Captive Bred vs Wild Caught

Now, this is an old topic that was hotly debated many times before. My thoughts are that it is an unfair comparison especially when proponents of wild caught Shamas points out to the many good wild stocks that is in the competition arena. I have kept many wild caught Shamas and I can say that not all of them are equal. As is always the way life is - its never fair ;) Some are just more gifted than others just like us humans.

The reasons why there are a lot of good wild Shamas around are just a game of probability. See, most Shamas kept in this region are caught from the wild and for every good Shama found in the arena, many more has been rejects. Serious breeders of the Shama can be counted. There are not many of them around. What the proponent of wild caught Shamas need to do is point to a lesser captive bred specimen and loudly proclaims that "I told you so", "cannot play one". He fails to realise that captive bred birds are not yet well represented. Given time and as the numbers of captive bred Shamas become available, I am more than certain excellent specimens will emerge on the competition scene.

After decades of harvesting good birds from the wild, could it be possible that the gene pool of excellent Shamas from the wild has been depleted? Many old timers who has been around long enough to see birds of yesteryears and what is available now would testify to that. It seems that it is becoming more and more difficult to find Shamas that are truly excellent.

I believe Shama connoiseurs has no choice but depend on captive breeding to maintain the quality of birds. Breeding from fine specimens and selecting traits that are desirable appears to be the best way forward.

Of course not all will agree with me. But that is the beauty of us humans. We can agree to disagree and only time will tell. :)

Monitoring of Shamas' form

I have switched all of my Shamas to a brand that is available in Singapore called the P28 and so far am monitoring the Shamas' form as they developed. So far I am pleased with the result. A friend told me it can be further improved. Gosh! is there no end ? hahahaha! I suppose there never will be ;)

Will try to post another follow up video a month or so later:

Mr. Uneven tail:


Mr. Black feet:

Insights into birdkeeping

Last Saturday, I had a pleasant visit from 2 outstation friends whom I considered expert bird keepers. It is funny how sometimes over lunch while they were making fun at each other, you pick up pointers that have evaded you for a long time. I think I have been over eager at implementing things, trying out this and that, that I have forgotten the fundamentals of birdkeeping. I started this blog as a reminder of events, a place to jot down thoughts, place photos and videos. All so that one day I may look back and see what and where I have gone wrong. I am glad I did all that.

Now I will be revisiting the basics again - food. We are what we eat, I was often told. Now, to achieve that near complete & perfect food, its back to the drawing board (not actually drawing board, just spicing up existing food):

Below is a little experiment that didn't go too well. It has been aborted base on the tremendous drop in form. I tried changing the colour of Apollo 6's feathers. Not changing during molt, but changing it as it is. Unfortunately his form dropped and he started a molt. As shown in the picture, the wing feathers has actually developed a little white patch (after a month), but I expect him to shed those feathers as well. I have since switched him back to ordinary food.



I considered the objective has been met. Just to prove that the feather need not be molted to change colour and the dry version of the food actually worked. But with too much side effect for me to be comfortable with.
Apollo 6's form is improving and I am now giving him extra live food with addition of Vitamin B complex and he is back on an imported premium dry food.

Maybe its time to re-look into the food for Jambuls ;)


Update: 20th Sept 2009


Colour feeding food has been stopped some time already, but it appears that the white colouration is still spreading.

Breeding the White-rumped Shama 1

1st of July 2008 will forever be marked as a dark day for me in my efforts to breed the White-rumped Shama. Not just any Shama, but a line of Shamas that is beautiful and has a powerful voice, bold and aggressive. The beautiful stud bird I have died due to drowning. This will probably set me back a few years in my quest to breed a good Shama.

It was raining heavily the night before and the acrylic aquarium that I place live food in was half filled with water. He must have drowned when attempting to feed from the aquarium. I got a friend to drill some holes in the aquarium. And hopefully, there will be no more accidents.

The sadness is immense when coupled with the fact that it is the first Shama casualty in my care. And it could have been avoided if only I practiced more foresight :(