Letter from France

Hi David,

I hope all is well for you.

I have once more to be grateful to you to enjoin me to use Jeffrey Shama food !

I posted 3 videos today on my youtube channel, of this damaged male i recently acquired. Since I got this male I only gave him Jeffrey shama food absolutely no insects!

Here are the links to the 3 videos to show his rising form, I never ever got such top form Shamas in my life !

................

Loutfi

https://youtu.be/V2shAXaEQQM

https://youtu.be/uxbV_sfeJ9A

https://youtu.be/hvdfchtWVaU

Blog Shama Club France http://shamaclubfrance.wordpress.com/

Dry food for shamas

As an update to my 17 October post titled "Letter from France" visit Jeffrey's blog http://jeffctlow.blogspot.com and see how wonderful Jeff's dry food is.  The video shows a shama mother feeding her chicks with moistened dry food although live crickets are nearby.

Letter from France

Below is a new blog on shamas by Loutfi (Huli Papu). It is in French but a transalation into English is available on the site:

http://shamaclubfrance.wordpress.com/ 

I also set out below an email that I received from Loutfi yesterday (16/9/14):

Hello David,

On the 18th of September, I sent to you fotos of a pair Shamas in very bad condition that I had just bought from a breeder here in France. You will find the foto of the female Shama that I sent to you, attached with this e-mail, as she was on 18th september.

Then, I took the "opportunity" to strictly apply your recommendations and using Jeffrey's Shama Food to see what will be the results.

You will find the results in the fotos that I just took today, the 16th October, that is to say not 1 month later and I think that the fotos speak better than words ...

I send you this first report regarding only the female because the male is still molting his tails ... and I should be able to give a report within a few weeks ... 

Warmest regards

Loutfi

Vitamin B Complex (2)

In response to my post on the special needs of shamas for Vitamin B Complex, I received the comment below from Lac Viet.  He is a successful breeder of shamas and has his own website at: http://lacvietchoelua.blogspot.com/.


You are so right about the importance of vitamin B complex to the shama. Not only is the shama vulnerable and needs lots of vitamin B complex during molt, but during grow up as well. Two of my chicks (less than 2 months old) got this fits (I believe what you describe fits is another name for "stargazing" where the bird can't control its neck muscle which cause the head tilt back, wing muscle can't work properly and feet can't perch). A few drops of concentrate vitamin B complex liquid can cure this fit in less than an hour if caught early. Thank you for sharing this story and hope the owner find another shama to keep soon. Best Regards.


I add below to Lac Viet's comments.


Shamas of both sexes and all ages in captivity need Vitamin B supplementation especially if their diet contains a high percentage of protein.  Even chicks in the nest can suffer from "star gazing".  This is an affliction where the head is tilted back as though the bird is looking upwards.  In every instance of star gazing that I have encountered with shama chicks the cause has been a deficiency of vitamin B.  


The star gazing syndrome seems to be experienced only by very young shamas.  In my experience, adult birds that lack vitamin B do not star gaze but suffer a fit.  They seem relatively OK but any sudden movement can trigger a fit.  The movement may be nothing more than flying to the side of the cage when food or water is placed in it.  The bird suffers from convulsions during which it flops all over the cage.  Nevertheless, the bird is conscious and aware of its surroundings.  It will peck when being fed vitamin B.  


As Lac Viet has noted, a few drops of concentrated vitamin B will cure the problem in a very short time.  If the bird has a fit then it should be caught and given this treatment.   Otherwise, my preferred method of feeding vitamin B is either to put it in the dry food, on insects or on the ants eggs.


I keep vitamin B for human consumption in liquid form that I purchase from GNC in Singapore.  GNC does not carry stock and an order must be placed.  Sometimes one or more of my shamas may seem lethargic and there is no shine in the eyes.  The usual cause is a deficiency of vitamin B. Perhaps my helper has failed to give it without my knowledge.  Of course, there could be other causes.  A possible other cause is calcium deficiency but this usually affects females during egg laying.


I only feed concentrated vitamin B directly to my birds in extreme case of need.  If I think that there is a need for vitamin B but it is not critical, I put a few drops on to ants eggs from which the excess moisture has been removed.  This is my preferred method of administering vitamin B.  Another way is to spread the liquid vitamin B on the top 3 fingers of my hand and wipe it on the crickets.  I use this method for my breeding birds since the container with about 50 to 100 crickets are placed in the aviary for 1 day's consumption.


For normal feeding of vitamin B, I purchase tablets for human consumption that I grind into powder and add to the dry food.


This post has discussed only the vitamin B requirements of shamas.  It should be borne in mind that for the birds to be and remain healthy, it is necessary to provide a balanced diet.  This means that all the ingredients necessary for a healthy life,  including vitamins and minerals, must be provided to the birds.  My wife sometimes comments that I take better care of my birds than I do of myself. J

Vitamin B Complex

I received the email below this morning from an old friend.

"It is with great sadness that I'm writing to you to inform you that [XXX] has pass on. 

It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote to you that XXX has gone into a serious molt. I was looking for a good one, giving him a buffet of live food supplemented with vitamins. The feathers were growing out fine and he is still in a very aggressive form, posturing and singing when I open his cage cloth.

Last week I ran out of B complex tablets that I usually crush and mix with his live food twice a week.  Due to heavy work commitments. I did not go to Guardian to purchase the usual vitamin B tablets. I simply used a B complex liquid that was prescribed for my son several months ago. Last evening, I saw XXX being fluffy and did not touch his live food buffet. I soaked a white meal worm in the liquid B complex but he refused to eat it. Knowing that he had a history of fits, I attempted to catch him to feed him the vitamin but that immediately set off the fit. I managed to feed him a little of the liquid B complex and place him in a small open box to prevent him from flopping around. I immediately rushed off to Guardian to purchase the tablet form B but when I returned home XXX has passed on. On hightsight, I guess that the liquid Vitamin B complex was either past its expiry date or the dosage was not sufficient. When he was molting, he obviously needed a lot more supplements than normal. 

XXX  has been a great pet and will be greatly missed for his song and display. I would like to take this time to thank you for giving me the opportunity to keep XXX, a shama of your fine breeding."

XXX (its real name has not been used) was about 10 years old at the time of his death.  Reading the email, made me think of the large number of shama owners who still do not know or appreciate the importance of vitamin B for shamas.  Only last Saturday, a visitor to my home was asking why his shamas would sometimes have fits.  He said that the fit tended to occur when the bird was being transferred from its cage to the bath cage.

I would like to take this opportunity to explain when and why vitamin B complex should be fed to shamas.

Vitamin B is required for the proper functioning of the nerves.  Without sufficient vitamin B, the nerves   are unable to operate fully.  In the worst case, the bird has is unable to control its movements and this is manifested in the form of fits.  This results in the flopping around that is common with a vitamin B fit.

Apart from its effect on nerves, vitamin B is required for protein digestion.  Birds that are fed dry food where the amount of protein is not high, say about 20% or less of the total food intake, have a lesser requirement for vitamin B supplementation.  During breeding or molting, the captive shama is often fed more live food.  In other words, the protein intake is substantially increased.  There is therefore an increased need for vitamin B.  Some vitamin B is no doubt obtainable from the live food itself but this is apparently not sufficient for birds in captivity.  I suppose, the limited types of livefood in the form of crickets, mealworms frogs fish, pineapple beetles and grass-hoppers do not contain sufficient of the B vitamins.

