Do you think it is worth raising wild birds in captivity?

the topic is spun off from the dead season at the request of administration, which I support, because I don’t like porridge myself.

the essence of my idea of ​​the inlet is as follows - in order to release the bird, it must first be prepared for this. what should be obsessed with a candidate for graduation? in most cases 4 things.

1. adequate social (intravenous) behavior.

2.the ability to independently obtain food

3.physiological condition adequate for the release season

4.Adequate response to predators

Of course, this is a topic for a long article and not a small post, but I will try to outline the solution to these issues.

1. the question is relevant only for fosterlings. It is usually impossible to correct a bird isolated from early chick age to the first molt, with rare exceptions (in the mallard, for example, imprinting on humans is technically impossible under normal conditions). chicks reared in a group often grow up maintaining adequate social behavior, if communication with them is limited only to feeding. as soon as they are able to feed themselves, contact with humans is minimized. birds are kept in a group in a spacious room. if there is an adult female of the same species, it is even better. she can become a role model.

4. It is important that the chicks are fed by 1 person, and not by the whole village. animals and birds in particular are capable of generalization, but avoid it unnecessarily. therefore, chicks can maintain trust in the breadwinner, but be distrustful of other people. this can also be used by fans of free flight, who are not going to release the bird, but want it to avoid contact with strangers, flying down the street. isolation must be observed at least until the end of the naive period and the beginning of the period of neophobia. chicks of all birds consistently go through these 2 periods of development, but at different ages. with the onset of the stage of neophobia, the bird will automatically become afraid of everything unfamiliar, be it people or predators. this is worth taking advantage of. there are few species in which information about predators is transmitted in a cultic way, and in those in which it is transmitted exclusively in this way, much less. a naive jackdaw, for example, knows nothing about cats. but any crow can instantly explain everything to her, once it sounded an alarm when approaching a daw of a cat. in the absence of a teacher, you can record the alarm on a dictaphone, and play it when a predator appears.

Usually the presence of a mentor bird is enough, and in some cases (many insectivores) one neophobia is quite enough.after release, young birds will quickly learn from their free counterparts if they are released on time.

3 Methods: How to Save a Bird How to Feed Wild Birds How to Set Up a Bird's Nest

If you find a chick or an injured bird in the wild, you should help the bird recover and release it. However, caring for a wild bird is not easy and there is always a danger that the bird is sick. Before taking a wild bird with you, make sure it needs help. Ground fledglings often sit on the ground outside the nest - they learn to fly and live without parents. If the chick does not have feathers, it will need your help, but first you should look for the nest and return the chick there if you find one. Chicks can be raised at home, but wild birds should not be kept in captivity. Only take the bird if it is injured or in shock. Transfer the adult bird to the appropriate organization as soon as possible.

Method 1 How to save a bird

1. Determine the type of bird.

   Not all birds you see on earth need help. Some birds, including plovers, lapwings, seabirds, chickens and ducks, hatch chicks on the ground.

   To understand what to feed a bird, you also need to figure out whether it feeds on seeds or insects. To identify the type of bird, look for a number of signs. In young birds, the color may differ from that of adults, but the species can be recognized by the shape, weight and color of the plumage.

   • What is the shape of the bird's body? How big is the bird?
   • What marks are there on the body? Where are they located?
   • What is the color? How is the color distributed over the body?
   • Where did you find the bird? In the woods? In the meadow? Near the swamp?
2. Determine the age of the bird.

   You will need to understand who is in front of you - a chick that still lives in the nest, or a fledgling. The chick that lives in the nest does not move much. If you find him on the ground, he fell out of the nest or was pushed out of there. As a rule, such chicks do not yet have a pronounced color. Instead of feathers, they have fluff or a naked body. The cages are already flapping their wings - they are learning to fly. They will have a thin layer of feathers with small markings. The cages can sit on the ground and do not need to be taken home.

3. Check if the bird can grasp with its paws.

   Place the bird on your finger and see if it can grab onto it. If he can, this is a fledgling, and there is no need to save him! If the chick cannot grasp firmly or cannot maintain an upright position, it still lives in the nest. Try to find the nest from where it could fall out first.

4. Check the bird for injuries.

   The bird may be in shock due to injury. If the bird hits the glass and lies on the ground, it is most likely in shock. Birds are recovering from shock - they just need to rest.

   • If the bird is alive but not moving, be aware that it may have a concussion or blood clot. To recover, the bird needs to rest in a dark place. Handle the bird very carefully.
   • If a bird has a broken wing or leg, do not touch them. See your veterinarian ornithologist as soon as possible.
5. Cut off anything the bird might get entangled in.

   If the bird is injured by rope, wire or line, release it as soon as possible. Place your arm around the bird to prevent it from flapping its wings, otherwise it can injure itself and you.

6. Take the bird in your arms.

   Cover the bird with a towel or put on gloves. To pick up a stunned bird or a bird that has fallen out of its nest, bend your palms and gently grasp the bird on both sides so that it can breathe. Hold the wings with both hands, but do not press on them.

   • Small songbirds can be handled with a towel, but large birds of prey (owls, kites) should be handled with thick leather gloves. Be careful with birds of prey - they have sharp beaks and claws. If you have no experience with these birds, call the dedicated service.
7. Place the bird in a box lined with towels.

   A carrier for cats or dogs is also suitable. Ventilation must be provided in the box, otherwise the bird will not be able to breathe. Punch holes in the box. Place the box in a warm and dark place. If the bird is injured, it may take time to recover. Check the condition of the bird every half hour.

   • Do not bring an adult bird into the house. It is best to leave it outside in a safe place where cats or dogs cannot find it. Place the box away from street noise.
   • If the bird regains consciousness after an hour or two, release it into the wild. Take the box away from home and open it. If the bird has not recovered, you will need to care for it. Check with your veterinarian.
8. Call a wildlife service.

   In most cases, keeping wild animals without permission is prohibited, especially if the bird is local or migratory. If you have an adult injured bird, you will not be able to go out on your own. Call the dedicated service - you can find their contacts on the Internet. Experts will advise you on what to do next.

Method 2 How to feed wild birds

1. Feed an adult bird only when absolutely necessary.

   It is best not to feed your bird, especially if you are not sure what species it is and what food is right for it. In addition, if the bird is injured, it may not be able to digest solid food. When you are confident that the bird needs to be fed and that it will be able to eat solid food, choose food that is suitable for its species. Check with your veterinarian if necessary.

   • If the bird eats insects, give it worms, small crickets, or ants. The worms should not be too thick (earthworms will not work).
   • If the bird has seeds, you can buy a vitamin mixture or parrot food.
   • If the bird eats fruit, give it berries or fruit. Remember to cut your food thoroughly.
2. Find food for your chicks.

   Small chicks need soft food. In the wild, birds feed their chicks with semi-digested food. You can feed the chick with wet cat or dog food. You can also soak dry food in water to make a puree.

   • Veterinary stores also sell food for chicks.
   • Avoid giving young chicks seeds, sugary water, or bread. This food is bad for the chicks and may be lacking in nutrients.
3. If the chick has no feathers, feed it with a syringe.

   Fledglings can only eat from a syringe. You can buy a feeding syringe from your veterinary store or from the baby's pharmacy. Fill the syringe with wet food or pureed baby food (ideally fruit food).

   Do not push the tip too deep - the chick may suffocate.

   • If you don't have a feeding syringe, a toothpick will work. Collect some food with a toothpick. Be careful not to prick the bird while feeding.
4. Feed your chick frequently.

   Chicks need to eat every 15-20 minutes throughout the day. If the chick is hungry, it will call you and open its mouth. Do not feed the chick if it does not. Chicks may not ask for food at night, and this is normal.

   If your chick is less than a week old, he may ask for food at night (every few hours). Feed him if he does so.

   • The bottom of the chick's throat may expand as it feeds. This is fine. During feeding, make sure that the throat is not completely clogged with food. The chick will swallow food when it reaches the right place, and will stop eating when it is full.
   • Do not offer water to the chick. Chicks get water from food. If you give the chick water, it can enter the lungs, not the stomach, and the chick will choke.
5. Wean the chick from the syringe as it moves around its nest.

   As the chick grows older, feathers will begin to appear, and the chick itself will become more active. The chick becomes a fledgling, and it needs more varied food.

   • If the bird eats insects, start giving it small bugs, mealworms, crickets. You can buy them at a veterinary store.
   • If the bird feeds on seeds, give it swollen millet or sprouted grains. After a couple of days, you can introduce seeds, nuts, granulated feed into the diet.
   • If your bird is eating fruit, start feeding fruit baby food first, followed by chopped berries and fruits.

Method 3 How to equip a bird's nest

1. Place the bird in a box, not in a cage.

   Wild birds are not trained to live in captivity. The cage can scare the bird, and it can try to get out, thereby harming itself. For wild birds that are used to living in the wild, it is best to use a box with ventilation holes. Cover the bottom of the box with a towel. The darkness will calm the bird, and the enclosed space will give a feeling of protection from predators.

   Remember to make air holes.

   • Remember that this will only be a temporary resting place for the bird. Sooner or later, you must release the bird - it must not become your pet.
2. Place the nest in a dark and calm place.

   When birds are sick, they are quiet, so don't be surprised if the bird doesn't sing in the box. The quieter it is in the nest, the faster the bird will come to its senses.

   • If you have an adult bird, the box should be left outside the house.
   • Chicks need to be kept near you and constantly watched over them. The box can be placed inside or outside the home. If you choose to leave the box outside, it is important to choose a location close to you. Choose a location that is sheltered from wind and weather.
3. Keep the bird warm.

   This is especially important if you've rescued a chick. There are several ways to keep your bird warm. If the bird is an adult, there will be enough grass and towels. If you have a fledgling chick, this will not be enough.

   • Pour warm water into a bottle and wrap paper towels. You can surround the chick with paper towels to avoid scalding it. This option will suit you if the nest is outside the house.
   • You can make a bed out of towels or old T-shirts and put it in a carrier. Place the bird upstairs. Place a heating pad under the carrier and keep it switched on day and night. The heating pad will warm up the entire carrier. This option is suitable for those who decide to leave the nest in the house.
4. 

   Let the bird rest. If the bird is curled up and does not move, this does not mean that it is dead! She is sleeping, because birds need to sleep too. When the bird wakes up and wants to eat, it will inform you about it. Stay close while the bird is sleeping. She will demand your attention when she wakes up.

5. When the chick becomes a fledgling, allow it to move.

   After a few weeks, you will notice that the chick has feathers. He will start flapping his wings and trying to move on his own. The chick becomes a fledgling. At this point, it is important to give the bird the opportunity to try to fly, since it has to learn how to do it. Watch out for the bird, but do not disturb it.

   • To make it easier for the bird to return to the wild, take it outside 1-2 times a day. Hold the bird in your hands, and when it tries to take off, do not interfere with it. This exercise will help the bird to strengthen its muscles and learn to fly. Over time, the chick will fly more and more distances and spend more time away from you. Perhaps he will come back for you to feed him.
   • To prevent the bird from being injured in the house, teach the fledgling to bypass mirrors and glass. Hold the bird in front of the glass and let it hit the glass with its beak. Repeat this exercise from time to time to prevent the bird from crashing into the glass as it learns to fly.

Tips

• Make sure the bird is healthy. Show it to your bird veterinarian as soon as possible.
• Always wash your hands after handling a wild bird. Birds are carriers of many diseases. If you wash your hands, both the bird and you yourself will remain healthy.
• Do not let young children touch wild animals and birds.
• Give your bird a rest if it needs rest. Do not wake the bird, otherwise it will feel tired all the time. The bird needs time to recover and grow.

Warnings

• Do not toss the bird to fly. If she cannot fly, do not try to force her to do so.
• Do not try to water the bird by tucking its head under a tap of water. The bird can choke and die.
• Do not feed the bird food for people - this can lead to death.
• Do not try to open the bird's beak - it may peck at you.
• If you need help, see your veterinarian or wildlife specialist.
• In most countries, keeping wild birds without a license is prohibited by law. You can take care of the bird only temporarily until it can fly away on its own or until you find a rehabilitation center for it. Ask your veterinarian where you should go if you are unsure about what to do with a wild bird.

