We have raised a baby mynah to fledging ++, still acting like a baby (wanting to be fed) but able to fly far and fast. He is also able to eat on his own if you don't fed it to him.
He flew away one day after being scared by a loud noise while playing in the balcony.
When a friend found a mynah nestling fallen from somewhere (he believed is at least 4 level but couldn't find the nest or parents), he brought it to us saying "it'll be food for the cats and crows around if you don't keep it".
The baby wasn't in a good shape, always sleeping, doesn't respond much to taps and never opens it's beak for food. Seeing that, we decided to give it a try.
We're quite cheapskate and I do regret it, we never thought of bringing it to the vet as it'll definitely be expensive and my father kept saying there is no vets for mynahs and that birds die too easier once they fall sick.
We made him a DIY nest with newspaper and padded it with towels and tissue. The nest is placed inside a box which was covered with a shirt (at night). It's late when we got home and Day 1 passed with him being fed twice that night.
Day 2, still doesn't open it's beak. we gave it cooked oatsmeal (nothing added) and some moistened bread (we gave him the food cold). It ate little but was pretty ok after eating - pooping once or twice after every meal or when we bring it out of the "DIY nest". If we left it inside for long enough, he poops in the nest.
We usually change the tissue paper in his nest after every poop or 2 poops. The newspaper is changed 2x a day.
He was active and sleeps all day. But he is strong enough to throw himself out of the next and waddle a little around the box if he wants to.
Day 3, we gave it a molten mixture (like human baby food) of papaya + oatsmeal + some biscuit + some yolk (less than 1/8 of a hard boiled egg) and heat it up every time so he ate it warm to touch. He was still the sleepy bird but able to ressist us more when we try to pry his beak.
He was fed every 3hours. We did overfed him once in the morning and he regurgitated some out. We learn to feed it smaller portions (from 8-9 "tiny balls" around the size of 1.5 green beans) to just 6.
He gets some sunbath (not directly) in the noon and he seems to enjoy it, preening and stretching. When he opened his beak slightly and we quickly got him back into the box in fear of overheating him. I tried to feed him (the mixture) at this point to try hydrate him but he regurgitated again after 3 "tweezers". He seems to be struggling to regurgitate more but there is nothing and he continued to sleep and even pooped.
We didn't changed the tissue paper at that point but covered it up with another tissue as we're going out for a quick dinner and we plan to feed it once more before we call the night.
Somehow, we got delayed and reached home only 4 hours later. When we got back, he had pooped all over the nest and he is resting right on top of his poos. (It honestly seems so much for the amount we fed it prior)
He was very very weak at this point, barely able to hold his head up. We decided to warm it up by wrapping it in warm towel and then feeding it a small portion of the warm mixture.
That was probably the worst decision. After that, it started to struggle and was opening his mouth wide but made no sound.
He "jerked" up and fall back down on its back and was opening it's mouth to gasp for air...
then it started curling up and then more jerking over to its back and out of the next again.
This happened for 10-15 minutes and then it was motionless. Honestly ... It's so hard to watch ,,, I felt so bad and hopeless ... I know it's struggling at the last few moments but I honestly cannot do anything ...
I picked it up and try to warm it up ... but it's stiff and cold. Like almost immediately after it stopped moving.
We're all sad and full of question mark ... did we do anything wrong?
Maybe we should have sent it to a vet ... maybe he cannot eat yolk or oatsmeal or the biscuit?
Did we put the tweezer too deep in that it was injured? Did the sunbathe gave it heatstroke?
I wish we have some answers or it'll just continue to haunt us ...
My brother did wanted to bring Baby (I didn't even gave him a name, just called him Baby all the time) to a vet to find out the cause of its death in attempt to find closure and stop all these "hauntings".
We kept it's body in a bag and placed it in a cool foam box. But when we woke up, the body was gone. My father have buried him, I guess he does fear it might really be due to our negligence or mistake.
But it has been weeks and it still haunts us.
He flew away one day after being scared by a loud noise while playing in the balcony.
