Yorkshire History

The story of the Yorkshire canary began in 1894 in Bradford, England, with the Yorkshire Canary Club (YCC), founded by workers in the wool mills to exhibit their birds. This is why England, and Bradford in particular, is known as the home of the breed. Today it has a great many breeders all over the world and is regarded as the most widely kept of all type canaries.

Because the breed is bred towards an ideal size, shape and position, it can be described as a "brand". The ideal has gone through many evolutionary changes since 1894. The first Yorkshires were believed to be so long and slim that they could pass through a wedding ring. Although this is now seen as no more than an old legend, the early birds must indeed have been very slim.

Over the years the main change in the ideal was added substance in and around the shoulders. The breed reached its present model almost 40 years ago with birds bred by S. R. Golding, and that model forms the standard for all modern Yorkshires today.

Throughout its evolution the Yorkshire has tended to stand ever more upright and longer, like the hands of a clock showing five past seven. With its bold, upright carriage and broad shoulders tapering to the waist, it earned its reputation as the "guardsman" of the canary world.

In feeding, breeding and general care the modern Yorkshire is much like other popular canary breeds, yet it represents a more demanding fancy. Breeding and raising a bird of the Golding model is achievable. The skill of training and showing the bird brings out how bold, proud and upright it stands, and that is where the title "guardsman" comes from.

As the picture shows, the Yorkshire has been modelled in different ways over the years. In recent years the 1994 model has also been accepted as the ideal in Turkey.

Source: YCC UK