If the health of the bird is monitored on a daily basis, you will be able to tell when the bird is beginning to suffer from a vitamin B deficiency.  A healthy shama will always appear alert.  Even a very tame bird that does not fly when you approach its cage will look at you with interest.  A shama that is suffering from a deficiency of vitamin B will show little or no interest when you approach its cage.  It will be lethargic.  If it flies, you will observed that it seems to do so with some effort.  Its eyes will also seem dull.

As vitamin B is required to assist the bird to process protein, a deficiency of this vitamin will cause the bird to eat less as it will have difficulty digesting its food.  Therefore a good indication that the bird is approaching a vitamin B deficiency type of fit is that the bird starts to go off its food.  A bird in good condition should eat a lot.  If it starts to eat less, take care.  I have a full day at the office but I try to check the health of my birds at least once or twice a day.  This is easier with the birds in cages.  I remove the previous day's newspaper in the morning so that whatever the bird passes out during the day can be seen.  When I return from work in the evening, I check the newspaper.  If the excreta is not of the amount or type that I expect, I try to figure out why and take remedial action which may involve giving vitamin me.

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.

Feeding Shamas by Jeffrey Low - 30th September 2008

The post below was first published in August 2007

Here are some of my thoughts on feeding shamas based on my limited experience and knowledge.

Of all the necessary nutrients needed by our shamas in captivity, I am most concerned with the following three: protein, fats and calcium. This is not to say that the rest are unimportant but it is in my opinion that overfeeding or underfeeding these three nutrients is the usual cause of many problems in our captive shamas.

Where a shama is already eating on its own and not being handfed, there should not be be any worries that you may be overfeeding your bird by having food available at all times. I would think that the only time you need to worry about overfeeding would be during the period that you are hand-feeding a nestling. When the bird self-feeds, it will not overeat. Of more concern would be the quality of the food offered.

Live food:
The live food you are feeding will be superior in protein. However, if it is made up of only insects, than this portion of his diet will be lacking in calcium. If live insects form a major part of his diet, you will have to supplement with calcium, especially so in your case as it is a very young bird.

Dry food:
I would think that an ideal dry food for caged shamas should contain about 10% fats, 0.5% to 1% calcium and 30% to 40% protein. Some of the dry food available to us commercially may be too high in fats. In this case, the bird may only need to eat very little to satisfy its caloric requirements and may stop as soon as this is fulfilled. This may not be enough to cater for its nutritional requirements. It is in my opinion that the shama in captivity seldom overeats and are more often undernourished in this way. For this same reason, the dry food must also be palatable to the bird or the bird must be trained to like it. It is of little use offering a high grade dry food if the bird will not eat enough of it.

Protein:
On its own, the live food portion of the diet will contain sufficient protein to cater for the need of the bird. If the dry food contains lower than the ideal protein level, you could enhance this portion of the diet by adding protein-rich ingredients into it.

Fats:
Some live food may contain high fats e.g. mealworms. These should not form a major part of the livefood portion of the diet. Worse of all would be feeding insects high in fats in combination with a dry food also high in fats. A practical approach if insects high in fats are used will be to ensure that the dry food portion is low in fats, in order to have a more balanced total diet.

Calcium:
Most insect are low in calcium. If insects form only a small portion of the total diet and the dry food contains sufficient calcium to offset this, there will be no need to supplement the diet with calcium. On the other hand, if insects form a major part of the diet, you may have to supplement. This can be given directly to the birds or by gut loading the insects. If small live fishes are given as part of the live food, there may not be a need to supplement. The total diet will have to be looked at in order to decide how much to supplement or not to supplement at all. .

Different birds will fare differently when fed on the same diet. This is partly due to different needs of each individual bird at different stages of their lives. An active young bird kept in a spacious aviary will require higher protein and fats in its diet in order to cater for its growth and activities. A molting bird will need a diet higher in protein to replace the feathers (this is better provided by increasing the amount of live food with a corresponding calcium supplementation if necessary, than to change its dry food). A breeding female will require much more calcium in its diet than a male and so on.

Much has been said about trying to emulate the wild natural diet as being the best way to feed our birds in captivity. It is impossible to do so due to the lack of varieties available to us. In my opinion, it is also not correct to assume that the shama in captivity will have the same requirements as those in the wild. Also, I believe that whatever we can observe from the wild is really, only a very small fraction of the whole picture. Constant observations of the conditions of the birds under our care may be tedious and time consuming but could also be enjoyable and quite often a better and most practical route towards a better understanding of their needs and requirements.

Microflora in the Bird's Digestive Tract by Jeffrey Low

It is taimong season again. A couple of days ago, I was at a friend's place and noticed that his newly acquired wild taimongs are all given antibiotics in the drinking water. I think some keepers will give their newly acquired birds antibiotics as a precautionary measure. I do not know if this is a good thing to do. My thoughts are that antibiotics should only be given out of necessity to treat an infection and not given as a precautionary measure. One of the reasons for my thoughts being that the antibiotics will also wipe out all beneficial bacteria of the guts and this will affect the digestion and absorption of food.

Below is a write-up on the microflora of the bird's digestive tract based on my limited knowledge. It is nothing new but I hope it will create some awareness on this aspect of the bird's health for beginners to the hobby. You can search the net for more detailed information regarding the topic.

THE MICROFLORA IN THE BIRD’S DIGESTIVE TRACT

The microorganisms in the digestive tract of the bird perform various functions to benefit the host. They produce B-vitamins (biotin, cycobalamin), vitamin K and digestive enzymes. They also play an important role in the development and improvement of the intestinal wall structure for better food absorption. In return, they rely on the host for an ideal environment to thrive and for nutrients from the food that passes through the digestive tract. Hence a mutually beneficial relationship co-exists between these microorganisms and the host.

The microorganisms of the digestive tract are generally divided into two groups. One is beneficial to the host and the other is potentially pathogenic (disease causing). In the digestive tract of a healthy bird, a delicate balance exists between these two groups of bacteria. Maintaining this delicate balance is necessary for healthy digestive functions, which is imperative for optimal nutrient absorption and also for the general well being of the bird.

In a healthy bird, the beneficial bacteria predominate and occupy most of the available sites on the mucous membrane linings of the digestive tract. According to some sources, the optimal ratio of beneficial bacteria to pathogenic bacteria is 85:15

The beneficial bacteria thrive in an acidic environment while the pathogenic bacteria thrive in an environment with a higher pH. The beneficial bacteria, in particular the lactobacillus strains produce metabolic products such as lactic acid, which will lower the pH of the guts. This creates an unfriendly environment for the disease causing bacteria. In addition to this, the competition for nutrients and for space from the beneficial bacterial will also keep the pathogenic bacteria in check.

The beneficial bacteria also produce natural antibiotic-like substances (e.g. lactobacillus acidophilus produces acidophillin, lactolin and acidolin), which will act as a defense mechanism for the host against diseases and infections.

