We have been given, by a neighbour, a baby blackbird that was being attacked by a cat, fortunatley it is unharmed but am unsure as to how to look after it. W e have been giving it small amounts of milk and feeding it maggots and the bird seems to like this, but are we doing the right thing?
Hi val. I am no expert, but I don't think milk is a good idea. Worms, caterpillars, maggots should all be good, but you will have to feed it constantly for several weeks to stand any chance of rearing it. Is there no chance that it's real parents may not still be around to do the feeding?
There are 9000 species of bird on earth. Let's keep it that way.
Tinned Pedigree Chum puppy food (chicken flavour) is really good, but as Budgie said, it's an investment of a few weeks, so if you can find a local wildlife hospital that might be better. Look on http://britishwildlifehelpline.com/centres%20_%20England.html
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
Hi Budgie, thanks for replying, we don't know where the nest is as the neighbour just found it in the street with a cat attacking it and apparantly she kept it in her greenhouse for a day before she gave it us. The bird is well happy in the house with us and is eating every 90 mins and chirping happyly. All its bodily functions are working well and it seems to have no ill effects from the cat attack. I wonder if water may be more suitable or should it get enough moisture from the maggots. Caterpillars sound a good idea I will certainly try them. Thanks again.
You are doing a sterling job val. Please keep us informed how you get on. I hope it's a happy ending. Have you thought how you are going to teach it to fly ha ha.
Hi, my partner says if you go to youtube in a few mins and look for
Maisy's The Blackbird Arrival
you will see a video he is uploading at the moment of the bird.
I have had the idea of pushing him out the bedroom window so that Maisy the bird can see how it's done. ha ha ha.
Hi Val, the advice from earlier in the thread about getting the bird to a wildlife hospital was spot on. It would be better for the bird if it was looked after by expert rehabilitators who could treat any wounds inflicted by the cats and rear the bird with other birds in the same situation if it is not immediately possible to release it back into the wild due to injury.
If the bird is not injured it should be released back into the nearby area as soon as possible after it was discovered as it's parents are best placed to provide care and protection for the young blackbird, it is possible they will recognise the youngsters call even days after it was taken from the wild so this has to be the priority action. Unfortunately, hand reared blackbirds don't have a good survival rate as it is very dificult for humans to replicate the care and eductation they receive from their parents.
The link here provides advice about what to do if you find a baby bird and you can find more information about animal hospitals here and here.
On a very important note, milk should never be fed to wild birds as they cannot digest it and it will make them very sick if it doesn't kill them, water is fine though.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Hi Bugie and friends
Val
please take a look at you tube ( baby blackbird rearing) ....the little blackbird has nearly all his feathers and my partner now takes him up the garden with him so he can see and hear the wild birds
at the moment he is sitting on a perch the side of me
he is doing so well..
Thanks all
val
Ian, my partner and I have actually found that hand-reared blackbirds are some of the easiest birds to rear (if you know what to feed them and have suitable accommodation!). They learn to gape very readily, let you know (noisily!) when they're hungry and also when they're full, and we've always found that after a period of time a switch seems to flick, they want nothing more to do with you, and are ready to soft release from a suitable aviary. We've always seen the birds we've released into our garden around for quite some time after release. It's still a good idea to get an orphaned bird (and especially one that's been got by a cat to get antibiotics) to a wildlife hospital to be reared with the same species if at all possible.