Eurasian Blackbird: Qualities
Blackbirds are relatively easy to feed and keep, but they do require a lot of commitment and on-going daily care, so please, do not even venture into these birds if you do not think you can offer them this.
Keeper Experience Level
The experience level required in keeping this species is: Intermediate - Experienced.
Voice
Blackbirds are not noisy and so will not upset the neighbours! The cock has an absolutely beautiful trilling song which he uses during the breeding season. The hen will also quietly chirp.
Activity
The captive Blackbird will supply their keeper with a lifetime of pleasure, eespecially when watching them going about their daily activitites and habits, which are identical to wild Blackbirds, as even though they are captive bred, they are not domesticated to the extent of other cage and aviary species. Blackbirds are extremely active birds, being skilled flyers, acrobats and occassionally little clowns when they are excited. It's lovely to watch them forage, digging and throwing all manner of objects to get to a juicy worm!
Legislation
The potential Blackbird keeper must also consider the legal aspect of keeping British Birds (ie. as Blackbirds are Native British Birds they must be kept under the laws issued by the government ie. DEFRA) and must be willing to close band any chick bred with DEFRA or BBC (British Bird Society) bands.
All birds bought must be captive bred, this will be notifiable by the presence of a closed band on the bird's leg which will display the bird's individual identification number, year of hatch and the initials of the organization the bird is registered with i.e. BBC (British Bird Society) or DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs). The breeder may also give you the bird's 'papers', which are a sort of ID. Never buy birds which are not closed banded as these may well have been wild caught. It is illegal to keep wild caught birds! Un-banded chicks (for what ever reason e.g. band put on too late so it didn't fit, or too early so fell off etc.) cannot be sold, only given away to fellow British Bird keepers.
