Hwamei (Chinese Thrush) Keeping Methods and Key Points of Daily Management
The hwamei is a bird of the order Passeriformes, family Leiothrichidae (laughingthrushes). It inhabits shrubs on hills and thickets or bamboo groves near villages. It is alert and timid, often foraging in the grass beneath the forest, and is not good at long-distance flight. It is not only an important beneficial bird for agriculture and forestry, but also has a melodious, sweet and pleasant song, and can imitate the calls of other birds. It has long been kept by folk breeders as a cage ornamental bird and is renowned at home and abroad as the 'king of the babblers'. Let us take a look below at how to keep hwamei!
How to Select a Hwamei
Keeping a hwamei starts with choosing the bird. Do not blindly trust the seller's introduction. Choose a hwamei about 20 days after hatching, because birds at this time are the easiest to train. Pick a bird that is robust in constitution, not too wild, loud in song, with feathers held tight to the body, a tail in the shape of a tapered stick, bright eyes, lively and jumpy, and with a strong appetite.
How to Feed a Hwamei
1. The young hwamei goes through three stages: nest chick, soft-feathered, and full-feathered. A newly hatched young bird is called a nest chick; one whose feathers have grown in is called soft-feathered; and full-feathered refers to one that has already molted. Birds in these three stages are the gentlest in temperament and not afraid of strangers, and are easy to keep. Once past these three stages, the bird is beyond the ability of a beginner who is new to hwamei.
2. After obtaining a young hwamei chick, you can keep it in a small cardboard box lined below with cotton cloth or shredded paper. When the chick chirps, use a thin bamboo strip with the tip ground into an oval shape, pick up the feed paste, and stir it at the edge of its beak to feed it, about once every 20 to 30 minutes, and you must pay attention to its defecation, adjusting the interval accordingly. Clean up its droppings each time you feed, until its feathers gradually become full and it can peck at food on its own.
How to Train a Hwamei
1. After fledging, a young hwamei in the wild goes through eight or nine months, its feathers become full, and it can already choose a mate, move away, and live an independent life. At this time the young bird, because it often jumps back and forth on the branches, is called a "branch-jumper." In fact it is already a fully mature adult bird. After this, the older and stronger it gets, the better it sings, but the more fierce its nature and the harder it is to tame. Whenever it sees a stranger, it snaps its beak and jumps about endlessly. Even so, most hobbyists like to use birds of this age to train.
2. Although the hwamei is difficult to tame, it is by no means absolutely impossible. Once training succeeds, the vast majority turn out to be top-grade birds excellent at both singing and fighting. A bird in this period, when first put into a feeding cage, will invariably panic and jump about. At this time you must first keep it in a low-bodied bird cage with fairly closely spaced bamboo bars. In the early stage, lower the curtain so that it is not exposed, and place it where human voices are noisy, letting it first get used to human voices. After it has become accustomed, lift the curtain halfway, forming an inverted-V opening, letting it show itself and see people. Once it is no longer afraid of people, then place it among a group of birds, so that it gradually calls and sings, until it is tame and skilled. Only then can it be hung up high to sing, so that all previous efforts are not wasted.
3. The hwamei has a naturally good voice and an even more stubborn and combative personality. Training a hwamei, in other words, is about eliminating its wild nature so that it adapts to the human living environment, can be carefree and content, is good at understanding people's wishes, and sings all day long, making people happy and comfortable. To raise a hwamei to the point where it can sing melodiously and fight bravely, besides requiring a high degree of patience and a long time in keeping it, you must also follow the bird's nature and develop it gradually, only then is there hope of success.