The delicate balance between the good and bad bacteria of a healthy digestive tract will be disrupted during times such as illness, stress, change of diet and antibiotic treatments. Under these circumstances, the beneficial bacteria can be significantly reduced causing a rise in the gut pH, creating a favourable condition for the pathogenic bacteria to flourish. When this happens, the damaging level of toxins produced by the thriving pathogenic bacteria will lead to illnesses for the host.

PROBIOTICS :
Probiotic supplements are cultured beneficial bacteria that are used to quickly re-establish the beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract when there is a disruption of the microflora. Newly acquired birds that are stressed from the change of environment, molting and breeding birds, birds that had undergone a course of antibiotics as well as birds undergoing a change of diet, will benefit from the use of probiotic supplements.

PREBIOTICS :
Prebiotics are non-digestible food to the bird that will stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in its digestive tract.

Most of the studies conducted so far on digestive tract microorganisms of birds are done on galliformes (poultry). There exists a theory that some species of birds under the order passeriformes have no resident bacteria in their bowels and do not rely on bacteria for their digestive functions. According to the 'Sterile Bowel Theory', these birds would require a much more improved digestion and absorption system to provide for the additional energy needed for their high metabolic rates. Hence, according to this theory, the oscine passerines (e.g. finches) that belong to the most advanced order of birds have evolved to develop a chemical digestion and absorption system, more efficient than the microbial system of other more primitive orders of birds. One of the facts used in support of this theory is that the oscine passerines have no caeca (the part of the digestive tract where bacteria is most concentrated to ferment and digest fibrous matter). It appears to me that there is still a lack of evidence to support this theory conclusively and more studies will be needed to prove that this is the case.

On the other hand, the hummingbird (apodiformes) has among the highest metabolic rate of any vertebrate and also has no caeca. It has been found that they still rely on the presence of a large population of bacteria found in their intestinal tracts. Flower nectars, which form the main diet of this bird, contain low level of amino acids. It has been shown in the hummingbird that nitrogen recycling takes place through the degradation of ammonia, urea and uric acid by the intestinal bacteria, to compensate for this low dietary nitrogen.


Links to some studies:

Upregulation of Oxidatiive Burst and Degranulation in Chicken Heterophils Stimulated with Probiotic Bacteria: http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/full/85/11/1900

Improvement of Laying Hen Performance By Dietary Prebiotic Chicory: http://www.pjbs.org/ijps/fin316.pdf

Intestinal Mucosa Development in Broiler Chicken Fed Natural Growth Promoters: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbca/v7n4/28744.pdf

Decomposition of Nitrogenous Compounds by Intestinal Bacteria in Hummingbird: http://biology.georgefox.edu/~dpowers/P ... AUK120.pdf
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Feeding Shamas Dogfood by Jeffrey Low

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:17 am Post subject:

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Hi Arjan,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on feeding etc with us. Here are some of my thoughts regarding dog food and coccidiasis.

I had been using dog food as the base to make dry food for my insectivorous birds. I find that they are very good. Firstly, the dog food has good protein levels, mostly between 20+% to 30+%. Those with higher protein levels would be most suitable except that they also comes with higher fat content (up to 18%). These are made for performance dogs or young dogs that require the extra protein and fats. The ones for maintenance dogs or older dogs usually contain about 20+% protein and less fats (around 10% to 12%). For our tropical climate, I find the maintenance type of dog food with less fats more suitable. They also contain good amount of calcium, about 1.2%. Taking into consideration that not all the calcium in there can be absorbed, I am not too worried about the calcium level exceeding 1%. I think the animal protein in the dog food is a a good thing.

Arjan wrote:
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.



Mealworms cannot thrive on dog food too well because they cannot digest anything that has meat in it and that is why they tend to become wet and sticky. I find that they also die quickly if continuously fed on dog food. It may be better to put aside those mealworms meant to be fed on the day and gut load only these with dog food. This way, the rest can survive better with their normal bran or other grain type food.

Arjan wrote:
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.


Coccidias are protozoa parasites. Finicoc if I am not mistaken, is a sulfonamide - sulphachlopyrazine sodium monohydrate. Sulfonamides are frequently used in poultry farming to combat coccidiasis. They are antagonist of PABA, a precursor of folic acid in protozoa, therefore protozoa cannot multiply in the presence of sulfonamide. However, continuous usage of a single type of antibiotic as a preventive measure will inevitably result in strains of coccidias resistant to the antibiotic, as can be seen from the past where there are many strains of coccidias that are sulfonamide resistant. Apart from this, continuous usage of an antibiotic in the feed of the birds will also deplete their guts of the essential bacterial flora that is vital for digestion and the absorption of nutrients.

You may also be interested in some natural plant extracts that have excellent properties to prevent and combat coccidiasis. Here is one study on the use of Aloe Excelsa for this purpose.
http://www.jsd-africa.com/Jsda/Spring2005/ArticlePDF/Arc_effectivess%20of%20Aloe%20Exelsa_%20Broilers.pdf

Regards,
Jeffrey.

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject:

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Hi Jeff,

We crushed the dog food with Blender. We also prefer the "maintenance" type BUT its a little bit hard to crushed. With a low quality blender, it can ruin the blender. Thats why, some of my friends use the dog food meant for puppy but as you said it contain more fat.

Can you please tell us why having more fat is less suitable for our shamas? Another question, do you crushed your dog with a blender or is there any better machine you can recommend?

Regards,
Irwan

Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:56 pm Post subject:

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Hi irwan,

Most birds in captivity tend to eat according to their caloric needs. Fats are high in calories. A bird may eat very little if the diet is high in fats, therefore, it may become undernourished on such a diet.

I chose a brand of dog food that can be easily crushed without using a blender. There are a couple of brands in the market that can be broken up simply by using a rolling pin. After crushing them, I will sieve them so that the larger pieces can be crushed again. Finally, they are put through a very fine sieve to remove the powdered portion leaving only those that are about the size of the granular bird foods available commercially. To this, I will add in the other ingredients. The powdered portion can be used to feed crickets and other live feeders.

There is a brand here called "oven baked" that can be easily crushed into bits even by pressing between the finger and thumb. ANF can also be crushed with a rolling pin but needs more effort as they are slightly harder. Most other brands are too hard and need a household grinder to do the job. They can be put through the grinder lightly, sieved and the larger pieces grind again. There will be wastage because about half will end up being powdered.


Jeffrey.

Posted by Arjan: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:45 am

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And that is how I like it Quality feed back Thank you Jeffrey.
I will do as you told me and only feed the worms a day when it’s cold 2 days before they are given to the birds.

About the coccidioses and the preventive small doses of Finicoc good that you mentioned it because I forgot to write in my last thoughts that I only do this during a month

Before the breeding period not continuously because that as Jeffrey said could cause a resistant bacteria and that would be playing with fire.

I read the article about the Aloe plant very interesting I even have him in the Shama flight still from the time I breaded Sunbirds Its an amazing plant with a lot of healing ingredients I was not aware of its amazing ability to cure a coccidioses infection. Thank you Jeffrey I am aware of something similar it’s called Paddy seed but I don’t think that is the scientific name because Paddy also has something to do with rice I believe. It’s a brown seed as big as the seeds of the Poppy. I will do a search for it.

The day before yesterday I noticed a brown slimy substance right under the place Madonna my female shama normally sits.

