Hard or soft feathered?

[lilac_dust]

Hi, I'm very new to breeding canaries. I'm wondering what my 2 females are before getting a male.

Are they soft or hard feathered?

 

[WillowQ]

It’s probably easier to tell that in person, or in avian.

 

[lilac_dust]

What am I looking for when checking?

 

[WillowQ]

Hard Feather Canary VS Soft Feather Canary – Crested Canary

crestedcanary.com

Here is an article about how to tell if you have a soft feathered or hard feathered canary. They’ve got a table listing characteristics and whether hard or soft feathered birds. I’m not sure how to describe it.


Yellow” = “Hard Feather.”
“Buff” = “Soft Feather.”
“Intensive” = “Hard Feather”
“Non-Intensive” = “Soft Feather.”
“Frosted” = “Soft Feather.”
“Non-Frosted” = “Hard Feather.”
“Red” = “Hard Feather”
“Apricot” = “Soft Feather.”
“Gold” = Can be either “Hard Feather” or “Soft Feather.”
“Silver” = Can be either “Hard Feather” or “Soft Feather.”

(This table is from the article.).

 

[WillowQ]

My guess is that your two yellows are hard feathered and your pied bird is soft feathered.
You do want to pay attention to breeding hard x soft because canary feather cysts can be awful. Very painful and stressful for the bird to deal with.