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Starling Help!!!!No, he isn't a pigeon, but he's refusing food. He is a baby starling, maybe a week old. I found him saturday and fed him Exact until (Yesterday) was told by rehaber people that exact doesn't contain enough nutrients that he needed to survive and gave me a recipe for baby starling food. Today, i woke up, and two of the three passed away. The night before they weren't being active at all or eating and one was lying on it's side... The survivor, Emalith, was fine and perky, ate exact in the morning and went to sleep. I went out to get the needed ingrediants, came home, and fed him the new recipe. He seemed to like it, though, it was much sticker than the Exact he was eating before. He ate enough to get a full belly and i put him down to rest. LATER, I tapped the top of the cage to hear his persistent peeping, but he didn't answer. I made peeping noises myself, no answer. I picked him up, and he seemed sleepy, so i cleaned out his nest (He pooped) And set him back in. 30 minutes later, he would of been screaming for me to come in and feed him, but he still just layed there. So, I picked him up again and poked the sides of his beak with the food. He just shook his head to get it away. So, panicing now, I go in and fix him up some exact, I made it a bit more watery by adding some applesauce, and force fed him abit of that. That was an hour ago. Now, he's sleeping in his napkin nest in a tank, sitting on a heatingpad wrapped in towels.
Yes, this is a forum for pigeons.. But if anyone here can help me or give some sort of advice at all... I'm desperate and am willing to do anything that could give this baby a chance. T_T Thank you... |
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Hi Emalith,
You'll find this link useful: http://www.starlingtalk.com/ . It gives proper recipes and care guidelines. You're right, Kaytee isn't enough for this baby, but you'll see when you read the starlingtalk website. Good luck  |
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I was just there... They havent emailed me back yet. thats where i got the recipe... i just don't know what to do now. He was fine and then just... Not fine at all...
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Hmmmm...not sure what to tell you then. How often are you feeding him? Is there a chance you over fed him? The crop should only be about 3/4 full per feeding.
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I don't even know how to tell... The only other bird Iv'e taken care of, was a baby parrot that fell from it's tree... It's been 2 years now and he's living in the living room saying "peek-a-boo" when ever people enter the room... To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure where exactly the crop is or how full it is. I just know I'm squeezing less than 1/8 teaspoon with each squirt...
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Hi,
Sorry I'm not an expert either with starlings...I'm not even sure they have a crop per se. However, if they do, it is an area below the neck but before the breast that is like a bag that stores food. Normally, with songbird types, they will gape until full. What has the response been that way to food? If you feel the area I mentioned, it should be "squishy" but not hard or firm. What exactly are you feeding him anyways? What did you concoct...anything unusual or different from the suggested diet? |
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the concoction i tried before was one 'Tums' cruhed to powder, one squished up hard boiled egg, hard catfood (soaked into a mushy substance), some applesauce, and a bit of water...
yes i found the crop. would massaging it be a good idea? and do you do that by rubbing it?? He is cold, so im holding him in my hand (yes, hes very warm, im still panacing... lol)... i looked down his throat and it may be in the crop but.. theres this white mushy stuff. if i massaged the crop, would he swallow that? is there a way to make him puke it up? |
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Hi again,
Diet sounds fine, nothing abnormal there or any ingredients that would sound the alarm. You can try to gently massage the crop area on him and see if that helps. Also, perhaps try to give him a bit of water only. Make sure it's just small amounts and you go far back in his throat past the tongue and windpipe hole behind it. Tilt the head up and go SLOWLY and just drops at a time. DON"T attempt to make him vomit, he could aspirate that way. It's so hard to know for sure what is happening without being there and knowing the full history. Dehydration might be an issue, you shouldn't feed birds that are dehydrated because it causes digestion problems. |
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........
11:46 pm.. Emalith just died in my hands. Thank you for everything and have a good night... At least he/she's in a better place now, much better than in my care... Night. |
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Oh how sad!
I was just thinking, a week old is very young for a starling...they are so fragile at that age and small. You did all you could, and more than most would ever attempt, please don't feel too bad over this because you gave him a chance anyways and he was in tender hands when he passed away Take care, |
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I'm so very sorry for the loss of these babies. I have asked a starling expert to review this thread and post me her thoughts.
I do think all of us need to know that very, very young birds need significant supplemental heat .. room temp isn't enough .. you need a heating pad set on low and/or an overhead low wattage bulb. We all also need to know that a cold bird cannot assimilate food .. the bird has to be warm first and then the bird has to be hydrated. After that the food given has to be easily digestible. Once the birds' digestive system is working again and the bird is hydrated we can start "regular" feeding. There really isn't any way around these requirements .. first warm, then hydrated, then fed .. if you don't do it this way then you have a dead bird. A starling or sparrow or most songbirds do =not= have a crop like a pigeon or a dove. They do have a little pouch like thing on the right side of their neck .. you can actually watch the food and fluid go into it and pass into the body in very young birds. It is a totally different physical thing than doves and pigeons. The little songbirds can only "hold" a tiny bit at a time and require very frequent feedings .. thus are quite hard to raise unless you have a lot of time and are willing to become enslaved to them until they are grown .. give me a dove or a pigeon any time .. much, much easier to raise and much, much less time consuming. Still, I raise dozens and dozens of sparrows and starlings each year along with the pigeons and doves .. just trust me and know that little songbirds of any type will "bust you" .. you really have to have the time and the dedication to do it. Terry Last edited by TAWhatley; 7th July 2005 at 10:28 PM. |
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....yes, such experience as I have, small frequent feedings...all-day-long and then some.