My alarm bells immediately ringlet in my head .
It probably was a kind of diaries because of the new nutrition of cat food but you can’t be careful enough so I immediately removed it and placed a plastic folly at that spot in order to collect the droppings for research, luckily the day later the droppings were back to normal.

So if you also change to this food it’s possible that some birds may get diaries stay alert and if it last change the food.

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

Comments on "Proper Feeding by Glen Reynolds"

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:23 pm Post subject: Proper Feeding by Glenn Reynolds

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Proper Feeding by Glenn Reynolds

At page 7 of the thread “Let’s Just Share” NDoan sets out the text of an interesting article entitled “Proper Feeding” by Glenn Reynolds.

An article may be interesting because it teaches us something that we do not know but want to know, or, as in the case of this article, it makes us think and consider if the author is right or wrong and, if he is right, the extent to which we agree with him.

The article starts with a point that is unargueable. It notes: Proper nutrition in any life form is the base requirement for growth, health and reproduction. ….. Without adequate nutrition no life form can reach its maximum genetic size, optimal immune system function or greatest reproductive ability. Even with superior genetics, advanced husbandry and state of the art disease prevention, sub-adequate nutrition will prevent success.

Health care management begins with nutrition. Approximately 80 percent of all medical problems reported in birds are related in some way to poor nutrition

I am not sure about the 80% but other than this, so far, so good. The article then states:

Unfortunately we are under the delusion that elaborate cafeteria style diets which satisfy our own egos will be good for our birds. This is not the case. Although birds in the wild instinctively know what to eat, captive birds offered this type of diet will simply eat their favorite few ingredients and leave the rest, while begging for more.


Is this true, I ask myself, that birds in the wild instinctively know what to eat but once they become captive, they somehow lose this ability? I would have wanted to know the research that Reynolds relied on for his statement. He refers to none and the question arises as to the reliability of what he says. He then states:


…….. The only way these type of diets work is to know exactly what our birds need, know what foods contain these nutrients, and in what proportions. Then, they must be fed measured amounts in such a manner that everything is completely eaten.


Is this true, I again ask myself, that for “cafeteria style diets” (as Reynolds puts it) to work the food must be dished out in measured amounts? I know little about parrot type birds to which the article is meant to apply but I can say that this does not appear to be the case with softbills. When I first read Robert Black’s “Avian Nutrition” I came across an observation of his that I found interesting. It was something I wanted to know. According to Black, birds will only overeat of one type of food if they are given a restricted diet i.e they are unable to select their food but must eat what they are given and such food is not nutritionally complete. According to Black, if birds are given a variety of live food, they will not over-eat of any one type, say mealworms. Like many keepers of birds, I believed that too much mealworms is bad for the bird and the mealworms should be rationed.

I decided to test what Black said. I offered crickets, suris, mealworms, fish, frogs, and other insects in a buffet so that the birds could choose what they wanted or did not want to eat. I found that Black was right. Given a “cafeteria style diet”, the birds would not overeat of any particular food. They might for a time eat only one type of live food but at other times they might ignore that particular live food completely so that overall, they get a balanced diet. Even with my breeding birds, I found that given a choice of food, the parents may sometimes feed only one type for one or more days, but after that they will feed the other available live food. They appear to instinctively know that they must take a variety from the buffet. Reynolds again appeared to be wrong.

We come next to another point made by Reynolds:


Breeding birds have different nutritional needs for egg production and coping with other stresses related to breeding. Maintaining an adequate plane of nutrition is a must to prevent problems such as egg binding due to insufficient calcium, or improperly developed eggs caused by a lack of certain amino acids required for proper egg development.

So far so good. He then states:


Many breeders believe that certain dietary changes are needed to stimulate breeding in birds. This is simply a myth.

This is a sweeping statement and it contradicts many studies that conclude that diet is an important factor in bringing birds into breeding condition. However, Reynolds again does not tell us the research that supports what he says.


Reynolds then states:


They are overlooking the fact that environmental changes are really the triggers. Extended photo light periods, humidity, temperature and changes in barometric pressure are the triggers for breeding. Since these changes also promote more production of natural foods in the wild, many breeders think that adding fatty foods to their birds' diet will stimulate breeding. This is not necessary and can actually cause problems in fertility due to improper vent contact and egg laying problems due to obesity.

“Today's processed diets are the obvious choice to deliver adequate nutrient levels to our birds” and the rest of the article tries to convince us as to why pr
Lets see what Reynolds is saying. The point he makes is that the availability of more food in the wilds is not an important factor in bringing birds into breeding condition. Really? He again does not state the basis for his statement that contradicts research which conclude that the availability of more food at the start of the breeding season is an important trigger in bringing birds into breeding condition. Reynolds point that adding fatty foods could cause “problems in fertility” is an obvious statement and the breeder must pay the price if he foolishly adds so much fatty food as to cause problems but this has nothing to do with the point Reynolds is making i.e that increase in the availability of food at the start of the breeding season is not an important factor in bringing birds into breeding condition.

Reynolds then comes to the real point of his article, that strong>>ocessed diets are better than natural diets. With the lack of reasoned arguments for his earlier conclusions, I must confess that I had lost further interest in his article.
Comment by NDoan

Hi David,

I believe different author have very different views on certain matter. I believed he is stating his own experiences. I do not agreed with him 100%. However, after reading it a couple of times..........he does have some good point. Please let me explain............and that you are right. Variety is always good........but some hobbyists I know over here in the US.......only feed crickets or mealworms to their birds. What they fed the insects prior to feeding their birds is either carrot or potato only. You see there is a problem here.............and I also have friends who fed their birds only crickets the whole day prior to the breeding season and their birds ignore their dry food.

As for me...........I don't agree on everything I read or believe it to be true..........but I gather the author point of views.........and apply what I think fit my need most.


Comment by Arjan

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:02 am Post subject: Shama's

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Hello David

This is very interesting because the first point of Reynolds article is so very true

Proper nutrition in any life form is the base requirement for growth, health and reproduction. ….. Without adequate nutrition no life form can reach its maximum genetic size, optimal immune system function or greatest reproductive ability. Even with superior genetics, advanced husbandry and state of the art disease prevention, sub-adequate nutrition will prevent success.

Health care management begins with nutrition. Approximately 80 percent of all medical problems reported in birds are related in some way to poor nutrition

And this could and should be the basic for a possible very interesting discussion.
Proper nutrition for our soft bills is my daily quest.

Unfortunately we are under the delusion that elaborate cafeteria style diets which satisfy our own egos will be good for our birds. This is not the case. Although birds in the wild instinctively know what to eat, captive birds offered this type of diet will simply eat their favourites few ingredients and leave the rest, while begging for more.

I have to disagree with this statement every living creature has its favourite food. Supply an ice bear on Greenland with honey and he will never go for seals again as long as he gets honey.

The bird does not know if you have a bird who loves mealworms and you feed these in a tremendous account he will eat it till he dies of it. It’s in my believes providing Nature that keeps our birds on a healthy diet.
Over here in Europe we have large changes in seasons our soft bills in the wild have to migrate to warmer areas in Winter or adept to a cold, non insect diet. There are species who even change their Pouch or Stomach. Summer soft for insects, Winter hard and muscular for seeds.

