How to Raise a Crested Myna Chick

The crested myna (Acridotheres cristatellus), also known as qúyù, Hángāo, crested myna, and liaogezai, is a beneficial bird for agriculture and forestry and also a cage bird, widely kept in various places.So how do you raise a crested myna chick?Let's find out below.

How to raise a crested myna chick?

1. Choosing a bird cage

The crested myna is a large cage bird, so the cage should be larger. Because it has an omnivorous diet, eats a lot, and defecates frequently, the cage should have an open bottom with a droppings tray underneath. You also need to prepare one shark-skin perch bar, and one each of a food and water dish and a soft-food cup.

2. Feeding

The chick's feed is mainly hill myna powder, fed with a bamboo spoon, 5-8 times a day. During the molting period, appropriately increase the feeding of egg yolk and calcium feed, and also increase sunbathing time.

3. Cleaning

The myna likes water baths, generally once every 1-2 days; stop water baths during the molting period, and reduce water baths in winter. During the rainy season and high temperatures, water baths should be appropriately increased. Water baths can be done in a bathing cage, or a shallow basin of water can be placed in the cage for it to bathe on its own, or water can be sprayed onto the bird with a spray bottle. If the weather is rather cool, after the water bath the bird should be placed in the sun so its feathers dry quickly.

4. Environment

Be mindful of changes in cold and heat, and prevent the myna from getting cold or overheated; in summer, place the bird in a ventilated, cool place, and use a net cover at night to prevent mosquitoes; in winter, place the bird in a warm place, and let it get about 1 hour of sunbathing each day as much as possible.

If you want to train the myna to imitate human speech or the calls of other birds, it is best to start before it is 1 year old, and the content being taught must be repeated every day to prevent it from gradually forgetting over time.