Must be kept warm all the time...and...Starlings, Mockingbirds, Sparrows, others too, we must remember, are primarily Carnivors, and the K-T is totally wrong for some of them, or mostly wrong for the rest...in consistancy and content. These Bird Babys need whole, healthy, juicy live Insects of the right kinds...and if one can not catch enough of them, one does decently with little bits of Canned Water Pack Sardines, the skin and little spines especially, augmented with some chlorophyll-heavy Green suppliment and other Vitamins and Mineral suppliments. Small bits of fresh ripe fruit also, such as Peaches or Bartless Pears but not the skin..and these as well may have 'powders' sprinkled on them. I think scraps from a Sushi-Bar will be my next resort, flesh scraps and guts, when I get one of these...the Sardines and Fruit was what I used in the past, with raising my own Meal Worms on fresh Apple slices in Oatmeal in a bowl, and such insects as I could catch. Insects generally should be de-winged if they have big Wings, and toss the Wings, and the body fed to them where the insect goes in head-first. If the insect is a wiggler or is robust, crush it's head and then feed it. No Roaches, but little Katydids, crickets, Grasshoppers, seem safe bets to me. Moths can be iffy, depending on what they have been eating 9 Milkweed for one example which will make the Bird wretch) , but usually should be fine. if too big for the Baby to eat easily, cut into pieces for them. Meal Worms, mash the head and feed it to them head first. Raise the Meal Worms in a big Bowl in Oatmeal and fresh Apple slices. Never give these kinds of babys any water or liquid. It too easily goes right into their little windpipes. In Nature they never are given any liquid of any kind, and they are not equipped to deal with it untill old enough to drink in their own way of drinking. Untill then, they get their Water in the forms of food which contain it naturally. Thats most of the crah course of my experience and with these methods, mine turned out well... Gotta keep them warm 24/7 untill they make their own heat steadily. Untill which time and even after that time for a while, let them have a heating pad set up so they can be on it or off of it as they like. A chilled Baby of any kind should not be fed untill warm and active again. Do not let them get chilled. ...'dry' Dog and Dat food is usllally very incomplete as well as rancid and made of bad things usually...as well as being mostly Corn. Most of the canned versions are lousy too. They can do fine on good quality Fish, Meal Worms and a little fresh no-skin on it Fruit, and likely would thrive like a little weed on fish guts being some of of their repasts now and then. Insects have in them, their little livers and intestines containing chlrophyll and who knows what. We must invent or think up what we can and be resourceful if we get these kinds of Babys. Their release considerations are another matter also, since these are not Pigeons who may be assimiliated into a flock in stages of adolescent progression supervised by their surrogate parent(s). Love, Phil Las Vegas |
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Hi Phil,
(Please excuse my bluntness here) I just wanted to mention a few things to you and to others who might not know better. First of all, all animals require and can drink water even though they may not get it in such a state when young. Yes, you CAN give water to a baby song bird with an eye dropper if necessary, with the proper guidance and know how. Secondly, a baby starling would no sooner be eating a pear, peach or sardine nor would an adult for that matter. So what you are saying is - it's not ok to give water in it's natural state and being a basic necessity of life to a young bird, but it's ok to feed them foods they would never ingest in the wild? There is a serious flaw somewhere in your thinking here. I really wish you would refrain from making it so hard for members to follow your over-emphasized and detailed instructions on feeding all the various birds. In this particular case, it's not going to bring the starling babies back so outlining these specific insects, fruits and wholesome seeds (how to prepare them etc) is really an exercize in futility now and when dealing with "nonprofessional rehabbers". You also keep de-valuing the kaytee formula over and over and over again. I simply do NOT understand why you have such an adversion to it. It's not the perfect substitute meal for pigeons or other birds, but it's not the toxin you make it out to be either. If Kaytee Exact hand rearing formula was as harmful, useless and nutritionally deficient as you always suggest, the company would be defunct and they'd have lawsuit after lawsuit to deal with concerning dissatisfied consumers and their sick and dying birds. You once replied to a thread about smoking around pigeons and here is what you said, "Moderate smokeing around them, having doors or windows open...I see no problem..." Somehow, I think even moderate smoking around pigeons or other birds is MUCH worse than the Kaytee formula you seek to ensure nobody ever uses. I don't think you realized either that this person did have the bird on heat, she mentioned a heating pad in her first post. In any case, she did her best and since I was the only one around to help her, I don't feel that this entire post is really warranted now, it's the wrong time and the wrong way to empathize with this person's grief. JMHO!!!!!!! |
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A good source of food for insect eaters. I go to the local pet shops and get gut loaded crickets. If I do use mealworms, I always pinch heads off before feeding, even to my button Quail, who are major mealworm D&D (Destroy and Devour) fiends. I also scrounge in any open fields, on my lawn, any where I can capture grasshoppers. Anything with big jumping legs, I pop the legs off first, and if the babies are big enough and show interest, I let them try to peck the bugs from my fingers and learn to feed themselves. When babies are showing interest, we go on buggie hunting forays together. Starlings are a riot to teach to forage for themselves. They don't know where they'd rather be, at your feet, or on your head. Then, if you're barefoot, they have to stick their bills between your toes, see if there's any thing good to eat there, too.
Daryl |
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pigeonmomma .... what is a "gutloaded cricket " ?
__________________
Bruce K Lowe |
| Tags |
| baby bird, baby pigeon, broken leg, digestive system, heating pad, pet shop, wildlife center, young bird |
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