Traditionally, Russian houses, regardless of the welfare of their owners, kept songbirds. With the growth of megacities, this occupation has not ceased to be common, and many of these days bring feathered singers in the neighborhood. How to make the right choice? So that such a coexistence gives you and the bird joy and does not cause any negative emotions? In this article we will try to answer the question of how to keep songbirds at home, and also help with the problem of choice.
Canary
The story about which types of ornamental poultry are the most popular is worth starting with this elegant bird. She traditionally occupies a leading position among lovers of domestic feathered singers. The canary got its name from its geographical homeland - the Canary Islands - from where it was first exported to Europe in the 15th century.
Nowadays, many different feather colors of these birds are known - from bright yellow, which has become traditional in breeding, to white, brown, light brown and red colors. As a result of breeding work, canaries appeared with crests or special feather curls.
This is one of the best birds to keep at home, sings almost throughout the year, only with the onset of summer, when molting takes place at the canaries, the songs of this singer (only the male sings in canaries, rarely the female) subside.
The canary is fully domesticated and accustomed to maintenance in an apartment. She does not require special care from the owner, however, her health and singing abilities still depend on the conditions of her home living.
A canary cage, located in a lighted place, but not on a window or in a draft, should be spacious enough so that the bird can move freely, jumping from the perch to the perch. For group keeping of canaries (especially young birds), experienced poultry farmers advise using spacious enclosures.
Siskin
Among the species of decorative poultry, one cannot but mention the inhabitants of the Russian open spaces. For example, siskin. This bird was once very popular in Russia - this unpretentious pichuga with greenish-yellow plumage and black splashes always pleased the inhabitants of the house in which it lived, with its grace and lively character. Siskin - a bird a little larger than a sparrow and a little brighter with plumage. Her distinctive mark is a “cap” of black feathers on her head.
After the canary, the siskin is the first bird that is usually recommended to novice bird holders. She is very gullible, and she has good communication abilities: even a chizhik caught in the forest usually quickly stops playing and can easily learn to fly out of the cage and "walk" to independently return back.
The diet of the siskin is quite diverse: in nature, this bird eats the seeds of woody plants and small insects. Judging by the reviews, in captivity they usually give her a grain mixture, which includes crushed sunflower seeds, oatmeal, fruits and greens by season, as well as finely grated carrots, crushed crackers from white bread, ant eggs and, if possible, small insects.
Chizhik singing is not as masterly as some other feathered singers, but it easily takes trills of other birds and sings for about 10 months a year. It should be noted that males are singing in siskins and only in exceptional cases can females sing.
Oatmeal
This bird, which does not require special skills in maintenance, is suitable even for a novice lover. The combination of bright yellow feathers on the head, abdomen and neck in combination with a feather of brown wings makes this pichuga elegant, and a complex but melodic song is attractive to the neighborhood.
However, taming oatmeal is not so simple. As the poultry houses write in the reviews, she is shy and will even sing for the first time only if she does not see a person nearby.
Oatmeal is fed with the usual cereal mix in combination with fresh fruits and herbs. You can offer a bird and various insect larvae.
Goldfinch Goldfinch
And this bird is also an ordinary inhabitant of Russian forests, groves, gardens and parks. Like the canary and the chizhik, he is a representative of a large family of finch. Carduelis repertoire is almost as diverse as that of the canary, although it has a peculiarity. The main difference between these birds is that not only carduelis males can sing, but also females. And they do it even better than males. So for home maintenance, it is usually recommended to take it. Often, poultry farmers in reviews note that quite sharp, unpleasant sounds sometimes creep into the trill of these birds.
Among the names of birds with a description of their appearance, no doubt, goldfinch is especially noticeable. This is a very smart bird. Her plumage combines red, yellow, white and black. However, this bird is a little smaller than a sparrow, so in natural conditions you can’t immediately notice it among the foliage.
It should be borne in mind that if caught, and not taken out in captivity, the goldfinch lends itself to taming for a long time, runs wild and does not immediately begin to sing in a cage.
Finch
Answering the question of how to choose a songbird for keeping at home, we can safely recommend a finch.
This bird has a reddish breast with a gray tint (the female is brownish) and grayish feathers on the head and neck. Wings with black and white splashes.
The finch singing (and only males sing like the canary) is a long and melodic trill with a peculiar rolling “stroke” at the end. Moreover, there may be ten or so separate special trills in the repertoire of this little singer. By virtuosity, chaffinch singing is compared to the nightingale. It is known that in Europe lovers and holders of finches even arrange competitions, tournaments, representing their favorites. Winners get rather big rewards.
