baby chic ?????????

[slimbob]

Hi

You are not going to believe this I have found another bird !!!!!!!!

Whilst gardening today I found a baby chic (very very young ) if you email me tpwh@blueyonder.co.uk I can forward you a picture of him /her ? .He was very dehydrated and hungary and extremely weak . Looked around for a while to try and find a nest where he may of come from but could not find anything . I couldn't even see any parent birds around watching . I realised if I touched him that my scent could be a problem regarding his parents taking him back . But due to him being in the heat and a very easy meal for anything near by put me in a difficult position even if I touched him just to put him somewhere safe and in the shade his parents may abandon him . I knew dying from starvation was not a nice way to go especially in the blistering heat as it was the hottest day of the year today and he was directly in the sun he was so young I could not see much hope of him surviving .

I picked him up and gave him some water which he loved and eventually got him home and he has now had some whey protein isolate which he loved I thought it best to give some liquid nutrition as it would hydrate him and feed him at the same time ??

Don't know what he is (i.e.)black bird , starling etc ?? and know most people focus on pigeons on the forum but do you know anyone who can help with this ?? or give me some advice on what to do or where to take him ???

Found a young wood pigeon last month and everything worked out alright with him thanks to Helen and Cynthia but this little fella is very very young and extremely weak , out of my league here again please help .


Hope I did the right thing and don't lose him .

Cheers

Rob



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[kittypaws]

Rob e-mailed me the picture too but it is too big to attach - I don't now how to re-size - he is a very little bird and I know Terry has a lot of experience of baby birds so hopefully some good advice will come along soon.

Rob is in Liverpool, UK

Tania

[cyro51]

Tania e-mailed me the photo, it is attached.

is it a starling? Would it be safe to treat it as one? Otherwise dunnock or blackbird?

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

I will track down the Mac diet for passerines, but Terry once told me the Universal emercency diet was cat food.

[cyro51]

It is the Mac diet for passerines that would be needed in this case. These are the basic ingredients:


MacDiet: recipe
½ c. Purina ProPlan Feline Growth dry food, soaked in just enough water to soften completely. Drain off excess.
2 hardboiled egg whites, sieved through a fine mesh strainer
3 tbsp canned Science Diet Feline Growth Food, drained of liquid
2 tbsp freeze dried insects a
1/2 tablespoon "Knox Bloxb
600 or 800 mg calcium carbonate, crushed and powdered * see note
50 mg vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
1 small pinch of powdered B-complex vitamins
3-5 drops cod liver oil (supplies vitamins A and D)
1 drop of 1:10 vitamin E in corn oil
1 slightly rounded tablespoon of plain yogurt (low- or non-fat)c

Method:
Mix ingredients with a fork. This mixture can be refrigerated for a day but should not be frozen, as storage will affect the vitamins. The recipe can easily be halved, quartered, doubled, etc.

When mixed with a fork, the mixture resembles pate or canned cat food and can be fed by hand using forceps, fingers, etc. or can be expressed through a six cc oral monojet syringe to form 'mealworms'. If you prefer a wetter mixture or need to tube feed a compromised bird, the diet can be mixed in a blender and extra water can be added as necessary.

If a creamy mixture that will pass through a small syringe is preferred for very small birds, everything but the ProPlan can be mixed with a hand mixer or in a blender, and then the ProPlan can be mashed through.


a: KNOX BLOX: Purchase Knox unflavoured (plain) gelatin powder. Each box contains a number of small white envelopes, each of which contains 1 tablespoon powder. Put 1 teaspoon powder in a small baby food jar and add a few tablespoons cold water to dissolve. Add boiling water to 2/3 full. Put on lid and shake to mix. One-half tablespoon of this mixture can be added wet, and the remainder can be placed in the fridge and used in its gelled state. Dispose of unused portions after three days.

b


Otherwise, John says that at Brent Lodge they feed tinned cat food on the end of a paint brush.

Cynthia

[cyro51]

John has sent this link to the complete Mac Diet for Passerines instructions:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pidgie/MacDiet.doc

[cyro51]

This is a photo of a baby dunnock, a bit older though:

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/photo/view/132416

[cyro51]

Never feed earth worms to birds in captivity. For some reason they are toxic to them even if hey are part of their natural diet in the wild.

