Baby birds

[Xeperxi]

Sorry for the bad quality of this pic it's the middle of the night and I had to go through the trash to try and find her, here is the mom:

[Xeperxi]

Here is a pic of the mom sorry for the bad quality it's the middle of the night

[Xeperxi]

Sorry double posted my phone sucks lol

[Xeperxi]

Hi Bubblz:

Sorry I know it flew into my home but I don't know what kind of bird it is, I know nothing about birds, I keep snakes and beardies ask me about them and I can talk lol..birds, I know absolutely nothing

[Vasiliki]

Feeding baby birds can be done infrequently, but should be done as often as possible.

Feeding babies is time consuming, but once they get the hang of it, they get it pretty quickly.

If you are serious with this, you'll likely need to bring them inside. I kept mine in a hamster/wire cage when I was hand-feeding my baby lovebirds. Near this I would mount my red heat lamp. Not too close, but enough to keep them comfortably warm. I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact temps I kept them at. It's been almost ten years since I kept them.

Babies need comfort, so try to make a 'nest' as best you can. Anything where they can feel a 'barrier' of sorts near them. This can be their siblings, or a wrinkled towel... Something for them to 'snuggle'. It's a security thing that they usually do with mom.

Feeding babies is both easy, and hard.

Get a syringe. Preferably one that has a curved plastic tip. It shouldn't be small, but not terribly large either. You basically want a syringe that you can control very easily. If you have to squeeze too hard, it'll release all of a sudden. Or it will be too small and too slow to feed quickly when you need to.

Baby bird mix can be found at most stores that supply avian food. Look around for it. More expensive is typically richer, but read the directions and make sure you can mix it.

We mixed our baby food to about 103-107F. It should be warm, but not hot. Just like a baby bottle, test it on your wrist first. If it cools, the babies will refuse it, so I would often rest my baby food in a bowl of warm water to keep the temps up and suck the food up into the syringe directly from the bowl, working quickly.

Birds digest differently than we do. They have something called a Crop. It's like a pre-stomach. It sits in front of their chest, at the bottom of their 'throat'. It often will develop into a 'bag' when full. Crops then empty into the stomach. They do this from the top down. Why you need to know this is that if a baby is fed over and over again when it is still half-full, the food on the bottom of the crop will ferment.

Baby birds, when feeding, will do the head-bobbing, heavy-swallowing action to get the food down. This is when they are opening their Crop to receive food. They are usually not breathing when they do this, as they share a windpipe like we do. This is why we want absolute control with our syringe. When the baby starts doing this, you want to squirt the baby food down their throat with some speed. Given how small they are, start in small doses until you feel comfortable. It should be quick, so that the baby has time to swallow and then start breathing immediately afterwards. I would feed my babies in 2-3 doses at first, then I could usually fill them up in 1-2 doses after practice and getting to know each baby's behavior.

Because of this, you can check when to feed them next. Touch their crops. If it feels 'loose' and empty, feed them again. If it still has 'stuff', then you can wait a while longer.

Babies need comfort, however, and interaction. If the babies die, which sometimes happens, you will want to provide marbles to stimulate other eggs that they can cuddle up to, or objects that are 'fuzzy' and they can 'snuggle' up to. Cats toys work well.

Sometimes babies won't poop without stimulation, so if you aren't noticing poop, just take a warm wet q-tip 'massage' their bum. This should help. Often if one baby is pooping, the others will too.

If that makes sense and sounds like something you want to try, then I'll be happy to help you with further advice if you need it.

[reptileexperts]

Need to see more of the bird. The habits sound like Carolina Wren, but that bird shown is def not right for a wren. The other options for nesters like this would be House Sparrows, and this looks pretty good for that. Again, these are invasive species that are non-native and will not be cared for by anybody. . . For the sake of huamintarianism you can bring them up and see what happens, but for the sake of ecological reasoning, it serves no difference to the eco system if these young survive or perish. . . hence why people wont spend resources working with Starlings which are hunted . . . same with these little english house sparrows. Again, my ID could be wrong, but I'm fairly confident, and my backgrounds with birds is VERY extensive, with my name on quite a few scientfic papers including one in the Wilson's Journal of Ornithlogy. So my two cents for what it's worth. Others have already guided you toward taking care of them. I'm just giving you some ecological perspective to go with, and a potential ID.

Cheers,

[Xeperxi]

Hi everyone:

I took the babies this morning to the HS and their wildlife guy said these were sparrows, and that they were 1-2 days old. He said web if I were to nurse them they most likely would not survive. I left te babies with them, wish I could have helped them but that's life.

Thanks again for all of your input really appreciate it!

[Vasiliki]

Hi everyone:

I took the babies this morning to the HS and their wildlife guy said these were sparrows, and that they were 1-2 days old. He said web if I were to nurse them they most likely would not survive. I left te babies with them, wish I could have helped them but that's life.

Thanks again for all of your input really appreciate it!

Sometimes the best way to help is to pass it on to someone who might be able to do more. Good on you for at least moving them and giving them a hope with the HS. It may be a slim bit of hope, but at least it's better than nothing.

Sorry to hear that all this drama happened. Never easy when the reality of life hits us.