But even in the tropics there are season chances in the Amazon 4, two rain seasons a long and a short one, the same as for the dry seasons. So there is also a change of food applies.

So the soft bills in the Amazon just have to relay on what nature brings and that’s this week a termite explosion next week a Mango tree the week after, the insects coming to the rotting Mango’s etc etc. After that, the supply’s of Mango dries up and he moves on to the next supply of nutrition.

Our Soft bills are the product of Nature and to keep our birds in top condition I believe it would be a good idea to follow Nature and try to even do it better.

For example we have a parrot. I got him 6 weeks old in Suriname, South America, 1975.
A few years ago he got really sick we were afraid he would die. The Vet concluded it was a Nutrition problem because he had his favourite seed Sunflower seeds. She suggested a change to Pallets so he was unable to select his favourite and so we did and our precious family bird is recovered and is now 32 years old and as good as new.

As you know I also feed my soft bills Pallets and I believe I am on a good track with this dry food but this discussion did raise the question for me should we not seek for a four season dry food pallet.

This is an interesting question for the bird food industry.

For insects there is an economic problem over here in Holland
Mealworms are available and cost 12 Euro ‘s a Kilo
Crickets cost 2 Euro’s 20 gram 100 Euro’s a kilo
that is about 130 American Dollars.
You must admit that that is costly so we have to look for other supply’s
We use everything we can lay our hands on for example last year I could buy infected rates off bee’s from a bee keeper I placed these rates in our heated winter shelters and now all kind off insects are coming out off these rates moths fly’s whatever the Shama’s love it. By the way they have a clutch a five eggs.

The Greenhouse is full of flying and crawling insects.
For the rest we provide Morio’s they look like very large mealworms but is a different species so also different nutrition , Shrimps larvae’s of bee’s home made ant eggs made off yoghurt.

larvae’s of fly’s and what we provide we enriched with minerals and vitamins.
Sorry I forgot one very important stage: The enrichment of the food insects because there is also a lot to achieve.

Again it’s getting late so I have to end it.

I just read NDoan’s contribution and I totally agree. Variation is till now the golden Keyword. The next Golden keyword could be variation by Season.

But Nutrition is the Golden keyword to success and beware of Tefal pans.

Comment by David De Souza

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:19 pm Post subject: Proper Feeding

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Hi Andy/Arjan,

Thank you for your comments.

I personally believe that it is not feasible to feed captive shamas only live food as we are unable to provide the variety that a bird in the wild will be able to capture and consume and thereby ensure that it has the necessary nutrition. Neither is it feasible to provide only dry food as there is no scientifically prepared food that is available for our birds (especially soft bills) unlike the case with dogs and cats where there have been many years of research and development on their nutritional requirements.

In view of the above, other than during breeding when the birds receive only live food, my birds are fed dry food with live food. The dry food that I use has been commercially available in the local market for more than 30 years. During this time, it has established its reputation as being generally reliable. By also feeding some live food daily, I try to ensure that my birds get the nutrition they need.

My comments on Reynold’s article were meant to emphasise that we should consider carefully the opinions that we receive. The article appeared to contain much misinformation. These were:-

1. That birds in the wild instinctively know what to eat but once they become captive, they somehow lose this ability.

2.That birds fed natural food cannot be fed buffet style but must be fed measured amounts of each type of food to ensure that they receive proper nutrition.

3. Diet is not a factor in stimulating birds to breed.

4. It is sufficient to feed pelleted dry food to the birds.

Whilst I do not dispute Reynold’s point that in countries with 4 seasons, environmental changes are the main triggers in inducing birds to breed, this does not appear to be the case for tropical birds. For such birds the availability of live food may be the most important trigger to stimulate breeding since there is less change in the photo light period and temperature in the tropics. It is true that it is colder during the monsoon rainy season than at other times but it is also true that during the monsoon season, the movements of the birds are more restricted by the rain and they find it more difficult to find food.

As noted by both of you, some of Reynold’s views are correct and these were noted in my post. However, where an article mixes large amounts of misinformation with information that is true, it is impossible for the inexperienced to distinguish between the two and the article may cause more harm than good.

Andy, its not a matter of Reynold having different opinions from those that are prevailing. By all means have different opinions. That's how we learn and progress. In Reynold's case, it wasn't a matter of having an opinion that was different from others. He was passing off speculative views as though they are from the gospel and that is misleading and wrong.

Best regards,

David

Fruits in Shama's Diet

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:58 am Post subject:

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I am grateful to Jeffrey Low for drawing my attention to a scientific study at Standford University on the diet on birds which includes an observation on fruits and other vegetable matter as part of an insectivorous bird's diet. The article answers my questions on an aspect of the shama's nutrition that I needed answers but I had not expected to find any study on it and, as so often happens when the mind is closed, I had not tried to look further.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Determining_Diets.html


Quote: Many species that are primarily insectivorous specialize in devouring one common kind of insect at one time, switch to another insect species when the first kind of bug completes its flight season (or is decimated by predators), and then move on to others until insect activity becomes less common in the fall. The birds then may begin to supplement their diets with vegetable matter such as berries, or else depart for southern climes where insects are still active (and where many species that eat insects in the north eat primarily, if not exclusively, fruit).

As Jeffrey notes, in the tropics, shamas and other insectivorous birds do not need to adapt to such situations. Pure insectivorous birds from the tropics may not have a digestive system that had evolved to accomodate fruits like their cousins in other regions with 4 seasons. Jeffrey has further noted that the guts of the insects that our birds eat, contain vegetable/plant materials that should cater for any need for nutrients from such sources. Insects feed on plant materials and the insects are eaten whole including the contents of their guts.

Jeffrey and I have both seen healthy captive shamas that were never fed fruits.

The above does not mean that Jeffrey and I disapprove of fruits being fed to shamas. Our thinking is that it may not be nessary to form part of the shamas diet. Nevertheless, there may be benefit in providing fruits and I hope that those who feed fruits will contribut their thoughts and experiences. Axel Voltz, for one, believes in the value of fruits. He cust small pieces of apple in longish pieces to simulate small worms and he says that his shamas sometimes prefers them even to mealworms.

Feeding, Molt and Sub-species

First published December 2007
Hi Arjan,

May I first congratulate you and your wife on your beautiful birds and garden. It is obvious that a great deal of love and effort went into their care. It’s wonderful to be able to have the birds flying free. This is something we in Singapore can only dream about as we live in a city and even for those with gardens, there is the danger to the birds from cats and sometimes crows.

The threat of the bird flu has also affected the import of birds into Singapore. Indonesia recorded 2 human deaths from bird flu just last week. There is a ban on the import of poultry and birds to Singapore from neighboring countries. This is a pity as there has recently been an increase in interest in keeping shamas.

Feeding and Molt

If you cannot provide a variety of insects during the winter why not provide fish, minced meat, hard-boiled egg and frozen ants eggs. I mentioned to my 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.

You probably know this but others may find it helpful - 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.


