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Found 2 nestling robins

Ant

Your one and only pest!
Hey guys. Today my neighbors called saying they found a nest of robins that feel from a tree on a windy night. They watched from a far window for a few hours to check if the mother or father would risk caring for them again. They didn't find a single adult in the yard. I took the nest home with me and read up on their lifestyle so I could do my best to save them. Not to much of a surprise when I read their diet was of berries, seeds, worms, and insects of various types. I got a good amount of food in them before night but that wasn't enough to make them want a midnight snack so they woke me up just after I fell asleep. They ate allot that night and so they were happy enough waiting to a bit after sunrise to wake me again. When has eating like a bird actual made sense? I currently am giving them wild fresh black raspberries (just became ripe and the stem is still green and feeding the berries. Earthworms and meal worms. I want them to become fledglings soon so I will be able to get pictures but not go broke trying to find food for the gluttons. Their flight feathers are growing in and they only have a bit of the fury feathers left. The flight ones though still aren't grown in enough to see the skin. (they did grow a bit overnight) Their names are peanut and butter and were named by my 2 little cousins. They named them that because the tip of their nose is colored like peanut butter.

I do have one or two questions, do they need to drink water or is their food wet enough? I did soak each worm before feeding it so that a dry one wouldn't stick any where and go down smooth. Is a healthy poop only white with green solids or can it contain a purple in both parts after eating some black raspberries?

Pics will follow soon.
 
Young robins eat the regurgitated food collected by the parents, so I assume that a pulverized mixture of berries, worms, and fruit should be plenty moist.

Excrement is often colored by the food they have digested.
 
I volunteered at a wildlife shelter all season, if they are the size of the owns shown below they are not ready for solid food. They will still need regurgitated food which is mostly liquid form.

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pjzzkMORidneJ7huyH0fiw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_PMY_wtnw6jQ/Sg78UXcip4I/AAAAAAAABXw/NuxaPOSaMvA/s800/P5040076.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/nateniu/WildTales?feat=embedwebsite">WildTales</a></td></tr></table>

They will need to be kept warm around 85 - 90 degrees and in higher humidity. They will need to be fed EVERY 20 - 45 mins until they stop gaping. Gaping is opening the mouth, the one in the back is doing it. A small sirenge feeding 1cc at time works best, stick it down their throat and plunger the formula into them about .5 cc at a time. When you feed them you'll start to see their crop begin to look like a balloon.

http://z.about.com/d/birds/1/0/t/-/-/-/InternalBirdAnatomy.JPG

Once it's visibally inflated they are fed and will begin to digest it. Inspect the birds, make sure nothing is crawling around on them, if there is it's probably mites. Spray them with an antimite pet spray, the mites will crawl down their throats and kill them. Remove them from the next and put them into a srawberry crate as shown with wadded paper towel to make a new clean nest.

For the forumula if they look like that you may want to try and get 2 tablespoons of parrot formula (very little water) to 1 tablespoon of canned dog food (highest protein and highest fat you can get).

Once they are larger shown by the photo on this page, switch to their meal and caring instructions.
http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm

Make sure you can commit to this, it's really best to take them to a wild life shelter if you can find one. Be aware this is hundreds of feedings, 7 days all day.

Also, don't grow too attached. :/
 
I don't know of any animal shelters that take robins near or in Bristol MA.
 
Can not the MA Humane Society direct you to a place? They ought to be able to give you a number.
 
I think MA is just way to urban and this scenario would be way to common to justify raising them. I believe only species that are considered to be less common.
 
I too worked at a wildlife hospital, just thought i would mention a couple things.

First, it is ILLEGAL, at least in the state of California to raise native wildlife and probably where you live as well, you need permits and what not.

Second if you plan to raise them yourself, follow what MrFlyTrap2 says and feed them at least hourly and clean the bedding often, also be prepared to keep them because they might be too habituated to be released into the wild once they are all grown up. I would not wait till this stage to give them to a shelter, since chances are they will be euthanize.

Oh, btw be careful of the amount of bird dander they shed, it's similar to asbestos.

I would find a wildlife shelter as fast as you can. It will save you a lot of heartache later.
 
I am a little worried about feeding them solid food. When exactly can they handle it? What happens if they are switched to early? I gave them some solid pieces of worm and berry when I first found them. Does it just no give them enough nutrition compared to the amount they expend eating it or does it cause other problems? Also, is their anything I should do to help the "runt" that is noticeably smaller?
 
  • #10
I think they just can't digest solid food / or might choke on them. I'm not exactly sure how the mother regulates this / if it does at all. But if it's not dead yet, don't worry about it. But goto the formula based food instead, and discontinue solid food. For the parrot formula / puppy show make sure it's blended in a blender.

You will continue this formula all the way until they have feathers. Once they have feathers, put them in a large net cage or bird cage. (20 gallon tank sizeish) Once they have feathers and are standing on perches continue with the formula but introduce the other berry dogfood mush in some of the earlier links. They will eventually start pecking at it on their own.

And just because they start to 'fly' doesn't mean they are ready to be on their own. Since they will be brought up unnaturally, you'll probably have to make one more cage upgrade to ensure they can fly properly. Refridgerator size would be my recomendation. Once they are doing well there, they can be released.

As for the runt feed it until it stops gaping just like the others. Make sure they don't begin to peck at him, if they do move him to his own nest. If he wont gape, tap on his beak a bit to see if that will get him to do it. If not, you'll have to open his mouth with your finger nail and feed him by force. Watch the crop as I said before to know when you're done.

Also one HUGE HUGE HUGE note, when using formula clean off any that gets onto their feathers immediately!! Same goes for any bird poop. If it stays on them, it will dry and clump their feathers together. Once it's dry it won't come off, the bird will not be able to fly and will die.
 
  • #11
I was thinking of letting them fledge in my fenced in back yard like a normal robin and simple feeding it by tracking it down in the relatively small space. I never see cats inside my yard nor have I seen a raccoon or skunk in months. My only worry would be the crows that have paid no attention to the chicks when I keep them outside. (I think I am better off letting them make D-3 on their own) I think I won't have a problem with feeding. The oral syringe that I got has already been thought of as food when I re-hydrated them. (their skin looked red so I thought they needed water but now its pink and they are very alert.) I think my mom is kinda of sick of buying things for them even though I bought some of the stuff on my own. I can't find and exact recipe though, do you know one?

p.s. My mom said she thinks they are digesting the food very well and that I should just give them water after feedings. I can't say that she is wrong because they are making poops that are easy to pick out and move and are coated like they say nestlings poop should look like and are standing and watching us as we go about the day and look healthier then when we found them.
 
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