Sparrow Egg Help

[annem376]

Hi there!

I made a post about taking in a sparrow egg after mom and 4/5 eggs were killed days ago but it was way too long and a lot of unnecessary details. I had been keeping it warm by checking its temperature every half hour or so in front of a space heater. Thought it died last night but my flashlight sucks and my phone flashlight showed veins, a beating heart, and quite a bit of movement today, thank God.

Incubator arrived today and temperature and humidity are perfect. I have multiple thermometers and also ordered a hygrometer and everything is exactly where it should be.

My problems are:

-I don't know when mom laid the egg, so how do I know the final incubation days to increase humidity?
- what is final lock down?
- does the hatching egg remain in the incubator once it hatches? Or can I open the lid to feed it obviously
- what is pipping?
- how often am I allowed to open the lid to candle?

I feel so stupid but my wildlife center wouldn't take the egg. I couldn't let it die out there all alone in the cold. I am fighting for it to live. I just don't know what I'm doing.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I really don't think anyone can help.
No one really incubates wild bird eggs, and it's generally frowned upon.
My boys would bring me birds that fell out of the nests and want me to take care of them. It's a pain. I had to feed them baby parrot formula, you can't go anywhere without the bird and the food. You have to feed it every 30 minutes all day long.
Let the egg die. Sorry. Not trying to be mean... even if it seems like I am.

 

[theletterv]

Feeding a newly hatched baby sparrow will be a lot of work. House sparrows, however, are not protected by the migratory bird act, as far as I know (same as with pigeons). Make sure you've checked every wildlife rescue you can find, though, as many will take sparrows.

I have, however, raised a house sparrow before, from when it was about a few days old (still naked). Do some research about what you should be feeding them. I don't believe liquid baby bird formula, like you would feed a parrot, is appropriate. I seem to recall feeding a mix of soaked dog/cat food, with boiled egg and bird vitamins mixed in, but it's been many years. I found the recipe online. Liquid food is not typically given in the mouth because it can easily cause aspiration, as these birds have an opening to their trachea near the base of their tongues and do not eat liquid food from their parents, but rather whole insects, typically. Also keep in mind that baby songbirds have to be fed as often as every 15 minutes when they hatch. A short break overnight would probably be possible, maybe 4-6 hours, but otherwise they need to be fed nearly constantly. When they start to feather up, it maybe increases to every 30-45 minutes. However, they do grow and wean fast.

Keep in mind that if you do successfully raise the baby, you will likely have to keep it as a pet permanently. Alone, it is unlikely the sparrow will be releasable. However, if you were able to place the egg, or newly hatched bird, in a wildlife rescue, they may have other young sparrows and it could be released. Another reason to make sure you check every rescue you can find.

As for your questions about incubation. It would be difficult to know exactly how many days the egg had been incubated. I could perhaps make a guess from a picture. It would probably be sufficient to wait until the egg is nearly filled up with the chick, so that when you candle you just see a dark mass with veins at the top near the air cell, before you stop turning and prepare for it to hatch. Songbirds tend to have very short incubation periods. I would guess no longer than 18 days.

"Lockdown" refers to when people stop turning the eggs and prepare for hatching. Many people raise the humidity at this point and try not to open the lid. However, not everyone feels such a strict lockdown is necessary. It is mostly important to keep humidity high once the eggs have externally pipped. Which brings me to the next question. Pipping refers to, basically, the chick breaking out of the egg. There is internal pipping and external pipping -- internal pipping is when the chick breaks through the internal membrane and into the air cell, at the fat end of the egg, and begins to breathe air. External pipping is when the chick uses its egg tooth, a sharp point on its bill, to break a hole in the eggshell. External pipping follows internal pipping, sometimes very quickly and sometimes more than 24 hours later. Usually it's most important to keep humidity high after external pipping, to prevent the membrane inside the egg from drying out and adhering to the chick, which can cause it to get stuck.

You can really open the lid to candle as often as you want as long as it does not take very long, and doesn't upset the incubator temperature very much.

I'd be happy to help you with any questions you have along the process because I know what it's like to want to save a life and be unable to turn to a wildlife rescue for help. But you have to know that raising the baby sparrow would be a very big commitment. With that said, it's definitely possible with a lot of dedication and some research on how to do it properly.

I did a little searching and found these links. I think I used this when I raised my sparrow. That was quite a while ago, however, so maybe there is a better way/new information that others might have.

https://www.housesparrowsinmyhouse.org/house-sparrow-info

http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm

 

[Amelia redwater]

sparrow are an invasive specie in american continent .. you might not have the right to let it go in the wild but you might be able to keep it as a pet . good luck . im trying to hatch 4 chickadee eggs that parents abandonned or were killed 7 days ago but I heard they could still be viable since they weren't incubated yet since the female was still laying eggs everyday...