15 replies to this topic

[mehdi110786]

assalamu alaikum,

hi,this is my first post on this forum.my name is mehdi and i am from india,hyderabad. i found this forum on google. The question i got is that can i pet a bird ? i want to pet a parrot i.e a cockatiel bird,the bird will be fully tamed and hand fed.There are many breeder's here in india who breed the bird and tame them i their house's and sell them.Usually all of them are on facebook,i have gone through many videos of them,how they feed the bird and train them.as i am interested in this hobby i wanna get a cockatiel.i have done a lot of research on it,there was an article available on internet about petting the bird,which said it is permissible to pet a bird.usually the breeders i saw on facebook are the muslim's.But when i asked for permission at home they are giving me different stories about it.They say that if we pet a bird then some bad thing might happen...a story they said that a family got a parrot,they teached his Surat he was reciting islamic surat's then he started using vulgar languages and after few day's few people died in their family. i dont get it how is it possible ? how can this happen just bcz of a bird ?

There is a guy who got farmhouse and i asked him the same thing, this is what he replied to the question

• 
  

  
  

  • 
    

    
    i have searched every ver on net...1 day i ll b mad bcz of it..

  • 
    

    
    arre ek stori toh aise hai ki

  • 
    

    
    sum 1 had a parrot n dey teached him to speak...n den he use to recite surah's n later he wz sayin vulguar words it seems n in that family many ppl died

  • 
    

    
    ab aise stories sune toh my family z nt allowing

  • 
    

    
    there any many stories like dis

  • 
    

    
    specially in our muslims

• 
  

  
  
  
  
  Mond
  

  • 
    

    
    It is saying vulgar words because people in the house are doing so.ay what it hears. So It hears more of vulgar language now that surah.

  • 
    

    
    YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

• 
  he also gave me a article which is all over the internet :
  
  • 
    

    
    

    • 
      
      Ahamed Bilal Mohamed
      
      Is it permissible to keep birds in cages?.
      
      Praise be to Allaah.
      It is permissible to keep pretty birds and the like in cages, especially if that is to enjoy looking at them or listening to their voices, subject to the condition that you give them food and drink.
      
      It is proven in al-Saheehayn (al-Bukhaari, 5778; Muslim, 2150) that the brother of Anas ibn Maalik through his mother was called Abu ‘Umayr and he had a bird whose name was al-nughayr. The bird died and the child grieved for it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) tried to cheer him up by saying, “O Abu ‘Umayr, what happened to al-nughayr?”
      
      The nughayr is a small bird like a sparrow, or it was said that it is a nightingale.
      
      This hadeeth is taken as evidence that it is permissible to keep birds, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not denounce Abu ‘Umayr for doing so.
      
      See Fath al-Baari, 10/548
      
      Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked:
      
      What is the ruling on one who collects birds and keeps them in a cage in order for his children to enjoy looking at them?
      
      He replied:
      
      There is nothing wrong with that, so long as he gives them what they need of food and drink, because the basic principle concerning this matter is that is it permitted, and there is no evidence to the contrary as far as we know. And Allaah is the Source of strength.
      
      Fataawa ‘Ulama’ al-Balad al-Haraam, p. 1793.
      
      The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
      
      Selling pretty birds – such as parrots, other colourful birds and nightingales – for the sake of their voices is permissible, because looking at them and listening to their voices is something that is permissible. There is no text in Islam to say that it is haraam to sell them or keep them. Rather there are texts which may be taken to mean that it is permissible to keep them so long as one gives them food and drink and does whatever they need. For example, al-Bukhaari narrated that Anas said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the best of people in attitude, and I had a brother called Abu ‘Umayr. I think he was already weaned, and when he (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) came he would say, “O Abu ‘Umayr, what happened to al-nughayr?” – a nightingale with which he used to play… The nightingale is a kind of bird. Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said in his commentary Fath al-Baari, among his list of the things that we learn from this hadeeth: … It is permissible for young children to play with birds, and it is permissible for parents to allow their children to play with things with which it is permissible to play, and it is permissible to spend money on permissible things which will amuse young children, and it is permissible to keep birds in cages and the like, and to clip the birds of wings – because one of the two must have applied in the case of Abu ‘Umayr’s bird, and whichever was the case, the ruling also applies to the other. Similarly it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A woman entered the Fire because of a cat which she kept and did not give it food or water, nor did she set it free to eat of the vermin of the earth.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari in al-Saheeh. If this is permissible in the case of cats, then it is also permissible in the case of birds and the like.
      
