Long shot- Baby Blackbird help

[CrazyFowlFreak]

I watched a baby Blackbird fall out of the nest yesterday and sat for two hours and watched the mama bird try to help it before my cats discovered it. It can't fly yet, so I took it out of my cat's mouth and brought it inside. It is healthy and not injured by the cat, thank goodness. I have been feeding it every three hours all night and today with warmed Gamebird feed gruel. It's eating well, but I know it's not the right thing for it to eat. Does anyone have any input or advice? I called the local avian center and they said thye'd just put it down, so, against the law or not, I'm keeping it until it is old enough to fly away.

 

[equine623]

How old do you think it is? If its a fledgling with most to all of its feathers it won't take too long before it can fly, if you give it the chance. Not sure what the ingredients in gamebird feed is but you can try adding some cat food or hard boiled egg yolk to up the protein and mimic more closely what the parents would feel. Try to get away from syringe feeding if its fledgling age, offer a small dish of cat food, diced up grapes or apples (small amount) and honestly hard boiled egg especially the yolk is ideal protein source. If it is still young, i.e not feathered and still eagerly gaping with no interest in picking up its own food then try mixing the gamefeed, egg yolk plus enough water to make it soupy enough to feed.

Once it is feeding on its own and flying you can try a soft release, put it outside in a safe place or in the cage. Let it watch the other birds. Open the door the next day and give it the chance to leave or stay. Sometimes they take right off. Sometimes they like to practice and come and go several times. Leave the cage out with food and water until it doesn't come back. Won't take long.

Oh and birds are great, you don't have to feed them overnight like mammals. Sun up to sun-down is all mama bird does.

Just be careful, the migratory bird act does prohibit this which I know you know, but sometimes ya gotta just try, I understand. As long as you don't go to the feed store bragging or post it on facebook you'll probably be ok. Good luck

 

[6Happiness]

my wife raised a baby sparrow (from before its eyes were even open). I know she used catfood as a base.- broke it into tiny pieces, soaked it to be soft and fed that to the bird. Problem is, when you take them in as babies, they get really bonded to you and then won't know how to live in the wild. This bird happened to have some other physical handicapps too so we ended up keeping the bird as a pet.

If the momma bird was trying to get at the baby, I'd give her another chance at that. What we'd do if we saw where the nest and parents were was to get a hanging plant pot or a small wicker basket etc. Put some bedding in it, and the baby bird. Use a pole to raise it up and hook onto a branch as close to the original nest as possible. The mom should then deliver food to both "nests"

 

[FarmGirl01]

We always fed canned catfood.

 

[katheria]

CrazyFowlFreak,



since your cat got the baby bird, it need to be started on antibiotics ASAP!

cats have a bacteria in their mouth that is very deadly to birds, you may not see any wounds but it still needs to be on antibiotics...

find some amoxicillin ASAP

human is fine..

you will also need a 1 cc syringe from drug store or farm store...

here is the dosage...

this is using a 500 mg amoxicillin caplet, you may need to adjust it. ex: 250mg only use 2 syringes full of water ect...


I figured the bird weighs about 35-65 grams and the dose at 160 mg/kg,

fill the syringe four times with water, squirt into another container

open the amox caplet and stir it up until its all mixed up,no powder remaining...

then using the syringe, you will give the bird 0.04 of the mixture twice a day for 7 days...

store the extra mixture in the fridge.......

the .04 mark is the second line from the tip where the needle attaches...


all blackbirds/starlings eat mostly insect's not like sparrows...

DO NOT FEED WORMS, worms carry a parasite called Gape worm that will kill a baby in 12 hours.
Do not give the baby water! they will suck it into their lungs....and drown...

here is the diet that you need to feed to the baby........

1 cup dog/ cat food..... try to find one as close to 33% protein to 12% fat, i use Chicken Soup for the Soul...
1/4 cup Apple Sauce natural, not the one that has high fructos syrup added...
1 whole boiled egg...
1 Tums calcium Tablet
1 drop of avian vits if you have them

dissolve the tum's tablet in water
mix the water with the dog/cat food and let it sit (you may need to add more water.
mash the egg into tiny tiny pieces...

Mix everything together.... it should come out to be like oatmeal...

you will need to feed the baby every 30-45 mins... during daylight hours...
you can use your finger, like i do...

feed the baby as much as it wants, birds will let you know when they are full, they will stop gaping ( mouth open up in air) at you...


if the baby is young enough it will Imprint on you.... you will never be able to release the bird in the wild....

a new pet! lol

if you can take a pic, i can tell you what kinda baby it is more than likely

equine623 is right the Migatory Bird act does make it illegal to keep them as pets

the only birds that are allowed to be kept as pets are Starlings, House Sparrows, and Pigeons...
all others can only be kept by a state lic Rehabber (working on my Lic)

honestly IMO what someone dont know wont hurt them, its better to give the bird a life, , it wont have the skills to survive in the wild....

i gotta run, i hear 11 baby starlings squaking im hungry LOL..

 

[jobloggs]

Hello, I rescued a baby blackbird from my cats mouth 2 1/2 weeks ago. She had just hatched as she still had shell stuck to her. My cat had punctured her but she has survived with no help from antibiotics. I have fed her on catfood, grapes, bread and mushed up weetbix. I also syringe water into her mouth. She has started flying and on nice days I put her in the garden and dig up worms for her to pick up and eat. What I would like to know is when can I release her? She is very attached to me and I am worried that she will not be releaseable.

 

[Shabana]

As far as I understand it once you have raised a baby bird you can't release it. It won't have the skills it's mother would normally teach and would perish.

 

[fledgling2]

Hi there
To feed the fledgling that I found is 60% soften kitten food, 20%mashed boiled egg and 20% meal worms, mix up then fed using tweezers tap side of the beak to encourage to open. This is filling the tummy well and there is no need to worry about water as they are getting it from the food.
Hope this is of some help.