Keeping skylarks

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elferoz777
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Posts: 1750
Joined: 01 Feb 2012, 22:15
Location: Fairy Meadow, NSW

Hi team

Any advice on keeping these guys?

I have seen them at cessnock sale and in melb pet shops and want yo give them a go but im a little confused.

In tbe wild they soar up high snd sing indicating to me they need a lot of space

On the other hand....

I read articles from overseas saying they are an ideal alternative to keeping quail........
Breeding Project 2020-2025.
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STUART WHITING
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Posts: 343
Joined: 03 Jun 2017, 18:30
Location: England

elferoz777 wrote: 06 Jun 2017, 21:30 Hi team

Any advice on keeping these guys?

I have seen them at cessnock sale and in melb pet shops and want yo give them a go but im a little confused.

In tbe wild they soar up high snd sing indicating to me they need a lot of space

On the other hand....

I read articles from overseas saying they are an ideal alternative to keeping quail........
Hi there,

Yea to a degree they are a bit like quail in some respects, although they are known for hovering high up in the clouds singing they are predominantly ground nesting birds and you'll hardly ever if atall see em sitting in a tree,

I've had these meself a few years back and can make interesting avairy subjects but it all really depends on what you want out of em as there not the most colourful and striking of birds but they do have a crest which flicks up and down to give em a little character,
Size wise there pretty much the same size as a European starling.

You'd ideally need to have some form of ground cover in the bottom of the avairy mainly being various long grasses etc as this is where they'll be making their nest,

Food wise it's quite simple as you can make up yer own softbill mix if need be from some chicken chick crumb and some egg food mixed together, a supply of soak seed will also be needed preferably a canary mix of such like aswell as some maggots.

The live food will only be needed if breeding,

Also as these are predominantly ground and ground nesting birds it'd be very wise to have at least 2 - 3 sides of the avairy walls boarded from floor to the roof for against weather protection to the birds and also have a concrete floor with a scattering of sand, forest bark, braken and grasses etc,
The concrete is to keep out unwanted vermin

Many years ago around the streets of East London there used to a time when old school fanciers would have these in small singing cages where the top of the cages would be made from a fine netting as these birds had a habit of wanting to jump up and to save em from scalping their heads the netting was used,
Thankfully we don't really see much if this kind of activities these days as nowadays most fanciers are more serious about the keeping and breeding of their birds whichever they keep :thumbup:

Be lucky
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