FINCHforum

I had to take my beautiful canary to the avian vet due to large feather lose to his head. She told me that he isn’t getting the necessary vitamins he needs. I have been changeing his diet to pellets. But we all know that’s a slow process. He does get greens, fruits and other good things for help to eat. She recommended me to get sunshine factor red palm oil. I asked if there was anything else but she said no. The problem is that I can’t give my bird palm oil due to the palm oil trade hurting other animals. As a animal science major I can’t give one animal something that is hurting another animal. So now I need to find a good vitamin source for him. Any help to find this good vitamin source is appreciated.

Asherjon88

If red palm oil is anything like regular palm oil, it looks like the only thing it's good for is vitamin E, and it's not even great for that: Palm Oil Nutrition Information. Although this site is intended for human nutrition, it's still good for comparing nutrients in certain foods.

Wheat germ oil has the most vitamin E, although I would be careful, as providing too much could lead to overdose. Oily seeds such as sunflower and safflower are good sources, along with alfalfa, celery, and carrot, so you could try using that instead. Here's a list of foods highest in vitamin E; just find the foods that are safe for birds (so mostly non-processed, vegetable foods).

EDIT: So it looks like red palm oil is from the fruit, not the vegetable part of the plant. This would probably make it more sustainable, although I would not necessarily trust the site that is selling it saying that it is sustainable. It's also high in carotenoids, which are helpful for color-feeding. If your bird eats enough red peppers, carrot, sweet potato, and other red and orange fruits and veggies, color food is not required for red feathers. If your bird is not red-factor, color food won't do much of anything.

On the Finch Information Center site, http://www.finchinfo.com/index.php
they say the everything a finch needs is contained in these foods:
Dark green vegetables, carrot, sweet potato etc.
Seeds
Boiled egg
Mineral mix like the one from Abba http://www.abbaseed.com/Seed_Products/M ... neral.html
Sunflower chips

I've given my Canaries this diet for quite a few years, no vitamins added, and I've been happy with the results.

Individual bird species might have different requirements, so reading about your particular finch breed is important.

Thank you both I will start adding more fresh fruits and veggies to his diet.

I had the same issue with my greenfinch male last year, everyone thought it was mite infestation but it was all related to poor absorption of vitamin D. I started him on a vitamins in water every other day with, fresh Dandelion greens in between, feathers started to grow 2 weeks in.