red factor egg food

[slwatson]

So I ordered some Volkman golden egg food to mix with my boiled eggs, and the seller on Amazon sent me the wrong kind. Now I'm stuck with two packages of Volkman's red factor egg food, and I don't want the hassle of sending it back. Is this safe to give to my birds who aren't red?

[Smurf]

I wouldn't feed it to them, i know from experience giving red canary food to yellow canaries turns them orange with splotchy yellow bits

[cindy]

are you asking if it is ok to give to you finches?

[Sally]

slwatson Why not bring it to the mart and sell it at Helen's table? I am not using my table, so Helen will have three tables, plenty of space. There will be a vendor there with Volkman's egg food, so you can buy the regular kind. This is what I use for my birds, I love this brand.

[Atbird]

I have red canaries and they used to be housed with linnies and diamond doves. The linnies and doves also eat the red food and did not change their colors, even though my Linnie is yellow, her feathers are that color from a different mechanism than a canary. The canary takes in beta carotene and convert it to yellow and the red factors turn it to orange/red. The canthaxanthin is converted to orange in yellow canaries, and red in red factors. If you give red egg food to a white canary, which does not convert the beta carotene/canthaxanthin to pigment, it will stay white.

So to answer your question, it depends on how the bird produces the pigment on its feathers.

[lovezebs]

slwatson

As far as I know, red food will only turn red Canaries redder. It will not turn yellow Canaries into red ones. Had it been so easy, than Canary breeders of by gone days, would not have had to breed the yellow Canaries to the Red Siskins, to get the Red Canaries.

[Derk]

slwatson
Not really sure if I should post since I only have one pied gloster canary and I have never fed the red factor food but I did order some canaries (that were normally yellow) for a friend of mine when I ordered some finches last summer. The supplier asked if it was ok if they had some orange splotching since they had had access to red factor food. Because theses canaries were not going to be used for show and because, it was my understanding, the red would go away with the next moult if the red food was discontinued, my friend bought the birds. I saw them, and yes, they were definitely blotchy. I have not asked my friend about these specific birds since a week or two after they arrived. (They were healthy and doing fine) Next time I speak to him, I will ask what their colour is like.

[slwatson]

Sally

I didn't read your post until today...that would have been a great idea!

[slwatson]

lovezebs Derk Atbird

Thanks! I ended up using it for my last batch of eggs, only because I didn't have anything else, but I don't think I'll use it again. I do have some red in a few of my birds, like the red throated parrot finches, and some of the gouldians, but that's it.