Baby Birds - Fostering - Hints - Food - Helping GENERAL COMMENTS: Baby wild animals require specialized care. They must be kept warm, well hydrated and quiet. All stress (noise, unnecessary handling, etc.) must be avoided and babies must always be raised with others of their own species. High quality formulas, nutritious foods are essential to raising healthy wildlife with the ultimate goal of releasing them back into their natural environment. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FOSTERING ORPHANED BIRDS GENERAL SUPPLIES NEEDED: - foodsticks (toothpick, small tapered dowel or popsicle stick. - eye dropper for giving drinks of water. - logbook. FOR NESTERS SUPPLIES NEEDED: (babies that are not quite ready to be out of the nest yet) - plastic margarine container for a nest. - Kleenex and/or paper towels. - small reading lamp or heating pad if babies are not well-feathered. If feathered, no additional heat source necessary. FOR PERCHERS, BRANCHERS, HOPPERS SUPPLIES NEEDED: (active, feathered babies with good balance but not flying yet) - outdoor daytime cage (the bigger, the better) - for adjustment to the outdoors. - indoor overnight cage to protect babies from poor weather and predators until they can remain safely in the trees overnight. If you have questions about any of the information presented in contact the Wild Bird Care Centre at (613) 828-2849. ----------------------------------------------------------------- HELPFUL HINTS FOR BABY BIRDS: 1. Unless absolutely necessary, do not hold the baby while feeding it and never hold it on its back while feeding it. 2. As babies get older, start leaving the food along with 'their' food stick in the cage to encourage self-feeding from a familiar dish. 3. Young birds will be able to fly long before they are able to forage for their own natural foods. They will continue to return to 'their' dish or directly to you for handouts as they learn how to look after themselves. This soft release process will last for 1 to 3 weeks. 4. Household hazards: hot stoves, kitchen sinks, toilets, aerosols, stringy cloths in cage, human feet, dogs, cats, closing/opening doors, open containers of water, etc.. 5. Young birds will be quite tame until they learn to be less dependent on their human caregivers However, wild birds need to stay wild, so protect them and care for them but avoid thinking of them as your pet. 6. Watch for any changes that might be a signal of poor health such as: depression, lethargy, incoordination, abnormal posture of head, sleeping a lot, consistent failure to eat, irregular breathing, etc.. Notify the Wild Bird Care Centre of anything unusual so that other babies don't get sick and so that a sick baby doesn't have to spend time suffering needlessly. 7. Keep babies warm, clean and dry. They should feel approximately the same temperature as your cheek. Clean soiled feathers or beaks with a moist Kleenex or Q-tip. Babies may love to bathe, which is fine. However, being soaked for long periods invites chill which can jeopardize the bird's health. 8. Baby bird droppings should be well formed, not runny and not smelly. If you're unsure, call the Wild Bird Care Centre. 9. Death: some of the babies in your care may not survive for one reason or another. While this is distressing for anyone trying to help a young bird, it is important for you to realize that these baby birds were originally rescued from dangerous, life-threatening circumstances. These babies have been given a second chance to survive...and you are a very important part of the second chance. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BABY BIRD FOOD: DIET #1 - SEED EATERS - 1 egg, scrambled and cooked for 1 minute in microwave when cool, add 2 tablespoons of mixed baby pablum and 1 teaspoons of nestling powder. - if mixture is too crumbly, add water. DIET #2 - INSECT EATERS - Prepare diet #1 and add the following: - 1 cup cooked hamburger meat - 1 tablespoon Baby Strained Chicken or Beef - blend above ingredients into a 4 oz can of Dog Food. - Optional additions: - any freeze-dried insect (tubifex, flies, blood worms). - live insects (flies, moths, earthworms). NOTE: The above diets can be stored in freezer and thawed as needed. Food should be freshly prepared or thawed each day. FEEDING: Younger babies will need feedings every half hour during daylight hours. Give 3 - 4 mouthfuls per feeding. WATER: Offer 2 - 3 drops of water after each feeding (kept warm, well hydrated and quiet. All stress (noise, unnecessary handling, etc.) must be avoided and babies must always be raised with others of their own species. High quality formulas, nutritious foods are essential to raising healthy wildlife with the ultimate goal of releasing them back into their natural environment. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FOR THE REALLY SERIOUS FOSTER FOLK...THIS IS THE RECIPE WE USE AT THE WILD BIRD CARE CENTRE: MEAT MIX RECIPE: - Starting ...with 2 beef hearts... Cook beef heart in 4-6 cups of water, add more as needed Save the broth for adding to the recipe later. - When cooked, cut into small chunks, remove tough gristle. Blend in cuisinart until chunks are smooth. Add broth to help make mixture smooth. ADD: - Tubifex worms/Bloodworms *1/2 large container - Mynah Bird Food 3 cups - Flydine or substitute 2 small containers - Duck Mash *8 cups - Cede 1 small box (1/2 large) - Cod Liver Oil 1/3 cups - Vitamin powder 5 tablespoons - Canned Dog Food 4 cans mushed finely - Baby Strained Carrots 3 jars - Baby Strained Beef or Chicken 10 jars Use all the broth and add extra water as needed...the dry ingredients tend to soak up a lot of liquid. