Fledgling Down!
- Thread starter MIchael Hibberd
- Start date
Carol Dee
Garden Master
Awww poor baby. Looks like he is in good hands.
baymule
Garden Master
What a cutie! At least he looks to be close to spreading his tiny wings and flying away. His new Daddy can work overtime feeding him tasty grubs and insects! At our local Tractor Supply we can buy bags of mealworms for chicken treats, do you have something like that available? Maybe you could go to fish bait shops for crickets?
- Thread starter
- #4
MIchael Hibberd
Garden Ornament
I have been collecting grub insects for him. He seemed disinclined intitially but soon chirped up. He has a selection of seed, fat balls, strawberries (the victims of slugs) and worms/bugs etc. D'ya reckon this is okay?
I hope he stays strong!
I hope he stays strong!
baymule
Garden Master
Make sure you kill the grubs for him. I have watched parent birds beat their catch on the sidewalk before flying up to the nest to feed it to their babies.
thistlebloom
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Looks like you've got a friend Michael!
We've raised 2 newly hatched doves before. Seems doves make really lousy nests in unsuitable places. Both of them came down
( in different years ) in the parking lot where my mom worked. She rescued them and then handed them off to us to raise.
Mildly labor intensive and time consuming I carried them with me everywhere, when they were ready to strike out on their own they hung around the house for about a week, and would land on DHs head or shoulders when he came outside. He's a bird magnet I guess. I didn't think it was fair because I had been the mommy bird the whole time and he just played with them. Ha!
Like Carol Dee said, he's in good hands. And I recognize those as gardening hands!
We've raised 2 newly hatched doves before. Seems doves make really lousy nests in unsuitable places. Both of them came down
( in different years ) in the parking lot where my mom worked. She rescued them and then handed them off to us to raise.
Mildly labor intensive and time consuming I carried them with me everywhere, when they were ready to strike out on their own they hung around the house for about a week, and would land on DHs head or shoulders when he came outside. He's a bird magnet I guess. I didn't think it was fair because I had been the mommy bird the whole time and he just played with them. Ha!
Like Carol Dee said, he's in good hands. And I recognize those as gardening hands!
sumi
Rest in Peace 1980-2020
What a cutie! I've raised some finches years ago after we found them in a blown down nest. I fed them a good quality breakfast porridge, Pro-Nutro. It was a huge mess, but they survived and thrived on it.
It was a little labour intensive and I can vividly remember I getting woken up in the middle of the night by screaming hungry babies wanting food! But it was so rewarding, getting them to the point where we could release them into the wild again.
Good luck with your little one!
It was a little labour intensive and I can vividly remember I getting woken up in the middle of the night by screaming hungry babies wanting food! But it was so rewarding, getting them to the point where we could release them into the wild again.
Good luck with your little one!
canesisters
Garden Master
That is so neat. Years ago I was the one that everyone brought babies to - birds, kittens, puppies, possuums, squirrels, etc.
Birds were always my favorite. I loved that day when I could open the cage and let them fly free.
Can you identify what it is? Some birds require care for a while after they learn to fly. I raised some yellow shafted flickers once. They are supposed to stay with their parents for a while learning how to forage for bugs and such. I made a sound each time I fed them when they were little. By the time they were flying, I could call them back to the porch rail for a snack until they learned enough to make it on their own. I believe that they returned to the neighborhood after migrating because the next spring I would call and flickers would answer from the trees.
Birds were always my favorite. I loved that day when I could open the cage and let them fly free.
Can you identify what it is? Some birds require care for a while after they learn to fly. I raised some yellow shafted flickers once. They are supposed to stay with their parents for a while learning how to forage for bugs and such. I made a sound each time I fed them when they were little. By the time they were flying, I could call them back to the porch rail for a snack until they learned enough to make it on their own. I believe that they returned to the neighborhood after migrating because the next spring I would call and flickers would answer from the trees.
thistlebloom
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Cool story Cane.
Chickie'sMomaInNH
Garden Master
a neighbor next to my parents years ago worked as a vet tech and one summer was helping to raise a couple baby robins that fell from nests and would be brought into the clinic. they stuck close to her yard once they learned to fly but one of them became attached to me and would visit all the time. when i would get home from work and go out to the garden to do more work she would make the short calls to see if it was me and i would return her calls. next thing i would have her on my shoulder or somewhere close by watching over me. if i had some berries or worms i'd offer them up and she'd be there in an instant! it was nice the following summer when she returned but i didn't see her after that or she just didn't fly to me anymore if she did come back. we had a family of robins for a couple years that kept nesting in the same spot on the top of a privacy fence under a wisteria that was growing wild. i think it was her but couldn't be sure.
