Canary Question, faded feathers.

[hugatree]

Hello Everyone,

I have a question and was wondering if anyone could help me with it.

I have always wanted a canary and was set to go to a bird festival and buy myself either a Norwich, Waterslager, or Red Factor but on a visit to my local Petco I ran into an adoption fair. To my surprise they had a very poor looking canary who was up for adoption.

The poor guy was bald and was missing all the feathers around his neck and the back of his head. He was a bright yellow with verigated brown/green spots. His name was "Bumble Bee".

I was told he had several respitory infections which caused stress which in turn explained the loss of his feathers. I was told they did not know if the feathers would grow back.

Since I STRONGLY believe in adoption first, I took Bumble Bee home. Every breeder I have spoken to has told me only to feed canary seed but I instead feed him a combination of canary seed (not just grass seed) and recently vitamin pellets. He seems to be eating all of them.

I got a large roomy cage for him and a heated perch to keep him warm at night (I was told that the respitory infections were probably caused by cold temperatures). Also got him a complete set up.

Thankfully he is doing wonderfully and grew back all his feathers! He also sings beautifully all day long which makes me very happy. My question is I have noticed that the color of his his feathers have faded to a very light yellow, almost white in some areas. Am I doing anything wrong? Am I not feeding the correct food?

I would appreciate any advice.

Raul and Bumble Bee

 

[Quest]

If you grate some fresh carrots or
feed some dark green leafy vegetables
(kale, broccoli, etc.) it will enhance his color.
My avian vet recommended feeding Harrison's
super fine pellets. My little canary does great
on them with the addition of vegetables. His
picture is in my signature. Congrats on getting
Bumble Bee. Sounds like you have given him
a good home.

 

[Anne & Gang]

aww bless your heart ffor taking him home...you can also feed veggies....and even scrambled eggs...of course you canonly leave the veggies in for a couple of hours at a time...put them on a separate plate...I put in eggs, broccoli, peas, carrots...all shredded up for our canary and she loves them they also like toys..not toomany just some nice small ones...our canary loves her mirror..

 

[jasminlana]

I feed my canary a wide variety of things, canary seed and songbird treat, also the zupreem fruit pellets, the smallest size, for canaries she likes those too. I put 3 cups of food in her cage and a veggie ball for lettuce, carrots, broccoli -- also she will eat the timothy hay. I give her a little hard boiled egg about once or twice a week and she also eats birdie bread.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

My breeder had my hen canary on Roudybush Nibbles, greens, grated carrots and a very small amount of canary seed. She is doing very well and her feathers are glossy and bright. I have plans to get a cock this summer.

 

[nellysmom]

AWWW your post just made my day. Thank you for taking that little guy in. I have a canary too and his song is amazing. I can't add anything to what others have already said because except for pellets we do all the same things here too. Be sure to give him access to water for bathing. An extra dish or cup in the morning with cool water although I have tried everything but my guy prefers his water dish.

 

[hugatree]

Thank you everyone for your help. I have Bubble Bee on the new vitamin pellets which he seems to LOVE, and got him some Kale, which he can't stop eating, and even some Grit which he also eats. Hopefully after his next molt he will be back to his original yellow and if not, well he's still beautiful anyways.

Would Spirulina help?

 

[waterfaller1]

How about full spectrum lighting? I keep many featherbrite lights in my bird room. What are vitamin pellets? Kismet loves broccoli,apple,carrot, and especially romaine.