Battle Axe

And I'm having a terrible time with them. Has anyone else ever had to bring in some baby blue birds? I was feeding meal worms to the parents and had 5 eggs in the nest box. Everything seemed to be fine, but then we had what the National Weather Service called a wet microburst. The wind was terrible and the rain came in sheets. I found the male dead on the lawn the next a.m.

The female continued to keep the family together, as the eggs hatched the a.m. that I found the dead male. I kept live meal worms in front of her all the time. She even attracted another male, but that Cassanova brought another female along. Regular Mom feed the babies with 18 trips back and forth.

What I did wrong!!!! I emptied the feeder on the ground with any dead meal worms and the extra oat meal from the meal worm box. The robins developed a taste for meal worms and began to chase the female blue bird away. The last I saw her, she had two robins right behind her and she flew over the top of the house. At the same time all blue birds stopped coming to the yard.

Some 40 hours elapsed before I discovered that no meal worms were missing from the feeder and the babies where screaming. I brought them into the greenhouse and began feeding with tweezers.

I think I have run into problems with low calcium or lack of a mentor to get them to fledge.

Has anyone else had this happen.

Please help me!

Marcia

IceLeopard

Google "wildlife rescue indiana" and call the one nearest you.

Sandra-P

It sounds like you are trying everything. I have several bluebird houses and I have had a terrible time this year with them. In the last 10 years I have never had the luck I have been dealing with this Spring. First of all I let all birds use the houses, not just Bluebirds. I had Wrens, ( love their singing) and had mice get in and eat the babies when they hatched. I set up a wildlife camera and caught them doing it. I have never heard of this until I googled it. Then I put up fly tape on the truck of a tree for the next ones. Something got them too. My Chickadees were doing great, I put up mouse traps around the ground, ( didnt bait them) to get anything that might try. Came out the other night and one had fledged. Was so happy. Checked the box and there was still one left in it. The next morning he was still there, and in the early evening decided to check the box again. Keep in mind I had to step up on the flower box, tilt to the side, open the door and look in. I could not believe it. There was a snake in the box! Snapped it closed. Jumped off the flower box, called my husband outside. He is a city boy, so I knew what to do, just didnt know if it was a rattler or what. Got my grabber, told my hubby to stand back and opened the box and removed the snake. It was a small bull snake. It had a lump in it from the chickadee it just ate. I put it out in our field, it was doing what snakes do. I am so discouraged. I have some Rosie Finches in a hanging basket. So far she has 4 eggs and I keep my fingers crossed for her. Bless you Marcia for trying to help your little visitors. Sandra

Feather3

If you can't find a local rehabber then you are stuck taking care of them. My friend has BB every year & has also had to rehab orphaned chicks. I've rehabbed Purple Martin chicks. I can make suggestions & hope they help & work. Each situation is different. It all depends on the age of the chicks, their health, etc..

First they need to be kept warm & dry. Birds body temp is 104 degrees. If they have feathers they should be OK in the BB house. Clean the nest out & put dry nesting material (straw, dried grass, dried white pine needles) in if it got wet. If not keep them in a box with nesting material & lots of air holes until they develop feathers.

Calcium can be from egg shells. Rinse the egg shells well, place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes. Let cool & crush into 1/4 inch pieces. Feed a few pieces after each feeding of meal worms.

DO NOT give any water. They will get enough from the meal worms. One other thing you can do is dip the meal worms in Pedialyte. It can help with electrolytes. A few days should be fine.

Birds imprint, so when doing feedings take them to your feeder & show them how to get the meal worms out. They may come back looking for food, so keep the feeder filled.

As they age they will start flapping to build wing muscles. If you can keep them in the green house until they area able to fly they should make it on their own.

I wish you luck. Thanks for trying to save them.

djmat

Have 4 fledglings in a dirt dobber house attached to our brick covered front porch. The parents sleep on the rods in the mortar that holds our Christmas garland over the archway. I haven't seen the parents since yesterday and the babies are sitting precariously on the edge of the nest. I must wait & see, very nerve wracking!

Thank you for taking care of the precious birdies & making time to research how to help them. I wish I could help you!

Battle Axe

Are they blue birds??? If they are fledglings, the parents are probably cutting off the meal tickets and forcing them to fly. Mine are basement dwelling millineals and will never leave. I have no parents what so ever.

mindless

Maybe try contacting these people. They might be very helpful:

http://wildliferehabinfo.org/ContactList_MnPg.htm

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/i-foun...-what-do-i-do/

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Page.aspx?pid=1478

RuthiesRetreat3

I've had two rescued sparrows, one with some soft fluff, and one completely naked.

Battle Axe

Update on the blue birds. Down to 3, the three strongest ones when I rescued them. Number 1 is flying around the greenhouse and doing about 75% good. She had a bad crash landing and right eye is weepy. I've worked on it once but need to do it again. Number 2 tries to fly and I do not know what the problem is. Number 3 is going to get a wheel chair built for it by the kindly hardware man. At first both legs were crippled but now he can perch with one leg. They are have good appetites and I'm going broke feeding them wax worms now. The meal worms are low in calcium and the bones don't develop.

Breakfast was 8 meal worms each. Lunch was 5 wax worms (butter worms which are moth grubs, nice and fat and they swallow them whole) I thought I had to cut them in half, but NO!

But I fed the meal worms to the parents because it was cloudy and rainy and not good hunting weather. So they were probably cat food before I ever took them. Even in nature, not all survive.

Marcia

Feather3

You've done a great job caring for them. That's all you can do. Nature has the last say.