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Many lovers of indoor bird keeping keep pets at home for their beautiful appearance, entertaining habits, and strong friendship with the owner. Although such exotic birds as parrots, various weavers, astrilds, tropical finches, buntings, cardinals, as well as small species of pigeons and quails are especially widespread at home, many representatives of the domestic fauna are no less interesting for keeping in captivity.
So, for example, corvids, whose chicks are often found falling out of their nests, are easily fed by humans, quickly get used to a semi-free lifestyle and become favorites of the summer cottage season. They are remarkable for their habits, great intelligence and loyalty to the owner.
Brightness of color, grace, amusing behavior and ease of care often attract interest in keeping in captivity quails (common and dumb), turtle doves (small and ringed), and from passerines - jays, bullfinches, hurraguses and some other birds. These birds allow you to get acquainted with a variety of methods of mating, the nature of feeding, and pigeons and quails, in addition, it is not difficult to make them breed and observe different ways of caring for offspring, differences in the development and growth of chicks.
Often, wounded or sick individuals that have lost the ability to fly, as well as fledglings that cannot feed on their own, fall into the hands of a person. Trying to cure them and save them from death, the owners, especially children, get so used to them that then they keep them at home for more than one year.
Fishing can provide a wealth of scientific knowledge about birds in each region. First of all, birders can provide irreplaceable assistance in finding rare species. In the Leningrad region, for example, the first information about the canary finch, mountain linnet, black-throated accentor, and Dubrovnik was obtained from the connoisseur and lover of songbirds, S.N.Tolstyakov.
Spending considerable time in nature, birders are often the first to notice the beginning or end of the flight of a particular species, the winter appearance or the beginning of nesting of various birds, and therefore; have information that is so important in phenological research.
Finally, recreational fishing can help guide the banding and identify birds that have been ringed elsewhere. Unfortunately, the number of qualified amateur birders who contribute to solving scientific problems in the process of their favorite pastime is extremely small in our country. The reason for this is, on the one hand, insufficient attention paid by research teams to the promotion of ringing and the involvement of nature lovers in the ranks of taps, and on the other hand, the fear of environmental organizations to issue permits for catching a significant number of people.
The positions of both, from our point of view, are, in principle, not correct. They led to the fact that at present, all bird catchers are treated as people who exploit nature for the purpose of profit, and the cognitive, emotional, scientific and sports aspects of fishing have turned out to be forgotten, that is, the main thing for which they existed before has ceased to be taken into account. and there must be bird-catching and other related activities in the future.
Forgetting these aspects of amateur bird hunting not only does not allow developing the correct approach to keeping wild songbirds at home, but also increasingly frightens nature lovers and, above all, young people who are ready to join the tagging of animals, from the process of active knowledge of wildlife, which is now so necessary for a reasonable attitude. To her.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT A BIRD BY TAKING IT IN HANDS

It is important to know which phase of the annual cycle the captured bird is in. This largely determines the attitude towards her and the advisability of leaving in captivity. To establish whether a bird has started breeding or has finished it, whether it has begun molting (replacing old plumage with new ones) or migration, it is enough to carefully examine it.
True, even before inspecting the bird, the very season itself makes it possible to assume in what state it may be. Having caught an individual in the spring, it remains to clarify whether the bird migrates or reproduces, in the summer it reproduces or molts, in the fall it molts or migrates, that is, by examining it, you only specifically establish in which of the two possible periods it entered, and this greatly facilitates the task ...
Whether a bird has entered a state of sexual activity can be determined by the degree of development of a number of external signs.
The reproductive activity of male passerines and some other birds can be judged by the development of the cloacal protuberance, which at this time increases and takes on a characteristic cylindrical shape. By the end of the breeding period, the cloacal protuberance decreases and soon disappears almost completely.
In females, during the period of sexual activity, the cloaca also increases in size, but much less than in males. During oviposition, the entire abdomen takes on a cigar-like shape.
Much brighter than the size and shape of the cloaca, the formation of a brood spot testifies to the reproductive activity of the female. It begins to form on the abdominal surface of the body, in that part of it where feathers do not grow - on the abdominal aptery.
A hen-spot undergoes several conditions in its development. Outwardly, this manifests itself as follows. First of all, the fluff covering it falls out of the abdominal aptery. Then thickening blood vessels are gradually formed in the skin. Then, swelling occurs on the abdomen, resembling edema with a severe burn. Later, the swelling subsides, the skin wrinkles, dries up and begins to peel off. Finally, the abdomen is overgrown with new fluff.
The presence of a brood spot indicates the participation of the bird in reproduction, and its condition allows one to determine at what stage of this process the bird was caught.
It is known that the abdominal surface is cleared of fluff during the construction of the nest; "Vascularization of the skin" - the stage when the blood vessels become visible, occurs during oviposition.
Edema appears at the beginning of incubation of the clutch, develops as much as possible by the time of hatching of the chicks and gradually decreases (and the skin wrinkles slightly) over the next few days, when the chicks in the nest still need heating and the bird sits on them for a long time. By the departure of the young from the nest, the skin on the abdomen becomes dry, wrinkled, flaky.
Many species of birds breed twice in one season, and some hatch three broods. During the second and third reproduction, edema develops again and the hen spot goes through all the same stages in its development, with the exception of the first and last - "cleansing from fluff" and "overgrowing with fluff", since the overgrowth of the abdominal aptery begins only during molting, that is after the bird's reproductive period ends.
In addition to the shape and size of the cloaca, as well as the formation of a brood spot, that the bird is preparing for breeding, in some species, changes in the color of the beak indicate.
Pale, almost colorless at other times of the year, during the period of sexual activity, the beaks of many birds acquire an intense color: they turn black in sparrows, turn blue in finches and gannets, turn yellow in starlings and blackbirds, turn red in garden buntings, etc.

CONTINUE INSPECTION OF THE BIRD

The asymmetry in the growth of feathers on the bird's body is a consequence of their accidental loss, the symmetrical regrowth of feathers indicates their regular replacement during molting.
The reproductive period is followed by the period of postnuptial molt. In young birds, autumn (post-juvenile) molt occurs soon after they leave their nests and transition to independent life. To see if a caught bird is molting, you need to inflate the plumage on the head, back, chest, spread and examine one and the other wing and tail in turn.
Then, among the old or already new finally formed feathers in the bird, "hemp" and "tassels" of feathers will be found, growing instead of the fallen ones. Often a bird loses some feathers by accident: in a fight or when it breaks out of the clutches of a predator that grabs it. Soon, new ones begin to grow in place of the lost feathers. But the growth of feathers instead of accidentally lost ones is not a molt, the onset of which is associated with serious hormonal and metabolic changes in the body.
It helps to distinguish the restoration of accidentally lost feathers from the natural process of plumage change that plumage is replaced in a strictly defined sequence during molting. At the same time, for all species of birds, it is characteristic that the replacement of feathers symmetrically located on the body occurs simultaneously or almost simultaneously, on each separate plumage area (for example, ventral, dorsal, shoulder, femoral), the replacement occurs sequentially from the central rows to the peripheral ones.
During the molt of adult birds, the primary feathers grow sequentially
In passerine birds, the character of autumn molt becomes a good identifying sign of age. The autumn molt of juveniles, with the exception of the molt of larks, larks, starlings, and sparrows, does not affect the outer (primary) flight feathers. In adults, on the contrary, the change of plumage begins from the 10th (from the outer edge of the wing) flight feather. Then the 9th, 8th, etc. enter the molt. The replacement of feathers from the 10th to the 1st is extended for the entire molt period. Therefore, if you take a bird in your hands and see that feathers are growing on its chest, back, shoulders, hips and at the same time there is no change in the primary flight feathers, you can be sure that this is a young individual; if, in addition to the small feathers of the body and the wing, the flight and tail feathers shed - adult. This rule is not valid only for starlings, larks, sparrows and moths.
An inexperienced naturalist, accidentally catching a fledgling, whose primary feathers of the first plumage have not yet fully grown, takes it for a molting adult bird. Having found growing flight feathers in a bird, you need to pay attention to their size. If all flight feathers are equally developed, then they cannot be molting. As already mentioned, the loss of flight feathers occurs sequentially and these feathers will be of different lengths in the wing of a molting bird.
In fledging fledglings, all flight feathers are formed at the same time.
However, another mistake is more widespread, when in young birds the regrowth of feathers of the first feather plumage (juvenile) is taken for their autumn molt. Flight feathers of fledglings grow quickly, but small plumage on the body continues to form after leaving the nest, when the bird already flies well and becomes independent. At this age, growing juvenile feathers are found on the periphery of the abdominal, dorsal, and shoulder areas, while the first molting feathers appear later in the centers of these areas.
The juvenile feathers that grow after leaving the nest are as soft and loose as those that have already grown during their stay in the nest.In contrast, as a result of molting, the bird will wear an outfit of other, denser, differently colored feathers, similar to those worn by adults.
The migratory state, which in many species occurs after the end of molting, can be judged by the deposition of fat reserves or the place of catching the bird. If during molting there are almost never subcutaneous fat reserves, then with the transition to the migratory state, fat begins to accumulate and is clearly visible in the interclavicular fossa, on the abdomen and on the side under the wing.
Taking the bird in hand, you need to try to find out if it is healthy.
Some signs of disease are immediately striking: swelling on the legs and wings, growths on the beaks, discharge from the nostrils. The appearance of other sick birds only indirectly testifies to their morbid state: bloating, "drying out" of the pectoralis major muscle and, as a consequence, protrusion of the sternum keel, contamination of the tail feathers with liquid droppings. All these, as a rule, are signs of contagious diseases, which we do not yet know how to quickly diagnose and effectively treat. Therefore, having caught such a bird, try to release it as soon as possible, otherwise the life of those inhabitants who have been kept at home for a long time will be seriously endangered.
Often, when fishing, cripples come across: one-eyed, one-legged, once with a broken, and now with a hanging wing. Such birds have little chance of survival in nature. Most often, they are striking at the end of the autumn flight, when in difficult weather conditions they lose strength, and with them caution. The trauma prevented them from flying away on time; it prevented them from entering the state of migration activity in time or forced them to move along the flight route more slowly.
A person who knows the value of life, even if it is the life of a small bird, will always take pity on the cripple and leave it with his disability forever.

IS IT DIFFICULT TO KEEP BIRDS

It is easier to have birds accustomed to captivity than to accustom wild, freshly caught individuals to it. Only by knowing the basics of content can one hope for success in domestication. This leads us to start a new section with an understanding of the needs of birds living at home or in the laboratory.
It will not be a mistake to say that birds are very unpretentious, but at the same time they require constant attention and care. It is not so difficult to create conditions for birds to live a normal life, good health and cheerful mood. It is important to note that the rather tight, caged space among the new environment does not have a painful effect on the psyche of most of them.
The daytime, mobile way of life, characteristic of many birds in nature, every minute confronts them with different neighbors, and within one year they repeatedly change their place of residence. Here, in a fork in the branches at the fluffy top of a young pine tree, a chaffinch began to build a nest. She constantly brings here more and more stems of moss, fiddles with them for a long time on the nest, carefully laying one to the other. A large spotted woodpecker appeared on a nearby pine; a willow warbler flew up to the nest, hovered, fluttering its wings, at the end of the branch; in the excitement of the chase, two males of the finch are rolling head over heels in the air - they rushed very close, and the finch continues her work, as if she does not notice the restless neighbors. She will have many different meetings on one spring day, because the forest is full of lively inhabitants scurrying everywhere.
The nesting time will end, the old plumage of the female finch will be replaced by the new one, and she will leave the part of the forest where she spent the summer. The first stop on the way for wintering, perhaps, will make on a floodplain meadow of a small river. Live here for a day or two or three, feed on seeds of meadow grasses. Then she will fly tens and hundreds of kilometers more, choose plowing or a vegetable garden for rest, where weed seeds will attract her attention. Many "temporary apartments" will be replaced by a chaffinch.But the entire body of a bird is precisely adapted to an almost lightning-fast change in the environment and events. Experience is quickly developed, suggesting a safe distance in relation to this or that creature, the suitability of this or that environment for life. These biological properties of the nervous organization of birds, probably, contribute to their quick adaptation to the conditions of life in captivity, to close proximity to humans.
So why is it difficult to keep birds? Why do they require vigilant attention?
The life of birds is fleeting compared to the life of humans. Since childhood, it has taken root in our consciousness that a person, without much harm to himself, can do without water for three days, without food for seven days. These or similar measurements are not suitable for a bird.
They forgot to give water to a small bird - a siskin.
An hour later he was rushing about the cage, and after three he was already lying dead on the floor. The death of the bird was caused by the high level of metabolism that is characteristic of most birds and especially singers. He makes the birds feed for the vast majority of the day. This means that there must be both water and food in the cage throughout the day.
Species, age or seasonal feeding specialization can be very narrow.
It is useless to offer sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, millet and any other grains to a flycatcher, a finch chick, molting oatmeal. The flycatcher is an insectivorous bird. This is evidenced by its thin soft beak. In nature, she catches flying insects, in captivity she can be tamed to take stationary food. However, the feed must necessarily be of animal origin: ant cocoons, larvae of flour crustaceans, cottage cheese, chicken eggs, etc. But it is also known that the finch and oatmeal are typical granivorous birds.
In fact, many so-called granivorous birds at a certain age, usually in the nestling, and in certain seasons of the year become exclusively insectivorous.
Age and seasonal changes in the need for a particular type of feed can occur very quickly, within one or two days.
It is therefore understandable that a lack of attention, as well as a poor knowledge of the subtle features of biology, makes keeping birds in captivity a difficult or even impossible task.

