What to look for in a Shama?

1. Must be active & alert.
2. Shy of human but unfearing of other shamas.
3. Loud & clear voice as this will help threaten/intimidate other birds.
4. Long neck, wings and body with proportionately big head.
5. Long-legged and stand up-right just like a rooster in the company of his hens when threatened by another rooster .... with body held tight and wings' tips almost perpendicular to the ground and head held high.
6. Thin-feathered.
7. Charcoal black and roasted chest nut brown as far as the feather colours are concerned.

The above are some general guidelines.
Others with their suggestions please add to this list.

I saw some Home breed shama with all the above feature.......BUT at the bird arena behave like a KUKU........
Even with all the above the gene also play a very important part......

Bro,

One more key thing - Stamina to last at least 4 rounds....

I was watching a nature doc on TV last night and in it - they reported that young bull elephants were reaching puberty at 18 years old - 10 years too soon ie when the musk comes on turns them in raging elephants that they KILL rhinos by the dozens like from 1-2 a month to almost 50 and it was not the job of one culprit but a few of them...

All this happen bec as usual we man are so kei kiang want to change nature & think we are kings and know what we r doing.

Apparently in Uganda during Idi Amin ( a dicator who practically destroyed Uganda) - they shot and killed the mother elephants to catch and relocate the babies - I don't know the reason why. But the trauma of seeing their mothers are etched in the minds of these young helpess calves. U see elephants have long memories and they will act out their revenge when the right time triggers them.


So all these young guns grew up without authority since the elephant colony is a matriachal one where the females rule..so without discipline the young bulls were killing the rhinos bec the rhinos were warding off their sexual advances - u may think its funny but the rhinos get killed in a most gory fashion man...

The cure was they introduce more older adult males and the killings stopped immediately bec they is an order now....strange but true....

Why am I saying all this....nature has its order & one cannot play God but we must follow what God has intended to nourish & multiply what He's given us in accordance to His grand scheme of things - this sort of understanding can only come in the persons of PAKME - THE MERBOK RAJA in MBF and MR. KAN TS OF PANDA - who are so attuned to nature.

My taking is that in a place where one breeds too many territorial birds like the shama - he is gonna face serious hierarchical problem as the older birds will dominate the younger ones but off cos there r those young guns who want to usurp the throne - this will end up with them singing the whole day thru with the older dominant ones not givng up either- fascinating for all who visit and to woo and haa. But most if not all these birds will only foul u up when it matters most at the chai tio...

In my younger days, I used to have so many ALL DAY ( 6am to 6 pm) birds at home which was like a bird park BUT each week at Petain rd they let me down - until I got one that whole day no song at home but each week perform and carry back for me top trophies.

This also goes for one or 2 of my MJs and I have heard from frens that some of their Putehs also like dat...

Or u can be like Mr.Kan and keep only the best at home - his quote is ONE GOOD SHAMA IS ENOUGH!!!

Moral of the story - cannot judge a bird's potential at the home of breeders/sellers - chai tios is the best place . If really a young bird has top potential - sell it off so that it can reach its peak earlier and better in another's hand. Trouble is many of us like to hang on to it until its too late - I am one such culprit.

Era, I very 'malu' lah
Anyway, thanks for your very informative post!
Yes! What God has created 'mere' human beings cannot replicate/improve upon. 'Mere' human beings can only learn from books/copy from others .... in fact they should be directing their long-winded writings to recording historic events rather than subjects about wildlife . Good breeders of wildlife must be sensitive to things happening in nature, know the subject well thro' own experiences and have the guts to adapt and innovate(not just a copycat) when necessary depending on the situation.
But, Era you know all these! .... as evidenced by this post of yours.
Shama/Jambol hobbyists here have learnt valuable lessons from you and I am sure, like me will look forward to more 'goodies' from you!

All Kudos MUST go to you as you took time in nuturing me understand the underpinings of this interesting hobby and my own curiosity went to explore what u have said was really true.

TO THAT THANK YOU - .

Now, Andrew is also benefiting from your words of gems - it says in the Bible - "He who has ears, let him hear"

Have a Blessed Day and THANK YOU .

Actually the almighty has created many high quality shamas but by the same 'stroke of the pen' he also created at the same time velly, velly many owners who are .... how shall we say, maybe the word 'blurr' is a more polite word to use.
It is common these days at chai tios and at competitions to see 95% of the birds just occupying space/and/or contributing to the 'takings' of the organisers of the competitions. The remaining 5 % show some scattered brillance and the rare 1% of exceptional brillance in all departments ... they are in the almost 'extinct' category.

Why is this so? Perhaps we can have enthusiasts contribute their thoughts and suggestions here so that we can ponder about how this situation can be improved in the future.