My wife and I came across this website and were horrified at the lack of information that people rescuing miner/mynah bird chicks have access to.
From trying to get water down their throats (don't do it!) to feeding them entirely the wrong sort of food.
There is a wealth of information already available on the Internet via a Google search that lists quite cleary the do's and don't's of feeding myna bird chicks/fledglings up to young and adult.
Never force them to drink water. They don't need it and you will only end up drowning them.It only takes a tiny amount of water in a Myna's lungs to kill it.
Myna's get most of the water they need from their food.
Never feed them bread or sugar...in fact if you're not 100% certain of what you should feed them then for heavens sake do a Google search and find out. Your ingnorance will probably kill the very bird you have rescued and are trying to help.
Below are links to websites where people will tell you exactly what you need to do and what you need to feed a Myna bird from baby to adult.
http://www.mynahbird.org/rescue/rescue.html
Some good general info here:
http://www.marathonwildbirdcenter.org/baby_birds.html
http://www.wildlifeincrisis.com/guidelines/index.htm
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5818526_care-baby-mynah-birds.html
Some of the sites above list the same things, but that's good because it shows they're all on the same track to correct feeding technique.
When our Aussie Miner was a baby we placed a tiny amount of food on a cotton bud and the bird would open his beak and suck the food off the cotton bud.
We used a fresh cotton bud every thrid time to avoid loose strands getting into the baby'south.
We never could find any Mynah bird pellets in nearby pet stores, but we did okay with Insectovroe and Nectorvore made by a comapny called Womabaroo. We also used Lorikeet rearing and condition food powder by Avione.
The lorikeet powder we serve dry. The Insectovore we mix with the Nectorvore and a bit of fruit baby food and serve slightly wet/mushy but not dripping in water.
Most pet shops sell Meal Worms..these are an excellent baby Myna food, but contain a lot of fat and should be given as an occassional treat to an adult bird.
We fed our bird Meal Worms off the end of a pair of stamp pliers, the sharp ends sanded blunt to protect the birds mouth.
We would sometimes put a drop of water on the end of our finger or back of our hand and the baby would lick it off with his tongue...but we never forced water down his beak.
Remember baby birds parents don't feed them bread and milk, so neither should you. Lots of human food will kill Myna's. I can't say it enough...if you don't know exactly what to feed a bird or an animal then go Google it and find out. Doesn't take long and the animal will thank you for it by remaining alive and healthy.
In point of fact we never kept our baby Aussie Miner in a cloth lined box or monitored the temprature of his enviroment. He lived in a small cage with perches and a cloth lined bottom in a sun warmed living room during the day and we covered the cage with a towel at night.
By the end of the first week he spent most of his time out of the cage and on our shoulders. When he could flutter but not fly we let him wander about on our garden blacony and as he got older and did learn to fly he would (and still does) divide his time between out garden and our house. We always leave the balcony door or a window open for him. He comes and goes as he wants. At sunset he flies back inside and spends the night indoors with us.
General information...note that the common term is Myna, whereas the Australian bird is the Miner. Our Miner bird is a native of this country, the brown Indian Myna's are an introduced species.
For the sake of feeding Myna birds the information relates to both species.
Some great info there Vin thank you and the reason why you don't find any info on feeding the birds is that we do not advocate feeding or for that matter caring for sick and injured birds on this site. it is the usual recommendation to refer to a licensed wildlife and bird carer.
Feeding birds is a very contentious issue here in this forum and there is such a variety of opinion about it. This Forum is linked to and run Birds Australia....
Re the Noisy Miners.. I think you will find that is an ongoing education matter.... there is always a newcomer that thinks they are the same! IF you search through the forum using the search method and placing a relative term in the box to will enable you to bring up past posts on the subjects.
Nice to have someone with knowledge on board ...always welcome
:')
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Vin
Yes birdie is correct. We recommend that any sick or injured wildlife are handed over to the care of licensed carers or vets (and it is actually illegal to care for native wildlife without a licence). We hope people use this section of the forum for getting information for temporary care before they can get the bird to one of these places.
As for feeding in general, there can be numerous issues with feeding native wildlife (and you have recognised some of them in your post). BIBY would prefer that people create bird-friendly gardens where birds can forage for food naturally.