HOW TO EQUIPMENT THE BIRD ROOM

The room for the constant keeping of birds should be equipped so that its inhabitants cannot break and break off their feathers, hang themselves, drown themselves, die from hypothermia, overheating.
Once in captivity, birds quickly get used to the proximity of people. Only the first days the sight of a suitable person causes fear and the desire to break free. They begin to beat in the cage, throw themselves against the walls or hit the ceiling. But even after the birds get used to the people they see every day, no, no, yes, something will scare them: will a neighbor's puppy burst into the room or an admiring guest will come up close.
In order for the birds not to break, it is necessary not only to disturb them less, but also to make sure that the walls and ceiling are smooth, and the metal parts, if any, are by no means rusty. Sometimes a lattice ceiling is replaced with a soft one made of canvas. This is how cages for larks have long been made, which always fly up sharply in fright.
It is good if there is a secluded place in the room where you can hide.
For tits, nuthatches, sparrows, this can be a nest box.
For robin, wren - a large piece of bark lying on the floor or leaning against the wall, a clay shard. But for many birds, it is enough to put bushes in one of the thicker corners or loosely throw branches, thereby creating some kind of shelter that birds find in the wild.
There should be no gaps between the walls. Small cracks, especially vertical ones, tapering downward, are dangerous because sooner or later the bird will surely hit them with its paw or wing. Hanging in the cracks, she cannot free herself and, if she does not come to her aid in time, dies or is crippled.
One of the organic needs for the vast majority of bird species is daily bathing.
Some of them love to swim so much that they seem to put clean water every hour and they will splash in it over and over again. If it is not possible to change or add water often, there is a natural tendency to give it in something deep, so that it will last for a long time.
Carefully! Water often splashes and remains only at the bottom. The thirsty bird penetrates wherever it sees water.
If the vessel is deep and narrow, it will drown in it or die from hypothermia. A small songbird can drown even in a glass jar of mayonnaise. Therefore, the drinker should always be of such height and depth that the bird can fly out, even if it is inside.
Hypothermia, leading to rapid death, occurs under other circumstances and is often associated with a special love of birds for bathing. One day in August, during an autumn flight, we caught a male flycatcher. He quickly learned to eat the food on offer and felt great. It was obvious from everything that it could make a very cute tame bird. The flycatcher showed his love for bathing instantly. The first time he bathed himself a few hours after the capture. While swimming, the flycatchers got wet each time so that all the plumage hung on it like dark icicles. At the same time, he looked very comical.
One of the following days was extremely windy. The wind abruptly changed its usual direction and blew directly into the bird cages, which were under a special canopy in the open air. So that the birds would not be cold, they began to hang them with plastic wrap, but they were late. A dead flycatcher lay at the bottom of one of the cages. The wet plumage indicated that he had bathed again, but there was nowhere to hide from the piercing wind. So, through sad experience, I again had to make sure how important it is that bird cages are protected from wind and drafts.
In the room where the birds will be kept, special perches must be arranged.
The best additions for forest birds are perches made of not very hard wood. They can be either planed splinters or branches, from which there is no need to remove the bark.
Reeds, bamboo and other hollow shoots are not suitable for perches, as they quickly become a refuge for parasitic insects and mites.
The perches are chosen so thick that the toes wrap around them by half or a little more.
The number of perches depends on the number of birds, but there cannot be less than two of them. Birds should be able to jump or fly from one perch to another. The perches need to be strengthened rigidly. To do this, it is enough to cut grooves at their ends. They should be placed at such a distance from the walls and ceiling that the bird does not touch the grate with its tail and can sit on the perch in a relaxed position.
In addition, it is necessary to install perches so that one is not under the other and there are no feeders under them. Otherwise, the birds will quickly contaminate each other's plumage, as well as food and water. Perches are not the only ones that can serve as bindings.
Such birds, which in nature never sit on branches, do not feel the need for perches. In the cage of a steppe ridge or a horned lark, for example, it is better to put a small stump or put a stone, turf. On the other hand, woodpeckers and nuthatches, on the other hand, are not enough, they need a piece of the trunk for crawling, resting, chiselling and, finally, setting up a "smithy".
Birds should have a grain feeder; a feeder for "soft" or live food and a drinking trough-bath. In order to avoid overturning, it is necessary to place feeders and baths with a flat and wide bottom.
If there are a lot of birds and they pollute the water, in addition to the bath, you can have a separate drinking bowl, for example, an automatic one.To avoid strong wetting of the cage floor, an ordinary bath can be placed in a small tray or use a special tray, which is hung in place of the door and has a cap made of plexiglass or transparent plastic that prevents water splashing.
The floor of the room in which the birds are kept is covered with bedding. The bedding should not be made of sawdust. Sawdust is hygroscopic and helps to maintain cleanliness, but often gets into the eyes and respiratory tract and causes inflammation.
One of the best is sand bedding. On the floor, sprinkled with a thin layer of sand, it is convenient to run, the room is clean, and most importantly, birds have the ability to peck at large grains of sand and small pebbles they need for digestion. So that the sand does not get dusty, before using it, it is washed and dried.
Freshly cut grass, hay and peat are other very good types of bedding. Of the grass, woodlice greens are especially convenient. It is elastic and it is easy to cover the entire floor with it like a carpet. Finally, the grass mat is easy to change. This is especially important when you keep insectivorous birds, in which you have to clean the room almost every day. If grass bedding is preferred, a small amount of sand should still be in the cage at all times. In this case, sand can be placed in special containers or poured in one corner of the cage. In a winter enclosure, for example, for ducks, waders, shepherds, it is better to use peat as bedding.

WHAT TO KEEP BIRDS

Birds are kept in cages, cages, aviaries and in so-called "bird's closets". The latter are now becoming more widespread both in laboratory and in room maintenance.
Cells. The cage is a traditional house for birds. It can be of various shapes and sizes, made of various materials. If the shape of the cage is determined to a large extent by our aesthetic requirements, then the material that goes into it and the size is closely related to the characteristics of the birds themselves. The smallest cage sizes are those in which the bird, sitting on the perch, can freely stretch out to its full height; flapping its wings, it does not touch the walls and does not touch them with its tail.
In such a cage, the bird maintains its normal posture, the feather is maintained in good condition. In essence, such a cage is a "lamb", in which a small semolina bird is planted during fishing. Cells of this size are unsuitable for long life. Birds need constant movement. Only cages in which birds can jump from perch to perch will be satisfactory, but good ones in which you can run and fly. Some birds, such as owls, need to be kept only in the latter. Their soft, fragile plumage in small cages is so frayed that birds lose their ability to fly and their attractiveness.
Some bird lovers believe that their pets should be allowed to fly around the room from time to time, often believing that they can constantly live in cramped cages.
Many years of experience in keeping a wide variety of bird species have convinced us that this should not be done. Sooner or later, walking around the room ends tragically.
A bird that wants to drink will drown in a vase from which the flowers were taken out, but for some reason they left a small amount of water; suddenly frightened by something, she will hit the window glass and break to death, or, hitting the wall, fall behind the cabinet, from where she cannot get out on her own.
Finally, the bird can die from the fact that someone accidentally sits down, steps on it or pinches it by the door. The possibilities for tragic outcomes in a room adapted for humans rather than birds are unlimited and, as a rule, unpredictable.At the same time, in a cage, where the bird can fly and run freely, where there is a comfortable place for rest, it will live carefree for many years, often even longer than any of its relatives in the wild.
Cells are very diverse in shape. Usually, however, it is desirable that, with a minimum volume, the cage has a maximum span and range, therefore, the most convenient and widespread are rectangular, elongated cages.
The cage is made of an easy-to-clean material, since it has to be washed and decontaminated regularly. The most common are cages in which metal rods are reinforced in a wooden frame. The bottom is desirable to have a retractable, galvanized iron or plastic. If the bottom is wooden or plywood, it is imperative to cover it with enamel paint to prevent rotting, simplify cleaning and at the same time eliminate the cracks in which the parasites are hiding. The cage can be all-metal. Such a cage becomes a necessity when keeping those birds that are in the habit of "gnawing" and gouging a tree. This primarily applies to crossbills, woodpeckers and nuthatches. As mentioned, a slatted ceiling can be replaced with canvas. This cell is called "Russian".
The cage should have one or two small doors located so that it is easy to feed and water through them and to catch birds by hand. Among non-professionals, the opinion is deeply rooted that a bird cannot be taken in hand and it is possible to transfer it to another room only by making cages door to door. Many years of work in the laboratory, where each bird had to be carefully examined in hands every 3-5 days, thousands of catches for ringing, release and again capture of the same individuals in nature convinced us that capture by hand does not harm the health of birds in any way. In this case, of course, you need to properly hold the bird.
You cannot grab it by the wing, leg or tail - the wing or leg can be dislocated or stretched, and the tail can simply be ripped out. The bird is taken by the body, covering the back with a palm and grasping the chest with your fingers.
The chest should not be squeezed too much. Compression of the chest is the surest way to kill.
If the bird needs to be held in the hand for some time, then it is intercepted so that the neck is between the index and middle fingers, and is held mainly with these fingers, and the fingers, clasping the chest, are weakened as much as possible, not allowing only the wings to be released. Catching by hand does not harm the health of the bird, but it certainly spoils your relationship with it. And if you want to make it "manual", then try to pick it up as little as possible.
Semolina and decoy birds, which are regularly taken for fishing, require special treatment.
They should not be afraid of either the birder or his hands, since during fishing, adjusting the net or taking out the caught birds, they often have to come close to them. Therefore, the semolina bird is not caught in the cage in which it usually lives, but is taught to climb into the lamb cage on its own. To do this, it is enough to periodically put your favorite food in the lamb and move it to the open door of the cage. Of course, the rest of the time, the bird should be limited to the desired treat.
Gardens. Cages are usually referred to as large cages, such as those containing several birds. One and the same room is called a cage if a large bird is planted in it, and a cage if several small ones are kept. There is no fundamental difference between a cage and a cage in this case.
We call specially designed cages cages. These cells will be discussed further. The cages are arranged in such a way that they have a lattice or net only on one side or on top. For permanent maintenance, cages with a side grid are used, for transporting and carrying birds - cages with a grid on top. The cage is not as beautiful as the cage, the bird is less visible in it.However, for the bird itself, life in the cage is more favorable, here it feels calmer: there is where to hide, where to rest. Thanks to these features, keeping birds in cages is convenient for laboratory research, but at home you still have to give preference to cages.
For cages with a side grid, it is better to make it from metal rods. The armor-plated metal mesh is slightly worse and the fine-mesh (2-3 millimeters) braided metal mesh is usually of little use. Birds hurt more about the latter than about any other, covering the wrist folds of the wings. The only exceptions are those species of birds that with tenacious fingers are able to grasp the net and, throwing themselves at it, do not slide down. These are woodpeckers, nuthatches, tits, siskins, tap dancers, owls and some others.
For owls, you can even specifically recommend such a net, since owls damage their plumage less on it than on any other. Solid walls, ceiling and floor of the cages are made of plywood, electric cardboard, hardboard or other similar material. If a material that is soaked in water is used, the cage is painted with enamel or other water-resistant paint.
The door can be made on the front wall, on the side or at the back. If the door is in the side or back wall, then when catching the birds “throw themselves onto the grate. A door on the front wall is more desirable, since then the danger approaches from the side of the grill and the bird beats less against it. But in this case, the possibility of accidentally releasing the bird increases. To exclude it, you have to hang a special curtain behind the door - a piece of dense material with a horizontal slot. The perches in the cage are reinforced with one end on the front lattice, the other in the back wall. In this case, a groove is cut at one end, and the other is sharpened and inserted into a small hole in the back wall.
Bird cabinet. If there is a desire or need to keep more than a dozen birds, then a special bird cabinet can be recommended for this. Four or five compartments - floors are arranged vertically in the closet. The back wall is solid. The front one consists of eight to ten removable grilles and slats dividing them. Each grill has a door. The floor of the floor should be completely smooth to facilitate cleaning. To do this, all the strips that reinforce the structure are located below, as if on the ceiling of the lower floor. For laboratory conditions, the side walls, as well as the back, are made one-piece of opaque material. This not only simplifies the design, but also facilitates light isolation, which is often required in laboratory research. For keeping in other conditions, the side walls are glazed, then more light penetrates into the cabinet, the birds are better visible. The main advantage of the bird cabinet is its considerable capacity in a relatively small size. Up to 60 small songbirds can live in a cabinet 2.1 meters high, 1.5 meters long and 0.5 meters wide. If desired, each floor of the cabinet can be equipped in such a way that it will be divided into two compartments. An additional grille, glass and any opaque plate can serve as a partition. In the latter case, you have to arrange additional lighting, as it becomes gloomy in the closet.