      Some of the scholars are of the view that it is makrooh to keep them, and some disallowed that and said: Because man has no need to listen to their voices or enjoy looking at them. Rather this is a kind of extravagance and luxury, and it is also foolishness because he is enjoying the voice of a bird who is longing to fly free, as it says in al-Furoo’ wa Tasheehuhu, 4/9; and al-Insaaf, 4/275.
      
      Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal al-Shaykh, Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd.
      
      Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 13/38-40
      
      And Allaah knows best.

  • 
    

    
    i have heard many stories like this, even i dont want to get a wild bird,the bird will be fully trained and tamed and is use to the homly environment these tamed birds wont even survive in outside the world...does any one got birds as pet's here ? i would need you help so that i can convince my family.

[yellow billed magpie]

mehdi110786, on 12 September 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

assalamu alaikum,

hi,this is my first post on this forum.my name is mehdi and i am from india,hyderabad. i found this forum on google. The question i got is that can i pet a bird ? i want to pet a parrot i.e a cockatiel bird,the bird will be fully tamed and hand fed.There are many breeder's here in india who breed the bird and tame them i their house's and sell them.Usually all of them are on facebook,i have gone through many videos of them,how they feed the bird and train them.as i am interested in this hobby i wanna get a cockatiel.i have done a lot of research on it,there was an article available on internet about petting the bird,which said it is permissible to pet a bird.usually the breeders i saw on facebook are the muslim's.But when i asked for permission at home they are giving me different stories about it.They say that if we pet a bird then some bad thing might happen...a story they said that a family got a parrot,they teached his Surat he was reciting islamic surat's then he started using vulgar languages and after few day's few people died in their family. i dont get it how is it possible ? how can this happen just bcz of a bird ?

There is a guy who got farmhouse and i asked him the same thing, this is what he replied to the question

• 
  
  • 
    

    
    i have searched every ver on net...1 day i ll b mad bcz of it..

  • 
    

    
    arre ek stori toh aise hai ki

  • 
    

    
    sum 1 had a parrot n dey teached him to speak...n den he use to recite surah's n later he wz sayin vulguar words it seems n in that family many ppl died

  • 
    

    
    ab aise stories sune toh my family z nt allowing

  • 
    

    
    there any many stories like dis

  • 
    

    
    specially in our muslims

• 
  

  
  
  
  
  Mond

  • 
    

    
    It is saying vulgar words because people in the house are doing so.ay what it hears. So It hears more of vulgar language now that surah.

  • 
    

    
    YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

• he also gave me a article which is all over the internet :
  
  • 
    
    • Ahamed Bilal Mohamed
      
      Is it permissible to keep birds in cages?.
      
      Praise be to Allaah.
      It is permissible to keep pretty birds and the like in cages, especially if that is to enjoy looking at them or listening to their voices, subject to the condition that you give them food and drink.
      
      It is proven in al-Saheehayn (al-Bukhaari, 5778; Muslim, 2150) that the brother of Anas ibn Maalik through his mother was called Abu ‘Umayr and he had a bird whose name was al-nughayr. The bird died and the child grieved for it, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) tried to cheer him up by saying, “O Abu ‘Umayr, what happened to al-nughayr?”
      
      The nughayr is a small bird like a sparrow, or it was said that it is a nightingale.
      
      This hadeeth is taken as evidence that it is permissible to keep birds, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not denounce Abu ‘Umayr for doing so.
      
      See Fath al-Baari, 10/548
      
      Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked:
      
      What is the ruling on one who collects birds and keeps them in a cage in order for his children to enjoy looking at them?
      
      He replied:
      
      There is nothing wrong with that, so long as he gives them what they need of food and drink, because the basic principle concerning this matter is that is it permitted, and there is no evidence to the contrary as far as we know. And Allaah is the Source of strength.
      
      Fataawa ‘Ulama’ al-Balad al-Haraam, p. 1793.
      