If people do feed birds we suggest feeding infrequently (not daily), researching the appropriate foods and keeping feeding stations immpecibly clean. There is information in our Guidelines on the website that you can find under 'Bird-friendly Spaces'.
Good to see you back Holly :)
Hi Birdie,
I do have a bit of an issue with the 'refer to a licensed wildlife and bird carer'. Well, sorry, but I live in a country town in SA and my first thought was to contact fauna rescue. No joy, no 'wildlife carers' (dunno about licensed or otherwise) but none here at all. Bit awkward to take a 225k trip to Adelaide so it seems I'm stuck with the bird. It appears to be a juvenile Noisy Miner. Clearly it fell or fluttered out of a nest somewhere near where it was found, however the only trees around are far too high for us to consider putting it back. It can't fly (no tail feathers yet). I'm guessing it's somewhere between 2 - 3 weeks old so we either look after it or let it die.
Found on a Friday night so no vets either and my understanding is they'll direct me to Parks and Wildlife - who Fauna Rescue tell me don't want Noisy Miners released to the wild if rescued - it seems they are considered a pest for some reason (no idea why).
So. We have the bird, there's no one else to take it on (at least no one in a 200k radius) so we either look after it or let it die. Clearly that's not an option - we're not experienced with hand raising but we'll do the best we can, at worst it has a non zero chance of surviving and we'll keep it assuming it survives to adulthood.
So, no matter how 'contentious' the issue might be to those in big cities with the convenience of 'licensed wildlife and bird carers' as close as a phone call, here it's us or nothing. So please, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Especially care and feeding. So far we've used, a bit of honey and water to start, which perked it up quite a bit, we are currently feeding it some baby food (fruit based) insects (small cockroaches) whenever it seems to be demanding food (varies a bit - usually several times over about a half hour or so then it goes to sleep a while.) Don't have any of the Wombaroo specialty stuff, I'll check the supermarkets and the fodder store, but if I can't get it, what substitutes would work. We're using the cotton bud method described above, seems to work ok but happy to listen to expert advice.
Geoff
Hi Geoff. While it's very likely your Miner is a Noisy Miner, being 225 km from Adelaide might also put you within the range of the Yellow-throated Miner. In any case I would have recommended that, although you would find it difficult to return the bird to its nest, you leave the bird where it is & allow it to await attention from its parent or parents. Many humans feel the need to rescue what seems to be a helpless creature but in many cases intervention interferes with nature's processes to the detriment of species.
Of course, where birds have been hit by trucks, skateboards & other human devices there is a case for intervention but, being a long way from a wildlife carer, you would find it difficult to get help. It's perhaps ironic that in rural areas where wildlife could be expected to be more prevelant there are few services available to help with injured birds & other native animals whereas in cities where horrific damage has been done to natural habitats there is a relative abundance of those services. So you do your best based on the knowledge & resources you have.
I certainly take the point expressed in another post on this thread that feeding injured birds with what we humans think they need may not be at all helfpul &, in fact, could be quite disastrous. My sense is that an injured bird has more chance of survival if it's fed what it would naturally feed on or be fed by its parents.
Looks like you & the bird are doing well, Geoff. And rescuing a native bird from a cat is a most honourable action. I trust you & your neighbours are loaded with plans for managing the cats so that this event with the young Noisy Miner becomes, like much of our wildlife, increasingly rare.
Have you seen any parent Noisy Miners into whose care you might eventually release this young one?
I recall from your first post, Geoff, that you said Fauna Rescue told you that Parks & Wildlife don't want Noisy Miners released to the wild. That is puzzling if it is the case. In many areas Noisy Miners dominate landscapes & are regarded as a pest. This is due to the clearance of understorey thus creating open woodland which favours the Noisy Miner. The solution to the problem, in my view, is to carefully restore the understorey by planting the species which were destroyed. This provides habitat for a far greater range of bird species & reduces the Noisy Miner to a normal part of the biodiversity.
Well, that's what Fauna Rescue told me. Not much 'woodland' around here lol.