Chaffinch, like all grain-eating small birds, in captivity can be fed a canary mixture, which is sold in pet stores. Sometimes crushed boiled egg and dried white bread, as well as caterpillars and worms are added to it.
Bullfinch
Among songbirds for domestic keeping, these birds are also listed. Moreover, they are associated with us not so much with skillful singing as with a sign of good news and with the general elegance of color. The male, unlike the female, has a red color of the chest and parts of the abdomen, as well as a black cap.
The bullfinch in the reviews is characterized by relatively modest song abilities, but good tameness and undemanding care. At the same time, the bird is prone to mockingbird and often borrows trills from the arias of other feathered singers overheard by it. Especially often this behavior is manifested when kept in captivity.
Bullfinch is friendly and not aggressive, therefore suitable even when kept with other species of birds in the same cage. A canary mixture with the addition of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs can make up the basis of this bird’s nutrition at home.
Starling
This bird stands apart in the list of songbirds for home keeping, because it has not only an interesting voice, which includes a variety of sounds "overheard" by a starling in the inhabited space, but also bright mockingbird abilities. The repertoire of this bird often includes trills of other feathered singers, meowing cats, barking dogs and even something similar to human speech.
The starling looks like a blackbird, but it has white spots in the plumage and a characteristic greenish-grayish tint.
In addition, the starling has a lively and inquisitive disposition, quickly gets used to the person whom it often sees nearby, and has no special gastronomic preferences. You can say he is almost omnivorous. Insect larvae, small invertebrates, a prepared mixture of animal origin, as well as porridge, soaked white bread, seeds, nuts, berries and fruits - all this can make up the starling's diet.
To keep this bird, you need a small but spacious cage - because the starling loves to run along the bottom and dig in the ground. To do this, it is worth pouring clean sand on a pallet with a layer of a couple of centimeters.
Thrush
Among insectivorous songbirds for home keeping, the most popular, of course, are thrush and nightingale.
There are quite a lot of varieties of thrushes in nature, but black and song thrushes are recommended for home maintenance. Both of them differ in singing talents, but they look different. If black resembles a rook in miniature (the male has a bright yellow beak), then the song thrush is yellowish with distinct motley marks on the abdomen and brownish wings. The appearance of the latter is slightly more elegant than that of a sparrow, but this bird is larger in size.
The thrush song, measured and unhurried, is very beautiful - it is distinguished by short trills and whistling passages. The blackbird has muffled sounds, lovers compare his song with flute tunes.
The thrush feeds on invertebrates, and in winter and autumn - the fruits of trees. Thus, this bird can be called omnivorous. His distinguishing feature of behavior is hunting on the ground, among thickets and shrubs.
In captivity, along with earthworms, slugs, ant eggs, the thrush diet can include raw or boiled meat, as well as apples, grated carrots and berries - elderberries, mountain ash, bird cherry, etc.
However, it should be noted that the thrush, like most insectivorous birds, is incredulous and shy. To tame it, you will need a lot of patience.
Nightingale
And now, finally, let's talk about nightingales. The last on our list, this bird was, of course, not according to vocal data, but in connection with the known problems of keeping it in captivity.
It looks like a nightingale - a rather small and nondescript bird. She has rather large black eyes, plumage on her back and wings is dark brown, on the abdomen is white-brown. There are two subspecies of nightingales - western and eastern. The latter, which is distributed almost everywhere in the territory of the former Union, as a singer, is appreciated by lovers more. His song is more sonorous and its ring more pronounced. The Western nightingale sings quietly, but then, according to connoisseurs, more tender. The endings of the stanzas of the song by the Westerners are gently rounded.
However, it is also known that each bird is distinguished by its vocal abilities. As the bird holders write in the reviews, the singing of an individual can be affected by age, habitat, and even diet.
If you are going to start a nightingale, you should keep in mind that these birds must live in a cage alone, and the owner should be patient, because the nightingale is a rather nervous and incredulous creature, which means that the process of taming, or at least the habit of a new place of residence, will be difficult . But if the bird has settled down, then it will certainly become attached to its owner
Since in nature it is an exclusively carnivorous bird, sometimes adding berries to its diet, depending on the season, the most difficult and important task facing the bird lover is feeding the nightingale. They feed it with mealworms, sometimes they add protein substitute food, the so-called “nightingale mash”, prepared in the form of a mixture of low-fat cottage cheese, grated carrots, finely chopped beef, hard-boiled minced chicken eggs. You can add crushed eggshell and gammarus (feed for aquarium fish) to this. It should be noted that only one of the recipes for the mash is shown, there are a lot of variations of such food.
As you ripen, you can offer the nightingale greens, pieces of fruit and tree berries. Elderberry is especially loved by this bird.
We talked about what songbirds can be kept at home.