Steve Dominey
Yorkshire & Fife Fancy Canaries
WEBSITE CREATED
5th JAN 2013
Breeding
My overriding interest has been to establish a stud of high quality related birds. A strain of birds that exhibit their qualities and reproduce those qualities in the breeding room, reproducing birds with worthwhile pedigree and true to type.
There have been many statements on the virtues of line and inbreeding. Invariably the most
positive ones have been from those who have exceeded their counterparts on the show bench.
My own knowledge on the subject was developed from one of the fancy’s most successful,
M.P. James from Minehead, Somerset. I was fortunate to spend considerable time in his presence
over many years of visiting his bird room. Percy aided my fascination of the Yorkshire Canary and
every part of the hobby. He was forthright with his views and totally committed to his breeding
plan and stud creation. His 1980 he bred a cinnamon ticked buff cock still remains the finest Yorkshire canaries I have ever seen.
Pedigree combined with selection is in my opinion the way forward combined with the essential
quality of all top bird men, the ability to develop ‘an eye for type’ and the ability to carry this in
ones minds eye.
Forming an inbred family that reproduce the family likeness is the way forward and gives an
excellent opportunity for the breeder to make pairings based on their genetic background as well
as appearance to breed birds that are even better than their parents in show quality.
A knowledge of genetics is an advantage, here I found many years ago books written by ‘old hand’
on fancy pigeons which gave me the understanding and proof of this method of forming a strain.
I believe these books to be well out of print but are well worth searching out.
My stud of Yorkshire canaries remain 100% bloodline of Bob Pepper who in turn developed
his successful stud from that of leading Bradford fancier Joe Cluderay. When Bob rentered the
hobby after a short break we combined our birds to form the 'Yorkie Supreme' partnership.
My Fife Fancy Canary stud is now being built from some of the countries leading studs in England
and Scotland. This presents a new challenge for me and I have already enjoyed my initial visits to
some of the specialist shows where I have been able to view top quality exhibits as well as
meeting a few of the exhibitors who have all been forthcoming with advice on my new pursuit.
Its a stud in the making and I wish to thank the fanciers who have helped me with suitable breeding stock.
This video shows Bob Peppers Green Marked Buff Cock multiple specialist club winner.
All of the birds in my room are related to this bird.
Green marked buff cock at six weeks old that went on to take best in show at the Midland YCC
A clear buff hen feeding her youngsters. All four from this nest were hens and were retained within in the breeding team