THE PERMANENT NEEDS OF BIRDS IN BIRDS

The main needs of captive birds should include food, water, light and temperature conditions, and dryness of the premises.
It should not be forgotten that even a short-term violation of keeping regimes leads in most cases to the development of diseases and death of birds. Therefore, compliance with the necessary rules for feeding, lighting, as well as temperature and humidity conditions cannot be episodic. These are constant needs for the life of birds in captivity.
Stern. Variety is an essential requirement for a bird's diet. Birds do not like monotony, but at the same time they develop a habit of familiar food and a new species of it is often met with hostility.It happens that without gradual accustoming or cunning in the way it is presented, the bird dies, and has not begun to eat unfamiliar food.
Food is always offered in abundance: as much as the bird can eat. This is the basic rule of content.
A common misconception is that birds need to be limited in food intake to prevent harmful obesity.
The bird's body finely regulates the amount of feed consumed. At certain times of the year, it rises sharply. Knowledge of the physiology of birds shows that periodically observed obesity is natural, natural conditions to which the bird's body is adapted by the entire history of the existence of this class of animals. Fighting fat accumulation is much more harmful than excessive obesity.
According to the preference given to food, birds are divided into herbivores (for example, granivores) and animals (insectivores, carnivores, etc.). This does not mean that the former do not need animal feed, and the latter completely ignore plant food.
Generally, most species require both types of food. Insectivorous birds are more demanding on the composition and quality of feed, are more voracious and therefore more difficult to keep.
Among plant feeds, first of all, ripe selenium of cultivated plants is used: sunflower, hemp, canary grass, millet, rutabagas, oats, flax, lettuce, poppy. A grain mixture is made from them.
For small birds with weak beaks, sunflower and hemp seeds are crushed, but not so that the shell just cracks, but so that all its contents are crushed. A small amount of seeds (2-3 handfuls) can be easily crushed with a bottle on a cutting board or table. At the same time, the bottle should not be held horizontally, but slightly inclined to the table surface so that the effort is concentrated in the bend zone towards the neck. Crushed seeds are a favorite food not only for small granivorous birds. They are eagerly eaten by insectivores, for example, the robin, white wagtail, many species of larks, skates and dunnocks. Crushed seeds do not store well and quickly become bitter. Therefore, they must be crushed immediately before serving.
Cereals, with the exception of oatmeal and buckwheat, are of little use for wild birds. The seeds devoid of their shells, during storage, lose their nutritional and taste properties. Oatmeal and buckwheat are added to the grain mixture and, if necessary, can even replace it for a short time.
When purchasing grain feed, you should pay attention to its quality. Unfortunately, food that is completely unusable for food sometimes goes on sale: rancid or moldy. Therefore, when buying food, it is necessary to carefully examine it for signs of mold on the seeds, and taste it by chewing a few grains.
In addition to the grains of cultivated plants, birds willingly eat the seeds of many weeds and meadow grasses, wild trees and bushes.
It is important to note that they can be prepared by ourselves and this will bring a significant variety to the food ration of birds in winter. It is relatively easy to collect dandelion, sorrel, plantain, quinoa, birch and alder seeds. The stems of grasses, catkins and cones of trees plucked with ripe seeds are dried, laid out on paper or cloth in a warm dry room or in the sun. After a few hours, the seeds spill out on their own or they are threshed.
Dandelion baskets are harvested before they open to become fluffy umbrellas. A brush of unopened fluffs is cut off with scissors, and only after that the baskets are dried in the sun. All threshed seeds are dried for some time, sprinkling with a thin layer and regularly tedding.
When stored for a long time, the shells of many small seeds harden strongly.To make it easier for the birds to handle these seeds with their beaks, they are soaked for several hours in cold water before feeding, and then slightly dried.
The special value of weeds and meadow grasses is that their seeds can be given unripe, such as birds eat in nature. Probably, ripening seeds are not only nutritious, rich in vitamins, but also very tasty.
In cages, birds first of all choose this feed, preferring it to a grain mixture.
Returning in the summer from a walk out of town, to a park or garden, you can always bring home a bunch of twigs with fruits, or even a whole armful of grass and seeds. Taking care of laboratory birds, we every day, taking a large basket, went for the "grass". Fill it tightly with wood lice, put an armful of shepherd's purse, bird buckwheat or quinoa on top, pick up bouquets of burdock and Chernobyl and, satisfied with your "catch", return to the laboratory, where you arrange a "festive table" for the birds. You have to change the grass in the cages every day. As soon as you cover the bottom of the cage with it or arrange sheaves and bouquets, the birds immediately flock and pounce on the plants with such greed that after a few hours there are no seeds left at all.
Since it is very difficult to fully satisfy the need for these seeds, at any time of the year, the main food must always be in the cage - a grain mixture.
You can collect ripening seeds from the end of spring, when the dandelion fades. As soon as the baskets of inflorescences are closed and instead of yellow flowers, white tassels of the still unopened "parachutes" are shown, the dandelions are plucked and the bouquets of them are placed in jars of water in cages and aviaries. Bouquets and sheaves of dandelion and other plants are placed so that the birds can easily reach the fruits from perches or other perches. For birds that prefer to feed by running on the ground (for example, larks and buntings), the stems are broken so that the seed-bearing shoots are near the ground, or the brought grass is spread on the floor in a thin layer so that the seeds of each stem are easily accessible.
The dandelion is replaced by sorrel, shepherd's purse, reed grass, bluegrass, plantain, nettle. At the end of summer, when their seeds crumble, yarrow, meadow cornflower, tansy, hawk begin to fade. And in late autumn quinoa, Chernobyl, burdock ripen. But there is no other plant such as wood lice, or the average stellate, whose seeds would be eagerly eaten by almost all granivorous birds.
Wood louse is irreplaceable because it, strewn with seed bolls, can be harvested from early spring, when overwintered stems thaw out from under the snow, until late autumn. It happens that snow has already fallen, or frost strikes and covers the wood lice with thick hoarfrost, and it seems that her time is over. But as soon as the thaw comes, its juicy shiny green again amazes with its brightness. She is not afraid of freezing, and after thawing, the stems and leaves retain their elasticity. If desired, woodlice can be found wherever there is moist and loose soil.
It is one of the worst weeds in gardening and tilling and is most easily harvested in vegetable gardens, especially in potato beds. You need to choose those plants that bear fruit abundantly. You can bring home just enough to last for several days. It is relatively easy to store, you only need a cool place. In the fall, it is enough to hang a bag or net filled with grass outside the window. The floor of the cage can be lined with woodlice, in which case it will also act as a litter. The grass should be carefully spread out so that as many seeds are available as possible. When there are a lot of wood lice, it can be scattered over the branches of bushes and trees in the aviary, thereby maximizing the surface from which the birds will peck seeds.
But wood lice are valuable not only for seeds.In early spring, it is not possible to find plants overwintered with fruits, and the need for vitamins that birds receive with greens is great. At this time, they willingly eat woodlice leaves. In addition to woodlice, it is good to give young dandelion leaves by cutting out the rosettes of the plants from the soil entirely with a knife and placing them in jars of water. Lettuce or tradescantia leaves can be offered in place of these wild plants. The latter, along with specially grown herbs, becomes the only green top dressing in winter. It must be remembered that birds need greenery all year round and these needs must be fully satisfied.
Growing a small amount of greenery even at home is not difficult at all.
It is not necessary to have real soil for this. Sunflower seeds, millet, oats - everything that is given in a grain mixture can be germinated, for example, in sawdust. A thin layer of sawdust is poured into a flat cuvette or any other dish of a similar shape specially made of tinplate. Seeds are scattered over the sawdust in a continuous layer, and on top of them - another layer of sawdust, everything is watered abundantly and placed in a bright, warm place. The seeds germinate very quickly when the cuvette is slightly warmed up from below, for example, by the heat of a water heater, and is brightly illuminated from above using any lamp. In winter, the windowsill lacks not only heat, but also light. Within a week, the dense bristles of young greenery can please the birds in the cages.
Birds eat greens well as long as it is young, juicy and elastic. Therefore, it should not be allowed to grow by more than 2-5 centimeters, but it is better to grow it in medium-sized portions and immediately offer it for food. For those birds that are not able to pinch the grass themselves, it is finely chopped with scissors and added to soft food.
This is what we had to do when we kept in the laboratory large batches of marsh warblers, gray flycatchers, robins, forest larks. Warblers ate greens greedily, while larks, flycatchers and robins sometimes had uneaten pieces of it at the bottom of the feeders. Apparently, in nature, different species of insectivorous birds to varying degrees require green components of food. It is possible that in the wild the warblers themselves do not peck at the greens, but a large amount of it is obtained through the intestines of the caterpillars, which they feed on, but it is likely that in nature they also eagerly eat plant food in nature. In any case, attention is drawn to the fact that in the cages of warblers, like no one else, they themselves gladly ruffle the soft greens of woodlice and always peck seeds from the stems of the quinoa.
In general, the tastes and needs of birds are revealed gradually, and with regard to all kinds of additives to the main feed, we can only advise one thing: to provide the birds with the maximum choice, not to be limited to already known types of feed and not to rush to negative conclusions, remembering that a bird needs to get used to any feed.
Juicy fruits of wild and cultivated plants provide especially great opportunities for creating a varied diet along with grass seeds. The fruits of forest trees and shrubs are of great importance in the feed ration of many species in nature: rowan, bird cherry, juniper, buckthorn, blueberry, lingonberry, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry. They are all still available in our northern forests. For birds entering cities and suburbs, juicy fruits of ornamental shrubs that grow wild only in more southern regions are of no less importance: honeysuckle, elderberry, cinnamon, hawthorns. All fruits that fall on our table are also suitable for birds.
Giving berries and fruits, they are hung from a trellis or branches, again so that they can be reached without effort from the perches. To do this, use wire hooks or clips, for example, ordinary linen. Of course, it is easier to strengthen fruits that have petioles or are borne directly on the branches.If small berries can only be given in bulk, then you should use a feeder, since they quickly become dirty on the floor of the cage. Large fruits, such as apples, are cut into slices, which are inserted between the bars of the lattice near the perches.
In winter, when there are no fresh fruits, you can give dried, and then soaked in cold water or scalded with boiling water. It is relatively easy to stock up on rowan and elderberry for this. Collect them: you need to use brushes and hang them to dry. You can speed up drying using heaters or an oven. However, it is not necessary to dry the mountain ash. If you collect it in late autumn and hang it out of the window, it will remain in good condition for a long time.
In winter and early spring, when it is most difficult to provide animals with greens and fruits, for some species they can be successfully replaced by the buds of trees and shrubs. Birds especially like the buds of fruit trees, spruce and willow. Often they eat not only the buds, but also the tips of young shoots, the juicy growth layer of the bark - cambium. Therefore, it is advisable to bring not just buds, but to place small branches and bouquets of them in cages. Beforehand, it is good to put such bouquets in water for a couple of days so that the buds swell and increase in size.
Branches of fruit crops, of course, are difficult to get, unless they break off branches with snow or an old tree goes to the frame. But getting willow shoots is not difficult. We have many and varied willows. They grow in all wet and light habitats: they form solid green hedges along highways and country roads, ditches with water; dense thickets of willows are always found along the banks of all kinds of reservoirs and overgrown meadows. The plant is striking in its vitality: it rapidly "spreads" in breadth, extremely quickly stretches upward, and branches violently in places of creases. This allows the willow to be used as a constant source of branch feed. Birds especially love the kidneys of goat and eared willows.
Those birds that do not eat buds should be given white cabbage leaves in winter. Almost all types of cabbage are used. Some birds can pinch off pieces of the leaf themselves, in which case the cabbage leaves are rigidly fixed. To do this, either put the thickened base of the sheet on a hook, or push the sheet sideways between the bars of the lattice and then turn it 90 degrees. The rods stick into the leaf and prevent it from slipping out.
Cabbage is fixed in such places of the cage so that its inhabitants can easily reach it from the floor or perches. Birds do not like withered leaves, so they must be replaced daily. For those species with soft and thin beaks (warblers, warblers, warblers, blackbirds, nightingales), cabbage is very finely chopped with a knife or rubbed on a coarse grater and added to soft food.
In addition to white cabbage, other soft and juicy vegetables such as cauliflower, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers can be fed. Of vegetables, raw carrots are even more important than cabbage.
It is rich in vitamins, especially vitamins A and C. Grated, it is one of the main components of soft feed. Some guides even recommend a mixture of carrots and rusks as a staple food for insectivorous birds. Of course, such a diet is too strict, but the fact that birds can exist on it testifies to the nutritional value of carrots. In our practice, we still did not have to keep insectivorous birds only on carrots and breadcrumbs.
Soft food, which for captive insectivorous birds forms the basis of their nutrition, and for granivores - an important additive to it, must contain components of animal origin. This is primarily a chicken egg, cottage cheese, beef, ant cocoons, bloodworms.
The main component of the soft feed is a chicken egg. The number of eggs required for a single serving of food is hard-boiled. After cooling, the eggs are grated.The feed has the best consistency if the diameter of its individual particles is close to 2 millimeters. In this form, the food is crumbly enough, at the same time, even the smallest birds can easily swallow its individual pieces. To prepare such food, you need to use a grater with the appropriate hole sizes and pass the egg through it twice. Boiled protein particles stick together easily. So that the protein does not cake and is eaten as well as the yolk, the grated egg is thoroughly mixed.
The chicken egg prepared in this way is mixed with carrots. Carrots are much tougher than a chicken egg and have to be grated on a finer grater. The finer the carrot particles, the better they are eaten and absorbed by birds. However, fresh finely grated carrots produce a lot of juice. The feed from it becomes sticky, which is completely unacceptable. Therefore, it is better to add a small amount of grated white crackers to it, which absorb excess moisture. A mixture of chicken eggs and carrots in approximately equal proportions can already feed most birds.
During the periods of molting and feeding of chicks, it is necessary, and at other times, it is desirable to make the diet of insectivorous birds more varied and rich in proteins, vitamins and calcium salts. You can enrich the feed with proteins by adding meat and cottage cheese to it. Raw meat and cottage cheese spoil quickly and must be boiled before being added to soft food. The boiled and cooled meat is passed through a meat grinder. After that, it can be mixed into the egg-carrot mixture. The curd is dissolved in a small amount of water, brought to a boil or boiled for several minutes, and then placed in a linen bag and allowed to hang for about a day. The next day, they can be fed to the birds, rubbing on the same grater as the chicken egg. Excess boiled cottage cheese, like any other product, must be stored in the refrigerator, since rotten or sour bird food is completely unsuitable.
Even with the abundance and variety of surrogate components of soft food, birds, and primarily insectivores, need natural food from insects. They cannot do without live food, or at least preserved, dried ones. This need is exacerbated at certain times of the year. So, it is absolutely necessary for growing young or molting birds to be given ant cocoons, larvae of flour beetles and flies, or bloodworms.
Currently, it is easiest to get bloodworms for your charges. Bloodworms, the larvae of insects similar to mosquitoes from the family of derguns, are traditional and widely used food for aquarium fish. Unlike other types of live food, it is regularly sold in pet stores. However, despite the availability of bloodworms, it is not customary for birdwatchers to use it. There is even an opinion that it is not nutritious enough and, moreover, causes intestinal disorders in birds.
This opinion was completely refuted by those warblers and flycatchers, which in large numbers we had to keep in the laboratory. Then a serious task arose: how to feed almost a hundred such voracious mouths for more than six months? Now we can admit that it was scary. The birds were caught, their relatives flew away for the winter long ago, which means that release into the wild is excluded until spring. Ant cocoons still remained in reserve, but this reserve was melting with incredible speed. And we were interested in the winter molt. During moulting, even more feed and the best quality will be required. Then they decided to try bloodworms as live food. The birds ate it greedily, first of all choosing the larvae from the soft food. They quickly accumulated significant deposits of migratory fat, and during the molting period a good feather grew on them - a sure sign of normal protein metabolism. So it became clear that bloodworms, in terms of nutritional value and availability, can be considered one of the best types of live food.
But we also encountered its bad qualities: it is difficult to store bloodworms in large quantities.The oxygen, temperature or humidity regime is slightly disturbed, it dies from drying out, freezing, from a lack of oxygen. The corpses of the larvae decompose quickly and are no longer suitable for food. Feeding a dead bloodworm, apparently, leads to intestinal diseases. We managed to keep 4-6 kilograms of bloodworms in good condition only for a week. Washing it in small portions twice a day with running cold water, we hung the bloodworm for several minutes in a nylon net, and then laid it out in flat cuvettes so that the thickness of the layer of larvae did not exceed 3-5 millimeters. The bloodworms were stored at a temperature of plus 1-6 degrees Celsius under a paper cap that prevented intense evaporation.
Bloodworms turned out to be a complex type of food and in the way it was presented to birds. It turned out that it is impractical to give it in separate feeders. Birds are reluctant to peck at bloodworms from a homogeneous mass. The larvae on the surface dry out very quickly, die, and a hard crust forms from them, making the rest of the food inaccessible. On the contrary, when mixed with soft food, where grated carrots create the necessary moisture and the larvae are separated by particles of other food, they become especially attractive and are eaten by birds with pleasure. Bloodworms are added to soft food just before distribution. The food is thoroughly mixed so that the larvae are evenly distributed. It is sometimes useful to stir the feed several times during the day directly in the feeders.
We tested bloodworms as an additive to soft food on many insectivorous birds. It was eagerly eaten by forest and field larks, coastal swallows, white and yellow wagtails, forest and red-throated pipits, wrens, forest acunts, robins, nightingales, redstarts, various blackbirds, warblers, warblers, flycatchers and starlings. Granivorous birds also consumed it with great pleasure: various buntings, snow buntings, finches, tap dancers, goldfinches, bullfinches, pike-holes, field and house sparrows. Field sparrows and tap dancers that bred in the laboratory successfully fed their chicks with bloodworms.
Another traditional live food is the mealworm larva, or, as they are often called, mealworms. These larvae are very mobile, have negative phototaxis, and therefore, trying to hide from light, they quickly crawl along the cracks of the cage, hide under the feeders, penetrate into food and become inaccessible for birds. Meal worms have to be fed in separate feeders with vertical sides at least 2 centimeters high. Birds love this food so much that as soon as you put the feeder in the cage, after a few minutes there are no mealworms left in it. But flour beetle is easy to breed both at home and in the laboratory.
Mealworms are bred on a dry, clean substrate of wheat bran or oat flakes. Such a substrate is at the same time food for them. Little breeding space is required. Bran or rolled oats are poured into any container at hand: flat wooden boxes, tin boxes, cans, cuvettes. The thickness of the substrate layer can be 5-10 centimeters. To prevent the larvae from spreading, it is enough to choose a container with vertical and smooth walls, in which the substrate did not reach the edges by at least 4-5 centimeters. In order to prevent the flight of adults - beetles that can fly - the top has to be tightened with a fine mesh or closed with a lid with small openings for air. A piece of cloth or paper is spread over the bran. Larvae can hide from light in it, and adults lay eggs. To provide insects with moisture, it is enough to regularly put small pieces of cabbage, carrots, apples and other vegetables and fruits.
The reproduction rate of beetles increases if insects are placed in heat.At home it is necessary to bring them closer to heating devices, in a laboratory where a large "flour worm factory" is being set up, you can use a special heating from one or two incandescent lamps. The optimum breeding temperature for mealworms is 25-30 degrees Celsius. Thus, the most serious difficulty in breeding flour beetles is getting the first few dozen individuals.
The best traditional live food is the ant cocoons of red forest ants. Amateurs call them an ant "egg". In terms of nutritional value and vitamin content, this type of live food has no equal. Suffice it to say that the chicks of buntings, wagtails, flycatchers, warblers and others, which were fed exclusively live ant pupae in captivity, grew up to be strong birds in excellent plumage. In terms of growth rates, they often exceeded their free counterparts. An ant "egg", even pre-dried and then boiled in boiling water, is a better addition to an egg-carrot mixture than any variety of surrogate feeds.
If possible, then feed the birds with a live ant "egg". The "egg" can be served in separate feeders and mixed into soft food. The difficulty of feeding a live "egg" is that it succeeds. only be collected with adult worker ants. Ants, obsessed with the desire to hide precious pupae, drag them out of the cage or hide in the same place under bedding and feeders. Food becomes unavailable. In addition, ants bite the legs of birds, climb into the plumage. To get rid of the worker ants without deteriorating the quality of the feed, you have to select them manually from small portions of the "egg" just before distribution.
The task is made easier if you use two pieces of fluffy material, for example, flannel, bikes, burlap. When the "egg" is poured from piece to piece, the ants cling to the material and remain on it, while the pupae roll down unhindered. The ants are shaken to the ground with several sharp movements. Pour the "egg" in this way until a small number of ants remain, which are already removed by hand. And it is not always necessary to get rid of all insects, since many species of birds (flycatchers, all blackbirds, woodpeckers) use ants for food. It is possible to store a live "egg" for a long time only in refrigerators. If this is not possible, it is hung in fabric bags that allow air to pass through well. If gas exchange is disturbed, the "egg" quickly clots and the pupae die. To avoid this, the contents of the bags are shaken several times daily with great care so as not to crush the pupae. Crushed, they quickly grow moldy, and mold soon affects the entire supply of "eggs".
In the warmth, pupae continue to develop, and after 5-7 days, intensive hatching of adult insects from them begins. Therefore, having a large number of ant "eggs", part of it has to be "marinated".
Freshly frozen pupae are somewhat inferior in quality to live ones, but still remain the best type of food. The easiest way to soak ant pupae is in the oven. To do this, heat a baking sheet and put a sheet of paper on it. The "egg" is poured onto the paper with a layer of about a centimeter. Then the baking sheet is placed in a hot oven for 20-40 seconds. The frozen pupae taken out of the oven are poured onto a sheet of paper and spread over it in a thin layer.
During the first 10 minutes, while the "egg" has not yet cooled, it is thrown from the sheet that has absorbed moisture onto new, dry ones. As soon as the egg begins to rustle with stirring, it is placed in storage, sprinkled in a thin layer (1-3 centimeters) in a dry room. A frozen "egg", like a live one, requires constant care. If not stirred from time to time, it will cake and mold. In no case should a moldy "egg" be given to birds.
To store ant pupae for future use, they must be dried. The "egg" is dried in the same way as the frozen one is stored. But to speed up drying, it is laid out in the sun or a stream of air from a fan or air heater is directed at it. A frozen, completely dried egg is 4-5 times lighter than a live one. It should be stored, like all dry food, suspended in bags. Fresh frozen "eggs" are offered to the birds in pure form or mixed into soft food. Dried pupae, before putting them in the feeders, are poured with boiling water, insisted for several minutes under the lid and thrown back onto a sieve to allow excess moisture to drain. After the "egg" has cooled, it is mixed with soft food.

