Forums » Smalltalk » A test of birds?

Guys. I want any and all advice that you can muster. I have reason to believe that I'm being tested. You see, earlier today I found a baby bird. So baby-ish that it's not even fully covered in down yet and it's eyes haven't opened. Meaning it's probally going to imprint on me as it's 'mother'. I plan on caring for it with everything I can muster and so far, things are good. It has food in it's gut, and a impromptu nest I crafted for it from leaves, freshly cut grass and small twigs amd stuff. I've browsed the net, called various pet shops, asked friends and used what I already know to keep stuff good for my little avian friend thus far. And now I seek more advice on things that may help with caring for this little guy. I intend on raising it till it's old enough to venture forth on it's own so All I ask is that none of your suggestions involve calling some kind of animal shelter or whatever. Other than that though, any advice would be nice. As it pertains to right this second, the little feather head is sleeping peacefully in the nest I made him in a box beside my bed and I'm about to join him in sleep land. Like I said though, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys and gals.

Yay! I've also raised a baby bird from the stage you're at to fledging.

The first and most important thing to NOT do, is give it water or any kind of liquid. Baby birds get their liquid from when the parent bird regurgitates the food. To supplement this, what I did was buy lots of nightcrawlers, slice them up into swallow-able bits, and dunked them into water before feeding the baby bird.

I would recommend feeding every couple of hours, and having some sort of heat lamp to keep the baby bird warm. Right now they're very susceptible to cold. I also used tweezers to feed the nightcrawler bits.

You'll be doing this a lot--as well as making sure the bird nest remains free of poop. Which, the parent bird will usually roll out of the nest. Again, tweezers work best.

Do you now what kind of baby bird it is? (I raised a Mockingbird.) Do you have any specific questions?

Unfortunately my knowledge of avian species isn't thorough enough where I can properly identify the species at this stage in it's life and as such instead of feeding it any kind of worms or anything that may be outside it's natural dietary cycle, I got this baby bird formula that is balanced out to be acceptable for all avian species in this point of their life as well as provide them with all the nutrients and stuff they need. When I can properly identify the species, I'll start switching the little guy over to it's natural diet. And on a good note, he's still hanging in there. Woke up this morning and fed him and all that good stuff. If I can get the camera on my phone to work right, I'll post up a picture of the little guy when I get home for assistance with identifying the species. Other than that, all quiet on the eastern front. Heh. Thanks Pen and later.

Well I guess my test is over as quickly as it begun. Got home from work and the little guy was gone unfortunately. I know he was cared for while I was at work though as my step mom was home to take care of him, which I left her specific instructions on how to, while I was at work. Guessing cause of death was from some kind of internal injury that me or my step mom couldn't see. Likely guess too as we did find him on the concrete outside the house. Oh yeah. I didn't mention that did I? He was lying on the concrete side walk outside my house when my step mom found him and brought him to my attention. It's almost like he was abandoned there as I checked all the bushes, the gutters and where ever else bird could of possibly had a nest around where the little guy was at with no sign of one.

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. A lot of times birds will abandon or push a baby bird out of a nest if they know there's something wrong with it. Sounds like you did everything right, though while you had it.

In my own experience, I had started with three babies and lost two of them within 48 hours. Birds are difficult--as are cottontails (or so I'm told).

This almost inspires me to get a bird to act as a surrogate mother should this situation arise again...almost...

Any kind of bird in particular? I know canaries and finches nest a lot. But I don't know how they would act with a wildbird. ...I used a stuffed bird plushie/toy I got from the zoo...it worked really well.