Hve to get a rescue permit from P&W
Bird doing well, when I speak it jumps up and squawks for food with mouth open..,. Guess I'm adopted lol
Geoff
Geoff, I can appreciate the general vibe on the forum. But good on you anyway for having a go. Really most people would walk past and do nothing, and perhaps what small percentage of them who may help might loose interest after finding it a noisy miner. Given you are out away from the city, and almost everything is harder, the effort you have extended to this creature is commedable. Where as here in the city I follow cars that could not even be bothered to moving for a bird, and unfortunately the 6ft carpet snake I found yesterday morning after rain.
Write or wrong you have done more than 99% of what Australians do for nature. May karma bless you.
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
Thanks mate. Appreciate that. So far so good. Bird is doing well and eating well. I only have to stand up and he's up on his toes squawking for food. Every 2 hours or so, sometimes two or three lots of food over a ten minute period and he shuts up and goes to sleep. The pulverised dry dog food with baby food and hard boiled egg yolk mixed in, interspersed with a freshly killed roach seems to be working fine so far.
It's now 1 week exactly, I am now cautiously optimistic. On Monday I thought he would be gone before the end of the day. Probably call it Spitfire - a small fighting aircraft lol.
Geoff
Spitfire, a very fitting name for a noisy miner. And a marvelous bit of engineering as well.
Amazing how demanding a chick can be. Can't imagine having a few of them and then having to hunt for food as well, while keeping an eye out for preditors. Very humbling what nature can handle or put up with. Probably going to offend a few buy I do like the ol bush creativity. Would have never thought to put that food mix together. I would have gone for a late night high speed drive on a straight back raod with the lights on high beam. Then got out the tweezers and stared to de-dug. Imjagine some a copper pulling along side finding me doing that. Ummmm
Ipswich Shire Eastern flanks
I'd remarked to my wife that he was a 'fighter' after nearly to succumbing to what I suspect was a systemic infection of some kind on Monday, a bit of luck and some Amoxil pulled him through. But always possible they go into shock and never recover just from the stress of being handled.
My son bought home a juvenile piping shrike last week from the stables, come out of a very tall gum tree sometime during the night, no way to get him back there. Unfortunately I think he had a heavy landing - didn't last the day, shock and/or some internal injury most likely.
However, this bird seems perfectly happy to be handled .. perches on a finger to be fed happily and transfers to a perch in the old canary cage just fine. So.. Any way, a fighter... Spitfire being my favourite... so...
As to the recipe, I can't take the credit, one of several for these I found on the net - Google is your friend.
The cockroaches were easy, there's a spot here where there's plenty. Too easy and he takes them whole (fauna rescue said to make sure you crush their heads - it seems they can survive in the crop long enough to start eating holes in it...) Seems to work, looks fine... goes to sleep as soon as he's fed up enough - don't need to feel his crop, just offer food til he won't open his beak when I click at him seems to work. Getting to the stage I just have to speak and he's up and begging for food lol.
The round the clock feeding is a bit tiring, but I'm not working right now (medical) and don't sleep until early hours of the morning most of the time, so I find if he has a feed around 3am he's right til about 9 or so, then it's every couple of hours, usually he'll have some, then ten minutes later he's ready for more.. rinse and repeat a couple of times and he puts his head to the side and dozes off for an hour or two. Not too hard once you get used to it. I feed the roaches out of the end of a drinking straw, poke it in his beak and down it goes. The food paste goes on the end of a cotton bud - keep it fairly wet so he's hydrated and he just grabs it and sucks it off quite readily. Not really as difficult as I thought it might be to be honest. Never done this before with birds.
Geoff
I have an African Mynah in my back yard that seemed to have gotten out of his nest to fly for the first time. The thing is he is stuck in my yard as it can't fly very far. I do hear and see the parents in the visinity, but this bird has been stuck in my yard all day. I have dogs that I have been keeping in all day, but tomorrow I have to go to work and afraid the dogs may catch the bird. How long does it take for such a bird to learn to fly. It can fly short lengths, but not high enough to get over the wall. I am also afraid to catch the bird as the parents may reject it.
An African Mynah??
Could be an Indian mynah, it's just wat we call them here.