LIGHT LIGHTING AND ITS ROLE IN THE LIFE OF BIRDS

To meet the needs of birds in light, at home they will have to take the lightest part of the room: best of all, against the wall on which daylight falls from the window. And yet, on short, gloomy winter days, even near a window, light will clearly not be enough.
Need additional lighting. It is simple to make the backlight, just hang a reflector with a conventional 40-watt incandescent lamp on the front wall of the cage. Such a lamp has advantages over a fluorescent lamp. It does not distort the natural color of the plumage, and most importantly, it emits that part of the rays of the visible spectrum, which, as special studies show, is most needed by birds. In addition, the incandescent lamp emits not only light but also heat, and birds love to sit and bask in its rays. Therefore, one of the perches should be reinforced against the reflector.
The value of ultraviolet rays for the body is well known. With their lack, vitamin deficiencies and other diseases often occur. Some bird species cannot reproduce without ultraviolet rays, as they lay eggs, in which the embryos die before hatching. Therefore, in laboratory and room conditions, it is advisable to use artificial sources of the short-wavelength part of the spectrum - quartz and erythemal lamps. You should be very careful when lighting birds with them, as you can damage your eyes. Lighting sessions start at one to two minutes a day and gradually increase to 15-30 minutes. If the lamp is taken from the birds at a distance of 2.5-3 meters, then the duration of the irradiation can increase two to three times. Bactericidal lamps for quartzing birds cannot be used. The radiation of these lamps can blind the bird.
But artificial irradiation at home is not available to everyone, so more often you have to wait for the warm season, when you can transfer pets to an outdoor enclosure. If it is not possible to take the birds out under the open sky, you should open the windows wide in warm weather during those hours when the cage is illuminated by the sun.
And yet light, despite its indisputable benefits, is sometimes harmful. At night, mainly during periods of migratory activity, when many species in nature make night flights, even a weak light source causes anxiety in birds, the desire to escape from the cage. Here you have picked up a black-headed warbler from a devastated nest and raised it. Slavka has grown and become completely tame: she takes flour worms right from the palm of her hand. As soon as you approach the cage, it is already at the very grate, looking expectantly. All day long Warbler quietly jumps from perch to perch. But one of the early autumn nights, something happened to the bird. As soon as it got dark and a faint light from a street lamp poured out of the window, the bird huddled in a cage: it fluttered its wings, began to fly up the lattice through which the light penetrated, hit the ceiling, fall to the floor, take off again ... and so on for many hours. In the morning, you sadly discover that only short, sharp fragments of rods remain from the tail feathers, and the rest of the feather is badly frayed, the forehead and folds of the wings are in blood. But all this could have been avoided.It was enough to create complete darkness for the night and not disturb the bird until morning by sewing a light-proof but air-permeable cover or a curtain made of dense black material. Such a cover or curtain will be needed not only during the period of migration activity, it is advisable to use them constantly.
Outside the periods of migration, the overwhelming majority of birds are active only in the light. The duration of daylight hours determines the duration of wakefulness and sleep, the timing of feeding. In our latitudes, wintering songbirds are forced to feed all day long. Moreover, in order to lengthen the feeding hours and survive the long winter night, the same tits, tap dancers, bullfinches, and buntings wake up even at dusk, when the illumination is much less than that at which they awaken in spring or autumn.
An important role in the life of birds is also played by the length of daylight hours, or, more precisely, the ratio of the light and dark parts of the 24-hour photoperiod, which acts as a signaling factor of the environment. Seasonal changes in the length of the day are a kind of calendar by which the bird knows the season.
In conditions of high and temperate latitudes, all birds have a strict cycle of seasonal phenomena - a sequence of special physiological conditions characteristic of wintering, migration, reproduction, molting.
Their regular alternation allows birds to live in that part of the world for which the change of seasons is typical. This property of the bird's body makes it possible for it to fly away from the winter cold in advance and fly to the nesting site by the warm season. In each species, such a sequence of states is a species-specific hereditary trait fixed in the genotype, as well as the size, color of plumage, or patterns of growth and development.
However, the duration of wintering, molting or migration can be extended or shortened and thus, as it were, adjusted to the seasonal phenomena of the area in which the bird lives. For this adjustment, each individual checks its internal annual cycle of physiological states with a photoperiodic calendar.
The main signal for the beginning of reproduction in birds is .. lengthening of daylight hours.
In Japan, bird lovers have known about this for a long time. Owners of white-eyed and other songbirds extended short December days to make them sing as early as January. To do this, every evening after sunset, bird cages were placed by the candles, additionally illuminating them for another 3-4 hours. Soon the males actively sang, while their relatives sang only with the arrival of spring.
Special studies by bird watchers and extensive experience in keeping birds in laboratories, homes and zoos have shown that exposure to long daylight hours and associated singing periods can be triggered prematurely in a wide variety of birds. This feature of most species wintering north of the equator is extremely important to take into account when keeping them in captivity.
To encourage birds to actively sing or reproduce in winter, it is necessary to lengthen the winter day by several hours using the backlight, turning the lamp on and off at the same time every day. Experiments have shown that the faster the day reaches its maximum duration, the faster the sex glands develop. Therefore, in practice, when it is required to bring the birds into a state of sexual activity in the shortest possible time, the length of the day is immediately increased to 16-19 hours.
However, we must not forget that a long day has a stimulating effect only if it succeeds a short day in late autumn or early winter. Therefore, you should not rush to stimulate sexual activity, and it is better to gradually lengthen the day in November or December. Well, if you can't wait to hear the song of a bird caught in the autumn flight, first create a very short day for it (8-9 hours a day) and only after 3-4 weeks sharply increase the exposure.
It is far from always advisable to activate birds in winter. If you want the birds not only to sing, but also to build nests, hatch chicks, you should use summer for this. In the summer, they can live in a well-maintained outdoor aviary, eat a variety of fortified foods, take sun baths, and therefore have more chances to successfully raise offspring.
In order to postpone the sexual activity of birds in the summer months, a "short winter day" must be strictly maintained throughout the winter and spring. You can't do without a light-insulating curtain. When shortening the day, it is necessary to ensure that the curtain rises and falls daily at a certain time, since the sensitivity to light is especially great during the morning and evening twilight. It is necessary to start increasing the day for birds from which they expect to get offspring, 30-40 days before the desired nesting period. Sexual activity in different species lasts from 50 to 90 days. It is almost impossible to change its duration by external influences.
After the expiration of the period of sexual activity, molt begins — the process of replacing the old plumage with a new one.
The plumage is replaced in a specific sequence.
This is how molt differs from the process of regrowth of accidentally lost feathers. The rate of replacement of the plumage of the endocrine glands is conducted, the activity of which depends to a significant extent on external, photoperiodic conditions.
For the normal course of molting, a shorter daylight hours are required than for sexual activity. And not just short, but shortening, say, from 15-14 to 12-11 hours.
On a constant or too long day, molt can be interrupted, greatly delayed and, finally, turn into a painful process, which is sometimes observed in captive birds. Even the feathers themselves are then formed incorrectly: they grow very slowly, become crooked and do not reach their normal size. Unsuitable for moulting and too short day conditions. For many of our birds, a day shorter than 10-12 hours completely excludes molting. Once in such conditions, they remain for another year in their old, worn plumage.
Birds that mate and breed in spring and live in the open air until autumn replace plumage normally. In nature, in the second half of summer and autumn, the day is gradually reduced, and each organism chooses the times in which the photoperiodic conditions for molting of a given species become most suitable. The situation is more complicated with the molt of birds activated by additional illumination in winter.
Here you have to carefully observe and with the first signs of molting (at this time dropped feathers appear at the bottom of the cell), begin to gradually reduce the length of the day, for example, every 5 days by 15 or 20 minutes a day.
Then the rates of molting will be quite moderate and rhythmic, the state of health of the birds is normal, and the new plumage will completely replace the old one.
But there are also such species of birds that are difficult for indoor keeping, which, despite the excellent care for them, living in the summer and autumn in the open air, "do not want" to replace the plumage.
As a rule, these are birds molting in nature at wintering grounds.
Lovers who have ever kept lentils are well aware that they shed extremely badly in captivity. Instead of replacing plumage in November-December, they begin to “go bald” from the middle of winter and by the end of wintering they are such strange creatures that it is difficult to call them birds. Their head, neck, shoulders and other parts of the body are almost completely devoid of feathers. Only flight feathers remain on the wings. They themselves become so fat that they can hardly fly up and stay on the perch.
This phenomenon interested us, and we set up a series of experiments to study it. It turned out that lentil molting is not only under strict photoperiodic control, but also requires a much shorter day length than molting of other species.The signal to the beginning of molting and an indispensable condition for its course for Leningrad birds are photoperiods with a day duration from 10 hours 15 minutes to 9 hours 45 minutes. Without such a light regime, such a strong violation of the hormonal balance of the body occurs that the formation of a new feather becomes impossible, and therefore the fallen feathers are not replaced with new ones and the bird “goes bald”.
It turned out to be curious that the lentils seem to look for the necessary photoperiod in time and adapt the timing of their molting to it: no matter how long, starting in November, the necessary light regime is given to them, the birds wait for their time and only after that they begin to molt and it is completed normally.
Like lentils, other species whose autumn molt has been postponed to the wintering season impose equally stringent requirements on photoperiodic conditions. For example, the moult of the Dubrovnik falls on September-October, when the birds are already in winter quarters in Southeast Asia. Therefore, in captivity, they do not shed until the day is 12-11 hours a day.
In addition to the autumn molt (post-juvenile in juveniles and post-breeding in adults), a number of species have one more - pre-breeding. It always goes away during wintering. Unfortunately, very little is known about the premarital molt and the conditions necessary for it. Because we do not know the requirements of birds during this period and, apparently, we often violate them, such birds live very poorly in captivity. The rest of the insectivorous birds, which do not have a winter molt (robin, nightingale, chickens, wren, accentuates), can not only be successfully kept in captivity, but also change the rhythm of their seasonal life, but at their own will: increasing the day, make them sing in winter by three four months earlier than natural and, if necessary, reduce the duration of their autumn molt, quickly reducing the length of the day.
Air temperature and humidity.
It is not necessary to observe the special temperature and humidity regime for birds of temperate latitudes as strictly as the light regime or the duration of daylight hours. And in nature, the significance of these factors varies greatly, therefore birds are adapted to life in a fairly wide range of their changes. Many species can be kept both indoors and outdoors all year round. Even birds flying to the Mediterranean countries and other areas of the subtropical zone live quite well in an outdoor aviary in mild winters. This does not mean that they are indifferent to the temperature and humidity of the environment, but they have wide adaptive abilities.
With this in mind, a number of rules have to be followed. If in winter the outdoor enclosure contains species that winter in our latitudes, then the birds should be in the physiological state of wintering, which means that their annual cycle should not be changed by an artificial photoperiod; they cannot be returned to a warm room from time to time, kept in it for several days and again taken out in the cold; feeding birds in a cold season should be especially abundant and nutritious, and feed is always available - not frozen; in severe frosts, bathing in water should not be allowed, and therefore snow should be offered for drinking, not water. If in winter in an unheated room there are bird species that winter in nature in warmer countries - in the tropics, then the air temperature in it should not fall below minus five degrees Celsius.
A number of species adapt to low winter temperatures not only due to physiological changes in the body, but also due to the manifestation of special behavior. These special forms of behavior include collective overnight stays in the hollows of field sparrows and great tits, lodging for the night in a close lump of mongrels, spending the night under the snow of tap dancers, bullfinches and other small birds, not to mention grouse digging holes for themselves in the snow.Therefore, the enclosures must have shelter from the wind - thick pine and spruce branches, a fluffy snowdrift, nest boxes for hollow nests.
Too high summer temperatures combined with direct sunlight are especially scary for birds. Birds die from overheating, perhaps, more often than from cold. The most common reason for the death of indoor birds is overheating in the sun when the cage is exposed outside the window on a hot summer day.
High air humidity in itself is relatively easily tolerated by birds, but at the same time, various diseases often occur, primarily mycoses (see the section "Diseases of birds. Their treatment and prevention").

