Thank You
Gary,
The second suppliment listed has both bogena and canthaxantine.
The first is great at coloring wing/tail feather the second, body feathers... so if you want to the most red this would be the chouice.
You will hear people say it is not safe to give year round, but this has been proven not to be so.
Breeders who show canaries use it year round because if the bird accidently looses a feather like from plucking then if they were not colorfed the replacement feather would come in not fully colored and could ruin their show winning chances. The problem comes in people overdosing the coloring suppliments. I guess they think the more suppliment the more red. This is not the case as the birds body will asorb only so much ...just like with vitamin A... if too much is given then toxic levels can be built up in the liver.
You can divide the dosage and mix small amounts. a few days supply of colored water can be kept in the refrigerator. Remember that canaries will drink bath water also so this may cause them to drink less of the colored water.
My routine when I bred these was to remove all water tubes at nightfall. In the morning when the birds were thirsty (most birds drink the majority of their water consumption for the day at daybreak/or in indoor set ups at lights on.)
This way I knew they got a good dosage of the suppliments. This is wise to do when administering meds like S76 also to ensure good intake of meds. I would later place the baths on for a a half hour or so. I always removed the baths within this time frame.
As far as knowing when the bird will molt...most will molt in the summer if kept at natural lighting... they will breed in the spring. However many breeder breed in timer controled rooms and can bring the birds into breeding condition almost anytim of the year. Thus affecting the molting time also. Most birds will molt following breeding season. When I bred I did so in the winter as this is when I had more free time from my grooming/boarding business. I was just too busy in the spring
But once the birds are kept at the same seasonal rotaion, be it natural or artificially induce, the birds will molt at the same time each year. If the birds internal clocks are changed such may have happened with your bird movent to it's new home, also other stresses can cause a premature molt and these sometimes are not full molts. I am sure now that your canary has adjusted to his surrounding he will molt on a regular schedule... 6 weeks prior to molting is usually plent of time to start colorfeeding.
It is important to have an idea of when any bird will molt because it takes so much energy/protein to build new feathers that major complications can result if you are trying to breed the bird at the same time the bird is trying to build new feathers before the molt. This may result in poor feather quality of new feather, extreme difficult molts sometimes even killing the bird, neglect of the chicks being fed, etc. Once you see the feathers falling an the bird looking bedraggled it is a little late to correct the problem, much less colorfeed. I believe many keepers do not realize the importance of having a pre molting bird on a protein diet without the stress of breeding, rearing chicks........ Many even die unnecessary
If you start to colrfed say 3 weeks before the molt, some feather will have the red...some won't which can created a very interesting bird. A color that was popular in my aviary I termed the sunset canary... the head feathers are the last feather to be replace in a full molt. I would purposely colorfeed late so there was a gradual build of red coloration towards the head... resembly a sunet
This is not an actual color but a creation that I happened on as the result of one of my experiements and just happen to like. Some other did also and I always had a waiting list for those special fed birds
One very important word of advice... No method of color feeding will generate red birds if the hue is not latent in the pedigree.
You must start with well bred birds
If you find the liquid mixing too much of a pain you can try the color nestling/egg foods..... mixed with egg or sprouts the birds will consume more. I use ABBA products now but have used most all brands at one time or another..... The ones I linked are convienant for everyone and afforadable.
http://www.petco.com/product/14864/Quik ... aries.aspx
This is one that you can mix with the pellets you are feeding...how simple is that
especially bird that have a blue natural color... such as in the bronze canaries.
http://www.asongintheair.com/colorfooddescription.html
He also thought the bird had some hormonal problems..
I have been feeding Ralf Red but I probably need to unpack some and get it into some birds before they start molting and loose their color