      The scholars of the Standing Committee said:
      
      Selling pretty birds – such as parrots, other colourful birds and nightingales – for the sake of their voices is permissible, because looking at them and listening to their voices is something that is permissible. There is no text in Islam to say that it is haraam to sell them or keep them. Rather there are texts which may be taken to mean that it is permissible to keep them so long as one gives them food and drink and does whatever they need. For example, al-Bukhaari narrated that Anas said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the best of people in attitude, and I had a brother called Abu ‘Umayr. I think he was already weaned, and when he (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) came he would say, “O Abu ‘Umayr, what happened to al-nughayr?” – a nightingale with which he used to play… The nightingale is a kind of bird. Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said in his commentary Fath al-Baari, among his list of the things that we learn from this hadeeth: … It is permissible for young children to play with birds, and it is permissible for parents to allow their children to play with things with which it is permissible to play, and it is permissible to spend money on permissible things which will amuse young children, and it is permissible to keep birds in cages and the like, and to clip the birds of wings – because one of the two must have applied in the case of Abu ‘Umayr’s bird, and whichever was the case, the ruling also applies to the other. Similarly it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A woman entered the Fire because of a cat which she kept and did not give it food or water, nor did she set it free to eat of the vermin of the earth.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari in al-Saheeh. If this is permissible in the case of cats, then it is also permissible in the case of birds and the like.
      
      Some of the scholars are of the view that it is makrooh to keep them, and some disallowed that and said: Because man has no need to listen to their voices or enjoy looking at them. Rather this is a kind of extravagance and luxury, and it is also foolishness because he is enjoying the voice of a bird who is longing to fly free, as it says in al-Furoo’ wa Tasheehuhu, 4/9; and al-Insaaf, 4/275.
      
      Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal al-Shaykh, Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd.
      
      Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 13/38-40
      
      And Allaah knows best.
  • 
    

    
    i have heard many stories like this, even i dont want to get a wild bird,the bird will be fully trained and tamed and is use to the homly environment these tamed birds wont even survive in outside the world...does any one got birds as pet's here ? i would need you help so that i can convince my family.

Salaam Aleikum:)

This is the PERFECT post for me to respond to-I am located in United States. I have hand raised all types of birds ever since I was a child ( Im 36 now) Cockatiels are one of the BEST breeds you can own as the females especially can become extremely loving and affectionate pets IF YOU'RE WILLING TO PUT IN THE TIME AND PAY THEM THE NECESSARY ATTENTION. I have one that I can take ANYWHERE with me, although I caution you to clip the wings if you plan to take it to public places as loud noises can startle them into jumping. Also, make sure not to have cats, dogs or other predator type animals around or in the house as a cat for example may be able to reach in between the wires of the cage and kill the bird.Also, as a mercy to the bird, I recommend you get the LARGEST cage possible for your pet, as Im sure if you were to have to spend the rest of your life in captivity, you would want it to be in as BIG a space as possible, am I right? Also, it is wise to only have 1 at a time, as birds pair bond with their owner-if you have another bird, their natural tendency is to bond with their own kind,leading to the bird rejecting YOUR attention, and possibly becoming agressive towards you.Only get it a friend if you later find you are not in the position to spend as much time with it as you should or were able to in the past,or if you decide to breed them.On a side note, male cockatiels can be quite noisy, so consider your neighbors and other people that may live in or near your house, as you do NOT want to deal with people complaining and asking for you to get rid of your pet-make sure it ALWAYS has food and water-and do not leave the cage next to the window at night as cockatiels are susceptible to getting sick from breezes at night-They come from tropical regions of the world where the temperature is warm and a chill lowers their strength and ability to fight off colds.And I almost forgot-the bird you would be getting is a DOMESTICATED bird, meaning it (and most likely MANY generations of its lineage) have been raised in CAPTIVITY-it does not know what being 'wild' is,and therefore is not capable of missing or longing to be set free(nor would it survive in the wild).Do not let some one guilt trip you into thinking this way. I have thought long and hard over this particular subject as I have pet crows, which everyone all over the world are familiar with as they are 1 of the most commom wild birds around.My birds were NOT domesticated when I acquired them, BUT....They fell out of their nests before they even had feathers, so they have no concept of being free. Had I found them as injured adults, I would have healed them and then released them into the wild after,as adult wild animals have an EXTREMELY LOW survival rate if kept in captivity AFTER living their lives in a wild state.
As for it being Islamically allowed, I believe it to be so-my husband is a VERY knowledgeable Muslim, and if it WASNT allowed, he would have told me as I currently have 4 pet crows and a magpie that talks-birds mimic what they hear-they do not randomly just start speaking bad words out of no where. Please do not worry about such non sense-the same goes for "something bad' happening if you pet them. This is VERY supersticious reasoning.They are not najis like pigs and dogs are, as Islam would have told us if they were,and I would have had to get rid of MY birds, lol-Pet birds can bring lots of fun and postive energy into your life-for me, they remind me of how great and special, and BEAUTIFUL  Allahs CREATION TRULY IS:) Let me know if you have ANY questions regarding birds. I have many years experience in breeding cockatiels, love birds, parakeets, chickens,ducks, geese, quail,turkeys, guineas,( pretty much EVERY bird found on a farm) And have many years of experience with wildlife rescue.(wild birds and squirrels)
Oh yeah-the bird in my profile pic is a  magpie-I have one that talks-her name is Weer Bird cuz she makes a 'weeeeer' sound when I pet her at night,lol!

