Crested Myna: Market Price, Lifespan, How to Teach It to Talk, and Differences from Parrots

The crested myna, also known as the black crested myna, quyu, hangao, crested myna, and liaogezi, is a common passerine bird of the family Sturnidae in southern China that benefits agriculture and forestry, and is deeply loved by people because it can imitate other birds' calls and simple human speech. Sohow much does a crested myna cost on the market? How many years can it live? How do you teach it to talk quickly?

Latest market prices:

Prices for crested mynas vary by type and region, but the difference up or down does not exceed thirty yuan, and not all crested mynas can talk, so you should pay attention to distinguishing them when buying. Crested mynas that can talk are more expensive, while adults that cannot talk are of course cheaper. Note that if you buy a crested myna, buy a young one. Ordinary ones cost about 30 to 100 yuan, good breeds cost about 500 to 1,000 yuan, adults that can talk cost about 500 yuan, and crested mynas that are tamed and can already talk cost about 500 to 1,000 yuan.

How long is the lifespan?

The lifespan of a crested myna is related not only to breed and heredity, but also closely to its acquired living environment and care. Under normal circumstances, crested mynas living in the wild live about 6 to 8 years, while under artificial rearing the lifespan of a crested myna can reach about 10 years. At the same time, sex is also a factor in the lifespan of crested mynas. Usually, male crested mynas live about 8 to 10 years, while female crested mynas generally live about 10 to 12 years.

How do you teach it to talk quickly?

1. Crested mynas are generally more sensitive to relatively crisp sounds, so you should use a fairly pleasant, clear, and melodious voice as the model sound for the crested myna. Crested mynas raised by hand from a young age are used to the sound of human speech earlier and are easier to train. When training a crested myna to speak, you must be patient and persistent. The more time you spend talking to the crested myna, the faster it will learn.

2. The best time to train a crested myna to speak is in the early morning, when the crested myna calls most happily, and training before feeding is even more effective. Choose a relatively quiet place and repeatedly instill the words every day, and after a few days there will be the same response. During training, note that you should use short words and phrases, and only after the crested myna can successfully imitate short words and phrases should you continue to connect them.

3. When training a crested myna to speak, the owner should best stay beside the birdcage to improve the bird's adaptability. Keep training the crested myna 3 to 4 times a day, for more than 30 minutes each time, and say each sentence 20 to 30 times each time as reinforcement. Generally speaking, a clever bird can learn one short word in 7 to 10 days, and can learn several short words and phrases in one month.

4. The best period for training a crested myna is after the crested myna's body has matured, when crested mynas are especially lively and active, strongly curious, and full of energy. They are full of curiosity about outside things and are also willing to try to come into contact with more new things. During this period, you must persist in patient training, training at least twice a day, and each time repeatedly have the crested myna train on one piece of speech.

5. The later stage of molting in crested mynas is also a major period for receiving training. At this time, the trainer should mainly use face-to-face instruction, with recordings as a supplement. At this time the crested myna's ability to accept things is very strong, and this key training period is also quite short, so the keeper must firmly grasp this best period for training and absolutely must not miss it.

Differences from parrots:

Differences in family and genus

1. Crested myna: The crested myna is a bird of the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, subclass Neornithes, order Passeriformes, suborder Passeri, family Sturnidae, and genus Acridotheres.

2. Parrot: Parrot is the collective name for birds of the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, subclass Neornithes, order Psittaciformes, families Psittacidae and Cacatuidae, and 82 genera.

Differences in morphology

1. Crested myna: The crested myna is entirely black, with lance-shaped frontal feathers extended into tufts standing erect at the base of the bill. The two wings are the same color as the back, with the tips of the primary coverts and the bases of the primary flight feathers white. The tail feathers are glossy black, and except for the central pair of tail feathers, all have white tips. The underparts are dark grayish black, and the feathers around the vent and under the tail have white tips. The iris is orange-yellow, the bill is milky yellow, and the feet are yellow.

2. Parrot: There are many kinds of parrots with different forms and brilliant plumage colors. Among them, the largest in body size is the hyacinth macaw, whose body length can reach 100 cm, and the smallest is the blue-crowned hanging parrot, whose body length is only 12 cm. They are typical climbing birds, with zygodactyl feet, two toes forward and two toes backward, suitable for grasping, and a strong and powerful beak that can eat hard-shelled nuts.

Differences in habits

1. Crested myna: The crested myna inhabits secondary broad-leaved forests, bamboo forests, and sparse forests at the edges of forests in low hills and piedmont plains, and also inhabits large trees near farmland, pastures, orchards, and villages, and sometimes also perches on rooftops or in fields. It is fond of flocking, often standing on the backs of water buffaloes or gathering in large trees or standing in rows on rooftops. It roosts at night in bamboo forests, large trees, or reed beds and mixes with other starlings.

2. Parrot: Parrots are distributed in tropical regions around the world, mainly living in lowland tropical forests, and also often fly to orchards, farmland, and open grasslands. There are fewer parrot species distributed in mountainous areas, such as the Papuan lorikeet, Johnstone's lorikeet, and China's great red-breasted parrot. They generally move in small groups formed by mates and families, perch on branches in forests, and mainly nest in tree holes.

Differences in diet

1. Crested myna: The crested myna mainly feeds on insects and insect larvae such as locusts, grasshoppers, scarab beetles, snakes, caterpillars, cutworms, flies, and lice, and also eats plant-based foods such as grain, plant fruits, and seeds. It often follows farmers and plowing oxen to peck at earthworms, insects, and worms turned up to the surface by the plow, and also likes to peck at gadflies, flies, and ticks on the backs of oxen, and also preys on locusts, scarabs, mole crickets, and the like.

2. Parrot: Most parrots mainly eat plant fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, tender shoots, and tender branches from trees or the ground, and also eat a small amount of insects. Lories and lorikeets mainly eat pollen, nectar, and soft, juicy fruits, and some species like to eat insects, crabs, carrion, and so on. In the process of feeding, parrots often complete the action with a powerful hooked beak coordinated with flexible zygodactyl feet.