Cynthia

[naturegirl]

Did you know that birds have a very poor sence of smell? That is an old Wisetale that if you touch it the parents will smell human and not return.

[kittypaws]

Thanks Cynthia and John for the links - I am sure Rob will find them helpful (unlike me) - I just take everything to the experts. One day I'll have to learn!!

Good luck Rob with the littlun'

Tania xx

[TAWhatley]

I don't think that's a baby starling .. could be, but doesn't look quite like a starling to me. The Mac Diet is great but a bit of an undertaking to make as some of the ingredients are hard to find. The starling/sparrow diet from the Starling Talk site is a bit easier and will work well also .. it is cat food based.

Terry

[pdpbison]

Hi Rob,


This looks like it could be a Baby Mocking Bird to me...but it also does resemble a Starling.


But if he is naked on his whole rear half there, something is going on which is not right...so, look for Mites maybe, or see if there is any sign of injury there...he should be feathered back there in short little quills and feathers and not naked skin...

The 'scent' thing is not true...so don't ever worry about that.

Parents "may" reject Babys put back in the Nest, if the Baby is ill or has something wrong with them...which is sometimes 'why' the Baby already out of the Nest in the first place.


Of course lots of other things can happen too, for them to end up on the ground...


Anyway, you will need to keep this little one so he is for sure "warm"...you need to make him warm, so that he is around 100 degrees or so Farenheit...and also to keep him humidified either by damp clothes set next to him, draped gently just over him, or something similar.


Where are you located?


Anyway, he can eat Canned Water-pack Sardines, rinsed, tepid ( not chilled ) in little bites.

He should chirp and gape if he is comfortable, and that of course is when one puts the little bite of food in there.

That, and ripe fresh Cherry, cut into little bits then mushed slightly in the fingers to mash and bruise it pretty thoroughy...little bites also of course...

Both of the above rolled lightly in powdered 'Super Greens' ( any health food store...) could keep him going nicely indefinitely and would give him eberything he needs for good bones and lots of Feathers and so on.

More chow info later if you want it. But for now, get a heating pad set up for him to be warm, and on some soft cloths and out of any drafts...and do NOT give him any liquid Water by any method whatever, or you can drown him.

Do not try feeding him anything untill he is warm and has been warm some hours.

You can hold him in your cupped palm if you like, to help im feel comfortable, and even breathe on him by making slow gentle 'Haaaaaaaaa's...which he would probably like very much.

If he is not comfortable enough to cheep and gape to ask to be fed, you will have some difficult times ahead...


Best wishes...

Good luck...!

Phil
Las Vegas

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Phil,

Rob is in the UK and although I'm not 100% positive, I don't believe they have mockingbirds over there.

[pdpbison]

Originally Posted by Pigeonpal2002

Hi Phil,

Rob is in the UK and although I'm not 100% positive, I don't believe they have mockingbirds over there.

Hi pigeonpal2002,


Oh...

But the wind might have blowed it there from somewhere else...!

Lol...just being silly of course...



Oh well, whatever it is, likely the diet would not be two cents ( or pence) worth of different...if a Mocker, a Starling, a Grackle or other Omnivore Birds...

Although raw, tender Fish, such as some of those offered in Sushi Houses owuld be better than the Canned Sardines...just that the Sardines can ne had anywhere any time any day in many kinds of Stores...while the other has it's narrower time slots and locations...

I am worried about that 'naked' back half...it is as if something had pulled out all those little short Feathers there or something...it almost LOOKS 'tender' and swollen even, in the image...

Something is not right with that...


Phil
Las Vegas

[cyro51]

You are right, Brad. No mocking birds here!

Cynthia

[slimbob]

thanks everyone for your help

he is very weak and when I tap on side of the bowl he opens his mouth when full he doesnt so at least i know when to stop feeding .

the mac diet seems very complicated and to get all those ingredients in tim e sounds tougth . Is there anywhere who sells it ready made ???

for now i will use sardines , cooked egg white and I am right in saying no fluids ?? I have a dropper so can give water or whey protein isolate (ie) no lactose and some calcium in there too but how much actual fluids can he take ??

cheers

Rob

Oh yes i will get some kitten food chicken based today .