PEACE:)

[Peace!]

That was a great post, mashAllah! My little mynah birdie would still be here, if I had someone like you to ask for advice.

[Hot hot]

This remind me of my aunt who made a cash prize on his bird when he was missing from the compound lol wanna visit Hyderabad soon

[Ruq]

yellow billed magpie, on 22 September 2012 - 01:07 AM, said:

On a side note, male cockatiels can be quite noisy,

I 2nd that! we took in a cockatiel (named Corky) after his 1st owners could no longer take care of him. They'd taught him to sing 'when Irish eyes are smiling' and he improvised whistling (quite tunefully as it goes, but also very loudly). Another tip is not to teach it to wolf whistle. We used to put Corky outside in his cage in summer and on more than 1 occasion he embarrassed my dad with his wolf whistling (women thinking it was my dad doing it and not the bird).

[yellow billed magpie]

~Ruqaya, on 22 September 2012 - 04:34 PM, said:

I 2nd that! we took in a cockatiel (named Corky) after his 1st owners could no longer take care of him. They'd taught him to sing 'when Irish eyes are smiling' and he improvised whistling (quite tunefully as it goes, but also very loudly). Another tip is not to teach it to wolf whistle. We used to put Corky outside in his cage in summer and on more than 1 occasion he embarrassed my dad with his wolf whistling (women thinking it was my dad doing it and not the bird).

Salam Aleikum-
LOL! Birds can be SO mischievious and not even mean! My dad was mowing the grass by my bird cage and later he says to me, "Elizabeth, you have a really rude bird in that cage-every time I pass by there it says " hi weird!". I said, No, dad-Shes not rude,lol! Shes saying " Hi, WEER!" Her name is Weer-she is mimicking what she hears me say whenever I see her-Whenever I see her, I say     HI WEER:) Lol-And then my poor mom-one day when Weer first started talking, my mother was alone on the property ( we live in the country)and she kept hearing the voice of a little girl speaking. She thought my friend had come to visit with her 6 year old daughter, but there were no cars in the driveway. My mother was very confused and worried, untill she caught Weer talking to herself a while later
    .I used to work at a feed store and my male crow, Geronimo, would roam the store all day amusing himself with whatever he could find that was of interest to him, be it stalking the baby chicks, chasing the customers (he used to poke the ankles of male customers for some reason, but would let women pet and hold him) or trying to incite fights with the adult chickens through the wire of their cages. One day,my boss  got really angry with him,and me also-After my boss had spent many hours breaking down 50 and 100 pound bags of seed into smaller 5 and 10 pound bags to put on the shelves, Geronimo had come along and poked holes in ALL the bags on the lowest shelf, lol_Not only was there a huge mess, but all the bags had to be re-sealed.Guess who had to re-seal them? Crows have the intelligence of a 4-5year old child, so basicly just imagine a 5 year old running loose in a store without adult supervision.Yup-thats my crow:) I always think of why Allah placed such intelligence as that in a bird...

[Ruq]

^ they can be so funny. And strange with their habits. For some reason Corky went nuts when my dad would try to stroke him or take him out his cage, yet my dad was always so nice to him and gentle, and then there was me who would get impatient with his noise sometimes and tell him to shut up (not that he took any notice) and yet i could pick him up and play with him and kiss his beak and all sorts without him attacking me. Eventually we gave him to a lady who had a large aviary and to our shock he turned out to be a very bossy bird and quite a 'ladies man' within a few days he was at the top of the hierarchy and had several females attention.
My hubby raised a love-bird from being a chick and it would perch on his shoulder where ever he went unfortunately he had a guest one day, who was a rather fat man, and after a while he noticed he couldnt hear his bird chirping any more

Sorry to end on such a sad note >.<

[yellow billed magpie]

