Feeding Shamas Food for Cats by Arjan

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: some thoughts from Europe

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Hello old Shama friends


Some thoughts about breeding Shama from Europe.

Last season I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to breed the most beautiful and best singing Shama. I needed a nursery to see how the young birds develop as they grow up.

That way I can select my young ones and keep the best.
So during winter I made me a nursery now I have a total of nine cage’s in a very light breeding house all about 100 by 50 by 60cm.

I am also making a tiny protected feeding place for the really young ones so the father can still feed the young ones but not harm them.
Another matter I thought needed a change for the better was the water supply.
The drinking and bath facility’s.

This year I start breeding 17 different species among 2 couples of Shama and that are a lot of bath to clean and refresh every day and lots of water to carry and during winter that is not a pleasant job and gave us very very cold hands.
So I made it an automatic system and now all the bath are automatically refreshed three times a day, there was a problem with the plumbing system because all that water made it very muddy but that is also taken care off.

Also the nursery cages all have a bathroom with three times fresh water on a daily bases. We will see how it all works out. It really kept me busy during winter.

All our birds came very good through the winter no loses and they even look better than last year. Our Shama’s look very good even have longer tails than last season. LT even had a tail longer as 20 cm but to sad he went in a second moult could be by all the disturbance due to my labour activity’s . I am very curious how he turns out it’s 17 cm now and still growing.

About the food I made some changes. There was a discussion on our Dutch forum about dog food at first I did not give it much attention but later it made me curious enough to give it a better look.

And after some search I stumbled on a kitten food from Royal Canin a world leader in dog and cat food. It contains the following ingredients:

Ingredients: Chicken meal, rice, corn gluten meal, corn, chicken fat (naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract and citric acid), chicken, dried egg powder, natural chicken flavor, pea fiber, beet pulp (sugar removed), salmon oil, dried brewers yeast, sodium silico aluminate, potassium chloride, fructo-oligosaccharides, choline chloride, sodium chloride, L-lysine, brewers yeast extract (Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles), calcium carbonate, sodium tripolyphosphate, taurine, Vitamins [dl-alpha tocopherol (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C*), niacin, biotin, riboflavin (vitamin B2), d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement], Trace Minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate], marigold extract iodate], marigold extract.

The Calcium is 1.2 %
Phosphor is 0.9%

As far as I have seen Royal Canin is the only one with a vit. B complex so vital for our young birds. You can all find the information on the internet.

I am not a great food expert but as far as I know this is a really good food so I started to give it to my mealworms and they eat it very good the only negative point is that their spoils are a bit wet.

I am very curious about Davids opinion for he is much more educated in feeding matters. I also started to give it to my birds and they all seem to like it. Except the Shama’s of course they only eat insects but because I feed it to the mealworms and crickets they have it anyway

The Shama diet has been extensived with the earthworm they like very much.

For young birds the pellets should be soaked in water they absorb 60 % of water what is exactly what our young ones need.

Other changes I made.

Over here in Europe one off the main courses off sickness by birds are due by bacteria’s such as cocsidioses not that we were having trouble by those diseases but just as a precaution I started to feed my mealworms with a very small amount of finicoc a medicine we should give in a cure as soon we are troubled with such a bacterial disease.

My underlying thought is to create a little barrier against these diseases so the birds are armed against the first attack of these bacteria’s if it occurs.

So this is my contribution to our common thoughts about breeding one of the most beautiful birds in the world.

Soon I will make a video so you can see how it all works out I hope to show you some young Shama again for now my hands may heal again they are full off brushes and wounds they are dirty with stains of paint and dirt not the kind off hands you would like to see if you come to a dental technician.

Warm regards from a still cold and rainy Holland
Arjan