How to Keep a Hwamei (Chinese Thrush)? A Detailed Guide to the Correct Raising Methods

The hwamei is a very lively bird. Many people keep hwamei at home, but for beginner keepers, how can they help a newly arrived bird adapt to its new home? Are there any special tricks? Let's find out below with Zhifu Hot Network and the editor.

Teaching You How to Raise a Hwamei Well

1. The cage and cage cover must be cleaned often. Note: clean once every 3 days. A lazy person can never raise birds well.  

2. As long as it is a bird you like, you can keep it; there is no need to care too much about whether it has a great appearance.

3. Beginners generally should not keep birds that are too good. First keep poorer birds for practice. Once you have experience, then buy good birds to keep.  

4. There is no bird that cannot sing. It mainly depends on your patience and your raising methods.  

5  . For feed ratios, generally there is less meat and more vegetarian matter: 1/3 meat and 2/3 vegetarian matter.  

6. Judge whether the food is too soft or too hard and whether the bird's body condition is healthy from the bird's droppings.  

7. Green vegetables and fruits help regulate whether the feed is soft or hard. They can also add various vitamins.   

8. Green vegetables can be fed directly cut into pieces or chopped up.   

9. Spiders and crickets. Grasshoppers are good things; if conditions allow, feed as many as possible.  

10. If the weather is very hot, do not let the bird sunbathe; try to let the bird sunbathe in the morning and evening when the temperature is not high.

11. Glass will block ultraviolet rays in sunlight. Try to put the bird outside to sunbathe.

12. Bathe the bird often; the bird will not get heaty, its feathers will be beautiful, its resistance will increase, and it will be protected against blood mites.   

13. If the bird does not bathe, do not force it to bathe. Put it in the water for 5 minutes; if the bird does not bathe, take it out.  

14. When choosing a bird, choose a new bird; try not to choose an old bird.  

15. When choosing a bird, first look at the legs. Beak. Feathers. Eyebrows and eyes. First pick out those with lighter-colored legs and beak and good eyebrows, eyes, and feathers, then further screen them.  

16. When a new bird comes home, it must first rest quietly; try not to disturb them. Let the bird better get used to the cage and eat.  

17. Large skin-worm paste helps the bird gain weight quickly. Feed as much as possible.   

18. Give the bird a once-a-week dose of little noromycin, the kind people use for IV drips, mixed with water to prevent various diseases. (Note: one vial of medicine mixed with 150 grams of water)   

19. Soft singing is a sign of gaining weight.  

20. If the bird has not gained weight, try not to bathe it. This is for fear that the bird has no resistance and is bathed to death.,  

21. Bathing can help the bird get used to the cage as quickly as possible.  

22. After bathing, let the bird dry naturally. Do not put the bird in a low-temperature place, to prevent it from catching a cold.  

23. If the bird fusses in the cage at night, you can turn on a small night light.  

24. For a new bird, try to keep the cage and cage cover hygienic; new birds have poor stamina, and bacteria can invade very easily.  

25. To bathe the bird, go to a Chinese herbal medicine shop and buy Baibu grass to soak in water, to prevent blood mites. (Note: 10 grams of Baibu grass mixed with 2000 grams of hot water) .  

26. Sunlight is very precious; let the bird sunbathe for 2 hours every day. Ultraviolet rays can kill many bacteria.  

27. Do not feed the feed too well; you can appropriately increase oil crops.  

28. Some millet powder can be added to the feed; it has the effect of nourishing the stomach. Help the bird digest.   

29. Feed the bird some river sand and the health red clay used for homing pigeons, to help digestion, increase minerals. And strengthen the bird's constitution.  

30. Birds from your own home must not meet; an old bird can suppress a new bird so that it does not sing. Therefore old birds and new birds must be kept separately.

31. If there is heating or air conditioning, special care must be taken to prevent sudden cold and heat, to prevent the bird from catching a cold, and to give the bird a balanced temperature.

32. During the Spring Festival, prevent firecrackers from frightening the bird; put it in a quiet room, cover the cage cover well, and then turn on a light.  

33. When the bird is in season, give it some good feed and also feed more live insects.  

34. When the bird is in season, take it out for walks more often. Help the bird reach full seasonal condition.  

35. In summer, feed and water must be changed frequently to prevent spoilage.  

36. When you have nothing to do at home, play with the bird more, so the bird feels that you are its good friend.  

37. For molting, feed a nutritionally complete diet one month in advance, to help the bird shed feathers better.

38. During molting, disturb the bird less, nutrition must be kept up, and feed more live insects.

The Legend of the Origin of the Name Hwamei

It is said that this name was given by Xi Shi, a peerless beauty of ancient China, and there is also a legendary story: During the Spring and Autumn period, after the state of Wu was destroyed, Fan Li and Xi Shi, in order to avoid being killed by King Goujian of Yue, changed their names and lived in seclusion near a stone bridge at the foot of Li Mountain in Deqing County. Every morning and evening, the beauty-loving Xi Shi would go to a nearby stone bridge, use the water as a mirror, look in the mirror and paint her eyebrows, making both eyebrows curved and especially beautiful. One day, a flock of tawny birds flew over the stone bridge and came to her side, continuously singing joyfully with “li li” sounds. When they saw Xi Shi painting her eyebrows, and that the more she painted the prettier she looked, they then used their pointed beaks to paint each other's eyebrows. Before long, they had unexpectedly also “painted” eyebrows. When Fan Li saw that whenever Xi Shi painted her eyebrows there was always a flock of small birds accompanying her, he found it very strange and asked Xi Shi: “These small birds seem to have formed an indissoluble bond with you. I wonder what bird they are called? They look so beautiful and sing so beautifully!” Xi Shi replied with a smile: “Have you not seen? I paint my eyebrows. They also paint their eyebrows. They all have a pair of beautiful white eyebrows, as if drawn with chalk. No matter what bird it is, let us just call it 'huamei'!” Because Xi Shi called this small bird that, the lovely name “huamei” has since been passed down from generation to generation and has continued to this day.

The hwamei longs greatly for freedom and does not like restraints. The editor also super likes it, and its song is beautiful. Forgive the editor for being unruly, indulgent, and freedom-loving all his life, so he has never liked keeping small animals caged.