Canary Question

[taz2010 1,297]

you need to colour feed gnasher soon as the bird starts moulting I use carophyl best around,i usually start old birds in the water on there second round as they start moulting the odd feather and then in there water and egg food for chicks on the third round,first round of chicks get colour feed 1 week after been took out of nest, I don't feed seed to young canaries to completely coloured, I use egg food ,crushed bread crumbs ,soak seed .a little touch of aniseed oil all with colour feed until all chicks coloured up then introduce seed to them hope this helps

[gnasher16 31,602]

I probably committed the cardinal sin of buying an animal without first learning the basics about it ..............Thanks for the info Taz i,ll keep it in mind,much appreciated

[brookie 1,193]

Well your to late to colour feed it now as it's already moulted into it's new feather and the colour feed is drawn up into the new feathers as they grow,at most it'll make it patchy but won't be a even colour.Your'll get some red back into it come spring when it has a light moult but next year when the main moult is on is when you need to do it and yes it will affect all the birds that drink the water in some way.I've some in a water drinker now in with my goldie mules and once the main moult is done i shall catch all my redpolls up and pluck just a few chest feather out of this years young un's and then colour feed them and the cocks will show pink new breast feathers,i have to do it this way as red poll cocks only get a red tinge to their chests after their second moult so by plucking a few feathers after this moult then i'm getting the birds feathers into growing back a year early type thing.Usefull stuff but in water in a cage it'll look like the birds been in a blender in there so be warned .

is it ok to put colour into the drinkers now fireman my mules are someway thru the moult not finished yet but well into it .thanks

[taz2010 1,297]

they will still colour with colour feed as long as there still moulting brookie

[brookie 1,193]

they will still colour with colour feed as long as there still moulting brookie

thanks for that il get some into em in the morning .atvb

[francolin 449]

 

they will still colour with colour feed as long as there still moulting brookie

thanks for that il get some into em in the morning .atvb

 

if they have started to moult then you colour feed they might colur up patchy. Mate due to some feather already grown befor the colour is in there system atb.

[gnasher16 31,602]

Apparently these colour feeds that you put in the water are pepper based......dont know about you chaps but i wouldnt give anything pepper based to an animal that size it just creates massive thirst and pickles the kidneys in no time.......think i,ll get the powder ones instead.....................when does moulting normally finish anyway around mid Oct time ?

[firthy 54]

Ya get intensive red factors and non intensive red factors basically non intensive a white with slight red feathers to get it to be red ya need to colour feed it with either egg food with clorophyll red or one that you mix with boiling water then cold water into the birds drinkers

[gnasher16 31,602]

Since you chaps said about the colour feed that bird in the first pictures now looks like this

 

In the meantime ive bought a few more red factors from a good chap off here who recommended me Orlux colour feed which im now using.............however,it seems to be throwing a hint of red into all the birds even the ones who are not supposed to be red !..............Is that just something you have to put up with or is there a way around it without splitting them all up ?

[Malt 379]

Apparently these colour feeds that you put in the water are pepper based......dont know about you chaps but i wouldnt give anything pepper based to an animal that size it just creates massive thirst and pickles the kidneys in no time.......think i,ll get the powder ones instead.....................when does moulting normally finish anyway around mid Oct time ?

You'll probably find the pepper used is capsicum based and it doesn't have the same effect on birds Gnash.. The pepper in capsicums is there to stop mammals eating the fruit and destroying the seeds with their teeth. Birds eat them and the seeds pass through their digestive system unharmed to be deposited some distance away from the parent plant. A bird don't have the receptors to get the burning hot feeling that we get when we have a curry dosed up with chilli peppers..

[gnipper 6,874]

You'll just have to put up with the others getting a dose of red mate unless you want to split them up. It's surprising how much you can colour none red factors.

[pappabear 128]

even my green canaries now have a hint of red but i find the orlux easier to feed to them and there is very little wastage with it , hope the birds are settling in ok

[gnasher16 31,602]

even my green canaries now have a hint of red but i find the orlux easier to feed to them and there is very little wastage with it , hope the birds are settling in ok

They are doing great mate thats one of yours in the background of the pic...........the hint of red in the others aint the end of the world just wondered if there was any way round it......crackers them red cobalts i really like them

[pappabear 128]

they are stunners and the cock does sing nice but i just had too many , hoping to get another aviary/bird room done for spring time , the hint of red in the others just adds variety

[stevemac 449]

Red factors are a verity of canary that is the result of a canary red siskin hybred that happened to be fertile. a true red factor that molts and is not fed colour food will remain an apricot colour. your bird is just a yellow canary that has been colour fed some people do that out here just to sell them for more money to unknowing people. I would suspect that even when you bough your bird it would not have been the deep red colour of a true red factor.