannot obtain increased purity of color in the latter. The only thing likely to happen is that the breeder will lose his recessive white strain as others have done in the past.

The effects of recessive white melanin of a white ground bird can have a very pleasing effect on the visual appearance of the bird. The yellow that is so often seen on a dominant white ground melanin bird is gone and the birds appear to have more defined markings.

In my search for these birds, I have bred green/recessive white to normal greens or blues. But this is a very bad way to try to produce these birds, as you only 25% of the babies born out of this pairing are carriers. The only easy way to find out if a bird carries this gene is to pair him/her to a full recessive white bird. I know these birds would be more popular in this country if you could readily find stock. If you do want to start raising these by a full recessive male and two or three carrier hens.

I will try to describe in this article how to produce recessive white melanin birds from recessive white lipochromes and dominate self-canary. Only go about this step if you cannot find any recessive melanin birds. This will be a three to four year task so don't undertake it lightly.

The first year acquire two unrelated recessive white males of good size and breed these birds to unrelated hens. I would uses two greens and two blues. From these pairings you should produce greens and blues that may some varying amounts of variegation. All of the young will carry recessive white. I normally mark my birds with a white plastic band so I know that they are split. With the young from the four hens and the two different males, this should supply you with a good nucleus. In the second year, take the best-marked birds and make your pairings. You could expect 25% recessive white blues. The birds skin will appear as a "death warmed over look". The skin of the recessive white appears different from the dominant white so watch for it in the nest. I would be hesitant in keeping birds that are not recessive white from this year breeding, as they would have to be test bred to see if they are carriers. Twenty-five percent of the young produced will be recessive white, twenty-five percent will no carry the recessive gene and fifty percent will carry the gene. It would be ideal after the second year to secure a few full recessive birds so you can test breed the unknown birds. Even a few carriers would be great to pair to your know recessive whites. If you crossed a possible carrier to another possible carrier you could go on for years and never produce a recessive white melanin. It is not a good idea to pair a full recessive to a full recessive, as the birds tend to become weaker.

Recessive whites in lipochrome need extra vitamin A supplement added to their diet. I have used Nekton vitamin/mineral powder in their water with good results. I would also suggest Vita-lights in the birdroom as these help the birds absorb vitamin A. I don't know for sure if this is the same for the recessive white melanin but I will treat mine the same.

Eventually, once you establish your strain in a pure form, you might consider crossing such things as Satinette or Opal into your strain. But you must remember that you will have to cross recessive white to dominate and take carriers back to other males and/or hens.

Whatever you do, do not cross the recessive gene into everything you have for you could be sorry down years down the line. Just as I don't want Opals in everything I surely don't want recessive white in everything.

You should be responsible breeder and breed birds with a purpose in mind and not just breed birds because they might sell better if the are variegated. It takes as much good food and time to produce good birds that it does to produce a poor one.

1) New Coloured Canaries, by A.K. Gill, published by Cage Birds, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London, S.E. 1

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