~Ruqaya, on 23 September 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

^ they can be so funny. And strange with their habits. For some reason Corky went nuts when my dad would try to stroke him or take him out his cage, yet my dad was always so nice to him and gentle, and then there was me who would get impatient with his noise sometimes and tell him to shut up (not that he took any notice) and yet i could pick him up and play with him and kiss his beak and all sorts without him attacking me. Eventually we gave him to a lady who had a large aviary and to our shock he turned out to be a very bossy bird and quite a 'ladies man' within a few days he was at the top of the hierarchy and had several females attention.
My hubby raised a love-bird from being a chick and it would perch on his shoulder where ever he went unfortunately he had a guest one day, who was a rather fat man, and after a while he noticed he couldnt hear his bird chirping any more

Sorry to end on such a sad note >.<

Salaam Aleikum:) Lol! The reason for Corkys attitude difference between your father and you is because Corky was a male. Male birds naturally have a better relationship with female owners,which is why he was so receptive to you,yet defiant to your father.It goes the same for men that have female birds as pets as well.Most of the time the female birds will be aggressive to female humans. This is the reason why my crow Geronimo, is aggressive towards male humans.He is very protective and possessive of me and attacks my husband when he tries to get close to me,and pokes the ankles of men,lol- ( I think I was blessed with my female Cockatiel, as she is friendly with men AND women)My girlfriend had a lovebird she hand fed and raised from a chick, and one day her rather large construction worker husband sat on the bird and killed her:( so I can totally relate to your story about 'the fat man', unless you were saying he ate the bird

[Ruq]

^ lol no he didnt eat it, he sat on it also

Its funny about male birds liking female humans and vice versa...how did he know im female?

[yellow billed magpie]

~Ruqaya, on 23 September 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

^ lol no he didnt eat it, he sat on it also

Its funny about male birds liking female humans and vice versa...how did he know im female?

Salaams:) They must be able to sense it somehow.Animals have really keen senses,more so than humans do in some cases. The rest of the employees and I used to get a kick out of it because occasionally we would have customers that were either gay or transgender come in, and even WE couldnt really tell what sex they were, so we left it up to Geronimo to decide,lol.If he pecked their ankles, they were/are originally a true male-if he let them pet them, they were/are originally  a true female.Hope I havent said anything offensive here...

Peace!, on 22 September 2012 - 11:23 AM, said:

That was a great post, mashAllah! My little mynah birdie would still be here, if I had someone like you to ask for advice.

Salaam Aleikum-I am sorry to her about the death of your bird:( What happened? I have never 'met' a Mynah bird before, but I have heard they are great mimickers-

[Peace!]

yellow billed magpie, on 24 September 2012 - 12:58 AM, said:

Salaam Aleikum-I am sorry to her about the death of your bird:( What happened? I have never 'met' a Mynah bird before, but I have heard they are great mimickers-

sis!

I didn't have my mynah for long, I found it hopping in my garden one morning, I waited to see whether it would fly away, but it didn't, there was something wrong with it, but nothing that was obvious like a broken wing or anything. I left some water and some chopped fruit for it and checked again in the mid -morning, the food was gone, so he/ she? clearly had an appetite, but it still hadn't flown away and that's when I knew it needed help.

It didn't resist when I picked it up and brought it in and placed it inside a large empty carton layered with newspapers and some rags to keep it snug and warm ( it was late fall ). It was the first time we ever had a bird in our home, so we didn't have any spare cages lying around.
The first three days she was eager about her meals and she would even put on a show for us hopping about inside the carton while gulping down her little treats.
She seemed to love all kinds of fruits, so we fed her oranges, apples, guavas and bananas - and she ate everything, my mum used to love that she wasn't a fussy eater like me.

Just when she seemed to be getting her strength up and we were all feeling a little low knowing that she would soon fly away and forget us all ( we didn't plan to keep her, partly we didn't know the first thing about raising a bird, and secondly she belonged in the wild) she stopped eating completely.

She began to mope in a corner with her head buried in her wing, and all her food and water remained untouched.
I don't know what we did wrong, and then she got the runs, we kept the inside fresh and clean at all times, but it was of no use.
By the fifth day she didn't wake up.

It was such a lovely bird, a typical mynah with perfect markings, though I never got to hear its voice ( it never even squawked once - is that something we should have worried about early on?).
We never knew its gender ( How do you find that out?) or it's age. All I know is that it wasn't a chick. I still don't know how it came to be in our garden, there weren't any trees close by for it to fall off a nest.

That one experience was so bad, that I decided that I would never, ever, keep birds as a pet (being such fragile, delicate creatures) ever again.

