Feeding baby birds

[theparrotletdude]

Hey guys,

I am looking for some instructions on feeding baby birds. We keep on finding baby birds in our yard every spring and I would like to be prepared this year. Also in the future I might breed parrots, so yeah.
I know you need a demonstration in real life to really know about it, but I'm just looking for some help in case I find a starving orphaned baby bird.

A few questions-
1. What size syringes for what size birds?
2. How much to feed?
3. Reccomendations on how not to get food in the lungs?

If you know of any videos on this subject, I would appreciate a link :3
By the way, please don't think I am some inexperienced owner. I'm a AFA certified aviculturist. I know the basics of handfeeding already, but I would like to have some instructions so I can do it the best possible way.
Thanks guys!

[Avialae]

Most baby birds you find are not starving, it is very common for them to be fed on the ground by their parents, who are not always near. Please do not take in baby birds that you find outside.

What they eat depend on the species, and here in sweden we very often see examples of birds that have been fed the wrong stuff, suffer all kinds of problems as a result, and cannot be released because the are too imprinted on humans.
Also, the feeding of most wild birds (mainly insectivores, carnivores and many omnivores) differ GREATLY from hand feeding parrots. In most cases you do not use syringes.
What, how, and how often to feed baby birds vary greatly, you need a deep knowledge of the wild bird species. I would recommend you contact a wild animal rehabber in your area if you find baby birds.
I don't know what rules you have over there, but here it is illegal to keep wild animals for more than 48h (while searching for a certified rehabber).

If you want to do this yourself, i recommend you go through some serious training with someone that has done this for a while. The intentions are great but you need tonnes of knowledge, and the right fascilities (huuuge aviaries for flught training, for example), especially since these birds are supposed to go back to the wild and fend for themselves later on. That doesn't happen without a lot of effort. The sad truth is most birds that people take in don't make it through their first year, either because they die because of the wrong kind of handling/feeding, or because they don't know how to fend for themselves in the wild.

[liz]

When baby birds get too big for the nest - they bomb out.
Many that you find on the ground have just landed there and the parents are trying to get them to underbrush or some cover. If you see one just watch it for an hour or so. You will probably see adult birds very close by.

One evening when it was time for my cats to come in I found them poking a baby bird to make it yell. I brought my cats in and waited. It was about an hour and getting dark so I brought it in. One of the foods fed to babies at the NC Zoo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center was dry cat food soften with water. So I fed the baby all night. The next morning their was another baby sitting in my yard in about the same place. I put my baby out beside it. The parents took them both. I don't know if the first one even belonged to them but I have seen wild adoptions and they were willing to finish raising both.

[theparrotletdude]

When baby birds get too big for the nest - they bomb out.
Many that you find on the ground have just landed there and the parents are trying to get them to underbrush or some cover. If you see one just watch it for an hour or so. You will probably see adult birds very close by.

One evening when it was time for my cats to come in I found them poking a baby bird to make it yell. I brought my cats in and waited. It was about an hour and getting dark so I brought it in. One of the foods fed to babies at the NC Zoo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center was dry cat food soften with water. So I fed the baby all night. The next morning their was another baby sitting in my yard in about the same place. I put my baby out beside it. The parents took them both. I don't know if the first one even belonged to them but I have seen wild adoptions and they were willing to finish raising both.

Liz & Avialae;

Yes, I know, they try to fledge. Last spring we waited for over a hour and no parents- also no flight feathers, and only the ability to run on their little feet. I'm not feeding/taking in any birds unless it is neccesary.
I know you need to add certain things to the food, such as mealworms and crickets. (When they can eat it.) We would also have the space for the flight run.
The rescues over here could not take the birds last time we found them; they were apparently full.
I do know what I'm doing and could handfeed them if needed, I would just like to do it in a better manner. If you do not feed them with syringes, what did you feed the one you found with?

I'm not one of those people who just want an exotic pet. I'm smart enough to teach them enough to be able to release them.

Also yes, I do try to contact a wildlife rescue. As stated before, last time they refused, saying they were full.

I took the AFA class, (and passed), so I do know how to handfeed, leg-band, and such. (Not that I would leg band them, lol. Not likely.)
I just wanted tips so I can do everything to the best of my ability.

Thank you though. I do really appreciate any and all help.
Hopefully nobody will find any needy birds this year, lol.

[liz]

Like I have said: I volunteered at the NC Zoo Wildlife Rehab Center. Sometimes there would be as high as 150 babies of all species in the baby room. They were on a 20 minute feeding schedule. No one wanted the baby bird room because of the stress. We used hemostates (probably spelled wrong because I can't spell) to mimic the parents beak. We alternated softened cat food with killed bugs and bits of berries. (I was always so amazed at how they progressed from when I went in the morning to when I left.)

I can't volunteer anymore but there is a volunteer in my area that I call when I have something that I can't handle in my schedule. I do rehab here at home anything that is already aware. I find that critters who don't know anything but me are very hard to make leave home. (Like the September squirrel, Rocky, who would not go into the woods until April and came back every night to sleep in his own bed. I had to set up a feeder and entice other squirrels in to make him follow them. Then the starling chick, Friskies, was a booger. It only wanted to play with the other birds. When they flew away he wanted back in. Finally my pet chicken, Chick Chick, took him under her wing and taught him to peck so I did supplimental feeding of them both outside in the yard. He comes back and looks in the window every once in a while.)