Efforts are being made to eradicate Indian Mynahs in many parts of Australia. They are a feral pest which successfully dominates many Australian landscapes at the expense of Australian bird species. For the sake of Australian birds please dispose of this individual humanely.
can I ask what suburb and state that you are in?
Peter
I found this guy hopping around a crowded supermarket car park tonight. He would probably have been dead in a few minutes if I didn't catch him which I did easily enough.
The last native bird we found the vet said 'put him back where you found him' so we did. We found him squashed on the road the next day.
Ours is a busy suburban area with very busy roads.
This guy looks like he just needs a break, maybe a week in the cage and we will try letting him go then. He can't fly at the moment, I don't know why. He is happy enough in the cage though.
I have contacted wildlife carers of south east QLD and let them know we have him.
We are in Mt Gravatt East. If any of the readers of this forum can help, please feel free to contact me.
Steve..
I love birds, but don't know much about them.
Once squashed, twice shy, it seems.
Nzcalling, it seems to me you've done everything you can in the interests of this Noisy Miner. The idea of protecting it from the ravages of human inventions & some of those who drive them until it can fly is appropriate. Even then there's no guarantee it will survive in a suburban landscape (using the word "landscape" as loosely as possible).
I'm not sure I'd want to ascribe "happy enough" to a native bird kept, albeit safely, in a cage. It seems a shame that to keep our wildlife safe from the ravages of human inventions we need to lock them up, even if it's temporarily. Perhaps this is the result of the horrendous habitat destruction which occurs in order to build our suburban landscapes.
i wouldn't be surprised if it was getting a hard time from members of its own species prior to capture as well, something which seems to occur regularly.
that said it's a poor state of affairs when even our hardiest and most adaptable native species start struggling to survive... i've noticed in some new estates the Noisys are absent as they've been fitted out with decidous exotic trees (the Noisys much prefer eucalypts).
Also be very careful in relocating this species, they've been known to kill liberated birds which originated from other colonies and were released into other colonies' territories almost instantaneously... might be a tricky situation given the seemingly exceptionally hazardous environment in which this individual was collected...
i do a lot of driving and this species is one of the commonest roadkills (mind you it's one of the commonest local birds).. interestingly Common Mynas seemingly succumb only occasionally.
How did spitfire turn out , did he stay with you . I have had one since oct , hes grown up a beauty , he sleeps inside at night but has freedom to leave and fly around outside , he rather likes it inside the house actually and has a close bond with me , when I talk to him he fluffs up and chirps softly , funny and curious hes not leaving any time soon I think
Hes doing very well ,3.5 months old
they are a highly social bird, i wonder if it has imprinted on you
I always had the idea that he would leave that the species aggressive Nature would be ingrained in his dna ,
given my past experience with miner birds .
It hasnt been the case with fluff ( he was a fluff Ball when i picked him up of the road next to his dead sibbling)
he has a very tender side and has not swooped us or attacked our dashund, he is rather lovely and affectionate .
i have noticed especially with mé as ive been his career .
A very smart bird indeed , he comes and goes all Day but preferes to Explore around the inside of our house and play with LEGO ,
We only have maggies and rosellas on our property and they sit in the tree with fluff outside our house , maggies only swooped fluff once when they first saw him now they are relaxed as they know its his territory too ,
I love to observe all this social bird behaviour
I wonder if Fluff will eventually leave and join a wild miner group.
We need some advice from others who have rescued Noisy Miners and then released them back to the wild successfully.
Back on the 29th of December we found a fledgling Noisy Miner at our local park, a popular park in Suburban Caulfield Victoria for people, dogs (off leash) and lots of Noisy Miners (amongst other birds), we figure she was about 11 days old (we call her she but who knows?). That makes her about 2 months old now. She was on the ground for any passing dog to gobble, we tried to put her back in a tree and hung around for her family to take care of her but they’d cleared off, we took her home half expecting her to not last the night even though at 1st she did not appear to have any injuries. We studied up online (including this site) how to feed and care for her, anyway we must have done all the right things cos here she is 2 months later fighting fit, living off Wombaroo Insectivore mixed with Lorikeet mix, sometimes mixed with fruit sometimes mixed with good quality canned chicken dog food.
