Colour feeding have you done it?

[Beamesg]

So you year about people colour feeding there birds to enhance there colours

Has anyone tried this? Is it safe? And does it work?

My Sun Conure Rocky has got some beautiful red coming through and lots of it il love to enhance it but only if it's safe for him

 

[Dinosrawr]

I've actually never heard of it, rather I've just focused on feather health. What does it involve?

 

[Kiwibird]

I've never heard of this, but I'm guessing it's simply another way of phrasing feeding a healthy diet? When a bird is eating the right foods, their plumage will be stunning. Beautiful feathers start from the inside out

 

[Terry57]

I have a red factor canary and a Mosaic canary, and I do not feed the colour food. They have changed colours since I got them since they are no longer getting the colour food.
I just prefer them to be natural, and it worried me what I was putting into them if I used the colour food. I have never heard of it being used for a parrot before.

 

[RavensGryf]

I have only heard of color feeding for red factor canaries!
I'd just stick with a healthy diet for parrots. I know that birds who eat Harrison's really have their natural colors enhanced. Sometimes pretty noticeably.

 

[Mekaisto]

Colour feeding does not work for parrots.

Canaries (and many other birds) are colourful because there are pigments in their feathers that makes them coloured - these pigments are made by the bird using 'ingredients' in its diet, or they sometimes come straight from the diet itself.

With parrots however, this is not the case. Parrot feathers are not colourful due to pigments, but because of their structure - the barbs of the feather are shaped in such a way that they refract the sunlight that hits them, and the light that escapes is a particular colour - red, blue, yellow, etc. This is why a parrot will look brown or dull in the shade, and why they look duller when wet.

Most parrots do have some sort of pigment, for instance green feathers usually have yellow pigment in them. This is why you have so many 'blue' mutations of green birds - The yellow pigment is not present, leaving only the structure to give the feather colour - which is seen by us as blue (green minus yellow).

 

[Dinosrawr]

Yup! There's only 3 pigments in birds, actually. Melanins (black, grays, browns), carotenoids (reds/yellows), and porphyrins (red, brown, greens).

I assume that red canaries are "colour fed" because it involves carotenoid colours, and those are affected by what is consumed and not by what is structural, which is what Mekaisto is talking about. The really bright, gorgeous colours that are "sparkly" are iridescent or non-iredescent, and they're produced by a thin layer of keratin on the barbules and by how the light interacts with it - whether it reflects or scatters.

Blues and greens are not pigment, but structure. Greens appear by an overlay of yellow pigments over blue wavelengths, like what you see in yellow and green budgies. White feathers contain no pigment, and reflect all wavelengths thus giving white.

So, based on what's been said, colour feeding will not work for a bird unless it has feather colours based off of carotenoids, which most do not. Healthy, beautiful feathers come from proper diet and sunshine.

 

[RavensGryf]

Colour feeding does not work for parrots.

Canaries (and many other birds) are colourful because there are pigments in their feathers that makes them coloured - these pigments are made by the bird using 'ingredients' in its diet, or they sometimes come straight from the diet itself.

With parrots however, this is not the case. Parrot feathers are not colourful due to pigments, but because of their structure - the barbs of the feather are shaped in such a way that they refract the sunlight that hits them, and the light that escapes is a particular colour - red, blue, yellow, etc. This is why a parrot will look brown or dull in the shade, and why they look duller when wet.

Most parrots do have some sort of pigment, for instance green feathers usually have yellow pigment in them. This is why you have so many 'blue' mutations of green birds - The yellow pigment is not present, leaving only the structure to give the feather colour - which is seen by us as blue (green minus yellow).

Yup! There's only 3 pigments in birds, actually. Melanins (black, grays, browns), carotenoids (reds/yellows), and porphyrins (red, brown, greens).

I assume that red canaries are "colour fed" because it involves carotenoid colours, and those are affected by what is consumed and not by what is structural, which is what Mekaisto is talking about. The really bright, gorgeous colours that are "sparkly" are iridescent or non-iredescent, and they're produced by a thin layer of keratin on the barbules and by how the light interacts with it - whether it reflects or scatters.

Blues and greens are not pigment, but structure. Greens appear by an overlay of yellow pigments over blue wavelengths, like what you see in yellow and green budgies. White feathers contain no pigment, and reflect all wavelengths thus giving white.

So, based on what's been said, colour feeding will not work for a bird unless it has feather colours based off of carotenoids, which most do not. Healthy, beautiful feathers come from proper diet and sunshine.

Very interesting both of you! I've heard something before along those lines but thank you for explaining in more depth.

 

[Brdldy58]

I have only done this with red-factor canaries. The cross breeding of the canary with the Red Hooded Siskin gives them the genetic ability to transform beta-carotene to a spectrum of red color. I used to feed grated carrots.

A better result with any bird can be obtained through feeding canthraxanthin. While slightly unscrupulous, this does obtain a very deep red. I have never fed this to canaries and don't know of anyone who has attempted feeding it to any other bird variety.

Having said all of that, plenty of sunshine and a nice healthy diet consisting of fresh seeds, pellets, fresh fruits, and veggies goes a long way towards making healthy and colorful feathers. In my opinion, natural beats chemicals every day.

Deborah