Sub-species of Shama

It is almost impossible to tell with any certainty the indigenous region of a white-rumped shama merely from its looks. In general, the birds from Medan, Indonesia, have larger physiques than any other place in Asia but even amongst the Medan birds, slimmer birds with longer tails may be found that resemble the birds in neighboring countries. Judging purely from Beauty’s physic and feathers, I would guess that he was from Medan. He has the typical look of a Medan bird with feathers on the “thick” side. The shamas in Malaysia are smaller than those in Medan. Like the Medan shamas, they have generally short tails. The best looking and longest tailed shamas seem to come from the region along the Thai/Malaysia border stretching to the province of Acheh in Indonesia. I prefer the shamas from this region to that of any other place.

Hope the above has been of some help.

Warm regards,

David

Feeding Shamas Dried Insects

For those who feed dry food to their shamas and want to improve the quality, the addition of dried insects will be a welcome addition for the birds.

Chwee Bang or dried water flies from China is a very useful addition to the dry food. They should be obtained freshly dried i.e they should not have a dusty look about them and the heads should be intact. If anyone knows where I can buy a kilo in Singapore at this time, please let me know.

John Yim and others used to improve the nutritional quality of the Chwee Bang by adding raw eggs and then frying the lot over a very slow fire. The result was dried flies that had a shiny look and that smelled delicious. There were no problems with keeping the dried flies with egg added in storage. The value of this food may be seen in some owners feeding their birds only this food though I myself would not do so as I do not think it will be good for the birds in the long term in eating only one type of food.

For severl years now I have purchased dried Green Ants from Cuttle Bone Plus. I still have some stock left for my birds but my recent visit to the site could not turn up this item. Perhaps it has been discontinued. The birds love the ants which have a very high protein content and very little fat. An alternative in the form of freeze-dried Asian Tree Ants may be found at: http://www.zoofood.com/ants.shtml. I have not tried this product but intend to do so soon.

I recently ordered dried Ants Eggs and Insect Mix from:
http://www.jedds.com/SearchManufacturerResults.asp?ProductManufacturer=Orlux&SPage=2

The Ants Eggs have a wholesale price of US$8.61 per 100g. While the wholesale price for the Insect Mix is US$4.83 for 50g. I think I saw a larger packing available on some other website. The order has not yet arrived. I will report to the Forum after my birds have tried them.

My practice is to add about 25% by volume of the total of whatever dried insects I use to the Chee Sen (Synlin) dry food that I feed my birds. Please note that in addition to the dried food and dried insects, my birds get crickets, mealworms and other live food in the evening.

Additional input from Jeffrey Low
Thanks David, for all the sites to source for the dried insects. If I may, I would like to point out that freeze-dried products are generally better than dried products in retaining the food value.

Apart from dried insects, another option which is cheap and easily available from aquarium shops locally is dried shrimps (those sold for feeding aros and louhans). The cheaper ones come in tin cans for S$5 each. They can be simply rolled over with a pastry roller a couple of times and break easily into crumps which can then be added to the dried bird food. Shamas love it and it is a a very good protein source too.

regards
Jeffrey Low.

David's comment

Jeffrey, you are right about the dried shrimps being good food for the shama. The shrimps come in different sizes. Buy the smaller ones and make sure that the sharp spear has been removed. Koi shops also sell silk worm pupae from Japan and China. The Japanese ones may have better quality control. The pupae are about the size of a five cent coin and will need to be broken up into smaller sizes.

Jeffrey's comments

The silkworm pupa sounds good David. Exploring and finding more ways to keep our feathered pets in tip top condition is an enjoyment by itself.

Regarding the feeding of crickets, here is 1 suggestion from me for those that find that having live crickets at home is not convenient for some reasons. They can be bought in bulk and the whole packet dumped into the freezer. Once frozen, they can then be stored in tupperwares. Give it a few shake initially after they are frozen so that they do not stick together in lumps. Thaw out the amt to feed daily. Freshly frozen, they retain their nutitional values well. Also, apart from being free from the noise of live crickets, it is much easier to handle frozen ones than trying to grab the live ones come feeding time. This way, u can also buy in bulk without having to visit the shops so frequently. Besides, crickets have a short-live span and when bought alive, some could come to u near to the end of the life-span hence there is always wastage involved when keeping them live. It is very much cheaper to buy in bulk too.

regards,
Jeffrey Low.

Dry Food by Jeffrey Low

I am often intrigued by the traditional way of feeding softbill songbirds in this region and its proven result of caged birds in tip top singing form almost all year round, that we so often see in the chai arenas. In the 60's, dry bird food was not available over the counter and we all have to make our own from receipies passed down from the older generations. Over the years, I believe that there is little change in the basic ingredients - mainly beans and nuts and heavy reliability on the nutritional values of eggs. This is in great contrast to the westerners approach of using a dried insects and dried fruit mix for softbills (a more scientific approach to providing a diet closer to that of the wild birds). The only similarity between their approach and ours is the feeding of live food in addition to the dry staples. Our diet resulted in having birds in tip top conditions almost all year round (as opposed to their wild cousins that could only come into this form during the breeding season). Hence, my belief that the dried food that we are feeding to our caged birds here are far more superior in terms of achieving our goal than the diet of their wild cousins, once they are able to adjust their digestive system to accomodate the change.

I would like to pay tribute to David's write up on this topic and his unselfish sharing of his views on the shama diet. Regarding the chicken feed : I strongly believe that the chicken feed avaiblable here these days are made from discarded by- products of corn and other grains, mostly grounded up husks, stalks, etc which are of little food value (except maybe for vitamin b complex). I really doubt if they add in fish meals like they use to.

I believe that "chwee bang" is a beneficial addition to the dry food of shama and magpie robin. Some may argue that it is of low food value and contains too much chitin. Regarding Shanlung's comment on the dog and cat food, I would like to point out that these days, the better brands of dog food stressed on using animal proteins over vege proteins (because of the controversies regarding the digestibility and absorption of soy protein in dogs and the cause of bloat). Over the years, I had tried mixing dog/cat food with the dry food of insectivorous birds in different proportions and find it to be excellent, at least in the case of my orange headed thrush. I believe that that it is the sulphur containing amino acids found in the meat proteins of the dog/cat food that aided in a complete and good moult of the thrush and it came into song soon after that (it had a bad moult before and had stopped singing for almost a year).

Frogs in Shama's diet

written January 20th, 2007

About 20 years ago, I heard that a person by the name of Lin Heau Dong had bred shamas in Singapore. I obtained his telephone number and asked if I could meet him. He was gracious and readily agreed. We met. I found that he had only recently started to breed shamas and I think he had had only one clutch when I first met him. He willingly shared whatever information he had and I regularly turned to him for advice from then on. Lin's 2 articles on preparing the shama for competition and the standards to be applied in judging shamas for competition are on my website shama.com.sg.

In the course of my early meetings with Lin, I noted that he offered only crickets and mealworms to his breeding birds. We discussed as to whether baby frogs should be given. I felt that frogs would be a necessary addition to the birds' diet as the chicks would need the calcium from the bones of the frog. In those days, not much use was made of vitamins for the birds. Lin agreed that frogs would probably be a useful addition to the diet but he was reluctant to use them as he felt that they could pose a source of disease for the birds. While I agreed on the possibility, I felt that the benefits that the frogs would bring to the diet outweighed the risks. Frogs were available for sale in the shops selling tropical fish and I started to add them to my birds' diet.

