Advice please - feeding injured baby blackbird

[Violet_Diva]

I have acquired from a neighbour (what I believe to be) a young blackbird.

It has broken feet :-( But is still mobile.

I've converted a tub into a makeshift brooder by lining 2/3 with thick fleece vet bedding and putting a heat mat under half of 1/2 of the fleeced part so the bird can hopefully keep at a comfortable temperature.

It's currently sleeping as it's about 9:15pm. I believe my neighbour found the bird at 3:30pm. The bird seemed alert, so I'm guessing the parents were feeding it on the ground before neighbour picked it up.

Im planning on feeding some kitten biscuits that have been soaked in boiled water until I can take it to a wildlife rescue / vet in the morning. My neighbour was rather enthusiastic about wanting to keep the bird and feed it and fix it's broken feet, but as they are prolific smokers with a not so brilliant track record for 'rescuing' wildlife, I offered to take the bird from them.

I was shocked that the nurse at the vets said they wouldn't ring the vet for a wild bird :-( They just told me to contact the RSPCA. The RSPCA near us has no-one in the office in the evening and so I had no one to talk to. The automated phone service just tells me to leave baby birds alone and then hangs up on me!

Should I wake the bird to try and feed it now?
Or should I let it rest tonight?
What time should I start feeding it and how often?

It has all its feathers, just the last traces of fluff on some feather tips.

I know I could have gotten the RSPCA to collect it, but the bird would definitely be put to sleep if they have custody due to costs. I want to give the little guy a chance!

Please if anyone has any experience or advice, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[SailBoat]

I will recommend that your look at the Forum for Breeders for ideas on feeding. Likely old enough to provide some solid foods.

You indicated that the foot is injured, but the bird is mobile. If true, unless you are willing to care for this Bird forever, the Government is not going to care for a baby Blackbird. So, you really need to have the baby back where the Parents can care for it or you take-over.

FYI: Let the bird sleep and feed it when it wakes.

 

[Violet_Diva]

I'm hoping if the little guy makes it through the night that the vet can treat the feet / legs with splints to try to get the feet set correctly.

Best case scenario: Baby bird lives, gets feet fixed, goes back to the wild

Acceptable scenario: Baby bird lives, remains disabled and ends up in aviary

Worst scenario: Baby bird doesn't make it or has to be put to sleep

 

[Violet_Diva]

I will recommend that your look at the Forum for Breeders for ideas on feeding. Likely old enough to provide some solid foods.

You indicated that the foot is injured, but the bird is mobile. If true, unless you are willing to care for this Bird forever, the Government is not going to care for a baby Blackfoot. So, you really need to have the baby back where the Parents can care for it or you take-over.

FYI: Let the bird sleep and feed it when it wakes.

Thank-you Sailboat. Both feet are broken badly :-(

This baby in its current condition wouldn't be fast enough to evade predators.

It's mobility is limited, but I'm really hoping it can have splints to give it a chance.

 

[Violet_Diva]

It would be great if I could find somewhere local that has flocks of disabled rescue birds that the birdie could integrate into.

 

[EllenD]

Agreed, it will not be able to care for itself, even if it is old enough to somehow know how to feed itself it won't be able to with what you say are "2 Broken Feet". If it truly has 2 broken feet I'm going to assume that most places will euthanize it, saying that it will not learn to properly care for itself or it will be permanently disabled and not able to live on it's own in the wild, they always say something like this when it involves spending money to rehab a baby bird with a serious injury. I'd say that either you make the decision to take the bird to an avian vet as soon as you can and find out if it truly has 2 broken feet, find out what can be done to help it, and at least get it some pain medication because if it does have 2 broken feet it's gotta be in tremendous pain, or you take it to a wildlife rescue and let them do whatever they're going to do, which I assume will unfortunately be to euthanize it. It's sad but that's just what most of them do. I have a friend that has a pet starling because he did the exact same thing, found a badly injured baby starling outside, waited for the parents to come back for 24 hours but they didn't so he took it to a wildlife rescue center. They told him they would euthanize it and he couldn't do it, so he took it to my avian vet who set both it's broken wings and sent it home with antibiotics and pain meds. He nursed it back to health and it is every bit as tame as my parrots! It has the run of his house and he loves it...

As far as feeding the baby, I'd let it rest until it wakes up, it should start begging when it's hungry. I'm assuming it's eating solid food if it's fully feathered, soaking pellets in either water or fruit juice is a good idea, I don't know about cat food, bird pellets soaked would be better for him. If you find that he won't eat solids or is having trouble eating solids you'll need to get some baby bird formula and feed it like you would hand-feed an unweaned baby bird, but I think it should do fine with softened bird pellets.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."