[mehdi110786]

salam,
i thought i wont see any reply for on this thread,surprised to find such reply's.Thanks for ur amazing reply's...i have collected a lot of knowledge on cockatiel,as its a 1st site love bird for me...the 1st time i saw the bird in the pet store i wz some how not able to forget it.but after few months i started to research on it...checked lots of videos,articles on cockatiel,the only thing is to get one and experience it .Still my sis believes parrot is unlucky,she said she dont want any thing bad to happen bcz of the bird,i think some 1 need to make her understand.every day i watch the videos of the bird and do some research,every time i get bore but then i get back to it evry time.

[mehdi110786]

@ yellow
can u share ur cockt video wid me

[BuiltForThis]

yea Cockatiel are the best I have 2 of them and they are cute and have really awesome personality but they can get reallly annoying in the morning when you are sleeping in that case just put a towel over the cage ( once its dark they just take a nap)

[mehdi110786]

salam,
let me get the bird first

[yellow billed magpie]

Peace!, on 24 September 2012 - 02:05 AM, said:

sis!

I didn't have my mynah for long, I found it hopping in my garden one morning, I waited to see whether it would fly away, but it didn't, there was something wrong with it, but nothing that was obvious like a broken wing or anything. I left some water and some chopped fruit for it and checked again in the mid -morning, the food was gone, so he/ she? clearly had an appetite, but it still hadn't flown away and that's when I knew it needed help.

It didn't resist when I picked it up and brought it in and placed it inside a large empty carton layered with newspapers and some rags to keep it snug and warm ( it was late fall ). It was the first time we ever had a bird in our home, so we didn't have any spare cages lying around.
The first three days she was eager about her meals and she would even put on a show for us hopping about inside the carton while gulping down her little treats.
She seemed to love all kinds of fruits, so we fed her oranges, apples, guavas and bananas - and she ate everything, my mum used to love that she wasn't a fussy eater like me.

Just when she seemed to be getting her strength up and we were all feeling a little low knowing that she would soon fly away and forget us all ( we didn't plan to keep her, partly we didn't know the first thing about raising a bird, and secondly she belonged in the wild) she stopped eating completely.


She began to mope in a corner with her head buried in her wing, and all her food and water remained untouched.
I don't know what we did wrong, and then she got the runs, we kept the inside fresh and clean at all times, but it was of no use.
By the fifth day she didn't wake up.

It was such a lovely bird, a typical mynah with perfect markings, though I never got to hear its voice ( it never even squawked once - is that something we should have worried about early on?).
We never knew its gender ( How do you find that out?) or it's age. All I know is that it wasn't a chick. I still don't know how it came to be in our garden, there weren't any trees close by for it to fall off a nest.

That one experience was so bad, that I decided that I would never, ever, keep birds as a pet (being such fragile, delicate creatures) ever again.

Salaam Aleikum- I can see the happiness the little bird brought into your life, even if it was only temporary. It sounds to me like it may have had an internal injury of some sort being that you never saw any outwardly signs of sickness. It couldve been something along the lines of internal bleeding, but not necessarily. I think you are correct in saying it was an adult, as baby birds are usually quite vocal when they are hungry and it is feeding time,and yet you never heard any vocalizations.I would have to say that not hearing vocalizations is not a bad thing-many things can impair a birds ability/choice to vocalize.The wild adult birds I have had experience with were all extremely quiet,most likely out of fear or maybe shock due to the circumstance.It doesnt appear to me that the bird you had was in shock or fear, tho, as it ate readily. In regards to sex identity, there are many species of birds where both sexes are identical in size, plumage, and vocalizations, and without sending a genetic sample to a vet, it can almost be impossible to tell, but theres a method I found that works really well. Its done by examining the pelvic region. Place your finger in the region just behind the vent area. (area where eggs/excrement is discharged from) If the bone in this area is extremely close together, hard, and inflexible, the bird is a male. If the area between the bone is wide, flexible and soft, it is a female-This difference is due to the female needing to be able to lay eggs. I hope this has been informative for you. I also want to add that from what I can see, you did absolutely NOTHING wrong in your methods of care and treatment.I dont know if one exists near you, but if there is a wildlife rehabilitation near your home, you may wish to take any future birds/wild animals you come across to their facility, as I know from personal experience and from what you stated, how emotionally painful it can be when one dies:( I wish more people could show this type of concern for Allahs creations. Insha Allah you will be rewarded for your efforts:)

PEACE:)