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Some canaries, like the red factor canary shown in the figure below, turn various shades of red and orange if they’re fed a special color food or water additive made for red factor canaries only. It’s the only way for a red factor canary to achieve colors ranging from magenta to bright orange to strawberry red.

Don’t feed your other types of canaries the color food, as their color will not change because of it. Only the red factor has the genetic predisposition to show what it eats though its feathers, much like flamingos and roseate spoonbills, which pick up their pink coloration from the crustaceans that they eat. Color feeding is usually done during a molt, when new feathers are growing in. If you don’t want to color feed with commercially prepared products, you can feed your red factor canary beets, cherries, red and orange peppers, carrots, cayenne pepper, paprika, and other red and orange fruits and veggies to help maintain their color.