WHAT DOES DETENTION IN BEGINNING BEGIN WITH?

The hassle associated with keeping birds begins from the moment they are caught. Once the bird is in hand, it must be provided with a comfortable room, food and drink. The main concern is to get them to eat food that will be possible to feed in the following days. Of course, this can only be one of the suitable feed for this type of feed. The bird should start feeding immediately. It would be wrong to think that in order to get used to the new environment, she needs to be given time: she will sit, get comfortable with her position, and then she will begin to eat. On the contrary, in order for the bird to get used to the new place and way of life, it must begin to feed no later than two hours after catching.
Therefore, you cannot leave her alone until she "takes up the food." If, despite all the efforts, the bird does not eat, it began to swell and hide its head under the wing, but has not yet become so weak that it cannot fly, it is necessary to release it as soon as possible.
Where and how to place the bird.
There is a perception that a caught bird should be accustomed to the limited space of the cage gradually. To do this, first it must be placed in a large aviary, and then transferred to cells of ever smaller sizes, until it gets used to the size of the cell in which it will live permanently. This view is wrong. The experience of keeping and accustoming birds to captivity shows that food and drink in a cage should be constantly in the field of vision of a newly caught bird, while the environment of the cage should be as little noticeable as possible.
In a large and spacious aviary, food may be invisible, and a wide view from it encourages birds to look for a way out. Therefore, it is better to plant a caught bird in a cage specially designed for such an occasion or in a carrier cage, a cab, finally, in an ordinary small cage, veiling it with a white thin cloth that transmits light well
... The cute is like a small cage (for a small passerine bird its dimensions are 20 by 30 by 20 centimeters), but instead of walls and a ceiling, only a wire frame is made from rods, on which a cover made of white, not very dense fabric is put on top or suspended from the inside. Instead of a door, a fastener is sewn in, such as a zipper.
The cage and cage arrangement is described below as they are used primarily for transporting birds. If an ordinary, relatively high cage is chosen, perches should be removed from it or strengthened at the very floor. Perches are needed only for those birds that do not tend to collect food by running and jumping on the ground, such as flycatchers, long-tailed tit or warblers.
However, wherever the birds are planted, you need to ensure yourself the opportunity to observe their behavior and at the same time be invisible: make a special peephole in the wall of the cage, cage, leave a small gap between the folds of the material covering the cage. Even in a curtained cage without perches, birds can behave restlessly, they fly up or, fluttering their wings, crawl along the lattice.
Wings are usually tied to such birds. A soft thread is prepared by folding it several times for strength. In the left hand they take the bird with its tail forward. The ends of the wings normally folded on the back are connected, slightly crossing.A thread is brought under the place of the intersection and, grabbing both ends of the wings with it at once, tighten the knot. On top of the first knot, two more are tied, each time sharply pulling the thread. After the knots are tightly tightened, the free ends of the thread are cut short so that there are no loops left and there is no way to catch on anything. When the bird "takes up food" and settles in the cage - usually in a day, the thread is cut.
In the absence of a view from the cage, even immediately after capture, many individuals behave calmly and with untied wings. Before deciding whether to tie a particular individual, it should be observed for a few minutes.
Caught birds need to be kept one by one, but you can plant them in groups, so, of course, so that the birds are not crowded. No more birds are placed in one cage than in the usual long-term housing. Due to differences in character, ingenuity, experience, some birds begin to feed in the cage earlier than others and, by their behavior, demonstrate to others that the food is edible.
Thus, the imitative ability, which in the wild plays a huge role in the life of these animals, will serve them well under such unusual circumstances. Therefore, it is also useful to put in a group of wild birds one individual, accustomed to the cage. It is not even necessary that she belonged to the same species as those caught, as long as she actively ate the proposed food and behaved peacefully.
Oddly enough, it is not young, but adult birds that are especially troublesome. To them, first of all, it is necessary to plant those who know how to feed in a cage. Adults are more careful and conservative in their choice of food, they have a stronger desire to break free. As a result, often, without having achieved anything, adult birds have to be released.
It is apparently clear to everyone that large predators cannot be put in the same room with other birds, but probably not everyone knows that even some small birds can behave like real predators. First of all, these are shrike (especially the largest of them - gray shrike), woodpeckers, many corvids. They can inflict reprisals not only on representatives of smaller species, but also on their own kind. Certain species of birds are endowed with powerful beaks, which in nature are used only for processing rough plant food.
Getting into a cramped room, frightened by the proximity of other birds, they can seriously injure neighbors. Therefore, it is better to isolate such birds, especially the common or juniper gannets, from other species, but if the cells are very small, then from their own kind. Even among the most peaceful species with ordinary, not very strong beaks, there are sometimes individuals that behave extremely aggressively, capable of beating neighbors to death. Most often, such aggressors are found among the robins, nuthatches and great tits. All this makes us take an extremely responsible attitude to the placement of the caught birds and very carefully monitor their behavior in the cages in the first hours.
Composition and methods of presenting food. Perhaps, it is worthwhile to once again draw attention to the fact that the caught bird must immediately begin to accustom itself to the food that can be provided for it in all subsequent days and that would satisfy its basic food needs. Based on this, in most cases it is necessary to offer the bird a different food than the one that it is used to getting in nature.
Imagine that some bird lover was lucky and he, having met a flock of Schuras, which sat down to feed on scarlet bunches of mountain ash, caught a handsome raspberry. Schur will cause a lot of trouble if you try to feed him with mountain ash. It is good if the harvest has turned out and the fruits managed to be stocked in large quantities. How many rowan berries need to be placed in a cage to feed the bird?
Indeed, in the wild, flying from tree to tree, it feeds almost the entire short autumn day.And if the pike-holes in this season did not feed on rowan, but on spruce or willow buds? In any case, the pike will have to offer grain food, such as sunflower seeds. But changing your diet is not as easy as it might seem. When faced with unusual food, the bird does not seem to understand that it is edible. To facilitate the forced transition from one type of food to another, insectivores are first offered live food (ant cocoons, larvae of flies, mealworms, etc.), granivores - a grain mixture, the seeds of which are presented in the most accessible form (sunflower or hemp, for example, they are crushed).
The first portion of feed (live or grain) is poured not into the feeders, but at the bottom of the cage. At the same time, they make sure that the food is not contaminated and not trampled, add more if necessary. Birds, running along the bottom of the cage or sitting on low perches, from where they can easily reach the food, have it in their field of vision all the time. Scattered on the floor, it looks more natural than in the feeders, and the birds take it faster.
After the bird begins to take food from the bottom of the cage, place the next portion in the feeder. When mealworms are used from live feed, they are partially immobilized beforehand, either by cooling them strongly or by pressing the heads. Such larvae continue to move, but do not crawl along the cracks. However, mealworms can be given in the trough, and without resorting to immobilizing them. Birds begin to react to them very quickly, no matter how they are presented. If there are no mealworms and only an ant "egg" is available, unpleasant complications may arise. Among insectivores, there are individual individuals that do not touch the food while it is motionless. For such birds, a handful of cocoons are thrown to the bottom of the cage along with live ants. Adult insects pick up pupae and drag them around the cage in order to quickly hide in a safe place.
The "wiggling egg" attracts attention, and the bird begins to feed on it. There should not be a lot of ants in the cage (no more than one or two dozen), otherwise the food will quickly spread apart, and the birds will be disturbed by insect bites. For the same reasons, as soon as the bird starts eating pupae, the adult insects are removed from the cage.
The peculiarity of the modes of movement and collection of food in nature in some species sometimes becomes a significant obstacle when accustoming to ordinary cellular conditions. It has already been said that it is not possible to teach swifts and nightjars to take food from feeders or from the ground. However, if for a number of species food is arranged in an unusual way, but thereby at least roughly imitate the nature of its placement in nature, then the chores can be crowned with success and the bird will begin to eat new food. In our practice, we encountered such a situation when we caught marsh warblers for experiments.
In nature, warblers scurry about in dense grass, pecking at insects from stems and leaves. We scattered the food on the floor, fixed the perches in a low position. The birds paid no attention to him. They understood the edibility of the ant "egg" only after, having plucked bundles from the reed grass, moistened them with water and sprinkled them with ant cocoons, we placed them in cages.
Live food is, as you know, the best food for insectivores, but it is usually impossible to provide such food for the entire time of keeping your pets. Therefore, already in the first hours of life in captivity, birds are gradually transferred to ordinary soft food. As soon as the birds begin to eat live food from the feeders, it is replaced with a mixture of ant cocoons or flour beetle larvae with soft food. Initially, this mixture is given in such a proportion that the living components predominate. Then their concentration is reduced more and more until it is brought to a completely accessible level.
Mixing soft food with an ant's egg is generally better accepted than mixing it with mealworms.Birds continue to pick the beetle larvae from the food, leaving the rest of the food intact. Then the mealworms are cut in half. When the birds get used to eating the halves, they are cut into even smaller pieces. Crumbs of soft food adhere to the pieces of the larvae, and gradually they begin to be eaten.
For some birds, other types of live food become convenient. For example, earthworms can be used to teach thrushes to eat soft food. Unlike meal worms, they must be cut at least in half right away, otherwise the worms will creep very quickly. The best transitional food for waders is bloodworms.
There are bird species that do not need consistent feeding training in captivity. For example, crows eat a wide variety of foods: bread, cereals, meat, cottage cheese, fish, and they pounce on it literally as soon as they get into the cage. Many predators react to live food in the same way.
Transportation. It is good if the birds can be caught near the house. But more often than not, you have to go far for them, and the place of future residence is separated from the fishing point by hours of travel. For laboratory research, it is often required to transport birds hundreds and thousands of kilometers. For very long distances, it is best to use an airplane. But in this case, due to bad weather on the route, there is a threat of a delay of one or two days on the way. If, over such distances, it is necessary to transport not just a few, but tens or hundreds of birds, which is often required for scientific purposes, then the problem of transportation becomes very serious. Immediately you need to warn that before embarking on such a long journey, the birds must be given time (at least two days) to get used to life in a cage and learn to eat food.
In any case, whether you have to take the birds home from the suburbs or transport them from one end of the country to the other, it is better to use special cages during transportation - carrying cages and cabs.
These are flat cages of such height that birds can run in them and sit normally on perches fixed at the bottom, but cannot fly up. A carrier cage, like any cage, has a net only on one side, for example, on top. Since the cage is always in hand, always under supervision, there is no need to use a strong metal mesh for its manufacture. It is severe and often injures birds. Therefore, the top of the cage is covered with a nylon or cotton mesh with meshes of such a size that the birds cannot poke through their heads (for small passerines — 10-14 millimeters). The bottom and sides of the cage are most easily made from thin planks. The simplest cage door is a latch on stops made of bent studs. The studs are hammered from the inside, the ends that come out are bent at a right angle so that they hold the valve.
Such a cage has undeniable advantages over other cages, since it is very easy to manufacture. Going on a distant expedition, it is enough to take with you only a piece of Delhi .. The rest is always at hand. Spending an hour or two, everyone can make a carrying cage. For transportation of 10-15 small birds, a cage with dimensions of 60 by 30 by 7 centimeters is convenient. If there is a need to transport several times more of them, then cages of the same size are stacked one on top of the other. Between them put two slats one or two centimeters thick. Through the gaps formed between the cages, a sufficient amount of not only air, but also light penetrates into them, and birds can feed on the way.
The upper cage in a bundle of this kind is covered with a hard cover made of a piece of plywood or plastic, which is also superimposed on the spacer strips. The environment is rather poorly visible from the bundle, the light enters it not from above, but almost from the side, and therefore the birds behave relatively calmly.
The carrier cage is widely used as a temporary housing for birds in field ornithological research.Specialists working with large traps sometimes catch up to a thousand birds a day. No matter how quickly the birds look around and ring, they have to be kept in carrying cages for some time. The need to plant more and more birds in the cages from the trap receivers and soon take them out of the cages forced the use of a special cage, in which a cloth sleeve is fitted instead of a door. It is enough just to bend it so that the birds do not fly out.
The carriage is a real cage with low side bars, elongated in length. The cab is used both for transporting birds, keeping and training newly caught captive birds, and for placing semolina birds on the current. Therefore, perches are installed on its wooden sides. Flying from perch to perch, birds attract the attention of free relatives. This explains its relatively high height compared to the height of the carrier cage. The carriage is used for transportation due to its convenient flat shape, small size and lightness. In order not to disturb the birds on the way, a white cloth cover is put on the cab or wrapped in light thin paper. The door is located on the upper removable grill. Removal of the cover allows the birder to prepare several bridges of such dimensions that one fits inside the other, which facilitates the delivery of the bridges to the place of fishing. The usual dimensions of the cab for passerines are 60 by 30 by 17 centimeters with a height of the side edges of 5-6 centimeters. When transported in one cab, you can plant up to 20 siskins or up to 12 finches, buntings and other birds of a similar size, that is, much more densely than at a permanent place of residence.
If you need to transport only one bird or you need to isolate a pugnacious one, then you should use a "lamb" or a larger cage when the bird is larger than small passerines. The size of the cage is chosen so that the bird can stand freely in it, sit and, flapping its wings, does not touch the walls, that is, in this case, one must be guided by the same rules by which the lamb is selected.
In whatever way the birds are transported during long-term transportation (for songbirds it is more than one or two hours' journey), they must be provided with food and drink. Dry and live food is poured directly to the bottom of the cage or cage, and if soft food is given, then, for obvious reasons, it must be placed in the feeders. When shaking along the way, the feeders are rigidly fixed so that they do not move around the cage.
It is best to do this with a wire ring into which the feeder is inserted. Do not screw the feeders themselves to the bottom or sides of the cage. This will make them much more difficult to clean, and on the road will make it simply impossible.
It is better to water the birds at stops, placing drinkers with water in the cages for 5-10 minutes every two to four hours. In winter, in the cold, the birds should be watered with snow, giving it also in drinkers, since both from the water and from the snow poured on the bottom of the cage, the plumage gets very wet and in cold weather the birds are threatened with death from hypothermia.
In some cases, it is possible to get home after a long journey only after dark. Arriving at the place, despite the fact that it was dark outside the window, the birds need to be fed. Without being transplanted into other cages, they are illuminated with a bright lamp, food and water are placed and given the opportunity to eat for one to two hours. Only after that they turn off the light, and at dawn the birds are settled in their permanent places of residence.
 