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EGG MIX RECIPE: - 2 dozen eggs - 4 cups water - 1/2 cup carnation milk or milk substitute Cook over medium heat or microwave until the mixture is soft-cooked, not clumped - add 1/3 cup Cod Liver Oil - 1 large box Mixed Baby Pablum Blend well enough to remove any clumps. Store in freezer in small amounts. Thaw as needed. ----------------------------------------------------------------- HELPING BABY BIRDS IF IT HAS FEATHERS, it's learning to fly and it's resting. LEAVE IT BE. Baby birds are called 'Fledgling' when they leave the nest. They are very vulnerable at this stage because they can't fly well yet, and are often on the ground waiting for parent birds to find and feed them. Human help is not necessary...LEAVE THE BABY ALONE UNLESS IT IS INJURED. BUT...if it appears injured...if you can see blood, if it's limping or if a wing is hanging at a strange angle, then it needs help from the Wild Bird Care Centre. -------------- IF IT HAS NO FEATHERS, look for the nest and put it back into the nest. Baby birds can be safely placed back in their nest. Birds have a poor sense of smell so they will not reject babies that have been touched by humans. No feathers, no nest - make a new one. Cut a 4'' hole in a plastic juice container and tie it to the closest tree. Put ----------------------------------------------------------------- A recent study at the University of Wisconsin has compiled some dramatic statistics that ranks the domestic cat as the major predator of wild birds, outnumbering native foxes, skunks, and raccoons! Thirty rural cats were radio-collared and followed on their hunting trips and 23 percent of their prey was found to be birds. From the low estimate of 1.4 million free-ranging rural cats, it is predicted that 7.8 million birds per year are killed in the state of Wisconsin alone. Solutions?...Some cities have cat leash laws. Bell collars seem to have a limited effect. The logical and most humane decision is, cats should be neutered and confined to prevent further destruction to wildlife, especially during ---------------------------------------------------------------- TRUE OR FALSE? BABY BIRDS ONLY LEAVE THE NEST WHEN THEY CAN FLY. FALSE In actual fact, most birds leave the nest before they are able to fly properly. Their first 'flight' from the nest is usually not much more than a flutter from branch to branch or to the ground. True flight is not possible until all of the young bird's flight feathers are nearly full grown, which will take anywhere from several days to a week or more after it has left the nest. So you shouldn't be alarmed if you find a baby robin hopping around in your backyard, apparently looking lost and doing lots of chirping. This chirping is used to signal the parents that the baby is hungry and helps the parents to keep tabs on their kids, which usually get easily separated from one another very quickly. Parents coach these fledglings to suitable cover and feed them well until they are able to fly., If you watch from a distance, mom or dad will soon appear on the scene with a nice snack. If you want to do the birds a big favour at this time,ask your neighbours to keep their cat(s) indoors. LOOKING AFTER A BABY BIRD IS FUN AND IT'S EASY. FALSE Caring for a human baby is not all fun, nor is it easy. And it's even harder to take care of a baby that doesn't even belong to your species. Sadly, most orphaned baby birds that are taken into care by well-meaning but inexperienced human parents die from improper nutrition, starvation, exposure, or over-handling. A single baby bird will quickly imprint on whatever happens to feed it. When the care-giver is a human, the baby grows up thinking that it's a human too. Not only can it not care for itself, it gets the crazy idea that all people are as kind and loving as you are. That's usually a fatal mistake. PARENT BIRDS ABANDON THEIR YOUNG. FALSE It is exceptionally rare for any parent of any species to simply abandon its young, no matter what the circumstances. After all, parents have a whole lot invested in their off-spring and they don't readily give this up on a whim. More often then not 'orphaned' baby birds are probably being well cared for by the parent. Remember too that birds usually have more than one baby to care for and because they never stick around together once they've left the nest, the adults may simply be away caring for 'your' orphans siblings. They'll be back as soon as they can. ---------------- So as a general rule of thumb, the best thing you can do for a baby bird is to leave it alone, keep your distance, and keep your cat inside. There is certainly no guarantee that it will survive, but it's chances are often a whole lot better if you resist the natural temptation to help out!