When a friend found a mynah nestling fallen from somewhere (he believed is at least 4 level but couldn't find the nest or parents), he brought it to us saying "it'll be food for the cats and crows around if you don't keep it".
The baby wasn't in a good shape, always sleeping, doesn't respond much to taps and never opens it's beak for food. Seeing that, we decided to give it a try.
We're quite cheapskate and I do regret it, we never thought of bringing it to the vet as it'll definitely be expensive and my father kept saying there is no vets for mynahs and that birds die too easier once they fall sick.
We made him a DIY nest with newspaper and padded it with towels and tissue. The nest is placed inside a box which was covered with a shirt (at night). It's late when we got home and Day 1 passed with him being fed twice that night.
Day 2, still doesn't open it's beak. we gave it cooked oatsmeal (nothing added) and some moistened bread (we gave him the food cold). It ate little but was pretty ok after eating - pooping once or twice after every meal or when we bring it out of the "DIY nest". If we left it inside for long enough, he poops in the nest.
We usually change the tissue paper in his nest after every poop or 2 poops. The newspaper is changed 2x a day.
He was active and sleeps all day. But he is strong enough to throw himself out of the next and waddle a little around the box if he wants to.
Day 3, we gave it a molten mixture (like human baby food) of papaya + oatsmeal + some biscuit + some yolk (less than 1/8 of a hard boiled egg) and heat it up every time so he ate it warm to touch. He was still the sleepy bird but able to ressist us more when we try to pry his beak.
He was fed every 3hours. We did overfed him once in the morning and he regurgitated some out. We learn to feed it smaller portions (from 8-9 "tiny balls" around the size of 1.5 green beans) to just 6.
He gets some sunbath (not directly) in the noon and he seems to enjoy it, preening and stretching. When he opened his beak slightly and we quickly got him back into the box in fear of overheating him. I tried to feed him (the mixture) at this point to try hydrate him but he regurgitated again after 3 "tweezers". He seems to be struggling to regurgitate more but there is nothing and he continued to sleep and even pooped.
We didn't changed the tissue paper at that point but covered it up with another tissue as we're going out for a quick dinner and we plan to feed it once more before we call the night.
Somehow, we got delayed and reached home only 4 hours later. When we got back, he had pooped all over the nest and he is resting right on top of his poos. (It honestly seems so much for the amount we fed it prior)
He was very very weak at this point, barely able to hold his head up. We decided to warm it up by wrapping it in warm towel and then feeding it a small portion of the warm mixture.
That was probably the worst decision. After that, it started to struggle and was opening his mouth wide but made no sound.
He "jerked" up and fall back down on its back and was opening it's mouth to gasp for air...
then it started curling up and then more jerking over to its back and out of the next again.
This happened for 10-15 minutes and then it was motionless. Honestly ... It's so hard to watch ,,, I felt so bad and hopeless ... I know it's struggling at the last few moments but I honestly cannot do anything ...
I picked it up and try to warm it up ... but it's stiff and cold. Like almost immediately after it stopped moving.
We're all sad and full of question mark ... did we do anything wrong?
Maybe we should have sent it to a vet ... maybe he cannot eat yolk or oatsmeal or the biscuit?
Did we put the tweezer too deep in that it was injured? Did the sunbathe gave it heatstroke?
I wish we have some answers or it'll just continue to haunt us ...
My brother did wanted to bring Baby (I didn't even gave him a name, just called him Baby all the time) to a vet to find out the cause of its death in attempt to find closure and stop all these "hauntings".
We kept it's body in a bag and placed it in a cool foam box. But when we woke up, the body was gone. My father have buried him, I guess he does fear it might really be due to our negligence or mistake.
But it has been weeks and it still haunts us.
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Sometimes there are no answers... I'm not sure I can give you much comfort other than to tell you, you clearly loved Baby, and we all have some form of regrets. Try to take what you've learn and to do better if there should a next time.... Taking care of a fledgling is no easy task. Lots of things can go wrong even for who how to properly take of one.
