Pet Bird - Myna 2010-01-22 18:15 Myna is the general name for birds of the genus Myna in the order Passeriformes, order Starlingidae, and family Myna. There are many forehead feathers, which are elongated and erect, forming a scarf with the long feathers on the top of the head; the side of the head is either completely covered with feathers, or partially exposed. The sexes are similar. There are 6 species of worms, mainly distributed in Asia. There are 4 species including common myna in China. Common starlings are all black, with feathers standing upright at the base of the bill, forming feathers; the top of the head, cheeks, pillows and ear feathers have a green metallic luster; the rest of the upper body is stained with brown; the base of the primary flight feathers and the tips of the primary coverts are white, forming large white wings Spots; tail feathers black, except for the central tail feathers, all have white ends. The lower body is gray-black, and the lower tail coverts are black with white ends. Myna is a common bird in southern China. It is distributed from southern Shaanxi to provinces south of the Yangtze River, as well as Taiwan and Hainan Province.
Myna - Basic Overview
They can be found in villages, fields, and bushes on the edge of mountains and forests. They like to live in groups and often live in groups of dozens on large trees.
Omnivorous, they often follow cattle plowing the fields and feed on earthworms, locusts, mole crickets, etc.; they also peck at trees for fig fruits, tallow seeds, raspberries, etc. The breeding period is from April to July. Can breed twice a year.
They build nests in tree holes or cracks in buildings, sometimes using old nests of magpies, starlings, etc.; the nests are shallow bowl-shaped and made of straw, leaves, feathers, etc. Each clutch lays 4 eggs. Eggs are light blue. The myna is a cage bird that is docile and tractable, and can imitate human speech and the songs of other birds.
Myna-Appearance Characteristics
Myna is a black bird that looks like a crow at first glance. It is far smaller (the body length of the large-billed crow is 50 cm; the body length of the starling is 25 cm). Secondly, the beak and feet of the starling are bright yellow. This species has obvious frontal feathers at the junction of the beak and the head. If you look closely at the body feathers on the head and neck, there is a green metallic luster flashing in the black. The bases of the primary coverts and primary flight feathers are white, so it is During flight, there are obvious white spots in the center of the two wings. Looking up from below, the two white spots form an "eight" shape. This is also the origin of the name of the myna. The sharp contrast between the two white spots and the black body feathers is also an important identification of the myna. Characteristics: The tips of the tail feathers are white. The frontal feathers of the sub-adults of this species are not developed, and the color of the body feathers is not as dark and mature as that of the adult birds, and is slightly brown.
The body length of myna is about 25 cm. The feathers all over the body are black and shiny, and the yellow forehead feathers on the beak and feet stand up like a crown; the wings have white spots, which are especially obvious when flying. They look like "eight characters" when viewed from below, so they are called starlings; the tail feathers have white tips.
Myna - Distribution Range
Myna was originally distributed in southern China and the Indochina Peninsula. It is a typical bird of the Oriental world. However, the illegal bird trade has caused the myna to spread rapidly. There are now introduced populations in the Philippines and Borneo, and the myna has gradually become a common resident bird in northern China north of the Huaihe River.
Widely distributed in South China, Southwest Taiwan, Hainan Island and other regions.
Myna - Living Habits
Wild myna lives in mountains, forests, plains, villages, and can sometimes be seen in cities. Except for the breeding season, they mostly move in groups, often perching on big trees or standing in rows on rooftops. They gather at high places in the early morning, make a lot of noise, then disperse, and then gather at the same place again the next day. This is a typical characteristic of starlings. At night, it often roosts in mixed flocks with starlings and crows.
Starlings start nesting and breeding in late spring and early summer. The requirements for nesting are not high and there is no specific place. Nests can be made in tree holes, eaves, house cracks, abandoned chimneys or other abandoned nests of other birds. They are blue and very beautiful. They lay 5 to 6 eggs per clutch and can reproduce 2 to 3 times a year, so the breeding period can be extended into the hot summer. Myna's song is noisy and rhythmless, but it is very good at imitating the tone of other birds' songs, so its song is sometimes changeable.
The myna has a docile temperament and is easy to approach people. It rarely fights against cages. After the tongue is repaired, it can imitate speaking simple human language, which is a special feature of this bird. Starlings eat omnivores, including locusts, earthworms, beetles, fly larvae, tree fruits, plant seeds, etc., so they are easier to raise.
Mynas - growth and reproduction
Breed from April to July, with 2 nests per year. The nests have no fixed location and are often found in gaps in the walls of ancient temples and pagodas, under eaves, and in tree holes. , sometimes tidying up the old nests of magpies or black-collared brownbirds, or borrowing the abandoned nests of kingfishers. The nest is large and irregular, slightly shallow bowl-shaped, and is made of straw, pine leaves, reed stems, feathers, soft hairs and other waste debris. It lays 4-6 eggs, which are bright jade blue.