I have always been lucky with my breeding of the shama. Right from the start, with Lin's advice on the nest-box size, etc I seemed to have no problems. The pair made their nests and had young within a very short time and I soon had a number of young shamas. These were then only of "bird-shop quality"� since my interest was only to breed and issues of quality were not relevant then. It was only later, after I had successfully raised several clutches of chicks that my thoughts turned to quality.

The chicks that I bred, even in those early days, were strong, with good bones. I attributed their health to the frogs that I fed to them in addition to the crickets and mealworms and I urged Lin to also feed frogs to his breeding birds. He eventually did.

I would like to say a little here about the care of frogs. I keep them in a 1 foot long plastic box to which I add a little rain-water that I collect. The water should not be too much as the frogs require only a little to keep their skins moist. The water should be changed daily or whenever it gets cloudy as can happen if the frogs are overcrowded. It is important to use rain-water or tap water that has been allowed to stand for at least 24 hours as tap-water contains chlorine to which the frogs are sensitive and die rather quickly. The box should be tilted so that the frogs can go on to “dry land� whenever they wish. If desired, some live blood worms can be added to the water and the frogs will eat them. Kept in this way the frogs can live indefinitely.

For the birds in my aviaries, I place the frogs in containers that have an overhang around the top so that they cannot crawl out. When available, the frogs are offered to the birds in aviaries daily. For the birds in cages, I might throw a frog into the cage once in a while and the birds immediately eat them.

Feeding Live Food

Many beginners and even experienced shama owners have difficulty in keeping their insects, frogs and fish (“livefood”) alive. They buy a week’s supply only to see the livefood die within a day or two.

Below is information that I have acquired over many years on keeping and using livefood that I would like to share with you. Using the recommended methods, the livefood should have no difficulty living for 2 weeks or more.

Guppies
• Never use water that is straight from the tap. Tap water contains chlorine which kills the fish. I use rain water that I collect. If tap water is used, allow it to stand for at least 24 hours to get rid of the chlorine.

• Guppies in Singapore usually live in brackish water. Add about a teaspoon of marine salt to the water.

• I use Styrofoam boxes filled with water to about 1½” to house about ½ a cup of guppies (by dry volume).

• The container in which the fish are housed should not contain more than 2 inches of water. Surprisingly, keeping the guppies in water to a greater depth will cause the water to go bad faster.

• If the guppies are swimming at the surface or if the water is cloudy, this is an indication that the oxygen is being depleted and the water needs to be changed.

• It is not necessary to feed the guppies. If desired, they may be fed with flakes or blood worms.

• When feeding the guppies to the birds, place them in unsalted water that just about covers their backs. This way the birds can get at them easily.

• Don’t worry if the shamas do not initially seem interested in the guppies. The movement of the fish will eventually tempt the shama to peck at them.

Frogs
Baby froglets may be purchased from tropical aquarium shops. The size you want is about ½” but even then there are several types. One of the species is slightly larger and softer than the other. The shama will eat both types but prefers the smaller slightly more bony froglets. Also, the brown froglets are to be preferred to the black ones which are less hardy. The black froglets tend to die within a few days but the brown ones may be kept for 2 weeks or more.

I place the froglets in a container with a little water and tilt the container so that about ½ of the base is dry. This allows the frogs to crawl on to “dry land” when they wish.

As with the guppies, do not use tap water as the chlorine will kill them.

Also, as with the guppies, the froglets may be fed with bloodworms but this will mean changing the water more frequently. The benefit of feeding bloodworms to the frogs and the guppies is that it not only helps to keep them healthy but some of the bloodworms will also likely still be in their stomachs when the birds eat them and thus get the benefit of the bloodworms. I have tried feeding live bloodworms to the shamas but it is difficult to get them to eat it.

A benefit of feeding frogs and guppies to the shama is that their bones will supply the calcium that insects will not provide. As with all live-food, it will be found that some birds prefer some types of live-food over others. Also, food that a bird may eat a livefood that it had previously not found to its taste.

Fish, frogs and other live-food should always be left in shade. Exposure to too much sun will result in their deaths.

Grasshoppers
Many hobbyists are unable to keep grasshoppers alive for more that a few days. The cause is that the environment in which they are kept or their nutrition is deficient. Any animal, bird, fish or insect will live a healthy and happy life if the conditions in which they live are to their liking and they receive proper nutrition.

The primary problem with keeping grasshoppers healthy and alive is that the container in which they are often housed is often too small. The grasshopper has very powerful hind legs and every time he jumps he receives a concussion. With massive blows to his head every now and again, its no wonder that it does not live long in captivity. I use a container that is 2’ x 18” x 18” and this seems to be large enough to keep them in good condition.

We now come to nutrition. Grasshoppers are usually fed cow-grass, sugar-cane, sugar-cane leaves and other vegetables. I find that with food of this type there is a great deal of excreta. The grasshoppers also do not live as long as if they are fed with a slice of orange and/or apple. With these fruits there is very little excreta and the grasshoppers seem very healthy. There is also the benefit to the birds of eating the undigested or partly digested fruits that are in their stomachs.

Acclimatising a Wild-caught Shama to Dry-food by Jeffrey Low

The article below was written on 30th December 2006

Here are some of the things I had learned through past mistakes and I hope they could be useful in some ways. Most of these are related to newly caught wild birds or birds that change hands before they are fully acclimatized to captivity.

I have often found that the death of a newly acquired wild caught shama is due to a combination of a few factors, starvation and stress being the primary causes. It helps to bear in mind that a wild caught shama is already very much weakened by stress when it reaches the hands of its new owner. The eagerness to teach the bird to eat its dry food coupled with the lack of close observation during this initial period may sometimes be of fatal consequence.

The most common method of starting a newly acquired wild bird on dry food mixed with cut up pieces of live food may work most of the time. However, there are times when a very much weakened bird may not find the strength or desire to go for this mixture. Among those that do go for the mix, there will always be some that will not be eating enough of this food. Over the course of a few days or weeks, they will be further weakened due to insufficient intake of food. This could be made worse if it is subjected to stress from its new environment.

Occasionally, a shama that is very disorientated and weakened by extreme hunger is mistaken by its new owner to be tame. Sometimes, even bathing/spraying a much weakened bird under such circumstances may subject it to chill which could be another contributing factor leading to its death. Many new birds and even some that had been kept for a while will not drink from water that is mixed with vitamin supplements. Some new owners may overlook this and dehydration may also contribute to the death of a newly acquired shama.

To minimize the risk of losing a new bird, it may be better if it is given as much live food as it will take during the initial period prior to starting it on the dry food mixed with cut up insects. This will help to build up the strength of the bird prior to subjecting it to the stress of learning to eat dry food.

When starting the bird on a dry food mixed with cut up insects, it is better to use transparent plastic cups over porcelain ones. The transparent cups will enable the bird to see the wriggling insect parts from the side of the cup and this will help to encourage the bird to eat the mixture. The dry food should also be grounded into powdered form as this will adhere better to the cut up pieces of insects.

There will be the occasional odd bird that will only peck at the side of the transparent cup and not know how to reach the food from the opening at the top of the cup. They will eventually learn to do so but if this is observed, it may be better to remove the top portion of the plastic cup. It will allow for a wider opening to the food and the sooner the bird will eat the better.

