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I bought a yellow canaries pair about a month ago. This is first time I am having canaries. Both of my yellow canaries are about 2 years old and very healthy. They are slowly molting. I have noticed that yellow feathers are being replaced by white feathers.
Do pure yellow canaries need some yellow color feed? If yes, then what should I feed them to maintain their vibrant yellow color?

Canary Experts
Please answer my questions.

no yellow canaries get plenty of xanthophylls from a healthy diet of seed (rape see) and greens.

Here's an article about xanthophylls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthophyll

Thanks for replying me. I will add rape seeds in their seed mix and will give them more varieties of green.

jonvill wrote: no yellow canaries get plenty of xanthophylls from a healthy diet of seed (rape see) and greens.

Here's an article about xanthophylls:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthophyll

A healthy diet and natural daylight schedule will keep your canaries in prime condition. For a yellow canary, that would include dark green, leafy vegetables. If your birds don't carry the red factor gene, no amount of beta carotine or canthaxanthin is going to change their color any. Bob

They do sell a yellow coloring additive for them

Thank you very much Bob. My canaries are in a well protected outdoor aviary. They get plenty of sunshine daily. I put a shallow water dish in aviary. They love to take a bath twice daily.

30 Seconds to Bob wrote: A healthy diet and natural daylight schedule will keep your canaries in prime condition. For a yellow canary, that would include dark green, leafy vegetables. If your birds don't carry the red factor gene, no amount of beta carotine or canthaxanthin is going to change their color any. Bob

Canary Experts,
I want to ask some more questions.
I got my canaries from two different breeders in early November, 2012. I put them in my aviary same day. Within a couple of days female canary started to build a nest in a food dish attached to a wall of the aviary. I replaced that food dish with a bamboo nest (designed for canaries) and put some nesting material in aviary. She completed her nest in 3 days and on 4th day, I saw an egg in her nest. She laid 5 eggs. During this whole time male was singing a lot and chasing her a lot. To me it looked like a minor fighting. He never hurt her. I saw their mating only when she was sitting in her nest and arranging the nesting material. I never saw any mating on perch or on floor.
Male used to feed her some time during incubation but whenever she took one or two minutes break from incubation and left for eating, male always chased her aggressively. Anyway, she incubated the eggs for about 18 days and then stopped sitting on them. I broke each egg one by one and all were infertile.
I did some research on the net about canaries before buying them. According to my research canaries do not breed in winter months.

Why my female canary laid eggs in November (winter)?
Is it normal for a male canary to chase a female canary aggressively during breeding time?
Should I separate them or leave the together? Now male rarely chases he but he still sings a lot.

Canaries are photosensitive. Their entire breeding cycle is based upon length of day. They can breed any time the duration of daylight is greater than 11.5 hours, but don't reach peak fertility until around 13. They also do best if given a natural (or simulated) winter, where duration of day is 11 hours or less for a couple of months.
It sounds like your birds were (or are) being given too much artificial daylight. Other factors that can trigger "off season" breeding are too rich a winter diet (too much protein or egg food) or too many green leafy veggies, making them think that it is spring. It's kind of complicated, but at the same time it's not - they are birds from a temperate climate and require seasons. Late winter/early spring is for mating, breeding and raising chicks. Summer is for moulting. Fall and winter are for rest and recuperation.
Vitamin E can help with male fertility, but ultimately it all comes down to length of day. And yes, come breeding season there is a lot of bickering and chasing that goes on. Keep an eye on them to be sure that it doesn't get too extreme and separate them for a while if it does. As long as the male is feeding the hen and there is cooperative nest building going on, things should be OK.
There is a lot of info online about canary breeding and daylight schedules - use your favorite search engines to look it up. My first two (ignorant) years of attempting to breed canaries were disasterous. Had several very successful years after that. Hope this helps. Bob

Thank you Bob.
My canaries are in an outdoor aviary but it is very close to my bed room window. It gets some artificial light in the morning & at night through the window of my bedroom along with natural daylight. I was giving them broccoli daily along with seeds. They loved broccoli and preferred it over the seeds. I agree with you that too much artificial light and broccoli might triggered their "off season" breeding.
Your answers helped me a lot.

I don't think the broccoli is what's doing it. Broccoli is more of a winter veggie, appropriate for this time of year. More likely due to the lighting or the lighting they came from prior to you getting them. Once they've been "trown off", it sometimes takes them a season to get back to normal. Don't forget supplemental calcium if the hens have been laying eggs. Good luck! Bob

I am just coming up to the end of the canary breeding season. Essentially breeding canaries comes dowm mainly to hours of daylight, with 13 hpd being the optimum. There are occasionally some compatability problems between cocks and hens but this is usually easily manged. I put my cocks in a cage next to the hens and pair them up once i see the male feeding her. Bickering and chasing is all perfectly normal as long as neither bird is hurt. The male will attack her if she is not ready to breed. Main issue is not to try and breed canaries either outside the breeding season or too early into it.