Baby robin - how do I take care of him?

[SaraK]

My buggering cat has brought me another little present - a baby robin. She's brought me them before but the others were injured and died quickly. This one seems to be ok apart from a big bruise on his leg - I'll get a picture of it asap so you guys can give me an opinion. He's full of energy and hopping around and trying to fly so I don't think he's too badly injured - no wounds from the cat.

I haven't the faintest idea where the nest could be and it's already dark outside and it's POURING rain like crazy so I don't want to put him back out.

I already know to keep him warm, what I need to know is what else do I do? What do I feed him? When and how much? How do I make sure he's warm but not too warm? How do I tend his bruise? And anything else I might need to know to take care of him. Oh, and I've been calling him a him but I don't know how to tell the difference, so if anyone knows?

There are no rehabbers or wildlife vets in my area.

Here's a picture of him:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/AnakinsAngel/Foundlings/BabyRobinMay282009.jpg

[TexanSquirrel]

Let me make a call - brb.

[TexanSquirrel]

Okay, that didn't work. Hmmm...:dono

[SaraK]

Can I feed him some egg yolk? That had been recommended to me but I just wanted to be sure before I did it.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Your little guy is a fledgling. If he is able to hop around even though his leg is bruised, I would put him outside and see if his mom comes to care for him. She is probably in the area caring for his siblings. If you think she may have a puncture she will need antibiotics, though, and cannot be put back outside.

The little guy should get the baby bird food:

1 cup kitten food (I use purina kitten chow)
1.25 cups of HOT water
let that soak until you can mash it up and suck it up a syringe, but it can't be watery
Add 1 jar of gerber chicken with gravy baby food
1 tsp. of yogurt or bene-bac
calcium (either sprinkle a little bit of cuttle bone shavings into it or ground up calcium pill (make sure it is calcium only NO vitamin D added)
2 tbsp. dried egg whites (you can get them in the baking section of some stores). If you don't have this and can't find it, just skip it.

You should feed every hour and he should be taking 3-4 ccs per feeding.

Remember do NOT feed baby birds after dark as they won't be able to digest it. I was told to feed from 5 AM to 9 PM with a 2-3 hour break around noon.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

A little bit of egg yolk will be OK. Also, he may like grapes (cut into 5-6 pieces).

You should also give him a pan of dirt with bugs in it so he can learn to pick out the worms and bugs.

[Buddy'sMom]

They don't eat at night, so you don't have to worry about feeding him now. He is old enough that he should be OK if he goes out in the same place tomorrow -- hopefully mom and dad will be looking for him.

Do you have access to antibiotic?

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

EDIT: :D I now see that SR&BT has it covered .... do what she says. :thumbsup

[SaraK]

I can get the baby bird food made up so that should work out. I can't put him back out tonight though because it's already dark and raining. I'm a little worried about putting him out in the morning because I can't stay to watch and make sure he's all right because I have to go to work. Also I have nine cats and most go out first thing in the morning. Even if I tried to keep them inside, there's other neighbourhood cats as well as strays around that I can't control.

He's all wrapped up right now while I wait for his new accomodations to arrive. He's in some fluff wrapped in a cloth and held against me for warmth with the top open so he can breathe. He seems to be slowly falling asleep. But he's sitting there with his mouth open and I don't know why? He doesn't appear to be having trouble breathing. He's not opening and closing, he's not making any noises, he's just got his mouth open. I gve him a little water, is he still thirsty maybe?

[gs1]

Hi;

the mouth open thing could be stress. maybe if you put him in a dark warm quiet place away from all smells of cats/dogs etc.

i'm really not sure about giving them water. - someone else will need to comment ... i'm thinking i heard that we shouldn't do that.

last year I had two robins 2 days younger than this one and a cat did get one. It died. even though i couldn't find any scratch marks anywhere and i put the 2 of them back in their nests and the parents came back and fed them etc.. i still found one of them dead. Cat's mouths have bacteria in it which is deadly to them.

I think that they've got ? 24-48 hours that they die unless they get antibiotics.

wishing you both all the best...:) ps: hopefully you can take him to an avian vet (in toronto there's Links vet clinic)

[SaraK]

I fed him a little egg yolk at 5:30am but he didn't seem very hungry - he wouldn't open his mouth and I had to drip it onto his beak and then he would lap it up, but he stopped doing that too.

I've found a robin's nest outside but I have no idea if it's his nest. He's outside right now in a laundry basket but so far no one's come down to him. Is there anything else I should do? Is there a better time to put him out? When should I give up and bring him back in?

I really have no idea where his nest could be, there's a ton of robins around here. Is there anything I can do about that?

[Nancy in New York]

First off, no water. You should bring him in if you aren't watching him. I wouldn't leave him in a laundry basket, he can't fly and if there is a preditor around...it's like he is caged in.
He may be breathing that way if he is overheated...He has feathers and really doesn't required additional heat when inside.
You can also feed nestling food. This can be purchased at any pet store.
Don't leave him outside when you are at work. Could you bring him with you and the food also so you can feed him there too??? You are doing great, I just wouldn't leave him alone in the laundry basket. Nice of you to do all of this for the poor little guy...:thumbsup

[SaraK]

I was watching him the entire time he was out there and I had to go out a couple of times to chase off my neighbour's cats. I managed to keep mine inside for a little while, the little beggars.

He's now inside in his little cage and he is FULL of energy. He managed to hop up onto the second level all by himself. He's actually flapping his wings and getting a little liftoff. He led me on a merry dance around my sister's room when I first tried to feed him this morning. :p

He may have been both warm and stressed last night, I had nowhere to put him so I had to carry him around in a little nest I tucked inside my shirt for a few hours until I could get somewhere to put him. The only cage we had was already full of the last animal Tamsin brought in. He stopped that last night though so I think he's fine now.

