I need advice on hatching wild bird eggs, which i believe are barn swallows.?

Question

I found a tiny white brown speckled egg on the ground without any nest insight, i was wondering if you can feed it damp dog food or cat food when its first born? or is it necisary to feed it formula? Also I was curious what the damp cloth ive been hearing about is used for and is it a necisity? Right now i have it in a basket with dry cloths and a heating lamp. I constantly check the tempature to make sure its not to hot. I would really appreciate any advice on hatching/caring for this egg.

Answer 1

Eggs need to be warmed consistently so if you found the egg on the ground then there probably isn't any chance of saving it anyway.  It would also be illegal for you to possess wild bird eggs.  It is not your job to mess with mother nature.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

You want to keep it gently warm, but not too hot.  Because of the unnatural heat, it might dry out so that's why you would use a damp cloth.  You also will want to gently turn it around slightly, as the mother bird would if she were in a nest with it.

Birds don't drink milk--little bits of canned cat food might work, but you have to give them pretty often--it's ok, you'll know because it will cheep at you when it's hungry!

You should be able to find books on hatching eggs at your library, even if you live in the city, because a lot of teachers get incubators and hatch eggs for their classes to watch, or people might raise pigeons, so the library is likely to stock books on it.