Why red canaries need colour feeding
A red canary carries the genes for red, but its diet decides how red it looks.
Red factor canaries cannot make red pigment on their own. They carry the genes to lay red carotenoids into new feathers, but the carotenoids have to come from food. Feed a red bird plain seed through its moult and the new feathers come in a pale orange or apricot.
When it matters: the moult
Feathers only take on colour while they grow. Once a feather is grown, its colour is fixed until the next moult. That is why colour feeding is timed to the moult, usually late summer into autumn for canaries kept in our climate, and why a bird that misses it shows the result for a full year.
What breeders use
Most exhibitors use a commercial colour food based on canthaxanthin, mixed into egg food or water at the dose on the label. Natural sources such as red pepper, carrot and beetroot help, but rarely give a full show colour on their own.
- Start before the first new feathers appear, not after.
- Keep the dose steady. Uneven feeding gives uneven colour, and judges notice.
- More is not better. Follow the label, and ask an avian vet if you are unsure.
Yellow and white birds
Yellow and white canaries are not colour fed. Red pigment turns a yellow bird orange, and a white bird should stay white. Keep their food separate from the reds during the moult.
