Sparrow nestling orphan - legs weak

[HSRivney]

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Hi people, hope someone can help me. I've rescued many wild bird before so I think I am beyond novice, and I'm a licensed veterinary technician, so have medical education. But this perplexes me.
I've been caring for a house sparrow for ten days. It's been eating and gaining weight and growing feathers. Up until two days ago it would hop about and perch on my hand. I thought it needed a little more space so I took it out of the basket and gave it a 12" x 12" flat bottom cage. Didn't do well in there, I think the heating pad didn't radiate well enough. So now it can't perch. It flops forward, balancing with its wings, but the toes seem limp and instead of sitting on its feet its sitting on the tarsus joints and its bottom. I don't think I hurt it, they don't seem broken as the baby can move the legs, but it no longer can perch, and it falls forward on its chest when I take it out to defecate (since it can't move itself to the edge on it's own anymore).
Does it need a drop of calcium? Less food? More water? I'm giving it Exact baby food 2:1 water:mix ratio about 1 ml per hour, plus a couple lady-bug size bits of plum or grape or fig 1-2 times a day, and a few extra drops of water at night. I've raised two other sparrow orphans (and doves, pigeons, and quail) and haven't seen this before. If anyone can help or direct me to help I'd be grateful! Cheers

 

[zERo]

I don’t have any experience with feeding baby birds.

I do, own a sparrow but I found her at 2-3 months old so she was eating solid food pretty quickly.

I hope someone else sees this and can chime in!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

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Hi people, hope someone can help me. I've rescued many wild bird before so I think I am beyond novice, and I'm a licensed veterinary technician, so have medical education. But this perplexes me.
I've been caring for a house sparrow for ten days. It's been eating and gaining weight and growing feathers. Up until two days ago it would hop about and perch on my hand. I thought it needed a little more space so I took it out of the basket and gave it a 12" x 12" flat bottom cage. Didn't do well in there, I think the heating pad didn't radiate well enough. So now it can't perch. It flops forward, balancing with its wings, but the toes seem limp and instead of sitting on its feet its sitting on the tarsus joints and its bottom. I don't think I hurt it, they don't seem broken as the baby can move the legs, but it no longer can perch, and it falls forward on its chest when I take it out to defecate (since it can't move itself to the edge on it's own anymore).
Does it need a drop of calcium? Less food? More water? I'm giving it Exact baby food 2:1 water:mix ratio about 1 ml per hour, plus a couple lady-bug size bits of plum or grape or fig 1-2 times a day, and a few extra drops of water at night. I've raised two other sparrow orphans (and doves, pigeons, and quail) and haven't seen this before. If anyone can help or direct me to help I'd be grateful! Cheers

Exactly is great for parrots (I fed it to my baby budgie along with other brands of handfeeding formula for parrots) but I don't think it's adequate for most wild songbirds. Sparrow chicks need insect matter (animal protein) to thrive. Do you have any bugs nearby you can squash and feed him? If not, offer him a small piece of meat or egg. Very few baby songbirds are strict vegetarians and they need animal protein to develop properly. American Goldfinches are a rare exception. Even hummingbirds must feed their chicks insects. Fruit and vegetable matter will not give him the protein he needs. Water shouldn't be necessary if the chick is being fed moist food.
A drop of Calcivet in his beak would be a good idea. It helps with muscle function.

 

[HSRivney]

Exactly is great for parrots (I fed it to my baby budgie along with other brands of handfeeding formula for parrots) but I don't think it's adequate for most wild songbirds. Sparrow chicks need insect matter (animal protein) to thrive. Do you have any bugs nearby you can squash and feed him? If not, offer him a small piece of meat or egg. Very few baby songbirds are strict vegetarians and they need animal protein to develop properly. American Goldfinches are a rare exception. Even hummingbirds must feed their chicks insects. Fruit and vegetable matter will not give him the protein he needs. Water shouldn't be necessary if the chick is being fed moist food.
A drop of Calcivet in his beak would be a good idea. It helps with muscle function.

Thank you. I did give him a drop of calcium, and was giving him a little bit of can cat food on a toothpick once or twice a day. He's been going downhill, so I think perhaps its a neurological problem. He's losing his appetite. Tonight he got meat/veggie human baby food and some apple juice. I'm not holding out hope. I've cared for a lot of bird orphans, but never seen this before. Maybe coming off a two story roof onto a driveway was just too hard on him.