Okay, reasking because i cant get a hold of any bird people we know..?

Question

we cut down trees (shame on us, i'll go turn my self in later to the bird police for doing farm work). . . but now a DAY (over 24 hours later) we find a nest. . . we did not know the nest was there, we did not know the bird was there until an hour or so ago. . . we took the WHOLE nest and put it in a large flower pot bottom. now i cant get to a pet store at 8 pm on a sunday. . . every store in this area closes at 5 pm (we found the bird after 5)

my question is (now that i stopped panicing) can we feed this bird a paste made up of our baby chicken feed? (i made it up by grinding the powder to extra fine and adding a slight amount of water. . . i know NO water for baby birds)

will it be okay on that until i can get to a pet store? or can get a hold of a bird person in our area (it's a common woodland bird that we see all the time in our chicken coopes eating the chicken food)

thanks! and i'm so sry we cut down trees on our own land!

Answer 1

Read my last post I hope that will help. I would go with the cat food or dog food before any chicken feed.

Answer 2

you can put tiny pieces of bread in milk and let it sit for like 15 seconds then you can feed it to the bird but dont go near them alot because it will want food when you do because it knows its real mom and dad wont be back for a while so he has got to get whatever he can whenever he can so only feed him ever half hour - 2 hours and dont just give him a diet of  that its a good idea to put a little cat food in the milk and feed him that but you have to wait till the cat food is completely soft  i hope this helps and good luck with the birds

Answer 3

I had a baby bird that I did not think would live because it was still pink and had only little spiky feathers on it.  I had no idea what kind of bird it was as I found it upside down in a horse's footprint one day as I was walking back from teaching a lesson.  I put it in my helmet and stuck it in a bowl with a paper towel over it once I got back to my apartment.  I looked up on the internet a recipe for feeding baby birds.  I had to go past all the MANY sites that said "DON'T" until I found one that suggested a recipe that included some pretty bizarre things like plain yogurt, chicken flavored baby food (yup!), eggs, and softened kitten food (I think).  Like you said, no water.  I hope you will try to find a recipe online and you will get extra help from the site.  Some things to remember are that the lump on the side of the throat is NORMAL and GOOD.  You will only see it one one side of the throat (I can't remember which side it is) and it means that the bird has food in it.  You won't need to feed it again until the lump is gone.  If you tap on the nest where you have the bird and it throws its head back with its mouth open, stick some of this food in it.  I did not have any luck at all with an eye dropper, so eventually I used the non-bristled end of a make-up brush.  It worked just fine for the consistancy of the c**p I was stuffing in the little beastie's mouth every 25 minutes during daylight hours.  As far as the temperature goes, you certainly don't want it to be cold, but more than anything you do not want it to be too hot.  This causes something called crop burn and it is the most common cause of death for hand fed birds.  What I did for my bird was take a little bit out (like a spoonful) in the morning and put it in the nuke for like 5 seconds, then smashed it around in my hands until it felt barely warm anymore.  I'm really sorry I can't be more specific with the actual recipe, but I do remember that everything was available at 7-11 at 8:30 on a Sunday night.  

And as some of the other posters said, the parents just might be able to take care of the little dude if they can see it, so you might not have to worry.  My little guy did make it, by the way.  Once he was an adult I took him to a re-hab place where they taught him to eat seed and released him safely.  But please do not feel bad if after your efforts you little dude does not make it.  At least you tried.  That is so much more than most people would ever try to do.  

I just re-read your post.  If you have nothing else, the paste of baby chicken feed with enough water to make it a paste should be OK.  But if the bird has at least some feathers, you should also be OK to wait until morning when you can get the few items you might need.  It sounds like you will use good judgement regardless.

I recognised your picture and realised I answered a question a few weeks ago about your friend's horse rolling on her in the show ring.  Or at least if you should send a card.  Hope your friend is OK and riding again.

Answer 4

Its definitely better than nothing.  It should get you through until the stores open.  Make sure to heat it to 109 degrees and stir well to make sure that there are no hot spots.  Should be the consistency of a runny pea soup.

Nancy Daniels

Parrot Adopt Southern Ontario

www.parrotadoptontario.com

Nancy Daniels

Answer 5

Don't give up on the parents returning for the birds, be on the look out for them. Although no tree or nest they may leave the area.

If the parents eat the chicken food, then chances are that is what was fed the chicks in the nest.

Baby chicks must eat often, without food they die, so try it is my vote.

Only other thing would be to place the nest and chciks in a tree branch or shrub, but this late doubt parents would get to them in time, they need food.

Answer 6

You're better off feeding it tiny bits of canned cat food; depending on what kind of bird it is, grain paste could make it sick, and if it's a small baby that could mean a very quick death. Don't assume that just because the adults eat grain that baby will too, grain-eating species generally feed their babies bugs and only switch to grains when they wean (about the same time they fledge; a bird will already have all its feathers when it weans). Whatever you do, don't EVER feed it milk--mammals are the only animals that are capable of digesting milk, feeding a baby bird milk will make it very sick and should never be done, even as a last resort.

Also, don't take it to a pet store, they are the last person who should be trying to take care of a wild bird, and they'll probably just turn you down anyway, because they don't want to bring in a "wild animal" that might have "diseases" that could infect their domesticated birds. Veterinarians are a step up, but they often turn down wild animals, too. See if you can find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area. There's a good regional list at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact....