Wondering if anyone knows anything about baby birds. This morning I was driving along and saw crows attacking a baby bird. I pulled over and went back to scare the crows away, and started looking for the baby bird. He was laid on his side and appeared to be dead.

But when I picked him up, he started moving. There were no other birds around, so I took him home. He was very frightened at first and hid in the cage I put him in.

I tried to feed him egg food mixed with water that I give my finches. At first he wouldn't eat, but then he did. Now (5 hours later) he cheeps at me when I watch him. I looked him over and he doesn't seem to be injured.

But now I'm wondering what I will do with him if he lives. I don't know how to teach a wild bird to survive on his own.

Do you have a wild animal center near by?

Is he still fuzzy?

If you wanna take care of him you might go to a pet smart or store like it and get dry baby bird food....you will have to mix it and hand feed him with a syringe.......it needs to be warm...not too warm tho. What type of bird do you think it might be?

Yes, we have wild animal centers nearby. I called them and they have no openings for baby birds. I have no idea what kind of bird it might be.

I have been feeding him eggfood in warm water that I feed my finches. He gobbles it up and keeps cheeping at me. He thinks I am his mom.

Well you are providing the chow.

Just don't regurgitate worms for him...bleh.

Awww how cute just in time for easter.....hopefully he will be a little bird and not a big bird. I would get to the pet store and geld the baby bird food...you should test it on your wrist...kind of like with a baby bottle.

Looks like your gonna be momma bird for a bit.
Can you get a picture of him and email it to me and I will try to help you identify what he is....

Wayzilla and I raised a baby starling that fell from its nest a couple years before DD was born. 22-23 years ago!

It did not even have feathers yet and it's eyes were still closed. I did not figure it would last into the evening.

We fed it sugar water from an eye dropper for the first couple days and then started mushing up meal worms into a paste later.

It learned to fly around the apartment and would go back into its cage when we asked it too or when it got into trouble. It did that a lot.

It liked to land on our heads.

It grabbed a piece of bacon from breakfast one Sunday and snarfed it down. While we were doing dishes it got on top of the kitchen counters and started projectile vomiting bacon goo on us.

Nice times.

I taught it how to hunt bugs and worms in a cake pan willed with soil and hidden buggies.

In late summer I would take it out to the patio and let it listen to the other birds. Finally one day I brought it out and put it into a tree and after a couple minutes it flew off for good to be with the other birds.

believer,

""I have been feeding him eggfood in warm water""

Kinda cannibalistic donchya think?

Aww Bless your kind, kind heart believer !

My kids and Squid are always finding injured birds and we take 'em to the vets and / or a wildfowl centre for specific advice.

how old do you think the baby is? I raised several sets of cockatiels and they go from blind and featherless to something resembling birdies in a couple of weeks. If he has feathers and eyes open you probably won't have to feed him in the middle of the night, but you might.....

Here's some feeding info

Try not touch the bird with your hands otherwise the fledgling becomes contaminated to possibly present mom .

We fed chicks with Pro-Nutro(Oatmeal breakfast serial) and water fed through a syringe without a needle. The Vet recommended this process if the mother bird was not available.

I must tell you we were not always successful.

Ok for a final post or so...

I use Kaytee Exact baby bird formula.

You need to discover what triggers the chick or fledgeling's chug response.

Some require you to actually touch the beak and others require you to approach with the syringe quickly like it's mother.

Once this is established, let the chick take what it needs as not to aspirate it. Feed until you can see the crop bulge.

Keep uf feedings until the chick is eating on it's own and taking water on it's own.

You will need to dip your fingers into the water bowl and touch the beak to trigger the drink response and eventually within a few minutes the fledgeling will catch on.

Once it can fly, you can release, but it will stick around a while until it's instincts take over.

If you were in the Atlanta area, I'd come and get the chick.

Anyways here's some encouragement on what to do.

The bird is doing fine, and does like to be approached quickly with the food like his mother does. I'm getting better and better at it. Soon he will have me trained. It was very ackward at first, but now it is going well.

He has feathers and can fly a little, but mostly down. Hoping he will be fine.

Thanks for all of the tips. And the video was great.

I do have another question. When I first started feeding him yesterday, I tended to miss his mouth being open, and the food dripped down his breast. Now his feathers are stuck together and kind of matted and hard. Do I need to worry about that?

You can wash him with a warm moist dishcloth.

Just dry him with a warm dry cloth once you have him soaked.

The Kaytee Exact is the best birdy formula, just follow the directions and start out soupy until he can just eat thick chunks from your hand.

BTW, that little dove in the video STILL hangs out at my friend's house who I gave him to after three years.

OH!

Pics, I must have pictures!

Pariah - I am feeding him the Kaytee Exact.

I did wash him with a moist dishcloth, and many of his feathers fell out. Now he is a bit bald around his breast. Is that normal?

I'm thinking that he is a sparrow.

A few lost feathers won't hurt him.

Well look up sparrow in Psalms and understand just how special a sparrow is.

Remember the last shall be first and the first shall be last? The sparrow was the least of all the sacrifice animals, however it's the only one mentioned that builds it's nest in the temple and presents it's young to God himself. We considered them almost worthless in status.

They are first for their obedience to their creator.

Take care of that wonderful creature, he's going to teach you a valuable lesson.

[img]C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\My Pictures\bird[/img] [img]C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\My Pictures\bird[/img]

You're gonna have to upload it to photobucket first.

