color food

[scotty]

Hi......just wondering,years ago I had a Red Factor canary and was told to feed it color food so that when it molted its new feathers would come in as bright, Do you think giving a Bourke color food would make it even more beautiful:confused:
Would love to know
Scotty:wub:

[Shirley]

Not likely. color food is for red factor canaries... it enhances the natural "red factor" of their feathers.

Parrots' feather colors (Bourke's are parrots) are not affected so much by food. Their color is produced entirely differently from non-hookbills.

BirdTalk magazine had an article on that last spring I believe... a lot of chemistry and science in this particular article ...

The red in parrots is a polyenol (polyene attached to an enol) The main point is, parrot feather colors are NOT carotenes or anthocyanins (both are plant derived) The birds synthesize the color themselves from fatty acids. We're only talking about red here. Other colors in part can be due to other pigments or a structural effect (the irisdescent sheen is structural color). the same is true for hummingbirds, for example, and for the reason a CD has "rainbows" when you hold it in the light.

Non-hookbills do not use polyenols for the red pigment in their feathers, and they can get redder due to diet (flamengos eating crawfish, Canaries being fed color food).

Here is a resource for part of this answer:

Coherent scattering of ultraviolet light by avian feather barbs (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_200301/ai_n9214011)

And from this article:

Avian Nutrition by East Paluma Animal Hospital (http://www.epah.net/birds/avnnutrition.html)

6. Lysine Deficiency
Low lysine levels (an amino acid) has been shown to cause poor feather color and may result in yellow plumage. It is sometimes seen in birds fed mainly corn.

[Shirley]

Check this out, and Kevin McGraw has written for BirdTalk Magazine (July 2005)

Being Red (http://www.asu.edu/research/fall2005/Fal05_14color.pdf)

[parrotgirl]

I have to agree with Shirley, feeding your Bourkes coloured food won't enchance their colours. I can't comment on canaries as I've not had them and don't really know anything about them.

[Shirley]

July 2005 BirdTalk Magazine has an EXCELLENT article that explains the science and chemistry of feather color - page 56, by Kevin McGraw and Susan Chamberlain

~ Shirley