Noskov G.A., Rymkevich T.A., Smirnov O.P.
 
Source
"Catching and keeping birds" L .: From the Leningrad State University 1984

 

Even ancient people domesticated wild birds and began to breed them in order to obtain food in the form of eggs and meat, as well as feathers and down, which were used in everyday life. Today's birds are different from those that were bred by our ancestors. As a result of selection work, the most suitable breeds for breeding were bred.In this article we will tell you which bird is more profitable to breed at home, because now everyone who has a desire and a small suburban area can breed birds.

Chickens and geese bred at home

Breeding ducks

Ducks were the first on our list. It is no coincidence that they were among the first to be domesticated by our ancestors. This is because these birds are famous for their unpretentiousness and quickly gain weight. The latter circumstance is especially important, because the ultimate goal of duck breeding is to obtain meat that has an amazing taste and high nutritional value due to its fat and fiber content.

Ducks on a private farm

Duck eggs are usually not eaten as readily as chicken eggs, because they have a specific taste. However, they can be used to make sauces and other dishes. Feathers and down are suitable for stuffing pillows and blankets, therefore they are also valuable.

Those who maintain not only a poultry house, but also are engaged in maintaining a vegetable garden will be able to use duck droppings as fertilizer.

Choosing a breed

Before you start self-breeding ducks, you should pay attention to the features of the most popular and suitable species of birds, and choose the right ones for yourself. We present a selection of the most profitable breeds for breeding.

Peking duck

You don’t have to be a gourmet not to taste a baked bird of this breed in a restaurant at least once in your life. The body weight of an adult female is 3 kilograms, and the drake weighs one kilogram more. Fibrous, fatty meat is very nutritious and literally melts in your mouth, the edible portion of duck is about 70%.

Peking ducks lay about 140-150 eggs per year, of which about 100 ducklings grow.

Peking duck

Muscovy duck

Also known as Indo-woman. This breed can significantly surpass the previous one in size: the weight of the drake reaches 6 kg. The resulting meat is soft and lean. The nature of these birds is always calm, which is also a plus. They do not fight in open-air cages, do not make noise. Disease resistance is another undeniable benefit of the muscovy duck.

Indoor woman in water

Read also: Indoor meat breed

Duck Mulard

This breed is a hybrid of the two above. The chicks obtained by crossing the Peking and Muscovy ducks are characterized by a fast growth rate and a large adult weight. Hybrids do not produce offspring, but this can hardly be called a minus, because the version of their maintenance remains very productive due to the large yield of meat.

Ducks breed Mulard

Video - Breeding muscovy ducks at home

What should be the room for ducks

Any building that has been carefully equipped will become a duck house. First of all, you should take care of the insulation of the room, since the egg production and weight gain of birds directly depend on the comfort of the temperature.

An extension made of logs should be caulked and plastered from the inside, a wooden house can be upholstered with plywood, covered with plaster, putty with clay, and so on. In hot weather, the inside of the house should be cool to allow the ducks to rest, and in frosty weather they should be warm and calm inside.

House for ducks on the water

When setting up your duck house, pay special attention to the floor. It should be about 25 cm above the ground to keep rats out. Peat, sawdust or straw mixed with grass should be placed on top of the floor. Dry everything thoroughly and clean from impurities. For one individual, you need to prepare about 12 kg.

The laying of eggs in ducks directly depends on sufficient light and heat. Make sure that they are always warm and dry inside their house, otherwise you risk being left without an increase in livestock. Be sure to consider ventilation inside the house.

Reducing daylight hours in winter can be a serious problem for ducks.Increase daylight hours with artificial lighting in the mornings and evenings.

Bird shade

Arrangement of a duck house

First of all, decide in which part of the house the duck hole will be made. A good option would be to place it in the south or southeast. The size of the manhole is 40 cm wide and 30-40 cm high. It is a good idea to build a small vestibule to protect the manhole from wind and drafts.

In summer, it is worth fencing off the bird walking area so that they do not wander around the site and do not spoil the garden plantings. You can make such an aviary not only on land, but also on water. As material for the fence, you can use:

• fishing net;
• shingles;
• chain-link;
• metal mesh;
• reiki.

Fenced house

A one-meter fence will be enough for the land plot, but in the water the fence should drop 70 cm below and 50 cm above the surface, as ducks can dive in and accidentally swim out of the fence. If you do not have a small private reservoir, then this can lead to a decrease in the number of livestock.

To protect the birds from the heat, awnings are fitted to the fences in the summer. It would be a great idea to immediately equip the aviaries under the spreading trees, in the shade of which the birds can cool off.

Birds will want to walk not only in summer, but also in winter. To do this, it is necessary to constantly keep the aviary free of snow, and cover its floor with a thick layer of dry straw. When the air temperature is acceptable and there is no wind, ducks can walk from morning to evening, however, in frosts, in no case should they be forced out for a walk, as this will entail hypothermia. The house must be cleaned every day, airing it carefully so as not to blow through the feathered tenants.

Duck pen

Interior decoration

Bird feeders are installed on a wide board, at least 2 cm thick. From above, it is necessary to adapt a bar to it, which will prevent ducks from trampling food. In addition to its main diet, the duck should receive mineral supplements, which it swallowed with silt in its natural environment:

• small seashells;
• limestone;
• gravel, etc.

Mineral supplements in the diet of ducks

Since ducks need a large amount of drink every day, about 600 ml, you should immediately equip a voluminous and comfortable drinker. It can be made of metal or wood. It should be as tall as a duck to keep the water clear (about 20 cm).

Duck nests are located in the darkened compartments of the ducks to help ducks lay their eggs more calmly. However, do not crowd, leave room for free movement of the person, because you will have to regularly collect eggs and clean up in the nests. Each side of the nest should be between 40 and 50 cm, and the height should be 50 cm. To prevent the nest litter from falling out of the perch, equip a small sill at the exit.

Original feeder for ducklings

Count how many layer ducks you have in your charge and arrange nests, one for every three birds. Eggs are collected in the morning.

Be careful when cleaning, because ducks are very shy. Severe stress can lead to the fact that they completely stop rushing.

Creation and maintenance of the tribe

The main prerequisite for creating a duck tribe is uniformity. It should contain birds of the same age and weight. There are about eight females per drake. When picking up ducklings in your livestock, do not take hybrid chicks, because they cannot leave behind offspring.

Hybrid ducks cannot leave offspring

The most important criterion for selection is the appearance of the birds. The feathered constitution must be strong, it itself must constantly move and radiate energy. The number and health of the future offspring depends on how healthy the parent tribe will turn out.

For high egg production of females, you need to create comfortable living conditions for ducks, do not frighten them by bursting into the chicken coop, do not allow other pets to offend the bird. Once you start raising young ducklings into the parent flock, increase the length of daylight hours by half an hour each week, until it is 16 hours. Leave a minimum of light in the house at night to avoid injury. Monitor the cleanliness of the floor and nest litter.

Ducks eat compound feed

The emergence of chicks

Incubation is carried out only from those ducks that are completely healthy. For this, eggs are selected that are no older than a week. They look around and weigh themselves. The mass should be 70-90 grams for light bird breeds and up to 100 grams for heavy ones. Infected or spoiled eggs must be disposed of quickly.

Supporters of natural incubation of eggs need to remember that not all species of ducks have a developed instinct for raising offspring. For example, the Peking duck devotes almost no time to the laid eggs. Below we give a table with which you can recognize whether a duck will hatch offspring.

Sits for a long time in the nest	Rarely fits the nest
Tears off the plumage and lines the nest	Walks a lot and actively
Walks separately from the rest of the birds	Often makes noise

The ducks preparing for incubation can lay eggs collected earlier. It is important to take into account the size of each layer so that it completely covers the clutch with its body.

Hatching duckling

Breeding chicks artificially is based on an uninterrupted supply of oxygen and constant ventilation. At the very beginning, the temperature in which the eggs are laid should be about 38 ° C. By the 20th day it is lowered to 30. The eggs are examined and the embryo is checked for development on the 8th, 21st and 25th days.

