Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: iron650 on June 03, 2011, 07:01:27 PM
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A red breasted robin became flightless and apparently my family is caring for it. It lost a few tail feathers. We arent experienced with it so can you guys give us help? Can someone help us find out its diet, how long it might have to stay with us, and a few pointers on it?
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I just give them to the cat
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Don't have one
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BB gun works pretty good! :aok
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Put it out in the backyard.
The circle of life. :old:
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like one poster said just put it out in the yard with some type of cover and either it lives or it don't.
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It's likely a young of the year,they have little to no tail! Like others have said put it out in the yard so the parents can look after it. If you insist on trying to raise it,dew worms are a staple diet,some bread crusts soaked in milk will do until you can gather some worms.
:salute
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It's likely a young of the year,they have little to no tail! Like others have said put it out in the yard so the parents can look after it. If you insist on trying to raise it,dew worms are a staple diet,some bread crusts soaked in milk will do until you can gather some worms.
:salute
It was alone when we found it. Yes, we went digging for worms. Also, it appears to have lost its tail feathers (1 left) by a fight or something else. Any suggestions on where to put it to rehabilitate (no not the backyard)? Currently the bird is in a box with a little paper. Also, how many worms?
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If a small bird has the unnatural scent of a human on it, it will be abandoned by its parents to fend on its own
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Can yall please be a little more supportive, what makes that birds life any more meaningless than yours?
And I would sure love to help but I don't know anything about taking care of birds sorry :(
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If a small bird has the unnatural scent of a human on it, it will be abandoned by its parents to fend on its own
Some birds have a good sense of smell, but a robin isn't one of them. They can't smell the scent of human on each other any more than you can smell it on a dog that someone's touched.
The fear of scent deterring the parent birds isn't founded.
However, if it is a young bird, the parents probably won't continue to search for it much after they lose track of its location (which will happen if someone picks it up and moves it too far, or moves it indoors).
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It was alone when we found it. Yes, we went digging for worms. Also, it appears to have lost its tail feathers (1 left) by a fight or something else. Any suggestions on where to put it to rehabilitate (no not the backyard)? Currently the bird is in a box with a little paper. Also, how many worms?
It doesn't actually need its tail to remain flighted. If it's an adult, and has lost it's tail feathers, it should still be able to fly just fine without its tail. If it's lost them through trauma and cannot fly, it likely has more dire injuries than you've detected.
If it's a recently-fledged youngster (you can tell by the spots it'll have around its breast), it cannot fly well because that's how they start out. They leap from the nest, but don't fly far. They call a lot, and mom and pop answer them, and bring them food. Within a few days they'll strengthen to the point where they can get around just fine. If you remove them from the parents attention, it's very unlikely that the parents will re-adopt them. They cannot count, so probably won't really notice it's gone anyway. If the parents happened to see a large predator (you) in the vicinity of one of its now-missing young, well...
If it's any comfort, probably in the neighborhood of 80% of those little guys don't make it through their first year anyway. Many are the victims of predators at fledging-time (like has happened here), even though it's accidental). Many also die in early "accidents" while acquiring the flight-skills they'll need to survive. It's a rough world.
If it's an adult, you may not succeed in getting it to eat quick enough to nurse it back to health. If it's a youngster, you may... If you can get it to eat, worms, crickets, flies, mealworms, waxworms, maggots, etc, will all work. How much? Whatever it will eat... They can eat 20% of their body-weight per day... You won't be able to over-feed it, because it'll just stop eating... If that works, it's best chance of survival is going to be being released ASAP, if not sooner. Give it a good meal, and let it go (in the morning). If it isn't allowed to fly at this very stage, it won't continue to develop properly, and will be doomed regardless of how healthy and flighted it appears later. Keeping it 3-4 days is too much.
At this stage of the game, the other aerial predators also have young that are right now learning to hunt by hunting these recently-fledged birds. A few days head-start for it's competitors (while they're learning, and the guy you have in a box is not) will mean death to the lil' fella. That's how it works...
It's a federal crime for you to have that lil' guy, or any feathers, etc, for that matter, although it's not likely to be enforced.
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Thanks for the words of wisdom. :salute
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Take it to the vet.
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Take it to the vet.
Not a great idea, actually. First of all, most vets don't have a lot of experience with birds. Those that do are generally specialized to some extent (some are good at "fowl" like chickens, some are good at pet birds like parrots). Most are most familiar with fixing broken or sick birds, and are less informed when it comes to raising orphaned birds.
Then too, there's the fact that it's an illegal animal to have in your possession, and illegal for the vet to have as well.
Plus, most vets don't take too kindly to a wild animal (with its potential disease and parasite "baggage" being brought into the environment that they're paying customers are bringing their animals into...
If you're going to take it to someone, a small animal rehab would be the one to take it to. And they'll think you're nuts, or tell you it's a youngster that should have been left out in the yard... It make as much sense to rehab it as it does to rehab any other extremely-common nowhere-near threatened or endangered animal (like a mouse that you find in your driveway). Who's going to pay the bill?
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If a small bird has the unnatural scent of a human on it, it will be abandoned by its parents to fend on its own
I think that has been proven false. It's what I've always been told but seems to be incorrect.
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It was alone when we found it. Yes, we went digging for worms. Also, it appears to have lost its tail feathers (1 left) by a fight or something else. Any suggestions on where to put it to rehabilitate (no not the backyard)? Currently the bird is in a box with a little paper. Also, how many worms?
Mtnman said it much more eloquently than I could have,follow his advice and release it asap.If it has any chance of surviving the soon it's released the better.
I hadnt considered the legal ramifications but yes being a songbird it is illegal to posses but you'd have to get caught.
I have a robins nest on my house,they nest every year there,I expect the babies to fledge any day now. I never bother them and often find atleast 1 thats been killed by the local cats!
:salute
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Releasing it today. Named it Little One.
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Wtg iron650. I'm thinking we all need a little help now and then.
Don't hate a bird for missing a few feathers. :)
:cheers: Coogan
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Take it to the vet.
I know a lot of Vets, and the rule of thumb is "a sick bird is a dead bird".
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Cats gotta eat too. It's like my parents house. They have several feeders that the local pigeons love to frequent. So does the local sharp-shinned hawk. He will perch on a telephone pole behind the house. Several times a year wefind a big cloud of feathers in the yard. My dad has watched him take several. It's like a grenade going off when the hawk hits them.