I would LOVE to bring him with me to work but I am a daycare teacher and I have a feeling they would FREAK if I brought in a live animal - cause oh no the kids might get diseases or bugs or yuckies or something else nasty that would totally....hurt....them? Personally I think it would be a great learning experience for the kids, but I'm just a supply so they aren't my kids and I have to do what my supervisor says - and she's not a particularly accomodating woman. I like her but she just wouldn't "get" something like this. Also they would probably think that having a bird in would take my attention away from the kids.

I'm about to go feed him again - but he won't open his mouth and he's taking very little food. Is there anything I can do to encourage him to eat?

[Nancy in New York]

If you hold the food straight above his head and as soon as he opens his mouth put it in fast. I have always had to feed them fast, like once they open boom, put it in...
I hope you know what I mean, it is like once he sees the food or your hand and opens, do it fast...
Your supervisor wouldn't undertand a baby bird...and oh yes, the bugs, diseases and cooties...keep that bird away from my babies....:D :rotfl :rotfl
I'm also at work, almost ready to feed a little squirrel that I have. Seems like for the past 2 months something has come in with me...but my boss is one in a million...(hope he reads this...:wave123 )

[Nancy in New York]

Forgot to ask, are you syringe feeding? I think the nestling food would work out well. Do you have mealworms? Most likely not, it's not something people keep on hand...:rotfl

[BHO]

we successfully raised a baby robin several years ago. Yes, you can feed boiled egg yolk and we used a syringe to administer, Whistle, the baby opened mouth and we squirt a little in. Then we got some song bird baby formula from pet store and gave that.

Eventually you will have to find them some worms and teach it how to forage for food. They love blueberries (when weaned off baby food) all types of berris and cherries. We would bury some worm some dirt in box for it to find.

As it gets older you would not be able to keep it in a cage cos the feathers would damage and you wont be able to release it. We kept in a room and night it likes to be cuddled to sleep cos we think as they roost together to sleep theyt want company b4 going to sleep

If you have more questions, please dont hesitate to PM as I dont always check the board. It was eventually released and would return to us, Then one day we never saw it again. I think it may have been taken by cat.

The one we had, Cropper was prob a little younger.

[ransacklv]

there is a puppy food that is in like a mealy crushed for - heat up water and mix with a small about of the food and he/she will eat it and get healthy

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

SarahK, it would be a very BAD idea to take the little tykes to daycare with you, believe me I had to learn that lesson the hard way. I used to teach Ranger Kids at my church (it is for kindergarden to second graders and is part of Royal Rangers-kinda like boy scouts) and one lesson was on God's creation. So, like a dummy, I got permission to bring in 2 baby squirrels I was raising. They had just opened their eyes like 3-4 days before and I thought it would be great because they were still at the sweet cuddly stage but were big enough that they wouldn't get hurt. Well, that was a bad idea. Let's just say no matter how much you tell kids to be quiet and stay back, they DON'T. the kids were all over the squirrels screaming how cute and sweet and I thought the babies were going to have a heart attack. I got them out to the car ASAP after that. It took them nearly a day to calm down though, they were that freaked out. So, I wouldn't advise taking any wild animal around kids, especially a scared fledgling bird (or a rabbit because that would be certain death).

Also, baby birds aren't like mammals. they don't really snuggle, so wrapping him all up in the blanket probably freaked him out and that is why he was stressed. Also, he didn't need extra heat so he was probably warm.

I would put the little tyke out whenever you have at least 30 minutes to an hour to watch. If you see the mom or dad come back and feed him, then you know that they are taking care of him and they should get him into the bushes. He looks like he will be flying within the next day, so he really is best off getting to his parents ASAP. If you wait to long, all his siblings will be flying and eating on their own and the parents won't be looking to feed anyone on the ground. It goes way quicker with their parents than with us as their mommy. If you end up keeping him, you are looking at 3-4 weeks of hand feeding before he FINALLY learns to eat on his own and it will take him a lot longer to fly because he doesn't have the room to practice. So, with humans they are ready to be on their own at 5-6 weeks old wheras with their parents they are ready to go and don't need help at about 3 weeks old.

[SaraK]

SUCCESS!! Baby has been reunited with Mommy.

I never believed it would really work, because there are so many robins in my neighbourhood that my cat could have gotten him anywhere. But I set him out on my lawn again this morning in a low, clear plastic bin. For half an hour nothing really happened, although two robins landed in a tree just above him and seemed to be listening, but then they flew off again. I thought maybe they couldn't see him in the bin so I put him right in the grass. He started to hop off so I watched and was going to go out if he got too far. He got under the spruce tree and I waited a minute, then went and got him. I carried him back to the middle of the lawn and set him there again, then I heard a bird behind me doing the "Baby? I have food!" sound, so I turn around and there's a momma robin on the spruce tree, with a worm and everything! I got back inside asap and watched from the door. It took a few minutes, but Baby went back under the spruce tree and his momma found him. She's since gone out and come back with food four more times.

I have a question though - will she keep him under the spruce tree or will she move him somewhere safe? I don't know if they can get a baby back to the nest but under the spruce tree isn't a very safe place for birds.

[4skwerlz]

A baby who can't fly is in danger on the ground. No, the parents won't be able to get him back into the nest, although they will feed him. Here's what you can do:

Put the baby bird in a cardboard box (too big for him to hop out) near the area where the parents were feeding him, and where you can keep an eye on him. This way the parents can feed him all day long. If you have a lot of cats around, you can nail the box up on a nearby tree. Let the parents feed him during the day, then bring the box in at dusk, close the flaps loosely and put it in a quiet place like a garage. Then early in the morning, place the box outside again. Do this until the baby can fly into a bush, where he'll be safe from predators. I should only take a few days.