How healthy hatched ducklings are determined by these features:

• on the evenness of pigmentation;
• fluffiness of feathers;
• wings pressed to the body;
• soft stomach;
• dry navel;
• weighing 50 g.

The breeding period for this bird for meat is about 60 days, since after that the birds begin to lose weight.

Let's summarize

From all of the above, it is clear that keeping and breeding ducks is not so easy, however, it is quite acceptable. This lesson does not require specialized education and specific knowledge and brings really great benefits.

Little ducklings

Breeding geese

Geese, being close relatives of ducks, are also unpretentious in keeping. Juicy goose meat has long been an integral part of Russian cuisine, decorating festive tables. Goose down is used for stuffing bedding and winter clothing.

Goose meat is a frequent guest on the festive table

Breed selection

To date, a large number of different breeds of this bird are offered for purchase. Almost all of them are resistant to any climatic features of the territory of residence. However, taking into account the characteristics of each variety, it is better to choose the ideal one for breeding in your region, since the regularity and completeness of offspring depends on this.

Family of geese

We present you a list of the most profitable breeds for breeding.

Gray Kholmogorov geese

Perfect for novice poultry breeders. This ancient breed is considered to be large and meaty. Adults have strong bones and disease resistance. They were bred specifically for keeping in pasture conditions. The ability to acclimatize to any weather is their undoubted advantage. Raising the Kholmogorov breed for meat is very beneficial: an adult drake weighs 12 kg, and a female - 8 kg. Egg production is about 30 eggs per year, which is a high figure.

Kholmogorov geese

Romny geese

Graceful southern birds. Perfect for natural incubation of offspring. Adults reach a weight of 5.5 kg for females and 6 kg for males.Despite the small total weight, the popularity of their breeding does not decrease due to the special delicate taste of their meat and a large amount of down and feathers. Egg production is 20 eggs per year.

Romny goose

Shadrinskie geese

In another way, the Ural. These extreme lovers are able to live in the harsh winter conditions of Siberia. The body weight of adults corresponds to the Romny geese, but the egg production is 25-30 eggs per year. They gain weight quickly and are suitable for feeding in pasture conditions.

Shadrinskie geese by the water

Toulouse geese

Some more heavyweights on our list. They have a formidable appearance, but a calm character. The weight of an adult goose reaches 11 kg, the goose weighs about 8 kg. This variety is bred specifically to obtain fatty liver, which weighs all 500 g, but its nutritious fatty meat is also popular among food lovers. This bird denies natural hatching, but it lays eggs steadily - up to 30 pieces per year.

Toulouse geese

Land geese

French nationals are also suppliers of the liver delicacy. The liver of a well-fed drake reaches a weight of as much as 700 g, while its body weight is 8 kg. Egg production remains at the level of 25-30 eggs per year. Great for crossing and breeding hybrid breeds that will be even heavier than their parents.

Land geese

Arrangement of the territory and poultry house

First of all, it is necessary to put in order the land for breeding. The site on which the poultry house will be located should be located outside the city. Supporters of free grazing of geese should have a plot based on the number of livestock: an average of 10 meters per goose.

For a comfortable life for the bird, organize a poultry house. This should be a capital structure, the area is also calculated according to the livestock: 1 m2 for 4 birds. Since the air temperature in winter should not fall below 10 ° C, take care of supplying the heating system to the gooseneck. It can be represented by a self-folded brick oven, a diesel oven, batteries, or any other device.

Goose corral

The floor of the room should be made of wood or any other strong and high-quality material, since geese spend the night right on the floor. It is lined with deep bedding of peat, shavings or straw. This is necessary to protect delicate paws from cooling. The house should always be kept clean, so avoid rotting and heavy dirt on the litter by cleaning the inside more often. A large volume of water evaporates from the feather surface of geese, for 10 birds it is about 2 liters. Air the bird house constantly, otherwise its residents will start to catch cold.

Dryness and long daylight hours inside the goose house are the key to productive egg production of geese.

Read also: DIY geese nests

Content

In summer, geese spend all daylight hours in the pasture, and they drive into the house to spend the night. Birds eat up to 2 kg of green grass per day, so the quality of this natural feed on the pasture must be high. Bad grass from dry or swampy fields, as well as tall grass, will not be suitable for birds. Here is a list of grasses that geese prefer:

• bindweed;
• sorrel;
• dandelion;
• yarrow;
• nettle;
• sow thistle, etc.

A canopy should be organized so that the birds can hide from the heat of the afternoon.

Original goose house

If there is absolutely no way to dig a pond on your site, use a trick and buy a spacious children's pool with low sides for the geese.

Several times a month it is necessary to bathe geese in sand and ash, to which fodder sulfur has been added. This substance is a strong antiparasitic agent against the so-called puffer. Bites from this insect are the cause of many bird diseases that lead to stress, feather loss and weight loss.

Feeding

Oviposition in geese is short.To get the most out of it, give your geese complete rest and intensive nutrition.

The diet in winter for one head is 150 g of grain-flour feed, 100 g of legumes, 400-500 g of root club crops. Add chopped dry and steamed hay and mineral additives to the list: chalk, gravel, etc. You can feed the bird with mashed potatoes made from carrots, potatoes and hay. In the evening, feed your geese with grain free from other foods.

Geese have lunch

During the period of laying eggs, the daily food rate of geese increases by 100 g of grain-flour fodder and 30 g of fodder of animal origin - milk and cottage cheese. If laying hens cannot cope with the increased food ration, reduce it by cutting back root clubs.

One month before the start of the breeding season, males should be fed. Sprouted oats are perfect, in a proportion of + 100 g per bird.

It is necessary to give clean water both in summer and in winter, despite the fact that in the cold geese will eat snow.

Obtaining offspring

The egg-laying season for geese begins at the end of February. The process begins with 1-2 eggs, next month, with proper feeding and the comfort of the bird, up to 10 eggs are laid, up to 9 eggs in April and 5 in May.

Season preparation begins in early February. Nests are set on the floor, one for two females. Standard roosts should be 50 cm wide and 75 cm long. The front part should not exceed 50 cm, the back - 75 cm. It is best to separate the nests from each other so that the birds do not fight among themselves and do not damage the eggs.

Clutch of goose eggs

The litter usually occurs in the morning. After the hens have gone for a walk, eggs must be removed from the perches and stored at 12 ° C.

Let's sum up

No wonder the goose is a generally recognized favorite of poultry farmers. Resistant to any climate, unpretentious in food and care, it gives much more than it was invested in. It doesn't matter whether for sale or for food, it is very profitable to breed geese.

Breeding chickens

The chicken has long been the heroine of almost all Russian fairy tales. This is because even in the past years, keeping chickens was simple and very profitable. It is chicken meat that is used in our country every day and on holidays. It is prepared by hospitable housewives, slimming models, and athletes. And fried eggs from two eggs have long been a traditional breakfast all over the world.

Indoor chickens on the run

Choosing a breed

Let's move on to listing the most popular chicken breeds. They are distinguished primarily by egg production.

Lohmann Brown

Chickens with brown plumage, whose egg production period lasts as much as 80 weeks. More than 300 eggs are produced per year.

Chickens Lohman Brown

Russian white

As the name implies, these chickens have elegant white plumage. The egg production of this variety is about 200 eggs per year. The chickens themselves grow dense, with tender meat. Suitable for both mass and private breeding.

Russian white chicken

Hisex

Real bird fighters, they have incredible resistance to parasitic and infectious diseases. Up to 300 eggs are produced per year, the carcasses have a decent weight. The mass of one egg is a record 60 g.

Chickens Hisex

High line

They produce about 350 eggs a year, which is an amazing result. They perfectly acclimatize and adapt to any conditions of detention.

Breed High Line

Kuchinskaya

Meat breed, chickens can weigh up to 3 kg. Egg production is approximately 220 pieces per year.

Kuchin breed of chickens

Isa Brown

The weight of one egg produced by a hen of this species can exceed 63 g. The productivity is 320 eggs per year.

Chickens Isa Brown

Conditions of detention

The construction and equipment of a chicken coop will not require large financial investments. You can build a bird house with your own hands using boards, beams, cinder blocks, etc. Do not forget to insulate it before the winter season and install a stove inside so that the chickens continue to lay in the winter.

The height of the room in which the birds will live should not exceed two meters. It is imperative to have ventilation and a source of natural light, as well as lamps for artificial lighting to compensate for chickens daylight hours in winter conditions. Inside, it must be cool in summer and warm in winter, otherwise the birds can get sick.

Chickens walk in the paddock

It is necessary to regularly clean the premises, replace the litter on the floor and in perches. You can cover the floor with moss peat, shavings or sawdust of coniferous trees, as well as straw.

The entrance to the chicken coop should be located on the east or southeast side. Inside, the structure should be equipped with nests and common perches, as well as feeders and drinkers. There is one egg-laying area for every four hens.

Common roosts for chickens

Read also: Chicken nests

Feeding chickens

The easiest way to save yourself the hassle of organizing poultry feeding is to buy ready-made feed. However, it costs money and it may stop budding poultry farmers. In this case, the optimal diet per bird would be corn, carrots, potatoes, millet, bone meal, grass and mineral supplements such as shells, sand and gravel. A laying hen eats only 120 g of feed per day. If you personally take up the preparation of the leaf and herbal part of the diet, as well as purchase grain products at wholesale prices, then only 35-40 rubles per chicken will be spent per month.

Chickens eat grain

Read also: Automatic chicken feeders

Rearing and diet of offspring

Chickens are the few poultry that have a developed parental instinct, so they are excellent for natural incubation. Chicks can also be raised in an incubator, after hatching, by transplanting them into a makeshift aviary - a large, hard box illuminated by a heating lamp.

The menu for babies should consist of fortified foods. In the morning, you should give the protein of boiled eggs, crushed shells, chopped green onions and wheat, mixing it all together.

In the evening, mix the cottage cheese with kefir and put it in the feeders along with the river sand, which acts as a mineral additive.

Shells - a mineral supplement for chickens

Let's sum up

Breeding chickens requires the least material costs throughout the entire process and pays off with a large number of eggs and healthy chicken meat. Beginners should give their preference to these particular birds.

Breeding turkeys

Turkey meat is becoming more and more popular in the health food market. Breeding this bird species is considered very profitable today.

Turkey meat is popular in the health food market

Choosing a breed

Usually, the choice of the breed is carried out after all the characteristics of the location of the future turkey poultry are known, such as the climatic features of the region. However, there is a list of turkey varieties that are most profitable to breed.

Big 6

Highly productive beef breed, gaining weight much faster than other varieties. The weight of an adult male is approximately 19 kg, and that of a female is 11 kg.

Big 6 turkeys

Read also: Big 6 turkeys

Bronze broad-breasted

Very suitable for breeding for meat, the weight of turkeys reaches 15 kg, turkeys - 9 kg. The downside of this breed is its complete inability to graze food, since it was bred to be kept inside the poultry house. It is characterized by high fertility - up to 120 eggs per year.

Bronze broad-breasted turkeys

Read also: Bronze turkeys

North Caucasian bronze

suitable for pasture feeding. The weight of males is 14 kg, females are about 10 kg. Lowered egg production - up to 80 eggs.

North Caucasian bronze turkeys

White broad-breasted

It quickly acclimatizes in any conditions, egg production is maintained at 120 pieces per year.One of the most profitable breeds, as turkeys reach up to 25 kg. live weight, females remain at 10 kg.

White broad-breasted turkey

Cross Big 6

A heavy, beefy breed characterized by instant growth. It is bred and bought for delicious and nutritious dietary meat. A negative feature is the need for artificial insemination of birds for breeding this variety.

Read also: Turkey breeds

Breeding chicks

The turkey house should be spacious, equipped with straw nests, the width and length of which are 40 cm. There are about 15 eggs per female, so there should be enough space.

The hatched chicks should be immediately drunk with boiled water with the addition of green tea and sugar in order to increase immunity. This solution replaces water for the first four days of life, then it is introduced into the diet.

Grown turkey

Young turkeys should be constantly with the light on, which should be gradually reduced by 30 minutes so that by 20 days of life they have enough 15 days of light. The temperature should not be high, but also too low, as chicks are highly susceptible to colds.

Since turkeys are characterized by rapid weight gain, it is better to spend money and buy compound feed for them, which already includes vitamins, amino acids and minerals. However, to save money, you can feed the bird with a mixture of corn, barley and bran, as well as cottage cheese, carrots and even fish giblets. Dry yeast can be added to saturate food with vitamin A. The presence of mineral additives is mandatory, which can be played by ordinary chalk.

Turkey chick

Conditions of detention

Turkeys are willful birds and should not be kept with chickens, geese or ducks at a young age. In the southern regions, turkeys can be grown without a special room, since they are very resistant to weather changes, but in the northern regions, an insulated structure is required.

The enclosures for walking turkeys are fenced off with metal mesh or any other material. Inside the turkey house, feeders and drinkers are installed, preferably vacuum ones. The temperature regime of 27 degrees is provided either naturally or with the help of special heaters.

Turkeys rest on the roost

Drinkers should be rinsed several times a day, avoiding heating the water, which should remain cool and clean. Also, the house itself must be kept clean at all times, otherwise the development of infections cannot be avoided.

An important point is adherence to the feeding regime for turkeys and turkeys. Food is served 4-7 times a day at the same time. Such a schedule significantly affects egg production and body weight gain.

Turkeys in the pen

Let's sum up

Breeding of turkeys is carried out for the purpose of obtaining and selling meat, but eggs and chicks can also be sold. Caring for this bird is not as easy as for others, so experienced poultry breeders should opt for it.

Video - How to breed and keep turkeys

Now that you have learned about the peculiarities of breeding the most popular species of birds, you can get down to work fully armed and achieve real success.