Half good breeding, and half diet. Might be the snakes too!Some of this I would agree with. Color bred canaries are just that; bred to be really good at taking on color from substances that will color any buff/yellow ground canary. They just do it better. As for chickens all the old time buff breeders I ever knew would remind those of us who love the color that while buff is visually a self color it aint a simple color. The shafting is, as has been alluded to, genetic baggage from the more primitive color patterns that buff was developed from. Same with those beautiful gold laced. Feeding and management can and will affect condition but I'd hate to see a beginner with all the things that can go wrong with buff color thinking they can feed their way out of trouble. We have all seen gorgeous golden buff ground color in the best of condition and still seen shafting or a myriad of other problems. Buff color is a challenge though a worthy one. If it were as simple as being able to feed for a diminished shafting effect the brown Leghorn breeders would have patented that recipe years ago. I will say that the original "Golden Horde" had a lot of the right things going on but a slightly odd tone of buff at the same time. None of this is meant to take anything away from the fun of seeing well raised birds very nicely presented. However, my own buffs ate frogs and even toads and while they enjoyed them they were no magic formula for great color.