We discovered after having her a couple of days that the reason she must have been rejected by her family was that she had an injured leg, maybe from birth? The foot doesn’t open up to perch and the knee cant support weight, aside from that it does not appear to give her any discomfort, just more annoying than anything, she now flies around the house really well at great speed and agility, landing with her one foot, sometimes hanging upside down (as they do) perching on light fittings, picture rails, the dog, us, anything she can. She’s learned how to fight by play fighting with our poodle where she usually wins. She’s become a very loved member of our family but this is no life for a wild bird especially as we have 2 cats that we need to constantly keep a door between.
I discussed her with someone from Wildlife Vic and they said to teach her how to catch insects and then soft release her back to the park where we found her. She certainly has learned how to find insects, she feeds on crickets, mealworms and no fly in the house is safe!
We’ve been trying now for about 2.5 weeks to release her back at the park (about 1km away from home). We’ve taken her sometimes twice a day a total of about 12 or more times for an hour or so where we take her to the same spot, not far from where we originally found her, we open her cage door at the park, walk away and call her out, she flies around for about an hour, fossicking for food on the ground or sparing with other noisy miners up in the trees but if she’s chased too much by them she comes back to us, our dog, or any other similar looking dog or person in the park, she seems to feel that people and dogs are safe and birds are scary, so it appears she’s bonded with us too much and putting her back to a place even though it’s where she’s from originally but because its heavily populated with people and dogs, when we are not there she’ll end up landing on the wrong dog or person and come to harm.
So what do we do? She is hindered by her leg so maybe her only safe life is one in an aviary? Do we release her in a completely different noisy miner habitat away from people and dogs? Would she find her place in a new miner community? To be completely honest although we love and care so much for her and never want any harm to her, it’s been an intense 2 months and we feel chained to the house looking after her, when we go out we leave her in a room with her food and she feeds herself but she still asks for some hand feeding especially in the evenings, we want a better life for her, where she is free like she was meant to be.
Anyone who has been through a similar situation with a hand-reared bird and has successfully released then please help with your advice.
If anyone can come up with some suggestions of what we should do next or anywhere she could go and be safe we would be truly grateful.
And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
interesting tale, moonmez
i did a little searching around and found this
'Unfortunately, many Noisy Miners like nesting over 'short' grass so much that they frequently build over grassless areas - such as roads - resulting in those that aren't run over often being picked up and brought into veterinary clinics, where they are subsequently put down. Noisy Miners can not be re-released into the wild alone, because of the territorial and very aggressive nature of the occupying colony, so 'Fauna Rescue' volunteers are extremely reluctant to take any in.
They are very active birds, easily distressed by being caged, and difficult to domesticate compared to traditional 'pet' birds. Finch or Insectivore rearing food mixed with Lorikeet and Honeyeater feed sustains them well, though they will generally try to eat anything offered'.
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/noisyminer.html
i'd have grave fears for any released noisy miner, let alone one with a handicap. definitely do not release in another colony.
you seem to have done quite well - maybe too well- with the domestication though, it shows how social this species is.
sorry not sure what would be the appropriate course of action.
Ok Update!
We have had her assessed by an Avian Vet who asses her as not fit for release, the leg does not cause her any pain it just makes her a bit awkward. We have notified Wildlife Victoria about her but as she is not fit for release they would just have euthanized her, we could not see any point any putting down an otherwise healthy little being who can live a happy healthy life in Captivity and we have a letter from the Avian Vet agreeing to this.
BUT we have 2 cats who we constantly have to be vigilent about, she likes to be free flying around the house so we are seriously looking to re-home her.
If anyone is interested in a pet Noisy Miner please contact me or follow the link below. It would be awesome if anyone else has a Noisy Miner in Captivity that we could gradually introduce them and they could keep each other company, at the moment we are her colony.
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/caulfield-south/birds/ziggy-the-noisy-miner-is-looking-for-the-best-home-ever-very-tame/1105726789
And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
I take it you haven't thought of re-homing the cats, Moonmez.
