How to Care for a Myna Bird

Native to India and Ceylon, the Myna grows to about 12 inches long with shiny black feathers that have an iridescent green, turquoise and purple sheen in sunlight. The most common pet Myna is the Java Hill Myna. Known for their incredible talking skills, Mynas make excellent pets. They are intelligent, love attention and learn tricks easily. To properly care for a Myna bird, follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cage
• Wing clips
• Perches
• Bath water bowl
• Toys
• Softbill, low iron pellets
• Fresh fruit
• Fresh vegetables
• Fresh meat
• Drinking water bowl
• Cage cover
• Nest box

1. Buy a wide cage to give your Myna space to hop around. The recommended cage size is three to four feet wide, two feet high and two feet deep. Keep the cage away from drafty areas.

2. Give your Myna plenty of exercise. Let him out every day but first clip both wings so he balances when he flies and lands. Also, put tiered perches in his cage for his hopping needs.

3. Place a large dish filled with water in her cage for bathing. Mynas love bathing, at least twice daily.

4. Provide enough toys in your Myna's cage to keep him entertained. Mynas require toys more challenging than most bird toys due to their intelligence. Choose infant or cat toys instead.

5. Feed your Myna low iron softbill pellets for half of her diet. Also give her a variety of finely chopped fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and beans.

6. Make clean drinking water available all the time. You must provide enough water for him to dip his bill into the water, fill his bill up and let it run down his gullet.

7. Provide proper time and conditions for your Myna to get plenty of sleep. Cover her cage at night and place a nest box in her cage. Mynas take several short naps a day and sleep through the night.

Tips & Warnings

• Mynas live an average of 20 years, so make sure you're ready to care for her over the long term.
• Keep Mynas separated from other kinds of birds as they attack smaller birds.
• Mynas begin talking at three to four months of age. Train him early and often to maximize this bird's exceptional talking skills.
• Mynas molt heavily one or two times annually. If she doesn't, change her diet to include more vitamins.
• Signs of an ill Myna include appetite or weight loss, coughing or wheezing, discharge from his nose and mouth, low grooming and activity level, a change in droppings for more than two days or long periods with fluffed up feathers.
• Don't use perches made of rope or cloth material. Mynas' toenails get caught in them.
• Avoid giving your Myna too much iron in her diet. It can lead to illness and even death.
• Avoid foods toxic to Mynas such as avocado, rhubarb and apple seeds. Also avoid all seeds, as Mynas can't digest them.

[mynabird]

on 6/11/2009 It is very important to keep him warm and cozy. I cover the cage at sundown, after the birds stop singing outside. He likes to eat starting early in the morning when the other birds start singing.
He eats all by himself now and doesn't want to be fed by meanymore.
His tail has grown to about 1 3/4 inch long...we plan to release him when it is a little over 2 inches, and hope that he will be able to fly well. I hope this is helpful! Susie.

His parents still come every morning to the same place he fell, and stay most the day. Hopefully they will recognize him and take him back into their flock.

[mynabird]

on 6/11/2009 I first fed him very soft, strained fresh papaya pulp w/spring water to dilute it,( no seeds or rind) heated in microwave so it was just warm to the wrist, which I fed him with a medicine dropper. We tryed crushed and soft-soaked DRY kitty food the 1st day, as well, until we could get to the pet store and buy "meal worms".

The meal worms I put right into his mouth. If you tap the side of a dish to make a little noise like the mother landing on the nest, they usually will open their mouths.
He ate the cat food that day, but it plugged him up. I don't recommend it except for the first day--emergency.
He loved the papaya. (Remember, avocado and apples are poisonous to mynas!!)
I fed him about 4 times a day at first, then when he started getting pretty cocky and stronger, I started putting the meal worms in his little dish along with skinned and de-seeded papaya pulp.

It is ver...

[mynabird]

on 6/11/2009 it, I put the tennis racket on the ground behind him, at an angle, and he hopped onto it.
I then, gently, but firmly, picked him up from behind, holding his wings closed, and put him in a medium sized guinea pig cage we had. (First we put in a covered shoe-box with one end cut open, giving him deep shelter/safe-feeling, and filled the bottom of the cage with straw.)
We put in 2 dowels, secured w/clothes pins, for perches through the holes in the cage, and a heavy glass dish for water and old heavy crystal ashtray for food...heavy is important, so he wouldn't tip them over.) I give him bottled spring water because our tap water has chlorine in it.
We let him settle in for several hours to rest and relax before attempting to feed him.

To Feed: I encouraged into him shoebox house, and slowly picked him up and wrapped him in a clean washcloth, with another towel on my lap.
I first fe...

[mynabird]

on 6/11/2009 Maui, Hawaii: We have a large yard with many birds, including mynas. I watch them regularly...over a week ago, a partially feathered baby/teenager fell to the lawn and could not get back in his tree. His parents stayed with him for hours as he tryed and tryed to climb up the large tree trunk to his nest.
He became very exhausted and eventually could only walk around, slowly.
Eventually, 4 other adult mynas started attacking him. His parents tryed to protect him but he was being badly beaten, so my son and I intervened.
We scared away the attackers and slowly and gently walked behind him, getting him to walk to the base of the big tree. (I used to roundup cattle and other animals, so I used that strategy, coming in around behind him to direct his movement and I had gotten my tennis racket to use as a round-up instrument.)
When he got right up to the base of tree and was facing i...

[shell-68]

on 4/16/2009 Cool! great tips :)