Okay so that robbins egg that I put in the bator is developing!! OMG what now? ha ha. I candled it just for kicks and there is veins and a tiny little black blob moving around!!! Also I had posted a while back that I let my daughters school borrow my R-Com 20 incubator as a classroom project and this morning (day 19) the teacher called to say 8 babies hatched out!!! Then when I got to the school 9 had hatched out and 2 more eggs had pipped. Out of 12 eggs 11 were hatching so far! Wow I have never had that good of a hatch rate at home!!! I got these eggs locally and hatched a few out myself, but again never had this good of success!
Robins are really easy to raise. I rescued one from a nest blown out of the tree that killed it's hatch mates. It couldn't have been more than a couple days old - was completely naked, and so chilled it couldn't hold his head up. I used canned dog food to feed him - they will readily open their mouths and eat. My little robin grew up and I released him out in the back yard where he did just fine. For a long time I could recognize him and he would come up really close when I was out in the yard.
I have a Robin fledgling in my front garden right now. I came home from the barn and he's just staring up at me when I came up to my porch step. I am keeping all dogs and cats in, in hopes it will get the energy to get back into it's nest. I know this is a common time for people to go "rescue" baby birds but they are usually fine. Hopefully this is the case or else I'll have to do a repeat rescue. We had one that was from a broken nest once, we only had him a few days before we found a wildlife sanctuary for him. He grew up and flew off! Good luck on your Robin egg.
Yup, I second that Of the few types of wild birds I have tried to rescue.... robins are easy Get a nice mushy dog food (IAMS puppy was what I used)... not shredded or bites... mix with a tiny bit of water and microwave for like a few seconds only... just to warm it up (I believe this to aid in digestion) ... stick your pinkie finger in it and then "poke" above the bird. He'll think your finger is mom's beak and will open wide... then "dip" the tip of your finger into it's mouth. It takes a while, but as it grows.... and they grow fast... it'll eat easier and more greedily Do keep us updated!
wow thanks. Everything I have been reading says they are really hard to raise. I never though of feeding him dog food! It says they hatch after only 12-15 days! Yikes!
when we raise baby robins we feed them mealworms, redworms and any bugs I can talk my kids into catching. Haven't lost one yet and have at least one every year. Scrambled eggs are good too.
I usually use a homemade baby bird formula-1 pound ground sirloin-browned and well drained,add 1 c. game bird starter,1/4 c. finely shredded carrots, 2 boiled eggs shell and all.,dropper of cage bird vitamins- process in food processor till well blended- and fine. As they get older I offer fruits, "natural foods"(what they would eat in the wild). Conditioning before release is a biggie- they need to practice flying alot.Robins love cherries and worms- they need to be self feeding and flying well before release.When you get them so young- it is best to give them benebac too.Since they won't get the natural bacteria from the parents.In rehab-we tried really hard never to raise babies alone.Good luck-robins are pretty easy-they are usually ready to go by 5 weeks or so.They don't seem to imprint as much as grackles.
Wow...where in the world did you get Robin's eggs? Last year I found a nest in my yard after a big storm and I saved it and there were some eggs in it but I didn't have an incubator. Duh...I think I just answered my own question!