Yes we have actually discussed that Woko :) Especially seeing as Ziggy the Noisy Miner is a far more active participant in our day to day movements arount the house, Cats can be so anti-social! But to be fair one of our Cats we've had for 17 years and the other for 4 so it's more like they've been here longer and I don't like the chances of re-homing a 17 year old cat, even tho she moves like a kitten if she sees the Bird. A fair comment though and one I would expect from a Bird forum :) I just wish all our animals got along as well as the Bird and the dog do :(
And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
I wonder if ziggy will bond successfully with a new owner, they seem to have very close attachments.
Hey there Moonmez, I was just wondering how the bird has been so far?
Personally I've hand reared noisy miners in the past, besides being extremely loud, they're actually very smart and once bonded to you, they'll stick by you for life and even try to protect you from potential harm.
I love them, and if I saw your gumtree ad when it was created, I'd take him/her off your hands in a giffy.
Hi Moonmez, I just wanna say what you did is great. Noisy miner is such a smart and addorable creature. And your Ziggy is absolutely deserve a loving home. How is she now? Hope all your animals get along well:)
theoasisproduction ...... my sister recently saved a baby miner from a cat an when she contacted the wildlife carer in her area she was told they could not take it atm I saw your post which is months old now but hoping you will see this msg as we need to rehome this gorgeous young bird pls contact me if you see this msg.....
.
Is this a Noisy Miner or an Indian Mynah, mjoy?
yes Woko an Aussie Noisy Miner...
Hi can any one help me? I found a little baby noisey miner in the middle of the road ,so i picked it and took it home. How do i look after it? I have been feeding it earwigs are they good for them
Hi Talisa, how old is the baby bird? Does it have feather? If so, you can feed him/her mealworms which can be found at Bunnings or Gumtree. Some fruit like apple, pear, watermelon are also works. Chop the fruit to very tiny pieces, feed the baby bird with finger or a non-sharp tweezers. DO NOT feed him/her water.
Earwig might be too tough for little baby. Try earthworms if you can find some. If you need to raise him/her for a while, mealworms plus fruit probably the easiest way. Good protein, clean, easy to swallow and noisy miners love it. Thank you for saving the baby miner's life and enjoy the time with him/her. Noisy miner is really a very sweet creature in the world.
Thanks!! For helping me with my little Noisy Miner. It means alot to me
Hi Talisa, I have just raised a baby noisy for last 2-3 weeks an successfully released him back to where he came from... I have checked on him every cpl days since release an he has flown close an talked to me an then gone... very happy for him.... he has grown so quickly..I feed him a range of foods... the main one every 2 hours was Wombaroo honeyeater mix an as he got older I would mix in some Wombaroo insectivore mix I then started showing and feeding him worms small ants earwigs an beetles in a small tupperware dish with some dirt... he loved picking at them and learning how to catch and eat bugs... I offered him fruit every day most things are ok except Advocado... my guy loved mango and mandarin.... he also loved fresh blossom flowers an Banksia Grevillia these were important as it taught him how to find food when released... these birds are predominately honey eaters, they do eat and love insects. The Wombaroo mix is sold at all large pet stores for about $10 or you can buy it online... I wuld suggest getting it in store immediately if possible then going to a routine of every 2 hours for feeding following very easy instructons on pack... if you want any more info just ask or I will send u my email details if its easier....
Good luck
Joy
Hi Talisa I have added photos of the food I used and a comment before this one...
Yesterday I can across a yong musk lorikeet at school, it was extremely tired. Must have be flying around a lot, I simply cept an eye on it until it recovered. It was soon back to normal.
Wimmera mally region, Vic.
Good work, Lightuningbird. The lorikeet would have been vulnerable to cat attack so you were wise to watch out for it.
Hi there
We rescued a fledgling miner from the road outside our house a few days ago, next to another little one that had already died.
He’s going well, just wondering if anyone can tell me how old he is and what are the chances of us teaching him how to search for food himself when he is a bit bigger? Also should we be letting him out to walk around and explore supervised?
ive attached a photo
Thanks!
Hi Samson11 he looks well and quite well feathered, just as a guess 6 -8 weeks old... and yes he will love finding grubs in the ground, u can help/show him how to find worms an bugs by scratching th dirt until u find something and then he will eagle eye it an try to catch it... it is something he needs to learn b4 u release him back into the same area u found him in. Be careful tho as he will b quite good at flying in the next week or so .......
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