Oh well, can't figure out how to put a picture on.

There was plenty enough info there for me to hit the picture.

He's still very much a chick.

When he starts chirping alot, it's feeding time.

The beak could very well be a Sparrow or an Warbler of sorts.

Could be days to weeks before he changes enough to tell.

They all look like a wad of gum covered in dryer lint when they are that age.

Oh, Thanks!!!!! I'm feeding him every half hour, and he is eating well. But he still chirps all day long - from 6:00AM until dark.

In fact, he chirps while I'm feeding him. I just thought he was missing his mother.

Yeah, they will always call for mommy.

If he REALLY chirps when he sees the pipette, he's really hungry.

I had an exact instructional video on my brother's site, but he took it down because there were too many differing opinions on my methods.

However I have the permit to back it up.

I need to find the video and post it back up, but I'm afraid it might be on the computer at my last job and lost forever.

Just be sure to feel his crop to make sure he's getting enough food at the right temperature.

Also another trick is to take a dish cloth and make it doughnut shaped to make a nest. He will sit in the nest for you to feed him by instinct.

Here's how to make the nest.

*WARNING* That pic contains unbearable cuteness!

Pariah - Thanks again. I'm still learning I guess. I had my son feed the bird and the bird ate more than when I feed him. I mean he really latched onto the pipette. He gobbled down the food. And he stopped that ear piercing chirping.

I told my son that he has another feeding at 6:00AM tomorrow!

I'm very happy that you have been such a great help. Thanks for caring.

believer, one day we visited people with baby canaries, and we helped with the feedings. To clean the babies afterwards, we poured water over them and gently washed off the paste that had fallen on their feathers. Then we blotted them with washclothes until their feathers were dry-ish.

Threadjack - - - - I am hoping Mama Robin hangs around because, at my house, we have 2 baby robins in a nest on the outside ledge of my bathroom window. The third egg hasn't hatched. Those babies are not cute yet. But, I make lots of pictures of them from inside my bathroom.

Oh, how fun! And YOU don't have to feed them.

Well, I also can't nuke a large area of my backyard with Roundup if I want to be nice to them.

We've got a nest under the eaves of our front porch. The mama has been sitting on it and flying away every time someone goes through the front door. She padded it with dryer lint! Anyway, we spotted a baby beak up there yesterday.
And we have another nest in the back under the eaves of the patio cover, same kind of nest. I think it is a week or so behind the schedule of the other one.

Chrys - My bird is doing fine. I moved him to a flight cage outside today, and he can fly. Also the neighborhood sparrows come outside the cage to eat seeds, so I think they will get accustomed to him, and he will do well.

He still doesn't eat on his own, but will drink water.

You have a flight cage?

I have a walk-in that I haven't used in a couple of years since the XW killed my finches.

I have one finch left and it's one of the counterfeit ones she tried to deceive me with.

I had Gouldians and she went and had one of her despicable cow-orkers give her some Zebras as "equal replacements".

I unfortunately rejected then and three of them died at her cruel hands.

Their blood is on my conscience as they were innocent.

GOD I HATE HER!

We seem to have a lot in common. I am so thankful for your advice.

I raise Gouldians. I thought I mentioned that. In my yard, I have 3 flight cages, one for the Gouldians, one for my Zebra finches, and the other for the sparrow.

I started out with Zebra finches, and they bred like crazy. Then I went into Gouldians.

I love my Zebras, but they don't compare to Gouldians.

Who do you have raise the Gouldians? The Zebras? Or do you have a Society hen to do all the work?

I loved to hear the song of my male Gouldians. I still find the beeping of my only little Zebra hen calming, but I REALLY miss Twerp.

My little hen I have is popping out eggs like a pez dispenser.

She's nothing like my others that would come and sit on my arm and shoulders, but I love her just the same though.

Pariah - My Zebra's raise the Gouldians. They are very good parents. I've raised birds for about 7 years now and haven't lost a baby yet.

And the weird thing is that all my Zebras come from one pair. I know that is probably not right. I started out with a pair that my neighbor gave me, and now I have around 25.

I started with 2 pairs of Gouldians and now have 14.

My big problem is I can't seem to sell them or give them away, because no one will take care of them like I do.

Too bad you are a world away, I loved my Gouldians.

Not exactly a world away, hon. I live in California. And I'm old enough to be your grandma. But I'm sure we would get along fine.

My sparrow is doing well, and can fly. He still wants me to feed him. I owe that to your good advice. I think he is going to be fine.

You are a good man and I hope you hold out for someone who will appreciate you.

I want Gouldian finches, not a woman.

Believe me, I am quite the misogynist now.

You misinterpreted.

My XW killed my ability to trust women and she killed my beloved finches.

Guess which one of these can be remedied.

I think it is very normal not to have trust in the opposite sex after going through this, and especially after going through what you went through. That should fade in time. Don't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch for you.

My baby birds flew away yesterday!

Did you get to see them fly?

They will be with their mother learning how to fend for themselves for a while and you will see them.

I haven't seen a sign of them. I wish them well. I miss them.

I went to fly my plane today and discovered a nest of baby Bluebirds in the tail.

Well, it's grounded until they have fledged.

Ahhhh, you're a good guy.

Yeah, I guess he really is.


I think his soft side is showing.

awww. Love the bluebird story.

Our nestlings in the front have feathered and we can see little groups of tail feathers. I think they are plain titmice.

Saw a black-headed grosbeak in the back a couple days ago, first time he's been around.