Retaining reds & oranges to natural levels

[Tiaris]

I've recently been inspired to have a dabble in some native softbills and find that the dilution of aviary stocks of some of the attractive wrens, chats & robins takes a significant chunk of their visual appeal away. Is the red colour-food version of wombaroo insectivore mix of sufficient punch to retain full colour in the likes of red-backed wrens, crimson & orange chats, red-capped robins, etc. or is injecting mealworms, etc the only powerful & fully effective colouring option. Any experiences greatly appreciated as I find my interest in species being confined away from these otherwise very attractive ones. I'm happy to mix up whatever is effective but can't see myself injecting mealworms daily.

[jusdeb]

Just go pass me people ...I asked a stupid question and now cant delete it ..go on just go around me

[natamambo]

My crimson chats have only been here 3 months but I mix a small amount of carrot juice in with the soft food (madeira cake etc) and I reckon the cock has more colour than when he arrived. Every little bit helps in my opinion. Bought a small bottle of organic juice at health food store and froze it into ice cubes to store it.

[Danny]

I've recently been inspired to have a dabble in some native softbills and find that the dilution of aviary stocks of some of the attractive wrens, chats & robins takes a significant chunk of their visual appeal away. Is the red colour-food version of wombaroo insectivore mix of sufficient punch to retain full colour in the likes of red-backed wrens, crimson & orange chats, red-capped robins, etc. or is injecting mealworms, etc the only powerful & fully effective colouring option. Any experiences greatly appreciated as I find my interest in species being confined away from these otherwise very attractive ones. I'm happy to mix up whatever is effective but can't see myself injecting mealworms daily.

The wombaroo red colour enhanced mixes will certainly maintain it if they are consuming enough of it. One option I tried one year with grenadier weavers was to dust a proportion of the mealworms with spirulina (put some spirulina in a dish, drop in the mealworm, stir it around and take it out with a light coating of green)- magnificent results. The beauty of spirulina is that the bird will only use what it needs so it can't be overdosed (although at greater than 5% is does increase gut flow and cause diarrhoea but you would never approach this with dusting). In addition, red birds will only metabolise red producing pigments whilst yellow birds will only metabolise the yellow pigments they need.
Here's some pics of the grenadiers - the first had no supplements, the second was fed spirulina dusted mealworms.

[natamambo]

OK, I'm convinced - but the only Australian grown source (or so it claims) is $63+ freight for 400 grams and a shelf life of only 6 months. That's a lotta algae for 2 birds (a few more if you chuck it in the seed for the RH Gouldians).

It was price that put me off, yes it's not a lot in the grand scheme I know but you have to stop spending "somewhere", but if anyone wants to share I'd be interested in giving it a go.

[Danny]

You'll never use 400 g in a year. I just use the 500 mg capsules - 1 per day is all thats needed to coat a couple of teaspoons of mealworms or add to your softfood.
Plenty on ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/100-PURE-SPI ... 19c93f15bc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Myzomela]

I have just visited a very well known finch breeder's collection who also keeps and breeds weavers and the three chat species.
He showed me a poorly coloured cock crimson chat & asked me to compare it to the one in the next flight which was extremely well coloured.
The difference? the well coloured cock ate the soft food which contained spirulina and kelp. The other bird did not eat softfood at all. The breeder suggested that once this poorer cock started breeding then he would start eating the softfood to feed the chicks and would thus learn to eat it himself.
He also had a dull coloured cock orange chat- a new acquisition!
Spirulina certainly is an excellent source of carotenoids and other pigments.