Raising a Baby Robin (1 Viewer)

[Helen Nicholas]

Please can anybody give me some advice. A baby robin (i think, the egg was a pale blue), was left on my lawn on Monday, the baby was still in half it's shell, but it looks like it was hatching and picked up by a magpie, there were no nests in the area. To my amazement the bird was still alive. I brought it inside and put in a box in the airing cupboard, not thinking it would survive, but it is still here today (Wednesday).

I have been feeding it every hour with some baby rice and a few drops of water. What else should I be doing for it? I know it will probably die, but I would hate not to have done what I should.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Many thanks
Helen Nicholas

 

[KnockerNorton]

It sounds more like a starling. Defo not a robin. It's unlikely that it was carried out by a magpie, as they nest in holes so are fairly safe. It was probably carried out by its parents after it failed to hatch properly.

They can live for a while afte rhatching, as they have a bit of yolk in their abdomen.

If you want to hand-rear it, you've got a very hard job ahead of you, and the bird will probably not be able to be released into the wild (and if you do, it's almost certain to die). You should think very very seriously about just letting it die, through starvation, by not feeding it. It will take about half a day to a day.

If you want the committment to rearing it, and being responsbile for looking after it for probably the rest of its life (or finding someone else to take it, such as an aviary or reliable wildlife rescuer), then you've got a touch job.

You should feed it on small pieces of dog or cat food, using forceps or tweezers, until you can find a supply of mini-mealworms (for feeding reptiles)from a petshop (try Pets At Home). Feed every hour, from dawn til dusk (or, if more convenient, you can slide this back a bit from, say, 6 or 7am til 11pm).

You'll have to do this for about 5 or 6 weeks, every hour, every day, so it's a big undertaking.

You may be lucky enough to be able to find the nest, or another nest with chicks of the same age, that you could drop it in to. You've got about 10 days to do this, until its eyes open, but it's probably under an eave somewhere. See if any of your neighbours have a nestbox with starlings in.

If you want to do anything other than let it die, then it might be an idea to post a pic of the chick and/or egg, just so we can be certain what species it is. If it's not a starling, you might have better luck finding a suitable nest to drop it in.

 

[Carol Ann]

another baby robin

Hi,

Sorry to hijack this thread but I have been looking for 20 minutes for a "post new thread" button and I swear there is not one on my screen anywhere.

My daughter's friend found a robin's egg that was in the process of hatching, earlier today. We have looked and looked for the nest but can't find it.

I have emailed the local SPCA and am hoping that they will take the bird but from what I have heard, they may not, depending on how "full" they are.

In the meantime I am keeping it warm with a heating pad on low and a towel over the pad to prevent it from overhealing, and have managed to feed it some dog food dipped in raw egg a few times.

From what I understand I need to feed it every half hour during daylight hours?

I did once raise a baby robin when i was about 12 and it did return to the wild and did well (it visited us the next year, briefly) but that one was older than this one...I am thinking it probably won't live without expert help.

If they won't take the bird I will look after it - I work from home so can feed it regularly during the day and hopefully if there's somewhere I need to go I can get a birdsitter However, I'm thinking it is probably best if I can get the SPCA to take it. My neighbour said he doesn't think they will think a robin is important enough to worry about - not sure if that's right or not.

Any suggestions for anything else i can do in the meantime?

Thanks,

Carol Ann