Baby sparrow/starling?? (no feathers yet) can you feed it apple???

Question

Links i have used for this advice..don't mention apple!
They say grapes, melon..etc to help provide water to hydrate this suffering bird!

I only have apples at home to try this....do you think it would be ok??

I also have raisins? that i feed my daughter's hamster!

any suggestions would be helpful please!!

thanks

Thanks all

Yippeee....he has just eaten his first bit of food....tiny piece of bread soaked in sugared water!

Really hope sugar and bread ok...i have read some of the links advice on food for birds..hope this is ok considering i am guessing this bird is probably a sparrow!

I really appreciate the help all of you have provided me to help this little bird!

Answer 1

Best advice - return it to the nest so the mother can feed it properly. Otherwise, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. You can find one here: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

These people have the training and the resources, and the necessary permits, to care for orphaned wild animals. Most do not charge any fee for their services, and some even come to pick up the bird if you really can not get it to them.

Do not attempt to care for this baby yourself. If you do not have the proper training (and getting formulas and advice from the internet is a poor substitute for proper training), you can do more harm than good.

I like what this person says: "First of all, there are federal and state laws that prohibit keeping wild birds. And there are so many important but subtle elements to raising a wild bird that the job is only legally entrusted to licensed rehabilitators. Many well-meaning people raise baby birds or rescue birds from cats or after accidents, and sometimes they don't realize that the bird in their care is suffering from a serious dietary deficiency. Some of the problems aren't apparent to untrained people, but can cause death, or make the bird less likely to evade predators or to survive harsh natural weather conditions."
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/FAQBabies.html

Answer 2

Apples aren't really juicy enough, but they're better than nothing. Remove the skin and mush up of course! Raisins aren't any good because they hardly have any moisture in them (being dried grapes) so they're not going to be good for rehyrdation. The only reason you don't feed water directly is because they're likely to inhale it and die.

Once you've fed a little fruit to rehyrdate the bird, move on to mushy cat (or dog) food. A bird this young will require feeding at least hourly, except throughout the night.

I recently kept a young thrush for a few days, I fed him Hills a/d (mushy cat convalescent food) and he did fabulously - had feathers just on wings when I got him and had feathers nearly all over by the time I gave him to a rescue centre four days later! This bird was not injured or debilitated at all when I received him however, otherwise he would surely have died. Don't get too attached to this little one because birds this young that are ill or injured in any way are very unlikely to survive - do your best by all means, I just don't want you to get your hopes up! My thrush was the first young bird I've ever seen survive hand-rearing.

Chalice

Answer 3

Generally in the wild, a bird like that would get regurgitated protein of the fleshly variety such as grubs or meal worms or bugs and things that have been churned and ground a little in the mouth and gizzard of the mother and mixed with some of her saliva to help break it down a little for digestion. This is because the baby bird doesn't have a very well developed system to do any of those things yet.

Answer 4

Don't try and raise it yourself if you have no experience.Find a wildlife rehab centre and let them rear it. In the meantime offer it small amounts of mashed up tinned cat food as it's parents would feed it insects.

Seriously don't try and raise it yourself.I've done it succesfully but it is ULTRA time consuming and very tricky.

Answer 5

I had the same problem with lots of baby birds, just go to;www.wildlife-international.org, and take a look! I got the info I needed.

Answer 6

http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm

I sent you this link on your other thread. Look at the bottom of the page for other tips. And there's a link on the page to join the members forums - they can talk you through it.

Definitely no raisins. and the apple would work - run it through a food processor, or blender with water until applesauce.

Answer 7

It's best to leave a baby bird where you find it, as parents come to feed it. You can rarely raise a baby bird like this. I don't think it would be able to ingest apple.

Answer 8

Honestly yes
apples have a whole lot of water in it :)
and rasins are a dry fruit so stick with what you thought
Apples for the Win
p.s maybe u should go shopping ;)

Mr IP

Answer 9

where did you find it ? if it has no feathers it will still be eating bugs it's mom regurgitates. take it to a wildlife rehabilitation center! quick before it goes downhill!

Answer 10

Babyfood with a plastic pluger works