Vitamin supplements are very important especially during this initial period. They will help the bird to cope with the stress as well as make up for what is lacking in its diet. Vitamin B and the other vitamins can be smeared on live food or injected into them via a needle and syringe if the bird will not drink from water that has vitamins added to it.

Thoughts On Dry Food (John Yim's method)

The article below was written on 2nd October, 2006

More than 40 years ago when I first became interested in shamas I was fortunate to have John Yim as my mentor. I have previously mentioned that he was later to become the First Warden of the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. I was a frequent visitor to his home in those days and would visit him from time to time for many years. Weekends and sometimes weekdays, would find me there. He and his wife, Jane, were generous and would invite me for dinner whenever I stayed late.

John kept a variety of song birds. Their basic diet was the dry food that he himself manufactured and that he made available through the bird-shops. They are still sold in some shops in Johore and Singapore under the name Shama Song Food.

I was amazed at the tip-top condition of his birds. I still am. I can remember one of his shamas belting out its song at top volume whilst being carried by me in a cage. John is now 83 years old and lives in Johore Bahru, Malaysia. I phoned him on whether I could reveal some of his secrets on bird-keeping and he kindly agreed.

When I first started keeping shamas, the only live food that was readily available was grass-hoppers (except during the monsoon season). Mealworms were only available much later after John introduced them to Singapore on his return from his attachment to the London Zoo. Cockroaches could be caught and fed to the birds but they were regarded as unhygienic and they were only used as bait to trap wild shamas and for feeding the wild-caught birds when converting them to dry food. Cockroaches were preferred to grass-hoppers for this purpose as the dry food adhered more easily to the cut pieces.

In those early days, John would supplement the dry food by feeding 3 or 4 grass-hoppers a day to his shamas. Twice a week, they would receive minced raw lean beef. The quantity was about the size of a peanut divided into 3 portions for each bird. Once a week, each bird would also receive ¼ or less of a hard-boiled chicken egg yolk. Nowadays, John uses mashed quails eggs. The birds’ drinking water would also be supplemented with vitamin B from time to time and especially during the molt and when the birds were under stress such as after a song competition.

I would often accompany John as he made his bird food. The main ingredient was peanuts. He would buy shelled peanuts and have them ground by a shop that sold spices. Care had to be taken that the speed of the grinding was not too fast as the result would be peanut butter. John would wrap the ground peanuts in newspaper and press out all the excess oil. He would then add raw eggs before frying the peanuts and in the process add wheat-germ, Nestum with honey, and other ingredients. He kindly taught me how to make the dry food and for a time I made it for my birds according to his recipe. Making dry food requires much work and I stopped doing so after a while.

When John relocated to Johore Bahru and his dry food became less available in Singapore, I had looked for an alternative. I have tried a number of brands, locally made brands as well as imported ones from America, Australia, Holland and the UK. I have not found any of them to be suitable as the sole food for my shamas.

Over the years, there have been many suggestions to me as to what is the best dry food for shamas. One suggestion was that pellets meant for chickens is suitable. The advocate argued that it was scientifically formulated unlike the commercially available dry food for shamas that are usually developed over time by the trial and error method. Maybe so, but the formulation was for chickens and not for shamas.

With regard to the arguement that the mixture was unscientific, I noted that if it had been in constant use for many many years with satisfactory results, there was much to be said in its favour. The same person suggested that the pellets for chickens must be suitable for shamas as they appeared to like the food since they usually ate much more of the pellets than the available brands of shama food. Another person who manufactured dry food for his 60 shamas and also offered it for sale, included dietary fiber for humans in the food. His argument was that just as it was good for humans, it should be good for shamas. He also noted that his shamas tended to eat more of his food than the commercially available food and this suggested to him that it must be good for them. Both these persons observed that the excreta of their birds were much more from eating their food than from eating the commercially available food. They interpreted the fact that the birds ate a lot and excreted a lot as a sign that the food was suitable.

A difficulty I had with the above arguments was that the excreta of shamas fed live food was completely different. When shamas are fed live food, the droppings are a layer of white with only a little black in the center. From reading, I learnt that the white was urea and the relatively large amount of it in the excreta was the result of a high protein diet whilst the small portion of black was the actual excreta. In contrast, the birds that ate pellets meant for chickens etc had a great lump of black in their droppings with very little white. It suggested to me that the reason there was so little excreta when the shamas ate live food was because it provided a much higher degree of nourishment than some of the available dry food. It also seemed to me that shamas that ate a great deal of food and consequently excreted more did so not because they especially liked the food but because it provided insufficient nourishment and their brain sent a message that needed to eat more so as to obtain the protein and other nourishment that their bodies needed.

I noted that shamas that ate live food would from time to time regurgitate a pellet about the size of a large peanut. These pellets contained the undigested remains of insects. It seemed to me from this that it was unlikely that shamas required much roughage in their digestive system. Alternatively, any roughage should be regurgitated and not passed through their alimentary canal. Over a period, I observed the condition of the shamas that ate the different types of dry foods.

Whenever I went to a shama gathering or came across shamas of people I knew, I would observe the condition of the bird. I would then take the cage down with the consent of the owner, look at the droppings and ask what was being fed to the bird. From my observations, I came to the conclusion that feed meant for chickens was definitely not a suitable long term food for shamas and neither was human dietary fiber. Chicken pellets are formulated for chickens and they are omnivorous. The diet of such a bird is logically less likely to be suitable for a bird like the shama that requires a high protein diet. By having to eat more to try to obtain the required protein, the birds eat more of the unsuitable food and this results in obesity just like humans who eat a lot of junk food. It is not surprising that they tend to suffer health problems.

I concluded that the most suitable food for shamas are those that result in the excreta most closely resembling those of the shama when fed live food. This was confirmed by my observations. As regards the suitability of cat food or dog food for shamas, their high protein content of 28% to 30% should make them more suitable for shamas than chicken pellets. Unlike chicken pellets, these foods have been specially formulated for carnivorous animals. In this sense, the shama is carnivorous since it eats not only insects but also lizards, frogs and other vertebrate. As to whether cat and dog food should be fed to shamas, I leave it to others to try.

My own view is that some commercially available shama food have been in the market for so many years that they have proven their suitability as a basic food and I would rather not experiment. Of the brands available, a vet in Singapore whom I respect told me that he had fed the Three Coins brand to his shamas during their molt and they had molted well. For myself, I have been using Chee Seng (also known as SynLin) and I find that it is suitable as a basic food when supplemented with live food. The bird's droppings when eating these brands is much more similar to those when fed live food. There may be other suitable brands that I have not tried. I would think that there may be an advantage in mixing 2 or more brands of dry food since a deficiency in one food may be compensated in another.

My experience has been that even when this is done, the resultant mix is still not completely suitable to be the only food. One of these days, there may be the same amount of research into softbill food as there is for dry food for dogs and parrots. Until then, for those who cannot feed only live food to their birds, I suggest that they use a brand that they trust and supplement the feeding with live food.

I have had some enquiries from people who wish to to contact John Yim. His phone number is 07-3348873. He resides at 113 Jalan Inang Empat, Taman Iskander, 80050, Johore Bahru, Malaysia. Please do not phone him just for idle chit chat but if you are a long lost friend or if you have a problem that you really need advise, I am sure he will be happy to hear from you.