Myna-Artificial Breeding
Domestic starlings use tall starling cages and raise more male birds. The best results are achieved from young birds. The feed for starlings is preferably eggs and rice. The preparation method of egg rice is: put the rice into the pot, stir-fry over low heat until it is yellow but not burnt, pour it into a basin, mix the stirred raw egg liquid into the rice while it is hot, stir well, and break it after cooling. Just rub it into pieces. Generally, 4 to 6 eggs are added per kilogram of rice, and appropriate amounts of ants, skin worms, lean pork shreds, young vegetables, bananas, etc. are added. Starlings have strong digestive power and a large appetite.
Starlings like water baths and can often sing while bathing in water. They can sing once a day or every other day in summer. The number of baths should be reduced appropriately in spring and autumn, and bathing is rare in winter. When taking a water bath, the cage is often placed in a basin, and clean water is added into the basin. The water depth is approximately to the upper joint of the starling's metatarsal bone, and the water temperature should not be too low.
Mynas are born in the south and are naturally afraid of cold. Therefore, the birdcage must have a cage cover and be hung indoors at night. It cannot be hung in a passage with cold wind. In winter, you must always keep warm and let the starlings bask in the sun on sunny days. sun. Generally, training begins with young birds, preferably those that have just changed their feathers for the first time.
Myna - Domestic Training
Learning human language to myna: It is generally believed that to teach myna to learn human language, you need to twist its tongue. This is a misunderstanding and will cause harm to myna in vain. In fact, whether tongue twisting or not has no scientific basis or significant effect on myna's learning human language. Myna's chance of learning human language is the same between those who have twisted their tongue and those who have not twisted their tongue. When training mynas to learn human language, you should choose a secluded place and do it on an empty stomach in the morning and evening. When training, you must first cultivate the relationship between birds and people, and spend more time with birds. The training content should be from simple to complex. Simple words such as "hello" and "goodbye" should be taught first, and longer sentences can be taught later. Food must be used as bait during training; trainers must speak clearly and pronounce words accurately and coherently. When a myna learns human language, its pronunciation and pronunciation cannot be as clear as a human's. Therefore, during training, the requirements for its pronunciation cannot be strict. Once it learns the first sentence, it will become easier in the future. If you use a myna who can already speak human language to teach, the effect will be better. After the myna learns human language, people should often tease it with its teachings to consolidate its achievements. After all, starlings are animals and are slow to learn human language. Trainers must be meticulous and patient, and avoid being rough, otherwise all efforts will be wasted.
Flying: After being trained to fly, the myna can obey the owner's commands or gestures. Wherever the owner goes, it will fly with it. The first step of release training is to train the myna to enter and get into the cage (putting on and off the cage when raising). The method is to first put no feed in the cage to make it hungry, and then put the feed on the bamboo slices and extend it into the cage to feed. After the bird gets used to this feeding method, slowly move to the cage door to feed, let the bird stand at the cage door, extend the feeding bamboo piece from the back of the cage, make the bird eat with its head toward the inside of the cage and its tail toward the outside of the cage. The action consolidates for a few days. The second step is to release the bird in a closed room. After letting it fly for a period of time, move the cage closer to the bird, and then insert the bamboo piece into the cage from behind to attract food and make it jump back into the cage. After 1 to 2 days, there is no need to move the cage closer to the bird, and it will be able to fly high and far away. The release time of starlings should not be too long, usually 12 to 15 minutes, and they should not be fed too full when released.
The myna can be raised in a special cage with a sand stick perch inside. The chicks can be fed with tofu every day. The starling can also be mixed with millet, eggs, and an appropriate amount of water, then steamed and kneaded into small pieces. feed. Duck eggs are available in summer. Give myna powder twice a day, and grasshoppers, earthworms, lean meat, bananas, vegetables, etc. every other day.
The chicks are fed only tofu within 7 days, and only 10% tofu within 8-20 days. The rest are fed eggs, millet, and a small amount of tender green vegetables, small insects, and water. 21---For 70 days, feed 5% tofu, the rest is eggs, millet, and then feed a small amount of tender vegetables, small insects, and water. The ratio of egg millet to egg yolk millet was changed from 3:1 to 1:1. After 70 days, the ratio of egg yolk to millet was further reduced.
In summer, you can bathe in water once a day or every other day. The cage should be cleaned frequently. In winter, you should pay attention to cold protection, bask in the sun more, and cover it with a cage cloth after exposure.
Myna cages include domed round cages, flat-topped round cages, vaulted square cages, etc. (the diameter and height are both about 40cm). A jumping stick, a food bowl, and a water bowl are placed in the cage. The bottom of the cage is equipped with a dung board and a bamboo board for holding meat. There is an external cage.
