European Starling care?

[KenjiQuacker]

Hello there! So this is gonna take a while to explain and it might be confusing, but I'll try my best to explain.

Me and my friend know that starlings are invasive, and legal to kill or to keep in captivity. We really like helping the ecosystem, and we have lots of starlings here in washington. We thought we could go to peoples homes or places with too many starlings and look for nests, then take the babies once they're around 7-14 days old (imprinting age) and hand raise them. This would be helping the ecosystem (even in just a small way) by taking starlings out of the ecosystem without killing them. We've been doing tons of research, and we know the basics, but does anybody have tips or experience in raising baby starlings? If anybody could give me more information on raising them and keeping them as adults, I'd love to hear it!

(edit) I've had lots of experience raising wildlife in the past and I'm currently volunteering at two different wildlife rehabilitation centers, and I have an aviary and a job so I can get enough money to care for Starlings. So I'm pretty sure I'm ready for this lol.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's illegal to keep them as adults

 

[KenjiQuacker]

It's illegal to keep them as adults

Everything I've read says they're legal to keep since they're invasive. Just wondering where you got your information?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

They're invasive, which means that you're not supposed to keep them since they might get out. Same reason you can't have certain fish or rodents in certain places


I'm not sure where I read it since it was a few years ago for a school project

 

[KenjiQuacker]

They're invasive, which means that you're not supposed to keep them since they might get out. Same reason you can't have certain fish or rodents in certain places


I'm not sure where I read it since it was a few years ago for a school project

Well I know for sure they're legal here in Washington, I've done my research and looked through the state laws. Thank you though!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Well I know for sure they're legal here in Washington, I've done my research and looked through the state laws. Thank you though!View attachment 2509773

Not calling you a liar, but are you sure that's not just for removing and destroying nests? That's different than taking them to keep as pets

 

[Weeg]

Okay, I might actually call and talk to an official just in case, you never know fro certain what on the internet is true, or sometimes it can be misinterpreted. Otherwise, I think it is a great idea. I don't know much, but maybe others will. I do suggest you actually talk to someone first though. You can call fish and game right?

 

[KenjiQuacker]

Not calling you a liar, but are you sure that's not just for removing and destroying nests? That's different than taking them to keep as pets

Yeah I know you aren't calling me a liar, thanks, also I'm not sure, I'll probably call the fish and game people like Weeg said just to make sure. But i'm pretty sure it's legal, since people sell them as pets

 

[KenjiQuacker]

Okay, I might actually call and talk to an official just in case, you never know fro certain what on the internet is true, or sometimes it can be misinterpreted. Otherwise, I think it is a great idea. I don't know much, but maybe others will. I do suggest you actually talk to someone first though. You can call fish and game right?

Yeah, I'll call fish and game to make sure, because now i'm questioning whether it's actually legal or not lol

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Contact a fish and game officer before you go ahead with something like this. You have to think about the future as well. What is your capacity for birds? What happens after you have several adult birds? What do you plan to do if you end up with several males or several females (which may fight)? Can you afford avian vet care in the event they become ill? Are you experienced with tube feeding in the event a baby won't eat? Are you experienced and willing to feed an accurate diet, close to what they would eat in the wild? I'm not trying to put you down, but when you take wild animals into your care it goes much farther then just taking them out of their environment (invasive or not) and raising them. You really need to think about what happens once they're grown.