Feeding During Moult

First published in January 2007

If you cannot provide a variety of insects during the moult why not provide fish, minced meat, hard-boiled egg and frozen ants eggs. I mentioned to my Canadian friend Axel once that immature guppies are a very good food and he told me with a laugh "These are ornamental fish, do you know how much they cost?" Perhaps, but this fish breeds readily and rapidly and if the lowest quality in terms of beauty is procured the cost may be manageable. When feeding guppies to the shama, the fish should be placed in a cup or tray with the water just covering their backs. This makes it easy for the birds to get them. Surprisingly, the guppies also do better with less water.

If ants' eggs are obtained and frozen before the winter, there will be a ready supply of fresh food to supplement the insects. I separate the fresh ants' eggs into small packets and place them in the freezer as soon as I get them. I then remove 1 packet at a time and apportion it amongst my birds.

I know that too much beef is not good for the birds because of the high phosphorous or potassium content, but a little minced beef or chicken, about the size of a small shama egg, fed to the birds once or twice a week, seems to be good for them. The first warden of the Jurong Bird Park, Singapore whom I know very well used to feed minced beef and hard boiled eggs to his shamas and I have never seen healthier birds. His shamas might get a little minced beef once or twice a week and a very small piece of hard boiled egg yolk also once or twice a week, on those days when beef was not fed.

Looking at Beauty's tails in the photo, my first impression was that he had not completed his molt and his long (primary) tails are still growing. I say this because the photos show that his primary tails are only about an inch longer than the secondary black tails. This is unusual if the tails are fully grown. He has very long white tail feathers and secondary black tails. Accordingly, I would expect the primary tails to be longer than the secondary black tails by at least 3 inches. In fact, the appearance of the primary tails suggests that they stopped growing prematurely. I am not sure of the cause since the nutrition must be good as there is a shine on his feathers and I do not see stress lines on his tails which could indicate that there is something wrong with the feeding. My guess is that Beauty’s tails should have the potential to grow to at least 10�.

You might want to try the following suggestions to see if it will increase his tail length. First and foremost, since the feathers are largely made up of protein, a good high quality protein food should be consistently and daily provided. The food should be supplemented with vitamins and minerals to aid feather growth. The vitamins that I have found to be most important during the molt are B Complex and E. The B Complex is necessary for protein digestion and the E also aids the molt. In instances where there has been a deficiency of vitamin B, I have found that the bird eats less and this has an adverse effect on tail length. The vitamin E in oil form is preferable as it gives a sheen to the feathers.

On the question of whether the cold weather could have an adverse effect on the molt my answer must of course be that this is a possibility. However, there may be a more likely cause. As you know, the shama needs to consume much more food during the molt. I find that if I leave the light on for them they will continue eating until quite some time after nightfall. In the tropics, the birds may eat for 10 to 11 hours a day. If this length of daylight is not already available to your birds during the molt, you may wish to try lighting their aviary. You can experiment with the period of "daylight" the bird needs by leaving the light on so long as the bird is feeding and active. When the bird goes to his usual place to roost, the light may be switched off.

Earthworms

Arjan, the principle on which I feed my birds is that a little of everything will not do them harm. I understand that in Europe and in America the earthworm is considered to be toxic to some extent. I accept this but also feel that it is a natural food in the wild – at least for birds in this region. My friend Lauden used to assist in trapping shamas for many years in his younger days and he has seen parents in the wild choose the earthworm over insects when feeding their young. For myself, my birds are offered the live earthworm only occasionally – probably not more than a worm every fortnight.


The beef and chicken are fed raw. To avoid parasite infestation, care will of course have to be taken to ensure that the beef is as fresh as posssible. I offer only very lean beef to avoid the birds getting fat.

I was very interested to be informed about Uni Komplet for 2 reasons. I believe that the shama requires a high protein intake of about 30% but my birds have been getting more than this as I have been adding dried insects etc to their food for the past few months. I would like to bring down the quantity of protein in the food and I note that Uni Komplet has only 18% protein. I personally do not think that this is sufficient for the shama but it serves my purpose as, by adding it to the dry food, the overall quantity of protein will be reduced. Also, Axel Voltz has been bugging me for some time to feed fruit to my birds. His birds are doing marvellously and I have been wanting to adopt his advice and to feed some fruit but have not got down to it. As Uni Komplet has 5% fruit, the birds will at least get some.