Most songbirds tolerate captive life, but only for this you need proper and competent care for them. This will allow a person to listen to beautiful singing daily. It is known that in captivity such birds can live for many years and easily breed at the same time.
Which birds are best kept in captivity
Catching and keeping songbirds requires a competent and proper attitude. Still, it’s worth a little familiarization with the rules that will enable birds to exist in captivity.
So, some kinds of granivorous birds are distinguished by the most beautiful singing: siskins, finches, carduelis, crossbills. To enjoy the beauty of plumage, either greenfinches or bullfinches are placed in a cage. It is known that crossbills, bullfinches and siskins get used to a person easier and faster. But finch and oatmeal is very difficult to train in captivity.
Differ in wonderful singing and some insectivorous birds. For example, Bluethroat, Nightingale, Warbler, Redstart, Thrush, Robot, Starling, Titmouse and Lark. Of these, starling, titmouse and zaryanyka very quickly get used to life in captivity and to humans. The rest are frightened for a long time, so it is even recommended that their cells be hung higher so that they are less likely to see people.
Species of songbirds
It is known that the authors of the books "Catching and keeping songbirds" state: mainly birds that can be trained in captivity belong to the family of passerines and are divided into 4900 species. In the home environment, you can often find canaries, which have more than a hundred species of color and varieties. Amadins, which in nature can only be found only in Australia, Africa, South Asia, and Micronesia, are second in terms of distribution in the home environment. Red-chested Amadina and Rice Amadina are especially popular.
In third place in content and breeding in captivity are finches, which have a huge number of subspecies. The most common are butterfly astrid, Australian finch.
Physiological features of songbirds
Depending on the shape of the beak, all songbirds are implied in two large species: granivorous, which have a thick beak, and insectivores, which have a thin beak. The subtleties of the content of the songbird will depend on the type of feathered friend.
It is known that birds do not have a diaphragm, therefore their lungs are inelastic. Their breathing occurs by filling the air sacs with air. As soon as the chest itself moves, these bags begin to fill with oxygen, which first passes through the lungs. Therefore, when a person picks up a bird in his hands, care should be taken to ensure that the bird's breathing is normal and its breathing movements are not restricted.
Songbirds are usually very energetic and mobile, so they need a lot of energy. You should be careful about how to feed such birds in captivity. It is known: if you don’t feed the bird during the day, it can easily die
Forest bird fishing
Today, there are several methods of catching birds: on water, on bait and on bait. Fishing in the spring is usually the most common way - catching on bait. To do this, you need to choose a good place and place a bird of the same species in the cache. For example, if you are fishing for a siskin, then you need to hide the female siskin. It is believed that it is the best bait for all types of songbirds.
Catching songbirds in autumn is most often carried out as bait. To do this, you need to find a place where grains, berries, various seeds and even ant eggs are abundantly laid out. On the edges of such a huge feeder, branches are inserted, on which grasses loved by songbirds are necessarily placed. There must certainly be plenty of water in the trough. The stretched mesh will work by actuating the cord. But you need to have endurance and experience in order to catch a bird in this way.
Catching birds on the water is very interesting and entertaining. It is often difficult to find a place where a bird can sit, and yet here you need to put more bait. To catch a bird at a watering place, you need to use a large network.
Maintenance and care
Songbird forest birds are a sociable population. In order to properly keep them in captivity, you need to make pairs, and even better whole groups. It is known that catching and keeping songbirds requires special knowledge, so you should first study a little the material that is in this article, and then make feathered friends.
It is recommended to choose the correct cage for such birds. You can’t use tall and narrow cells, as a bird usually cannot normally exist under such conditions. Both round and angular cages are not suitable for keeping songbirds. An ideal cell would be a one that uses a stainless steel grill and a pallet made of any artificial materials. The tray should be carefully inspected during each cleaning, as it should not have cracks or cracks.
Catching and keeping songbirds always requires training. First of all, you should take care of the room and the place where the cell should stand. The room should be ventilated and bright. It is desirable that the cage was near the window, but one of the walls of the cage should adjoin the wall so that birds could snuggle up to it at any moment and calm down.
If the cell is very large, then you can make small houses from plants in such an enclosure, but you should only pick up non-toxic flowers. You can set the cage so that the shadow on the cage falls from a shelf or from a tall flower. Birds are sensitive to lighting. If the change of day and night does not occur naturally, care should be taken to cover the cell with a dark blanket at night.
It is worth taking care that there are sticks in the cage. They should be of different sizes and different sizes. They can be made from a variety of non-toxic wood, such as birch or maple. Most often, birds use them either for roosting, or sharpen their beak about them. There should not be any glass inserts in the cage.
It is worth taking care of the bedding for birds. It is better to use sand litter, but it is desirable that the grains of sand be of different sizes. The sand should be coarse, and the pebbles in its composition often eat birds to improve digestion.
In the cage, bathing bathtubs are also necessary, which can be hung directly on the cell walls. Bathing bathtubs, like drinking bowls, need to be cleaned every day and always monitor their cleanliness. You can’t put drinking bowls and baths under roostes, as then droppings will fall into them. The cage should have houses for breeding offspring.
Feeding
The maintenance of forest songbirds requires the competent and proper distribution of the feed ration. The food ration of such birds should consist of three parts of grain, one part of soft food, which is enriched with protein, and green food. If protein supplements are not taken into account, then this can lead to the development of protein deficiency.
It is best to use pre-germinated grain feed, as it has a lot of vitamins and nutrients. It is not difficult to prepare it: you need to take the grain and soak it for a day, then leave it covered with a wet cloth for another day and wait until green seedlings appear. But you can’t keep such a grain for a long time, as it quickly deteriorates. It is necessary to try to acquire that seed mixture for germination, which did not pass radiation.
You can not cook it at home, but purchase ready-made food in which there is enough protein. Songbirds are not allowed to give cabbage.
Hurricane content
Each person once begins to be interested in how fishing and keeping songbirds go. Uraghus has recently been of great interest. She sings well, but nevertheless the feathered attracts more attention with her color and behavior. It is interesting to observe not only the crest, but also the tail constantly in motion. The hurragus moves completely silently. Such birds feed on mountain wormwood.
Mental disorders
Often, captive songbirds suffer from mental disorders. The most common are depression and plucking feathers. This occurs most often due to loneliness, poor maintenance, lack of movement or obesity. In order to heal the bird, it is necessary to establish the cause and try to change the conditions of feeding and feeding, as well as to pair the pair with it.