After the purchased chicks are fully able to eat, they are fed with cooked eggs, steamed buns, rice, tofu, insects, eels, frogs, beef or lean pork. Live eels and frogs can be chopped into minced meat. Feed 3-5 balls each time until the chick's crop is full. After feeding, use a dropper to absorb water and put a little water into its mouth, once every 1-2 hours. The downy chicks can be placed in a cardboard box with some rags in the middle. After feeding, they can be placed in the nest and placed in a dark place. Downy chicks are best fed together in a litter so that they can huddle together for warmth.
For chicks that are already good at eating, add egg yolk rice and drinking water in the cage every day. The amount should not be too full to prevent the chicks from developing a bad habit of picking up food. Every morning, hang the birdcage to the window or outdoors. After breathing fresh air for 1-1.5 hours, take it back to the room to rest, eat and drink. At noon, put the bird cage into a water basin. The water should not be too deep. The water surface should be about 5cm from the bottom of the cage and let it bathe in water. The manure-holding board at the bottom of the cage is removed before the water bath. After the bath, the bottom board is added and hung to the window or outdoors to light the cage for 1-1.5 hours before taking it back to the room to rest. In addition to feeding eggs, rice and drinking water, the young chicks also need to be fed some supplementary food such as egg yolks, lean meat, insects, etc. Do not deprive yourself of food or water. When the bird goes out in cold winter, it is necessary to cover it with a cage.
Myna-feed formula
There is a kind of chick starter [according to the description, it is actually a special feed for one-day-old chicks, with high nutritional content and easy digestion] to make a basic feed dosage of 4 cities 5 yuan per catty; 8 raw eggs are about 2 yuan per market catty; a bag of fish meal [half a city catty] is 3.5 yuan; a bag of beef and mutton meal [2 ounces] is 2 yuan; a bag of bird feed premix from Beijing Kaiyuan [1 pack] 2.5 yuan; 2 small bags of crushed yeast tablets [50 tablets per bag] 1 yuan; oil crops [raw peanut powder, raw sesame seeds, etc.] 1 pound 3 yuan; half a pound of cuttlefish bone meal 4 yuan; crushed A certain amount of eggshells and a certain amount of washed sand; the cost is calculated as 23 yuan, which can be used to prepare more than 7 catties of feed, with an average price of about 3.5 yuan per catty.
Feedback on usage: I think the price of this formulated feed is reasonable and acceptable.
Compared with bagged feed, not only is the price lower, but the bird's consumption is significantly reduced. The bird becomes stronger after eating it and no longer specially buys mealworms to feed the birds. Some customers followed my advice and added an appropriate amount of raw eggs after returning home. The effect was better and the cost was reduced [adding 1 to 2 catties].
Preparation operation: Stir the above feed and auxiliary ingredients evenly, then first add the eggs and mix with a wooden stick. After the feed has penetrated into the eggs slightly, gently rub them into lumps with your hands and dry them for easy storage. To add eggs, the feed must be dried and then added. Be careful not to add more than 4 eggs at a time. If you add more eggs, the feed particles will dissolve into powder.
Myna-Identification of pros and cons
Identification of the quality of myna birds mainly depends on whether the adult bird is a captured wild bird or a bird raised from a nest. The identification method is as follows.
Myna 1. Wild adult birds are afraid of people and will jump up and down in the cage non-stop. In severe cases, they will hit the cage, and even hit their heads and blood, and break their wings and feathers. Adult birds raised from nests do not have this phenomenon.
2. The claws and tarsal toes of wild adult birds are relatively smooth without peeling. When the nestlings grow up, their feet are rough and sometimes have fish-like protrusions.
3. Wild adult birds generally do not chirp, but only make a "clucking" call. Adult birds that have been raised in the nest will chirp and imitate.
To identify the pros and cons of myna birds, you should also pay attention to the following points.
1. Birds with feathers that stick closely to the body (called "tightening" in jargon), bright eyes, and shiny coats are high-quality birds; birds that are dull and have fluffy feathers all over their bodies are inferior or sick birds.
2. Male birds with yellow beaks, yellow feet, tail feathers with white tips, all white lower tail coverts, and black body feathers with metallic luster are the best.
3. Starlings that are bolder, can sing, hold their chests out and flash their wings when standing, and the larger ones are the best.
There are two types of myna and myna on the market. Because the myna looks like a crow, the myna with the yellow eyebrows has become a popular target. The picture above is an adult myna bird, which is an adult myna bird. The body length of the myna is about 27 cm. The whole body is black and rich in metallic luster. There are two yellow wattles on the back of the head and white spots on the wings, which are particularly conspicuous when flying. The body of the young bird is brown and black, and the feathers on both sides and abdomen are edged with narrow white. The exposed part of the head is not as prominent as that of the adult bird. The wattles behind the head are missing.
Mynas mainly live on the edges of open fields or dense evergreen broad-leaved forests. They are rarely seen in the center of the forest. They mostly gather in groups of three or five on fruit trees to forage. Not often active alone. It is often seen hanging out with starlings and starlings, singing and dancing on the canopy of trees covered with flowers and fruits. It is good at singing, and its songs are very melodic, ranging from a low and harsh cackle to a brisk whistle like a bell. It can do anything, and it can also imitate the calls of other birds.
Myna - Breeding Notes
1. Bird Selection
Myna's feathers are not gorgeous, and their singing voice is not very beautiful, but they are not afraid of people, smart and good at imitating People say. Some people raise starlings just to let them play with others, but most people do it to let them learn to "talk". Therefore, the selection of male and female is not strict. The key is to start raising young birds. But some people think that female starlings are better at imitating than males. According to experience, mynas with jade-white mouth and orange-yellow feet are "smarter" than those with gray-brown mouth and tawny feet.
2. Characteristics of the cage
Birds in the starling family such as starlings and mynas are all large cage birds, so the cage should be larger. Because of its miscellaneous food habits, large food intake, and frequent defecation, the cage should have a bright bottom and a fecal support board underneath. In addition, the myna's mouth is strong, the body is in good shape, and the cage should be sturdy. Generally, it is 48 cm high, 36 cm in diameter, 2.2 cm apart between strips, and 0.4 cm thick. It can be made of bamboo or lead wire (No. 14). There is a shark skin perch, a water tank, and a soft food tank. They are deeper, larger, and stronger than those of ordinary birds.
3. Feed and feeding methods
Adult birds use eggs and rice as their standing feed. They feed a soft food tank with minced meat, fruit (cut into small pieces), and powder (same as the same) every morning. Thrush) mixed soft food, the amount should be eaten within 1-2 hours. For baby bird food, you can mix powder and minced meat with water or use plantains to make a puree. Feed with pellets, 5-8 times a day. Change to soft food when the bird can feed on its own, and add eggs and millet after the feathers have grown.
4. Management and training
Myna’s feces are abundant and smelly, so the bottom of the cage and the feces support board should be cleaned every other day. At the same time, birds should be bathed in water frequently. You can put the myna in a water bath cage and let it bathe on its own, or you can use a watering can to shower, and then dry it in the sun after the water bath. Change the water in the water tank every day, because you often rinse your mouth when eating soft food, which can easily become contaminated.
The best way to teach a bird to "speak" from young to adult is to teach it every morning and evening on an empty stomach. The surrounding environment should be quiet and free of noise. The syllables should be taught first with fewer syllables and then with more syllables. After one sentence is learned, the second sentence should be taught. Every time you "speak" clearly, give the bird the food it likes to eat. Like bananas, insects, etc. It needs to be repeated many times. It usually takes 3-7 days to learn one sentence. Those who can learn 10 sentences are excellent.
It is easiest to use an experienced bird that has learned to talk. When teaching, let the bird face the mirror for quick results. As for the idea that starlings need to undergo some kind of surgery on their tongues to learn to "speak", there is no scientific basis. Because the vocal organ of most birds is the "syrinx" located at the lower end of the trachea and the branches of the bronchus, and produces sounds by the contraction of the attached muscles, while the human vocal cords are at the upper end of the trachea.
Birds of the starling family such as forest starlings, northern starlings, grey-backed bridal birds, and black-collared starlings can all be raised using the above method.
Pairs are mostly kept in large cages or houses with tree hole nests or wooden nest boxes. Some zoos have successfully reproduced them.
Myna - Species Protection
This species is not included in the endangered list, but is threatened by the illegal bird trade and is hunted as a medicinal ingredient. Traditional Chinese medicine theory holds that the myna removes its feathers and The whole internal organs and the flesh are used for their functions of reducing Qi and stopping bleeding.
This species of starling has been included in the "List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State and Beneficial or of Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" issued by the State Forestry Administration on August 1, 2000.
Mynas and the Illegal Bird Trade
Mynas are good at echoing their calls and can even learn human speech. Therefore, they have been kept as pets by humans since ancient times, and have derived various complex species. Domestication name. However, starlings have never been reproduced under artificial breeding conditions. Therefore, all starlings in the bird trade are captured directly from the wild. This illegal bird trade poses a great threat to wild bird populations, which is mainly reflected in the following points:
Capture in the place of origin may pose a threat to the survival of this species and cause the extinction of wild populations.
Escape and rewilding in the imported areas may cause the invasion of alien species and destroy the native bird population structure in the imported areas.
It is possible to bring new infectious diseases to the imported areas and spread among the indigenous populations in the imported areas.